Rahm's Too Big to Fail?
Friday, February 4, 2011
Innaharda, ehna kullina Misryeen! “Egypt is NY!” « Fred Klonsky's blog
Innaharda, ehna kullina Misryeen! “Egypt is NY!” « Fred Klonsky's blog
Innaharda, ehna kullina Misryeen! “Egypt is NY!”
I was down on the floor doing my morning crunches. I don’t usually watch Morning Joe on MSNBC, but I was hoping to see some pictures from Cairo. Instead I heard Chris Matthews say he was ashamed to be an American because we are deserting our friend.
His friend is Hosni Mubarak.
Whether or not the US is deserting Mubarak remains to be seen. But I watch the Egyptians, maybe a million, in Liberation Square, and I know that they are my friends.
Not Hosni Mubarak.
Innaharda, ehna kullina Misryeen!
Today, we are all
Shanker Blog » A Quality-Based Look At Seniority-Based Layoffs
Shanker Blog » A Quality-Based Look At Seniority-Based Layoffs
A Quality-Based Look At Seniority-Based Layoffs
Eliminating seniority-based layoffs is a policy idea that is making the rounds these days, with proponents making special appeals to cash-strapped states and districts desperately looking for ways to save money while minimizing decreases in the quality of services. Mayors, editorial boards, and others have joined in the chorus.
There’s a few existing high-quality simulations that compare seniority-based layoffs with one alternative – laying off based on teachers’ value-added scores (most recently, one analysis of Washington State and another using data from New York City; both are worth reading). Unsurprisingly, the simulations show that the two policies would not lay off the same teachers, and that the seniority-based layoffs would save less money for the same number of dismissals (since the least experienced teachers are paid less). In addition, the teachers laid off
Support the People of Egypt Now « Bill Ayers
Support the People of Egypt Now « Bill Ayers
Support the People of Egypt Now
The US government must break its ties to the dictatorship in Egypt. As courageous Egyptians are being bombarded with US tear gas and other Made-in-the-USA weapons, US officials hypocritically call for peace and a peaceful transition. Just this week they “discovered” Mubarak is a dictator, but the US gives $1.3 billion a year of our tax dollars to Hosni Mubarak. The US has give Egypt $68 billion since 1948, and since 1979, Egypt has been the second- biggest recipient of US aid after Israel. This US aid to Egypt includes military weapons that have been used to suppress the people and silence any opposition, and during the last few days against peaceful protesters.
Join human rights groups around the world in calling upon the US government to stand on the right
ASCD Inservice: Character Education for the Digital Age
ASCD Inservice: Character Education for the Digital Age
Character Education for the Digital Age
That's the question Jason Ohler poses in "Character Education for the Digital Age'.
Current policy norms--blocking large portions of the internet in schools or fragmented, case-by-case approaches to cyberbullying and inappropriate online activities--treat students as if they live two lives: the traditional, digitally unplugged life at school, and the digitally-infused life outside of school.
We're missing an enormous opportunity to help students live one, integrated life, by not using
LAUSD's vote on Public School Choice program to be delayed by three weeks - LA Daily News
LAUSD's vote on Public School Choice program to be delayed by three weeks - LA Daily News
LAUSD's vote on Public School Choice program to be delayed by three weeks
Posted: 02/03/2011 07:09:51 PM PST
Updated: 02/03/2011 07:12:41 PM PST
Results of the community vote in Los Angeles Unified's Public School Choice program will be delayed by three weeks to coordinate with the district's recently revised schedule, officials said Thursday.
The League of Women Voters, which is overseeing the vote of parents, students and residents, said the results will be announced Feb. 24 or 25, instead of today as originally planned. The group's decision came on the heels of an announcement by Superintendent Ramon Cortines that he was delaying his own recommendations.
