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Tuesday, January 4, 2011

#Edchat Revisited « My Island View

#Edchat Revisited « My Island View

#Edchat Revisited

June 23, 2010 by tomwhitby

When Shelly Terrell and I first discussed the idea that spawned #Edchat neither of us had any idea what it would become. It started as a place to begin, conduct and record some thought-provoking discussions about topics in education that we had an interest to discuss. We created the hashtag, #Edchat, selected a time, contacted Steve Anderson for techy help, and we were off and running. We started with a few people who followed us and we discussed topics on the fly.

We began to involve more and more people, and soon needed more of a structure. Steve developed our #Edchat Poll and we began to publicize the established day and time of the chat. It truly was a case of “If you build it, they will come”. It was that simple. We were not building on other models. We were not pioneers, but more like novices on Twitter. We were in new territory, but we knew that we needed to develop strategies for success. We added moderators as we grew, and we needed to archive the sessions to accommodate those who were not able to attend live. Being educators we constantly assessed, reflected, and modified.

The hashtag, #Edchat, soon grew beyond a hashtag for a discussion. It was

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This Week In Education: Thompson: On Education Wars And Elite Runners

This Week In Education: Thompson: On Education Wars And Elite Runners

Thompson: On Education Wars And Elite Runners

by john thompson

WarsUniversity of Michigan ed school dean Deborah Loewenberg Ball recounts in theHuffington Post the long history of education wars that have not helped students. She then explains why the current civil war over teacher quality promises to be doubly destructive, nailing in particular the accountability hawks' tactic of celebrating great but isolated examples of instruction while recoiling against the hard work it

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Seattle Public Schools community blog: Ed Reform All the Rage But Is It Constitutional?

Seattle Public Schools community blog: Ed Reform All the Rage But Is It Constitutional?

Ed Reform All the Rage But Is It Constitutional?

by Melissa Westbrook
This issue of what Congress can fund under the Constitution seems to have finally reached public education.

If you read any comments after an education story in the Seattle Times, you always get the people who ask why we fund food for free/reduced lunch students or make food at all (bring your own lunch). They ask why the districts fund transportation. They ask why the districts fund bilingual education. I think some of this is the fear that the focus (and the money) isn't on direct teaching and learning and some may be people who feel parents are responsible to get their children fed and to school. (No matter that many of those writing probably had and used transportation and the cafeteria in their public school when they were kids.)

Justice Scalia (one of my least favorite Supreme Court justices) just came out saying that women (and for that
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Big Education APE Wearin' Red for Public Ed

Big Education APE Wearin' Red for Public Ed

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Leadership: Kenner Wants To Be CEO Of CPS - District 299: Chicago Public Schools Blog

Leadership: Kenner Wants To Be CEO Of CPS - District 299: Chicago Public Schools Blog

Leadership: Kenner Wants To Be CEO Of CPS

by Alexander Russo
image from www.suntimes.comIn a Sun Times story about her alleged abuse of principal's picks, Whitney Young principal Joyce Kenner says she wants to head the CPS:

"I want to be the CEO,'' Kenner told the Sun-Times. "I'm throwing my name out. I have the background and experience to take us to another level."

I wonder how that's going to work -- and what the parents and LSC of Whitney Young are going to think about Kenner seeking higher office. Read all
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New Posts on Parents 4 democratic Schools 1-4-11 Red 4 Public Ed Day

New Posts on Parents 4 democratic Schools

Parents 4 democratic Schools

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Just ask Randi Weingarten -- schools, teachers and their unions could all learn from the NFL

Just ask Randi Weingarten -- schools, teachers and their unions could all learn from the NFL

Just ask Randi Weingarten -- schools, teachers and their unions could all learn from the NFL

EDITORIALS

Tuesday, January 4th 2011, 4:00 AM

Randi Weingarten, the former head of the city's teachers union.
Giancarli for News
Randi Weingarten, the former head of the city's teachers union.

RELATED NEWS

It was Randi Weingarten, former head of the city's teachers union and current head of the American Federation of Teachers, who said it.

In an interview with Newsweek - a joint sitdown with billionaire and school reformer Bill Gates - Weingarten followed Gates' statement that "We need to measure what [teachers] do, and then have incentives for the other teachers to learn those things" with this observation:

"Football teams do this all the time. They look at the tape after every game. Sometimes they do it during the game. They're constantly deconstructing what is working and what isn't working. And they're jettisoning what isn't working and building up on what is working, and doing it in a teamlike approach. We never do that investment in public schooling."

Absolutely right - and New York schools could well emulate the NFL by recording model



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2011/01/04/2011-01-04_on_any_given_school_day.html#ixzz1A5FjHaow
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A Must Read: The McEducation of the Negro | Seattle Education 2010

A Must Read: The McEducation of the Negro | Seattle Education 2010

A Must Read: The McEducation of the Negro

by seattleducation2010

From: The Root

By Natalie Hopkinson

Below are the introductory paragraphs.

Dora

Franchising is an outstanding model for selling Big Macs. But it can be toxic to classrooms.

Something wasn’t right at the high school that Darwin Bridgers’ son attends, so he sat in on the class to see for himself. All morning long, the instructor at the Washington, D.C., charter school pointed to a list of ground rules, a detailed list of rewards and punishments posted on a wall near the front of the

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The Answer Sheet - Obama girls miss two days of school; when is it okay to keep a kid out of school?

