Wednesday, February 2, 2011

AM Edition: Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Wednesday, Feb. 02, 2011
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

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nydailynews.com - Exclusive Lombard for News Brandeis High School's campus just went through a pricey upgrade, but the Education Department plans to spend another $3 million on renovations for charter schools in the...

leoniehaimson
quickanded.com - With state finances in disarray, we need to have honest conversations to ensure that budget cuts do the least harm possible. But that’s not possible unless we can even broach a conversation about c...

coopmike48
nydailynews.com - Exclusive Galasso/North Jersey Media Group Almost a year after the state found that thousands of city students were not getting the language help mandated by law, the city still does not have a pla...

DianeRavitch
mathequality.wordpress.com - Following President Obama’s recent declaration that by the year 2020 the U.S. will have the largest proportion of college graduates in the world, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) launched a we...

DianeRavitch
mayoraltutorial.com - The six candidates for Mayor did not spring fully formed like Athena from the heads of their television commercials and financial supporters. (If you don’t know who Athena is or whose head she fell...

DelValle4Mayor

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#edu Read this paper38 MORE ARTICLES
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - A petition for a charter school system aimed at improving the academic achievement of African American students in Sacramento County drew hundreds of supporters and opponents to a lengthy meeting T...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 — WINTER 2010As a special introduction to our website, the text of the entire winter issue of Rethinking Schools is accessible here, free of charge. If you aren’t already a membe...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - In 1990, Seymour Sarason published The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform. A decade later, Diane Ravitch’s Left Back:A Century of Failed School Reforms hit booksellers. Now, not a week goes ...

coopmike48
Media8

DelValle4Mayor

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DianeRavitch
Education139 MORE ARTICLES
gothamschools.org - A few weeks ago I sat in the library at Christopher Columbus High School and listened to a Department of Education official explain to our confused and upset parents that closing our school would a...

DianeRavitch
gothamschools.org - Attendees lined up outside Brooklyn Tech for tonight's Panel for Educational Policy meeting. We’re stationed right now at Brooklyn Technical High School, where the Panel for Educational policy is m...

leoniehaimson
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Over at EdWeek, Stephen Sawchuk recently wrote an article about teacher evaluation and assessment, titledWanted: Ways to Assess the Majority of Teachers. The article provides an informative look at...

coopmike48
Politics11 MORE ARTICLES
huffingtonpost.com - How about some tougher questions for Rahm?Some day we may learn the real story of how deep-pockets Rahm Emanuel and his powerful political patrons were able to swing that unanimous state Supreme Co...

mikeklonsky
hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - This week, the Republican-backed Hispanic Leadership Network is hosting a conference in South Florida to “provide a unique opportunity for center-right leaders to speak with—and more importantly li...

coopmike48
toped.svefoundation.org - By Not knowing what will happen in four months, most school districts are building two budgets for next year: the good one, if voters in June agree to extend $11 billion in temporary taxes, and the...

coopmike48
Living10 MORE ARTICLES
huffingtonpost.com - An African-American convicted of a low-level drug crime in Cook County is eight times more likely than his white counterpart to face prison time for it, according to a new report released yesterday...

mikeklonsky
suntimes.com - Study: Racial disparity in drug sentences By Stephen Di Benedetto Staff Reporter Feb 1, 2011 02:36AM SPRINGFIELD — African Americans in Illinois convicted of low-level, drug-possession charges face...

mikeklonsky
latimesblogs.latimes.com - Teen pregnancies in California have reached a record low, according to a new state report, and experts attribute the reduction to sex education, the poor economy and possibly even reality televisio...

coopmike48
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Stories5 MORE ARTICLES
beinglatino.wordpress.com - by Adriana Villavicencio Young Latinos have the highest rate of interracial relationships, more than double the percentage of African Americans and almost three times more than whites. This makes s...

coopmike48
preaprez.wordpress.com - Snow Day By Billy Collins Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,Its white flag flying over everything,the landscape vanished,not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,and beyond these window...

coopmike48
beinglatino.wordpress.com - by AJ Rodriguez Santerรญa: A syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin, also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla Lucumi, or Lukumi. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yoruba, is also k...