The nonbinding election will help the LAUSD board decide who should control a dozen campuses, including new high schools planned for Granada Hills and San Fernando. Various charter operators, nonprofit organizations
My Philosophy, Part 2011 | The Jose Vilson
My Philosophy, Part 2011 | The Jose Vilson
My Philosophy, Part 2011
Jose Vilson, Beyond 2011
Recently, Chuck Klosterman wrote an exceptional article on contemporary writer legend Jonathan Franzen in GQ Magazine, where Klosterman devotes a significant amount of time to Franzen’s perceptions of himself and people’s perceptions of him. He prefaced the entire article with this fantastic description of Franzen: “Important is a problematic word, particularly when prefaced by the modifier most and especially when prefaced by the modifier only. To classify a man as important is very different from merely calling him great, because an important person needs to matter even to those who question what he’s doing.” He writes later:
GQ: “What’s the least accurate thing anyone has written about you?”
JF: “I don’t read much about myself. I learned my lesson after spending ninety ill-advised minutes Googling myself once in the fall of 2001. I think the whole “Franzen is a spoiled elitist” thing was wrong, although not without a kernel of truth. I do lead a privileged life. I do believe some books are
Myth of Failed School Reform, Part 2 | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Myth of Failed School Reform, Part 2 | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Myth of Failed School Reform, Part 2
Practitioner time. If media time (see previous post) often looks like speeded-up frames from 1920s films, then think of practitioner time as slow motion. One example should suffice.
As computers spilled into schools during the 1980s, news media carried stories of an imminent revolution in teaching and learning. Districts bought machines like popcorn, placing them in classrooms and labs.
In schools saturated with computers, some teachers were using machines for lessons a few hours a week. Even after media predictions of an impending revolution in teaching and learning, however, most teachers remained
Autism rate triples among K-12 students | California Watch
Autism rate triples among K-12 students | California Watch
Autism rate triples among K-12 students
Special education students with autism in California have more than tripled in number since 2002, even as overall special education enrollment has remained relatively flat, according to an analysis of state education data released yesterday.
More than 680,000 students – 11 percent of all California public school students – are enrolled in special education. The number of students diagnosed with autism climbed from 17,508 in 2002 to 59,690 in 2010, the
ERN at PEP Hearing; Klein, Romero « DFER Watch
ERN at PEP Hearing; Klein, Romero « DFER Watch
ERN AT PEP HEARING; KLEIN, ROMERO
The New York Times’ Barbara Martinez writes about the PEP’s decision to close a number of schools in NYC (at least 10 and likely 22). She writes:
Hundreds of protesters descended on Brooklyn Thursday, laying bare the deep philosophical divide that has become central to the Bloomberg administration’s education policy: whether the city should fix failing schools or shut them down.
Gotham Schools live blogged the meeting. ERN distributed a flier in favor of school closures and the opening of
Poll: Chancellor Black has far to go to win back public | GothamSchools
Poll: Chancellor Black has far to go to win back public | GothamSchools
Poll: Chancellor Black has far to go to win back public
A Marist College poll released this evening shows that new Schools Chancellor Cathie Black has less public support than her predecessor, Joel Klein, did when he took the job eight years ago.
Current poll results show that 21 percent of registered New York City voters think that Black has done a good or excellent job of handling of the public schools. When Quinnipiac University first surveyed the public on Klein in 2003, a month after he took office, its results showed that 46 percent of New Yorkers approved of him.
The two sets of poll numbers aren’t a perfect comparison, as the Marist poll found that 35 percent of New
Rise & Shine: Cuomo sympathetic to ‘last in, first out’ critiques
- Gov. Cuomo made comments that imply sympathy to calls for changing seniority layoff rules. (Post)
- The Panel for Educational Policy voted to close 12 more schools. (GS, Times, DN, Post, NY1, WSJ)
- Parents are pushing for more comprehensive action on the presence of PCBs in schools. (Times)
- The principal of Staten Island’s PS 30 threatened to fine teachers who were late due to weather. (Post)
- The television show “Glee” has drawn new voices to youth choirs. (Times)
- California parents moved one step closer to converting their school into a charter school. (L.A. Times)
- Both sides in the education war are right, and both can be unfair, a columnist says. (Washington Post)
- A conflict with chef Jamie Oliver caused Los Angeles to bar reality TV shoots in schools. (L.A. Times)
- Ed tech types say Joel Klein’s NewsCorp endeavor is hardly assured success. (EdWeek)
Queens Teacher: The DOE’s School Closings and the Parthenon Report
Queens Teacher: The DOE’s School Closings and the Parthenon Report
The DOE’s School Closings and the Parthenon Report
The DOE’s School Closings and the Parthenon Report
By
Ron Isaac
The eyes of the Department of Education are on our children. More to the point, they have our kids in their sights. It’s not that they’re watching the backs of our most vulnerable kids. It’s that they’ve drawn targets on them.
