Thursday, January 27, 2011

Weblogg-ed » Expanding Our Reach: Engaging Parents (EduCon 2.3)

Expanding Our Reach: Engaging Parents (EduCon 2.3)

by Will Richardson

So, yesterday I tried to articulate what I think might be a new story to tell around education, one that acknowledges that schools will soon no longer be seen as the only path to learning though they can and should still play a crucial role in our children’s learning lives despite the “unbundling” of what schools have pretty much held a monopoly on for 125 years. Obviously, it’s a story that has yet to gain any traction in terms of the national or local conversations going on about schools. Everyone is yelling and screaming about doing what we currently do better, not fundamentally changing what we do. Current “reformists” don’t want real change because it would upset the business of schools in some fundamental ways. And those like Jeb Bush who are now engaging in reform talk around access to technology no doubt are driven by the $$$ that many businesses are seeing right

Deference and Bias Aren’t the Same Thing

Deference and Bias Aren’t the Same Thing Last week, the for-profit college trade association sued the U.S. Department of Education in federal court in an attempt to prevent the department from implementing the “gainful employment” regulatory crackdown on the industry. But as they ...

What Virtual Ed Can Learn from Charter Schooling National School Choice week is a good opportunity to reflect on what we’ve learned from the past twenty years of charter schooling. In “Lessons for Online Learning,” my colleague Bill Tucker and I focus on what the charter school movement can ...

Del Valle for Mayor | For All Chicago For Every Neighborhood: Miguel del Valle on Issues of Importance to the LGBT Community

7:17 AM (1 hour ago)

Miguel del Valle on Issues of Importance to the LGBT Community

by Nom de com

The ongoing work of the LGBT community to promote their own equal treatment
in daily life and under the law is one of the most important civil rights efforts of our
times. As a result, we live in a society that is more inclusive and fairer than ever
before, although there is obviously much more to be done.

As a State Senator, I consistently supported issues that are important to the LGBT
community, including the 2005 law that added protections against discrimination
in employment, housing and other areas based on sexual orientation to the Illinois
Human Rights Act. I also voted in favor of legislation establishing hate crimes based
on sexual orientation and worked to maintain funding for HIV/AIDS outreach in
minority communities when cuts were proposed.

I applaud the recent passage of state law allowing for civil unions and I believe that
government should respect the rights of same sex couples to marry.

As Mayor, I will support policies to increase equal opportunities for all people
regardless of their sexual orientation and sexual identity, including:

Publicly celebrating June, 1, 2011, the first day that a Chicago couple will be able to enter into civil union in accordance with new state law.

On an ongoing basis, I will use the “bully pulpit” of the mayor’s office to express my opinion that in accordance with the United States Constitution we need to continue working so that all levels of government need adopt a legal definition of marriage that does create “separate but equal” categories for heterosexual and homosexual couples.

Providing all benefits to domestic partners in accordance with the state civil unions law, including access

Schools Matter: New Jersey's Fat-Headed Governor Determined to Smash Teachers at Any Cost

New Jersey's Fat-Headed Governor Determined to Smash Teachers at Any Cost

by Jim Horn

After years and years of litigation, the Abbott Decision in New Jersey to establish equity in funding New Jersey schools is finally starting to have some discernible effect in narrowing the achievement canyon and the education debt to the poor.

Just in time for a morbidly-obese loudmouth bully governor to bust in to tear down one of the nation' best public school systems, albeit still largely segregated, as recent NAEP science scores verify. New Jersey was one of only two states scoring above the national average in all socioeconomic and ethnic categories at the 4th grade level.

Now LardArse Christie is snapping and screeching his way toward a showdown with the New Jersey citizenry on his plans to wage a two-front war on the schools, using both vouchers and charters.

Closing the Incarceration Gap - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Dear Diane,

It's interesting to imagine what world view drives my enemies. Reading your piece about economists provided an insight! Maybe. Most of the current members of the billionaire's club make or produce nothing. None of their friends or neighbors are in the producing classes either. I used to try to appeal to them with the book by H. Thomas Johnson and Anders Broms called Profit Beyond Measure describing why Scania and Toyota reject the kind of data-driven accountability that business has imposed on schools. They were concerned with quality—the long-term viability and impact of their products. Meanwhile, education reformers are interested only in numbers. Even what's still called "school quality review" is, in New York City at least, now taken to mean how schools use numbers.

