Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Low scores, low priority for science | Thoughts on Public Education

Low scores, low priority for science - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess There was a collective shrug last month with the announcement of the abysmal results in the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress science test. California students tied for dead last, with 43 other states scoring higher. It was depressing ...

Opportunity gap widens when schools shortchange science - by Robert Schwartz With the current state of public education, students are having their choices for post-secondary education and training limited as early as kindergarten. The highest paid, fastest growing jobs over the next decade are in STEM-related fields, according ...

Truth in labeling in California: If it’s not hands-on, it’s not science - by Peter AHearn A high school in my area decided this year that they would not do science fair any longer. Science fair used to be a requirement for honors biology classes. It was what made an honors class different from a regular biology class. One of the main ...

Update: More About Payne - District 299: Chicago Public Schools Blog

Update: More About Payne

by Alexander Russo

UC/file

Charles Payne

Last week's post about the appointment of Charles Payne as CAO generated lots of concern and even anger among commenters about Payne's U of C connections and his academic field of sociology but, having listened to this audio tape of a recent speech Payne gave (yes, at the UofC) made me think Payne isn't necessarily the person that people might think he is. He's informal rather than snooty. He's helping with the Englewood promise zone initiative. He talks

Conference touts union-district cooperation | EdNewsColorado

Conference touts union-district cooperation

by Rebecca Jones

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addresses the school labor-management conference meeting in Denver.

Two Colorado school districts with innovative labor policies – Denver and Douglas County – share a national stage this week as representatives from 150 school districts nationwide meet in Denver for a conference on advancing student achievement through labor-management collaboration.

The by-invitation-only two-day conference, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education, is a first. Districts attending had to agree to send representatives from their school board, their administration and their teachers’ union.

“I would be the first to acknowledge that labor and management are going to have their differences,” U.S.

Schools take deepest Hick cuts

by Todd Engdahl

In this article

Saying he had to go where the money is, Gov. John Hickenlooper has proposed cutting K-12 spending in 2011-12 by $322 million from current levels.

Funding of state colleges and universities would drop by only about $28 million from this year to about $519 million.

If approved by the legislature, the cuts would drop school spending to 2007-08 levels and reduce average per

The Answer Sheet - 4 concerns about Michelle Rhee

4 concerns about Michelle Rhee

This was written by Larry Ferlazzo, who teaches English at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California, and prior to that, a community organizer for 19 years. He is the author of Building Parent Engagement In Schools and writes two blogs, including one on Engaging Parents In School. He is a member of the Teacher Leaders Network. By Larry Ferlazzo A local magazine here in Sacramento is doing a big story on former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, who, apart from Gov. Jerry Brown, might be Sacramento’s most famous newest resident. The writer asked if I would be willing to answer a few questions... Here's a summary of how I responded when he asked what I thought of the policies that Rhee and her allies in the “school reform” movement are promoting. I responded by saying that I had four main concerns: 1) During her 3 1/2 year tenure

U of California Student Regent Arrested, But No Charges Filed « Student Activism

U of California Student Regent Arrested, But No Charges Filed

by Angus Johnston

The student member of the University of California’s Board of Regents was arrested in November on charges of sexual battery, UC Irvine student newspaper New University reported today, but no charges have been filed in the case.

Student Regent Jesse Cheng, a fifth-year undergraduate at Irvine, is a little more than halfway through his one-year term as a voting member of the Board of Regents.

According to New University, a UCLA grad student contends that Cheng “attempted to rape her in his off-campus apartment on Oct. 3 after she said no to his advances.” She reported the incident to police in late October, and

School Tech Connect: The More People See Him...

The More People See Him...

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

...the more they like him. Here's the big ad:

Looks to me like he's going to be focused on the basics for final days of the campaigns, and for a lot of people the issues in that ad are the basics. I was listening to Miguel on some radio station the other day, and he was talking about the Chicago parking situation and describing his desire to re-open the grotesque parking contract

Dog Don't Hunt

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

Just a little fun with Scout out in the back yard. By the way, if you haven't uploaded to Vimeo in a while, it's pretty cool. Very, very easy to establish all your licensing and permissions and what all.

Dog Don't Hunt from Tim Furman on Vimeo.

NYC Educator: I'm Shocked, Shocked

I'm Shocked, Shocked

by NYC Educator

Just as Claude Raines was, I'm amazed that Educators 4 Excellence, funded by Bill Gates and Joel Klein's new plaything, Education Reform Now, has submitted its shocking conclusions to Mayor Bloomberg. Who would've thunk they'd tell Mayor Bloomberg to just do whatever he wanted to do?

After all, the mayor would have done whatever he felt like anyway. Certainly that goshdarn term limits law, twice affirmed by city voters, had to go when the richest man in New York City decided he needed a third term as mayor. And that awful Board of Education was out of the question, since it contained independent voices that might not tell him to do whatever he wanted to do.