coopmike48
Business2 MORE ARTICLES
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Put your ear to the ground and you can almost hear the bulls stampeding. The Dow closed above 12,000 Tuesday for the first time since June 2008. The Dow is up 4 percent this year after increasing 1...

coopmike48
hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - Administration and Private Sector Campaigns will promote entrepreneurship and innovationIn his State of the Union Address, President Obama laid out a plan for winning the future by out-innovating, ...

coopmike48
democraticunderground.com - Toyota offers buyouts to California (629 managers) employees Edited on Tue Feb-01-11 09:11 PM by Omaha Steve Source: Reuters(Reuters) - Toyota Motor Co (7203.T) said on Tuesday that it had offered ...

coopmike48
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This Week In Education: AM News: Harvard Report Slams "One-Size" Education System

This Week In Education: AM News: Harvard Report Slams "One-Size" Education System

AM News: Harvard Report Slams "One-Size" Education System

by Alexander Russo

image from scholasticadministrator.typepad.comStudy: Students need more paths to career success AP: The current U.S. education system is failing to prepare millions of young adults for successful careers by providing a one-size-fits-all approach, a Harvard University study published Wednesday concludes... Critics say top-rated Chinese education system has a flaw AP: Critics say the Chinese education system, though tops in test-taking, has a shortfall in producing students who are innovative and creative... Public High Schools Compete For President To Deliver Commencement Address AP: Obama will speak at the winning school's graduation, as he did last year at Michigan's Kalamazoo Central High School... Reps. Kline and Miller Talk ESEA EdWeek: It is looking more and more like the Senate will be the first to move on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act... SLC schools to drop year-round schedule Salt Lake City Tribune: A district survey at five of the six schools found that 80 percent of parents and 86 percent of employees favor the year-round format... Student gets assault charge for blowing pellets AP: A high school freshman who hit classmates with plastic pellets blown from a tube has been suspended and charged with assault in Virginia....

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NJ Spotlight | Looking Beyond Educators for Prospective School Superintendents

NJ Spotlight | Looking Beyond Educators for Prospective School Superintendents

Looking Beyond Educators for Prospective School Superintendents
The state Board of Education begins crafting guidelines for bringing candidates over from the private sector to serve as school superintendents

print | |
By John Mooney, February 2 in Education |1 Comment

Gov. Chris Christie has proposed opening up school superintendent jobs to candidates who are not educators.

Related Links

Proposed Alternate Certification Regulation

Today, weather permitting, the state Board of Education is expected to dig into the details of that proposal, with a preliminary regulation likely to come up for a vote.

As part of a broad package of school reforms, Christie has proposed that the path to being a school superintendent be opened to those in the private sector.

He has targeted the proposal to districts that the administration has deemed underperformers, citing low test scores and monitoring results. According to the latest draft, it would encompass 57 districts in all.

A Pilot Program

After the board raised some initial questions last month, among the key changes would be making

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Is Teach for America worth $8 million? | School Zone | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Is Teach for America worth $8 million? | School Zone | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Is Teach for America worth $8 million?

A study released Tuesday was supposed to help state lawmakers decide whether the nonprofit Teach for America — which provides 1,000 teachers to Houston ISD and other Texas schools — is worth the state's $8 million investment. The report, prepared by the Education Research Center at the University of Texas at Dallas, didn't directly answer the question — researchers said data was limited and a full cost analysis would be unwieldy — but it does provide some insight.

The researchers found much lower retention rates among the Teach for America recruits, with only a quarter remaining in Texas classrooms after six years, but they found the TFA

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Race key issue in charter schools' discussion - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Race key issue in charter schools' discussion - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Race key issue in charter schools' discussion

By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1B

A petition for a charter school system aimed at improving the academic achievement of African American students in Sacramento County drew hundreds of supporters and opponents to a lengthy meeting Tuesday.

By late Tuesday, Sacramento County Office of Education trustees had not voted on whether to approve Margaret Fortune's proposal for 10 charter schools located throughout area school districts.