The Answer Sheet - Obama girls miss two days of school; when is it okay to keep a kid out of school?

Obama girls miss two days of school; when is it okay to keep a kid out of school?

While their classmates at Sidwell Friends School returned from the holiday break on Monday, Malia and Sasha Obama were in Hawaii with their parents, the president and the first lady, visiting elephants and other animals at the Honolulu Zoo. President and Michelle Obama obviously felt that spending time as a family -- not an easy accomplishment for the leader of the United States -- was more important at this point in their lives than rushing back so their daughters could be in class. Malia, 12, and Sasha, 9, will miss two days as a result. The trip began the day Sidwell students started their winter break.
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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: OWNERSHIP SOCIETY NEWS

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: OWNERSHIP SOCIETY NEWS

OWNERSHIP SOCIETY NEWS

by Mike Klonsky
Pro-charter 'fat cats' topped N.Y. campaign donors in 2010

Today's N.Y. Post reports that wealthy boosters of charter schools, led by billionaire hedge-funder Bruce Kovner, were among the top donors to candidates for state office in 2010. The financier gave $130,000 to Republican candidates in their successful effort to recapture the state Senate. Kovner sits on the board of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. But Mayor Bloomberg (richer than Kovner) contributed even more to the Limbaugh Party takeover and to anti-teacher union and charter school causes with nearly a million bucks of his personal money going to senate Republicans.

The man from J.P. Morgan

If there was any doubt about how fast the Obama administration is running to the right, one need only look at the likely appointment of Chicago
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Adult Budgeting Needed

Adult Budgeting Needed

Adult Budgeting Needed

by Kevin Carey



We all have our formative experiences; mine was spending the first six years of my career grappling with the question of how a medium-sized state should spend the roughly $10 billion a year it collected in state income and sales taxes. I came away from it with a few firm convictions:

1) The desire for free money cannot be satisfied. Everyone always wants more and are sure they deserve it, particularly compared to those other S.O.B.’s.

2) Budgeting cannot be fully rationalized because budgets are simply priorities and public priorities reflect a complex interplay of political passions and values that cannot be, and should not be, wholly a function of logic

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Another Look at PISA - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Another Look at PISA - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Another Look at PISA

by Diane Ravitch

Dear Deborah,

I have been fascinated by the continuing commentary and controversy about the results of the international tests of reading, mathematics, and science known as PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment). President Barack Obama and Secretary Arne Duncan immediately said that the mediocre standing of American students was "a Sputnik moment," which should produce strong support for their agenda of testing and privately managed schools. Others used the results to promote whatever their favorite remedy was.

Some worried that the high test scores of Shanghai were an omen that the Chinese were on the verge of world domination (forgetting that Shanghai is one city in China and not representative of China as a whole). Others looked admiringly at Shanghai's high scores and dreamed that American students might somehow be compelled to accept the rigorous discipline, large classes, after-school tutoring, and devotion to academic success that

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Queens Teacher: Follow the Money

Queens Teacher: Follow the Money

Follow the Money

by Queens Teacher
Old-school politic$
By BRENDAN SCOTT

ALBANY -- Wealthy boosters of charter schools, led by billionaire hedge-funder Bruce Kovner, were among the top donors to candidates for state office in 2010, according to a fund-raising analysis released yesterday.

The campaign-finance report by a coalition of good-government groups found Kovner, whose hedge fund, Caxton Associates, manages some $10 billion in assets, gave $283,200 to state campaigns last year, more than any other individual donor.

Kovner's contributions crossed party lines, including $55,900 to Democratic former Gov. David Paterson. The financier gave $130,000 to Republican candidates in their successful effort to recapture the state Senate.

The Brooklyn-born and Harvard-educated hedge-fund manager keeps a low profile on the city's social scene but
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New York state campaign donations topped by wealthy backers of charter schools during 2010, new study finds - NYPOST.com

New York state campaign donations topped by wealthy backers of charter schools during 2010, new study finds - NYPOST.com

Old-school politic$

Pro-charter fat cats topped elex donors

By BRENDAN SCOTT, Post Correspondent

Last Updated: 3:42 AM, January 4, 2011

Posted: 1:16 AM, January 4, 2011

Comments: 0
More Print

ALBANY -- Wealthy boosters of charter schools, led by billionaire hedge-funder Bruce Kovner, were among the top donors to candidates for state office in 2010, according to a fund-raising analysis released yesterday.

The campaign-finance report by a coalition of good-government groups found Kovner, whose hedge fund, Caxton Associates, manages some $10 billion in assets, gave $283,200 to state campaigns last year, more than any other individual donor.

Kovner's contributions crossed party lines, including $55,900 to Democratic former Gov. David Paterson. The financier gave $130,000 to Republican candidates in their successful effort to recapture the state Senate.

The Brooklyn-born and Harvard-educated hedge-fund manager keeps a low profile on the city's social scene but has been an important backer of conservative issues and education for inner-city kids.

Kovner sits on the board of the conservative American Enterprise Institute and supports various charter schools around the state, including Bronx Preparatory. He also is the founder and chairman of the School Choice Scholarships Foundation, which rewards low-income kids in



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/old_school_politic_tiRLsnAoO8vJWlANZ3kh1I#ixzz1A53johDp
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