Schools Matter: Koch Brothers and Grover Norquist Could Get Wisconsin Governor Recalled

Imagine Teacher Fired for Bumper Stickers From Channel 12 Phoenix: Dave Safier over at BlogForArizona has more on this story. H/t to him for his ongoing commentary/coverage of Imagine and Arizona politics.

Koch Brothers and Grover Norquist Could Get Wisconsin Governor Recalled Today tens of thousands marched and yelled in Madison, and thousands more took to the streets this evening after teaching all day. Hundreds of high schoolers walked out in support of their teachers, and a Recall Scott Walker movement has been ...

You can try to sit at the table. But be ready to stand up too. « Fred Klonsky's blog

You can try to sit at the table. But be ready to stand up too.

by Fred Klonsky

WEAC President Mary Bell tells what happens when Wisconsin teachers tried to sit at the table.

NYC Public School Parents: Bayard Rustin on the importance of class size

Bayard Rustin on the importance of class size

by Leonie Haimson

Bayard Rustin (1912 –1987) was an American civil rightsactivist, important largely behind the scenes in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and earlier. He is credited as the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (from Wikipedia)

Rustin also gave a renowned speech in 1964 in Santa Barbara, entitled "Negro revolution in 1965." The whole speech is worth listening to, but one of the topics he spoke about was class size in NYC public schools. He thus is one of many brilliant individuals who realized the importance of this issue, along with Maimonides, John Dewey, and Kurt Vonnegut. Here is an excerpt:

The school system of this country is a bad school system for many reasons, but one of the reasons in our large cities, take Harlem for an example, teachers teach three sessions within the regular

Question and Answer Session on #LoveforPublicEd (Freire Strikes Again) | The Jose Vilson

Question and Answer Session on #LoveforPublicEd (Freire Strikes Again)

by Jose

Paulo Freire

Here’s the question from @kandeezie:

How does a particular perspective (e.g. Feminism, Anti-Racism, Critical Pedagogy) critique the functioning of schooling in society?

My answer?

Well, any perspective you take, whether revolutionary or not, changes what your definition of schooling should

The DNA of the Principalship: Conflict and Guilt in the Genetic Code | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The DNA of the Principalship: Conflict and Guilt in the Genetic Code

by larrycuban

The genetic code of the principalship is written in the instructional, managerial, and political roles that each school leader must perform daily*.

Venn diagram of 3 overlapping roles

These overlapping and competing roles create a dilemma of identity: Am I a manager, a politician, or instructional leader? If I am all three, which do I do best? Which do I need to do more? Reconciling the conflicting demands of these overlapping roles is the daily task that principals wrestle with silently. Because these are familiar, I will describe them briefly.

Instructional role. Historically, the title of “principal” comes from the phrase “principal teacher,” that is, a teacher designated by a school board to manage the non-classroom tasks of schooling a large number of students and

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Sights and Sounds from Tuesday's Wisconsin State Capitol Rally

Sights and Sounds from Tuesday's Wisconsin State Capitol Rally

by Mike Klonsky

Vacuuming | Mr. Teachbad's Blog of Teacher Disgruntlement

Vacuuming

by mrteachbad

I walked out of my school this afternoon, breathed in the fresh, cool air and thought about where to stop for a snack before going home. It’s a busy street that joins other busy streets, with lots of people and traffic and stores. It’s perfect if you like those things. If you don’t, it could be rather off-putting.

I saw a student of mine who graduated last year. I crossed the street and ran a bit to catch up with him….I thought he saw me. Maybe just ignores me because it’s not cool….or maybe I’m just a narcisist, thinking I’m worthy of being ignored and all. But would he really just ignore me?

(Maybe he would. But, on the other hand, as I am sitting here writing this in a notebook and eating my fries, three boys who were embarrassed when I said ‘Hi’ to them earlier have just stopped to say ‘good-bye’ to me on

The Awesome Panel Discussion at The Ford Foundation, on The Future of Teaching | The Jose Vilson

The Awesome Panel Discussion at The Ford Foundation, on The Future of Teaching

by Jose

Excerpt:

Teacher voice is critical in any discussion about education. Whether we’re in our schools or in think tanks, the progress we make as educators depends highly on whether the experts within the classroom can determine the parameters of their professionalism individually and collectively. Some people fear this, wondering whether too much teacher voice will elicit petulant jabber or

Schools Matter: Not off to a promising start

Not off to a promising start

by skrashen

Sent the NY Post, Feb. 15, 2011

The New Relay School of Education: Not Off to a Promising Start

The new Relay School of Education ("Charters get own education graduate schoool," Feb. 15) appears to demand hard evidence of effectiveness by graduates: They must show that the students they teach have increased their standardized test scores, known as "value-added" evaluation.

A number of studies show that value-added evaluations have serious problems: Different tests produce different value-added scores, and teachers' value-added ratings vary from year to year, sometimes quite a bit.