The DOE is sabotaging these children’s schools. It’s an incremental and bureaucratic setup, but a dastardly conspiracy just the same. With mindless premeditation they are closing down schools and thereby shutting out the rights and dreams of children.
By
Ron Isaac
The eyes of the Department of Education are on our children. More to the point, they have our kids in their sights. It’s not that they’re watching the backs of our most vulnerable kids. It’s that they’ve drawn targets on them.
The DOE is sabotaging these children’s schools. It’s an incremental and bureaucratic setup, but a dastardly conspiracy just the same. With mindless premeditation they are closing down schools and thereby shutting out the rights and dreams of children.
NYC Educator: The Party's Over
NYC Educator: The Party's Over
Cathie Black and Mayor Bloomberg's rubber stampers at the PEP met with a raucous welcome last night at Brooklyn Tech. Amidst cries of "Black must go," "Bloomberg must go," and other chants of an even less complimentary nature the fake school board went about its business of pretending there were decisions to make. Of course, everyone in the auditorium knew all the decisions had been made long ago, just as everyone knew at Deputy Chancellor John White's phony hearing at Jamaica last week.
The first speaker was an unforgettable Tony Avella, the NY State Senator elected with the UFT's help. Tony was the only Democrat in the state to beat a sitting Republican, and he asked why on earth a hearing over Jamaica High School's future would be in Queens. Of course it was to keep the community out, as they're
The Party's Over
The first speaker was an unforgettable Tony Avella, the NY State Senator elected with the UFT's help. Tony was the only Democrat in the state to beat a sitting Republican, and he asked why on earth a hearing over Jamaica High School's future would be in Queens. Of course it was to keep the community out, as they're
Thursday, February 3, 2011
School Report Cards Coming in Late Once Again - voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled: The Education Blog
School Report Cards Coming in Late Once Again - voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled: The Education Blog
- School Report Cards Coming in Late Once Again
Report cards that detail test scores, expulsion rates, teacher salaries and other information on San Diego Unified schools are tardy once again, making it harder for them to serve their supposed purpose.
Under state law, the reports are supposed to be done by February to help parents make decisions about where to send their children to school. Parents in San Diego Unified are supposed to submit applications soon if they want their child to go to another school, instead of just sticking with their neighborhood school.
- Read the rest of this article
3Feb
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- Point Loma Talks Charter Schools
Hundreds of parents, teachers and principals packed the Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma last night to hear a panel discuss a provocative question: Are charter schools a better way?
The Union-Tribune summed up the event well in its article. If you want more of the play-by-play on everything from tenure to how charters are funded, you can also read the tweets by me and others at the event, including Point Loma teacher Jennifer Roberts and parent blogger Paul Bowers, under the hashtag #plcs.
- Read the rest of this article
3Feb
Schools Matter: Join NAACP President Ben Jealous and Thousands of Marchers in Raleigh Feb. 12
Schools Matter: Join NAACP President Ben Jealous and Thousands of Marchers in Raleigh Feb. 12
National NAACP President Ben Jealous will be back in Raleigh a week from Saturday. His presence is meant to focus the 5th annual HK on J march on the issue of school resegregation, with the Wake County battle over
Join NAACP President Ben Jealous and Thousands of Marchers in Raleigh Feb. 12
National NAACP President Ben Jealous will be back in Raleigh a week from Saturday. His presence is meant to focus the 5th annual HK on J march on the issue of school resegregation, with the Wake County battle over
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