Damn Good Education Daily

Damn Good Education Daily

Damn Good Education Daily

The Answer Sheet - Myths and realities about KIPP

voices.washingtonpost.com - This was written by Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation. He is the author of "All Together Now: Creating Middle-Class Schools through Public School Choice." In this pos...

SchlFinance101

#Edchat Revisited « My Island View

tomwhitby.wordpress.com - 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 recor...

tomwhitby

An Overlooked Difference Between Professional Athletes and Professional Teachers

huffingtonpost.com - A few weeks ago, I clapped for a usually mundane spectacle in the spectrum of NYC sports: New York Yankees' Hall-of-Fame-bound shortstop Derek Jeter's sincere press conference regarding his re-sign...

CohenD

The Weems Way | News Lead

clevescene.com - A regular week at the Weems School was a minefield of surprises for staff and students alike.For students, that was a blast: The lunch menus were constantly changing, any given day could yield an u...

DianeRavitch

Another Look at PISA - Bridging Differences

blogs.edweek.org - 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 Int...

DianeRavitch

NYC Public School Parents: Joel Klein will rake in the dough

NYC Public School Parents: Joel Klein will rake in the dough

Joel Klein will rake in the dough

by Leonie Haimson

Joel Klein will reportedly make over $4 million a year at NewsCorp.

Let’s hope that Murdoch takes a total bath on this one, and he and Klein aren't able to make a penny off of poor kids – either here in NYC or in Africa – by selling bogus “educational” video games supposed to lead to real learning.

Kids, parents and teachers have suffered enough as a

New Jersey Starved the Pension Beast

New Jersey Starved the Pension Beast

New Jersey Starved the Pension Beast

by Chad Aldeman

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been in the news a lot lately for his handling of the Garden State’s budget crisis around government-worker benefits. The New York Times did a piece earlier this week on a confrontation between Christie and teacher Marie Corfield around cuts to education funding, and 60 Minutes featured Christie in a wide-ranging piece on the state of state budgets. Neither of these stories has fully gotten to the heart of why the state now has a $20 billion liability for teacher pensions, and neither of them mentions the fact that only eight years ago the state had a teacher pension fundsurplus.

So what happened? A stock market crash certainly hurt, but the state has made its own problems along the way. Through a combination of low contribution rates and benefit enhancements, New Jersey starved the pension beast.

Traditionally, Starve the Beast has been employed by fiscal conservatives to force budget deficits, which in turn

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: "Education is Not a Business"

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: "Education is Not a Business"

"Education is Not a Business"

by The Perimeter Primate

From the "Education is Not a Business" movie website:

The real story of public education is not being told. "Education is Not a Business" will expose the current school "reform" movement as an assault on public education by unregulated capitalism. The real problems in education (such as the achievement gap) are NOT due to teachers, public

Update: New Posts on Parents 4 democratic Schools

New Posts on Parents 4 democratic Schools

Parents 4 democratic Schools

• G.W. Carver School of Arts & Sciences Enrollment Issue
• Catalyst Notebook :: Q&A with Stand for Children grassroots organizers
• Here’s an early look at Gov.-elect Kitzhaber’s proposed budget | OregonLive.com
• 2011 Could Be Year Of Change At City Schools | KPBS.org
• Leaving it on the Field | Connected Principals
• Judge admits interfering in Detroit Federation of Teachers fight for real representation and against privatization | Dailycensored.com
• ASCD Inservice: Reporter’s Notebook on 2010′s Fascinating Education Ideas
• Hickenlooper to Lead Education Policy Group – State EdWatch – Education Week
• Black hasn’t been to “every kind” of school, but she plans to | GothamSchools
• Teachers Should Get Paid Like Derek Jeter … or At Least Like Phil Hughes — The Jose Vilson
• Lisa Nielsen: When Passion Drives Instruction, No Child is Left Behind
• Rene Martinez: How to better involve Latinos in education | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Opinion: Viewpoints
• Weigel : Chris Christie Learns Humility
• Jobs vs Benefits: ’Public and private unions squaring off ’ in class warfare – National Political Transcripts | Examiner.com
• Rekindling The American DREAM – Forbes.com
• Torlakson’s Transition Team Named – Year 2011 (CA Dept of Education)
• S. Philly High agreement could have districtwide impact | Philadelphia Public School Notebook
• “Ticket to Teach”; NYPRIG Analysis of NY Campaign Spending « DFER Watch
• Arizona Ethnic Studies Ban Goes Into Effect, But Teachers Won’t Stop Teaching | Immigrant Rights | Change.org
• Wearing red for public ed. « Fred Klonsky’s blog
• South Florida Schools | Sun Sentinel blogs | Some parents, teachers wear red to protest Scott’s ideas
• To improve schools, stop treating them like businesses – CSMonitor.com
• Philosophy Valued At One Community College : NPR
• Education Research Report: Anti-bullying program reduces malicious gossip on school playgrounds
• UC leaders respond to executive pension request – Sacramento Politics – California Politics | Sacramento Bee