Dozens of supporters, many of them wearing orange Fortune School shirts, said something needs to be done about the achievement gap between African American students and their white counterparts.

"The time is now," several speakers said.

Critics lined up to voice concerns about whether the Fortune schools are essentially reinstating



Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/02/3370472/race-key-issue-in-charter-schools.html#ixzz1Co74odNd
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Rethinking Schools Online

Rethinking Schools Online

VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 — WINTER 2010
As a special introduction to our website, the text of the entire winter issue of Rethinking Schools is accessible here, free of charge. If you aren’t already a member of Rethinking Schools, we hope a look at the exciting and thought-provoking articles in this issue will inspire you to join.

COVER STORIES • SAVING OUR SCHOOLS FROM $UPERHEROES
The outpouring of critique and activism that greeted the release of Waiting for “Superman” was a response not only to a misleading movie, but also to more than a decade of destructive policies and political rhetoric that is hurting our schools, our students, and our communities. Grassroots activists from New York to California turned out with picket signs, leaflets, and truth squads. Rethinking Schools’ Not Waiting for Superman website drew more than 15,000 positive responses in two weeks.

Our cover stories trace the politics and money behind this effort to “reform” public education out of existence.

Superhero School Reform Heading Your Way • Now Playing in Newark, NJ
By Stan Karp

The Ultimate $uperpower • Supersized Dollars Drive Waiting for ‘Superman’ Agenda
By Barbara Miner

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PTA Calls For Changes In “Parent Trigger” | Engaging Parents In School...

PTA Calls For Changes In “Parent Trigger” | Engaging Parents In School...
PTA Calls For Changes In “Parent Trigger” The President of the California PTA has written a piece calling for major changes on how the “parent trigger” law is implemented. Here’s an excerpt from Jo A.S. Loss’ column, Strengthen and straighten out state’s parent empowerment process: *Here’s ...
Great Resources From “Parent Involvement Matters” I’ve previously posted about an excellent resource for parent engagement/involvement issues — an organization called Parent Involvement Matters. They’ve just published their monthly email newsletter, and it’s chock-full of great stuff.
“Parental Engagement in Middle and High School” The Parent Information Resource Center in Iowa has a nice report from a conference titled “Parental Engagement in Middle and High School.” It provides useful research results and helpful suggestions.
New Resources On Groundhog Day Today’s Groundhog Day, and I’ve just made these new additions to The Best Resources For Groundhog Day: CNN has several Groundhog Day related videos. Groundhog Day: Can Groundhogs Really Predict Spring? is a video from How Stuff Works. Can our furry ...
Connect With “Sister” Classes Through Rafiki Rafiki is a new (to me, at least) site that connects teachers, students, and classes to others around the world. I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Find Other Classes For Joint Online Projects.
“U.S. Late To The Party On School Lunch Makeovers” U.S. Late To The Party On School Lunch Makeovers is the title of an NPR article and slideshow showing and describing school lunches from around the world. I’m adding the link to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures.
Just When I Thought English Central Couldn’t Get Any Better…. English Central is, in my mind at least, clearly the most useful site for English Language Learners that’s on the Web. It’s on a zillion of “The Best…” lists, usually ranked number one. It was really difficult to believe that they could get any ...
“Interview With A Robot” Interview With A Robot is the title of a New York Times video where a reporter intervews a disembodied head of a robot. I’m adding the link to The Best Sites To Learn About Robots.
Private Foundations, English Language Learners & My Continued Skepticism Over the past year, I’ve written some fairly visible critiques of both “progressive” private foundations (see Private Foundations Have A Place (And Have To Be Kept In Their Place) ) and “non-progressive” private foundations (see Gates Foundation ...
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Modern School: The Bipartisan (and Union) Assault on Tenure

Modern School: The Bipartisan (and Union) Assault on Tenure
The Bipartisan (and Union) Assault on Tenure Last year, President Obama called for teachers to be rewarded for their “effectiveness,” a call he repeated last week in his State of the Union address. He propped up these calls with Race to the Top (RTTT), which offered states large bribes (which he ...
LA School COP: Oops, My Bad, I Shot Myself Look Officer, Use A Toy Gun Next Time (by coralinetheblue) Jeffrey Stenroos, the LAUSD Police Officer who shot himself recently, prompting the lockdown of nine Los Angeles area schools, has told investigators that he accidentally shot himself. LAPD ...
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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Why compare Ohio mom to Rosa Parks?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Why compare Ohio mom to Rosa Parks?