Also, it is possible to game the system and produce increases in test scores just by teaching test-taking

10,000 union members surround the Wisconsin Capitol. Rumblings in Indiana. « Fred Klonsky's blog

10,000 union members surround the Wisconsin Capitol. Rumblings in Indiana.

by Fred Klonsky

Two and half hours north of Chicago, Madison, Wisconsin is ground zero in the fight to save the rights of those who work in public service.

But just across the border in Hammond, Indiana there are rank-and-file teachers who are talking about defying a state ban on teacher strikes.

Teachers in Indiana are being threatened with laws that could alter their rights to negotiate, revise teacher

Education Action Group leader blasted in Huffington Post for "fib" he calls "regrettable" | MLive.com

Education Action Group leader blasted in Huffington Post for "fib" he calls "regrettable"

Published: Friday, March 26, 2010, 9:00 PM Updated: Friday, March 26, 2010, 10:38 PM

By Dave Murray | The Grand Rapids Press
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The Education Action Group’s Kyle Olson is used to firing sharp criticism at teachers unions, but he was lambasted by a Huffington Post columnist for a “fib” that Olson calls “regrettable.”

The leader of the Muskegon-based activist group also contributes to Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government news Web site, and went to New York to interview sociologist Frances Fox Piven her about her book “Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America.”

Piven and late husband Richard Cloward are famous for their 1966 article in The Nation that proposed organizing the poor to pressure the federal government.

Peter Dreier, whom Olson has criticized for his links to ACORN, wrote on the Huffington Post that Olson lied to Piven in order to get her to consent to the interview

Claves para entrar al "college" Es el momento - Educacion, Becas, Universidades, Aprendizaje

Es el momento - Educacion, Becas, Universidades, Aprendizaje

Claves para entrar al "college"

Muévete y evita la obesidad

Muévete y evita la obesidadLet´s Move cumplió su primer aniversario vs la obesidad

NYC Public School Parents: Public funding for most charter schools exceeds district public schools

Public funding for most charter schools exceeds district public schools

Today, a new report from New York City’s Independent Budget Office was released, showing that during the 2009–2010 school year, per pupil public spending for general education students enrolled in NYC co-located charter schools significantly exceeded public spending for students at district public schools. The difference was about $650 per student. About two thirds of charter schools in NYC fall under this category and are given free space in city school buildings.

This analysis, which corrected the estimates made in an IBO report last year, did not take into account the large private subsidies that many charter schools receive.

Nor did it account for the fact that charter schools tend to enroll fewer high needs students than the communities in which they are located, including fewer students from families living below the

Miguel del Valle for Mayor--Eureka Chicago

Del Valle for Mayor | For All Chicago For Every Neighborhood: Miguel del Valle for Mayor--Eureka Chicago

Miguel del Valle for Mayor--Eureka Chicago

by Joanna2011

From Eureka Chicago, 2.15.2011

Cuando llegué a Chicago, yo tenía cuatro años. Mi familia se estableció en el lado noroeste, y yo recuerdo que una de las primeras familias latinas en el barrio.

Cuando llegué aquí, no hablaba ni una palabra de Inglés. Me senté en la parte posterior de varias aulas Escuelas Públicas de Chicago sin la ayuda de la educación bilingüe. Un maestro, cuando yo tenía seis o siete años, me asignó para jugar y, a finales de año, me ha fallado. Esos recuerdos han dado forma a mi enfoque de la política pública. Cuando se convirtió en senador estatal en 1986, mi primer discurso centrado en la educación bilingüe.

Cuando hablo, pues, acerca de programas después de clases, sobre el aumento del número de Centros Comunitarios de Aprendizaje en un 50%, estoy reflexionando sobre mi propia vida. Pienso también, sin embargo, acerca de la gente que he conocido a lo largo del camino.

Chicago está listo para la reforma. He conocido a tantos padres que envían a sus hijos a las escuelas fuera del

It's Time for Reform in Chicago

by Joanna2011

From Huffington Post, 2.15.2011

by Miguel del Valle

On February 15, I released a new TV advertisement. The ad is on Chicago's major TV stations during their 10:00 news broadcasts.

The ad draws on this campaign's major themes: that the City of Chicago has fostered an oppressive climate for residents in the neighborhoods, and that we have the opportunity, on February 22, to do something about it.

Chicagoans can take this city in a new direction. We know that, yes, it's time, Chicago is ready for reform.

I have raised three beliefs central to this campaign:

We know the City is trying to balance its budget on the backs of Chicagoans.

A parking boot for two tickets older than one year, a $100 fine for a right-hand turn a

Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Education Action Group leader blasted in Huffington Post for "fib" he calls "regrettable"

Published: Friday, March 26, 2010, 9:00 PM Updated: Friday, March 26, 2010, 10:38 PM

Public funding for most charter schools exceeds district public schools