The "smart" graduates of our "best" universities are not dreaming of producing a new and better mouse-trap. They can't point to the highways they built or the dams they designed with a proud "I made it." To be leaders of finance requires a different kind of bragging rights. Wall Street data may tell us the economy is improving even if more and more Americans face long-term unemployment and lowered wages and benefits, and public pensioners face disaster. "The economy" is an illusive concept. I used to have this New York Times headline on my refrigerator: "Employment Up, Stocks Drop."

The Answer Sheet - Parents as tigers and wimps: Cycles in child rearing and schooling

Parents as tigers and wimps: Cycles in child rearing and schooling

By Valerie Strauss

This was written by Larry Cuban, a former high school social studies teacher (14 years, including seven at Cardozo and Roosevelt high schools in the District), district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, Virginia) and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for 20 years. His latest book is "As Good As It Gets: What School Reform Brought to Austin."

The post, which appeared on his blog, refers to the book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother." Author Amy Chua writes about how she raised her children with traditional Chinese values that she extended to measures that included rejecting her kids’ homemade birthday cards for their lousy

TFA teacher gets angry response from Ackerman | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

TFA teacher gets angry response from Ackerman

by thenotebook on Jan 26 2011

by Celeste Lavin

When the young teacher attending a panel discussion about men of color and education stood up to tell Superintendent Arlene Ackerman that the School District’s constant bureaucratic requirements impeded her ability to teach, she hardly expected what happened next.

Ackerman blew up at her and, in essence, told her to quit.

“What we need are teachers who don’t make excuses,” said Ackerman. “I don’t want to hear about bureaucracy. We have always had bureaucracies…. We are looking for people who say ‘I can teach a rock to read.’… If it is not the right place for you then you should find another place to go.”

The audience of about 400 people was stunned.

The event, at the University of Pennsylvania, was hosted by Teach for America

School-house blues - Bites - Opinions - January 27, 2011 - Sacramento News & Review

School-house blues

By Cosmo Garvin
cosmog@newsreview.com
More stories by this author...

This article was published on 01.27.11.

Margaret Fortune, who was the main pitch person and superintendent forKevin Johnson’s St. Hope schools back in the day, wants to open 10 charter schools—with nearly 5,000 students—in Sacramento County over the next decade.

And she wants to short-circuit the elected boards (and teachers unions) of several local school districts by going straight to the more sympathetic board of the Sacramento County Office of Education to get approval for her schools.

Not surprisingly, the trustees at the Sacramento City Unified School District, where many of the schools would be located, along with teachers unions and some parent groups are freaking at this unprecedented move.

“This proposal will just siphon off high-performing kids, along with their ADA, without doing anything to help those schools that need it most,” said parentKate Lennox at a meeting of the SCUSD board of trustees last week.

The trustees unanimously passed a resolution asking the SCOE to reject Fortune’s application

The political education of Michelle Rhee - Ben Smith and Byron Tau - POLITICO.com

The political education of Michelle Rhee

Michelle Rhee stands off to the side as Washington Mayor Vince Gray speaks to the media. | AP Photo

Michelle Rhee was probably the only person in Washington surprised by Fenty’s defeat. | AP PhotoClose

By BEN SMITH & BYRON TAU | 1/27/11 3:40 AM EST

Michelle Rhee turned up at work last September 13 utterly stunned.

“I really did think he was going to win,” she told her staff of her boss, Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty.

VIDEO: Rhee on Students First

VIDEO: Rhee steps down

Latest on POLITICO

POLITICO 44

“Yes, we know you did,” came the reply.

Rhee was probably the only person in Washington surprised by Fenty’s defeat. Even her fiance, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, told POLITICO he saw it coming.

Rhee had already amply demonstrated that she was terrible at politics. The toast of the Washington Post editorial board for shaking up the city’s troubled school system, she now