Why compare Ohio mom to Rosa Parks?

by Mike Klonsky

After last night's Twitter discussion with some of my favorite folks, including Nancy Flanagan and David Cohen, I posted this comment in response to Nancy's post, "Equal Access: Rosa Parks, Lite" on her Teacher in a Strange Land blog at Edweek.

******

Good post Nancy.

Valerie Strauss (my favorite ed columnist) was wrong to make the comparison between Williams-Bolar and Rosa Parks. It sounded patronizing and wasn't helpful. Who among us could live up to that standard?

Of course, when white, advantaged parents seek out the "best school" for their kids (often as far away from impoverished and isolated communities as possible) they are within the law. Why? The law, as it was 55 years ago when Mrs. Parks took her famous bus ride, reinforces, (now de facto), segregation, or as Jon Kozol calls it,
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Irvine 11 update: 6 students subpoenaed for Grand Jury « Occupy UCI!

Irvine 11 update: 6 students subpoenaed for Grand Jury « Occupy UCI!

Irvine 11 update: 6 students subpoenaed for Grand Jury

by Mr. F

Carol Sobel, an NLG attorney representing the Irvine 11, has told the press that 6 Muslim students have been summoned to testify before a Grand Jury. It is still unclear whether these 6 are part of the group of 11 that were arrested for heckling Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech at UCI on February 8, 2010, or if they are other students connected to the Muslim Student Union.

A rally outside the Orange County District Attorney’s office in Santa Ana February 1 drew about 40-50 UCI students, faculty, and alumni, and community members including Christian and Muslim religious leaders and Jewish activists. Student organizers called on the District Attorney to end criminal proceedings against the 11, and warned that charges would set new precedents for the criminalization of dissent.

The question of whether the protest is “free speech” is moot. Free speech at UCI is so limited that numerous campus rules must be broken to enter one’s views into the public form, and clearly any speech that challenges the dynamic and asymmetry of power on campus can result in arrest if not criminal charges. Especially in this case, when we take into consideration the aerial assaults on Gaza, the innumerable arrests of Palestinian

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The Myth of Failed School Reform, Part 1 | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Myth of Failed School Reform, Part 1 | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Myth of Failed School Reform, Part 1

by larrycuban

In 1990, Seymour Sarason published The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform. A decade later, Diane Ravitch’s Left Back:A Century of Failed School Reforms hit booksellers. Now, not a week goes by that failures of public school reform are dissected, tallied, and trotted out as exhibits for wannabe reformers. The next two posts re-frame school reform as looking at different clocks. Clocks?

In some upscale hotels over the registration desk, clocks show times across the globe. Different time zones alert travelers to what time it is in the city they wish to call.

There are such clocks for school reform also. Different reform clocks record the different speeds of reform talk, policy adoption, what happens in classrooms, and what students learn. Were these clocks in public view, policymakers, administrators, practitioners, and researchers would see that changes in policy talk and action

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The Answer Sheet - Should Obama be commencement contest prize?

The Answer Sheet - Should Obama be commencement contest prize?
Obstacles to better school counseling -- and what to do about it This was written by Patrick O’Connor, past president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling and author of "College is Yours in 600 Words or Less." By Patrick O'Connor Parents and students don’t realize that most school counselors ...
Should Obama be commencement contest prize? Just like he did last year, President Obama is holding a contest for public high schools with himself as the prize. Obama will deliver the commencement address at the winning school. The contest is officially called “Race to the Top High School ...
Arlington principal resigns: Read the letter Kathleen Francis, principal of Williamsburg Middle School, announced her resignation Tuesday in an open letter to the school community that criticized the county superintendent. Read it below and Arlington Public Schools' response farther down. The ...
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School Tech Connect: Hats off to Public Transit