They don’t care about kids. It was never about kids. « Fred Klonsky's blog

They don’t care about kids. It was never about kids. « Fred Klonsky's blog

They don’t care about kids. It was never about kids.

by Fred Klonsky

Teachers. Cops. Fireman. First responders. Public health workers. Your neighbors. If they belong to a public sector union, they are the target.

For a while they tried to make it seem as if it was about student learning and teacher quality. But that was all a humbug. They don’t care about kids. It was never about the kids.

It’s about unions and the teachers, cops, fireman and your neighbors who belong to them.

Now that the old industrial and private sector unions have been hobbled, we’re the last ones standing. Now they have come for us.

This morning’s NY Times. Column one. Above the fold: Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions

Shanker Blog » Death Of A Teacher Union Icon

Shanker Blog » Death Of A Teacher Union Icon

Death Of A Teacher Union Icon

by Burnie Bond

The New Year brings sad word of the passing of Szeto Wah, celebrated Hong Kong democracy activist, legislator, and teacher union leader. He died on January 2 at the age of 79.

Once recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 25 most influential people in Hong Kong, and known by millions as “Uncle Wah,” Szeto came to prominence in the 1970s as the firebrand founder of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers Union (PTU), which he led from 1974 to 1990. He was also a founder and leader of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, served in the Hong Kong legislature from 1985 to 2004, and was the founder and chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. The alliance was the leading organization offering support to the pro-democracy movement in Mainland China, which organizedyearly protests on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

While condolences flow in from all over the world, the political question of the day in Hong Kong is whether or not the Chinese authorities will allow exiled democracy activists back into Hong Kong to attend Szeto’s funeral.

Schools Matter: CA Charter Facilities Ruling

Schools Matter: CA Charter Facilities Ruling

CA Charter Facilities Ruling

by Kenneth Libby

From the Courthouse News Service:

Court OK's Law on Use of Public School Facilities
By JEFF D. GORMAN
(CN) - A California appeals court upheld a state law requiring public schools to share their facilities with charter school students.

The California School Boards Association and three other educational groups took the State Board of Education to court to challenge Proposition 39, which voters approved in 2000.

Among other things, Proposition 39 required public schools to share their facilities with students

New law labels interns 'highly qualified teachers'

New law labels interns 'highly qualified teachers'

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By TERENCE CHEA

The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 4, 2011; 5:55 PM

SAN FRANCISCO -- Civil rights advocates are blasting new federal legislation that allows states to classify teaching interns as "highly qualified" teachers and regularly assign them to schools with mostly poor, minority students.

The measure, which remains in effect until the end of the 2012-13 school year, was signed Dec. 22 by President Barack Obama as part of an unrelated federal spending bill.

The legislation nullifies a Sept. 27 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that California illegally classified thousands of teachers in training as "highly qualified" in violation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Under that law, all students are supposed to be taught by "highly qualified" teachers who have earned state teaching credentials, but a 2004 Bush administration policy allowed states to give that status to interns working toward certification.

The San Francisco-based appeals court struck down that policy, siding with low-income families in Richmond, Hayward and Los Angeles that claimed that a disproportionate

Celebrating the growth of GothamSchools’ community (section) | GothamSchools

Celebrating the growth of GothamSchools’ community (section) | GothamSchools

Celebrating the growth of GothamSchools’ community (section)

by Maura Walz

The GothamSchools Community section spent 2010 constantly growing, in the end featuring more than 220 posts from dozens of writers trying to elevate the conversation about public education.

On our Community page, editor Philissa Cramer rounds up the ground covered by our contributers last year. Teachers gave insights into daily classroom life, parents and teachers discussed how their schools affect their lives, and edu-wonks of all stripes dug deeply into policy questions and offered suggestions to improve the city schools.