School Tech Connect: Hats off to Public Transit

Hats off to Public Transit

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)
Image stolen from here.
Only the unsung heroes of the CTA could keep the trains running through Snowzilla. And that's exactly how we made it up to Evanston tonight to the join the reduced ranks of intrepid Shelby Lynne fans at S.P.A.C.E. When the management kindly announced that we were welcome to take the reserved tables abandoned by no-shows, we pounced. All I can say is that she came onstage with John Jackson tonight and
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Strengthen and straighten out state’s parent empowerment process | Thoughts on Public Education

Strengthen and straighten out state’s parent empowerment process | Thoughts on Public Education

Strengthen and straighten out state’s parent empowerment process

Posted on 2/01/11 • Categorized as Parent Trigger

By Jo A.S. Loss

Recent events at McKinley Elementary School in the Compton Unified School District have brought to light flaws in the state’s new parent empowerment or “trigger” law. This law must be fixed immediately so that the actual process for empowering parents is as worthy as the goal.

Using the new “trigger” provision, parents at McKinley were asked to sign a petition to turn their low-performing school into a charter school to be run by an outside organization. Unfortunately, this first real-world application of the new trigger provision has deeply divided the school’s community and pitted well-meaning parents against each other.

The most empowering part of the new law: It allows a petition to be circulated among parents at chronically low-performing schools that calls for a specific turnaround strategy, thereby

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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: "The status quo today is not good..."

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: "The status quo today is not good..."

"The status quo today is not good..."

by Mike Klonsky
Diane Ravitch on The President's Speech
The status quo today is not good. For 10 years we have pursued the heavy-handed mandates of No Child Left Behind, with meager results. Now with Race to the Top and the Obama administration's "blueprint," we appear ready to impose failed ideas on yet another generation of children. This obsession with testing, ranking, grading, evaluating, measuring, labeling, and sorting students has nothing to recommend it. The winners continue to win, and the losers
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EdVoices- Teachers Talking! « Diary of a Public School Teacher!

EdVoices- Teachers Talking! « Diary of a Public School Teacher!

EdVoices- Teachers Talking!

by Oldschoolteach
It’s funny, but teaching is a profession where it seems that everyone’s opinion is important, except the teachers. It almost seems as if our opinion, our knowledge, our experience, doesn’t really matter. We need to be heard. We need to have a voice. We need a place where teachers can share and discuss all things education. EdVoices was created by NEA (National Education Association) to be a site where “bloggers committed to improving public education” share fresh
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NYC Educator: NY State Gets Priorities Straight

NYC Educator: NY State Gets Priorities Straight

NY State Gets Priorities Straight

by NYC Educator
Governor Andrew Cuomo has a 70% approval rating. This, of course, is because of his incredible judgment. How wise of Mr. Cuomo, facing a 10 billion dollar deficit, to let a millionaire's tax expire, thus losing a billion dollars. After all, those millionaires need that money. Mansions don't grow on trees, and good help is hard to find. Sometimes people demand money to work, and if the geniuses in Florida don't reverse Obama's health plan, they may even be
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Who Evaluates Teachers, and Why? « InterACT

Who Evaluates Teachers, and Why? « InterACT

Who Evaluates Teachers, and Why?

by David B. Cohen

Over at EdWeek, Stephen Sawchuk recently wrote an article about teacher evaluation and assessment, titledWanted: Ways to Assess the Majority of Teachers. The article provides an informative look at various ways that teachers, their unions, administrators and districts can join together to improve teacher evaluation. Those of us at Accomplished California Teachers welcome any focus on developing robust teacher evaluation systems that serve all teachers, and involve teachers in their design and implementation. That kind of approach represents some of the core thinking in our teacher evaluation report from last year.

In the comments section on that article, I engaged with another commentator, John Mierzwa, from Las Vegas, whose first comment began:

The answer is ridiculously simple: let their bosses (principals and vice-principals) craft and conduct performance assessments, and then hold their employees (teachers) accountable according to a district-wide progressive reward/discipline matrix. High performers will be recognized and rewarded

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