Among the calls for change we published in 2010:

Lessons Learned -- QEIA Reforms Lift Up At-Risk Students - California Teachers Association

Lessons Learned -- QEIA Reforms Lift Up At-Risk Students - California Teachers Association

Lessons Learned -- QEIA Reforms Lift Up At-Risk Students

Contact: Mike Myslinski at 408-921-5769 or mmyslinski@cta.org

Sacramento -

CTA’s Quality Education Investment Act Is Model Intervention Program

The largest public education reform program of its kind, California’s Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) of 2006 is making sustained progress in helping at-risk students succeed in the classroom after two full years of implementation, according to new initial research unveiled today at a CTA symposium here on QEIA with nearly 200 California teachers, education experts and lawmakers’ staff.

The landmark law, sponsored by CTA, shows that California educators are part of the conversation about meaningful education reform for our schools of greatest need. Providing extra state funding for proven reforms like smaller class sizes at lower-performing schools, QEIA and its emphasis on collaboration among educators, parents and principals is helping to make strong academic gains despite challenges from student poverty, diversity and language, the new CTA research shows.

For the 2009-10 school year alone, QEIA schools, on average, experienced nearly 50 percent higher growth on the California Academic Performance Index (API) than similar, non-QEIA schools. Also, the report shows QEIA is helping to close student achievement gaps. QEIA schools are making “greater gains in API with African-American and Hispanic students, English Language Learners, and socioeconomically disadvantaged students” than comparable lower-performing schools, the report concludes.

“It’s clear from this initial success that QEIA and its emphasis on proven reforms like smaller class sizes, additional counselors, better training for teachers and principals and parental involvement is paying off for our most at-risk students,” said David A. Sanchez, president of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association. “Sustained intervention works. When schools are given the resources and assistance

Family Engagement: Beyond Random Acts

Family Engagement: Beyond Random Acts

Family Engagement: Beyond Random Acts

by Bill Tucker

The Harvard Family Research Project’s new brief, “Beyond Random Acts: Family, School, and Community Engagement as an Integral Part of Education Reform,” is a must read for both educators and policymakers. Powerfully, the brief takes on a number of important memes:

• It chides reformers for overlooking or minimizing the impact of family engagement, noting that “research repeatedly correlates family engagement with student achievement, yet this strategy is rarely activated as an integral part of school reform efforts.”
• But, at the same time it dismisses the “bad parents” meme that treats disengagement as entirely the fault of parents or circumstances such as poverty. Instead, it sees engagement as a shared responsibility that schools also own — and can take active steps to foster.
• And finally, it calls for “disrupting the current state of practice” where family engagement is a warm and

UC Calls Top Administrators’ Bluff on Lawsuit Threat « Student Activism

UC Calls Top Administrators’ Bluff on Lawsuit Threat « Student Activism

UC Calls Top Administrators’ Bluff on Lawsuit Threat

by Angus Johnston

Wow.

So last week someone leaked an extraordinary letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. A group of three dozen top administrators at the University of California, writing to the UC Board of Regents, claimed that they were owed millions in new pension benefits, and threatened legal action against the university if they didn’t get them.

The dispute arose out of an obscure provision of federal tax policy that capped the administrators’ pensions. The group claim that the Regents promised in 1999 to boost their benefits if the IRS granted a waiver — that waiver was granted in 2007, but the Regents haven’t acted.

In ordinary times such a disagreement would go unnoticed by the wider public, but these are no ordinary times. California’s state government is in full meltdown, and the UC system is seeing huge budget cuts, slashing staff, and raising tuition to astronomical levels. To raise pensions by hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on the

Mike DeBonis on Local Politics - Adrian Fenty signs with speakers bureau as 'education advocate'

Mike DeBonis on Local Politics - Adrian Fenty signs with speakers bureau as 'education advocate'

Adrian Fenty signs with speakers bureau as 'education advocate'

By Mike DeBonis

Former D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has signed with a major speakers bureau, which is marketing him as a "national leader in the area of urban education reform" -- another sign that Fenty is looking to capitalize on his school-overhaul efforts in his life after the mayoralty.

Fenty has "exclusive representation" by the Greater Talent Network, a Manhattan agency that also represents dozens of high-profile folks including actor Danny Glover, former Attorney General Alberto