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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Big Education Ape: 3-8-11, AM All Education Edition #WeAreWI #WIUnion

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now, Education

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Education
4lakidsnews.blogspot.com - 4LAKids Reader and Northeast Los Angeles community activist Daniel Wright writes 4LAKids: 7 March 2011 Los Angeles Voters: If you were angered in 2009 when the Los Angeles Community College Dist...

coopmike48
voices.washingtonpost.com - Here are some of the answers that teachers gave to this question: “What was one thing you wished you’d known when you started teaching?”The query was posed on the “Whole Child Blog” of ASCD, an edu...

coopmike48
saveseattleschools.blogspot.com - A good article at Crosscut by Anthony B. Robinson about the role poverty plays in education and is it being considered by ed reformers. To whit:Schools do a very good job with many kids who come p...

coopmike48
pol.moveon.org - The Republican budget would:1. Destroy 700,000 jobs, according to an independent economic analysis.2. Zero out federal funding for National Public Radio and public television.3. Cut $1.3 billion fr...

leoniehaimson
theledger.com - By RON MATUS ST. PETERSBURG TIMES Published: Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 11:06 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 11:06 p.m. For years, private-school vouchers have been criticized as a drai...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Excerpts from Florida Senate Bill – SB736 : Read it closely…. very closely « Continuing ChangeExcerpts from Florida Senate Bill – SB736 : Read it closely…. very closelyby gatorbonbcExcerpts from Fl...

coopmike48
huffingtonpost.com - Governor Scott Walker has leveled the largest assault on public education in the history of the state of Wisconsin. This is an attack on the middle class and an attack on teachers who are being tre...

mikeklonsky
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Mark Miller Letter | Solidarity WisconsinMark Miller Letterby Steve HansonThe attached letter was hand delivered to Walker and Fitzgerald's office this morning.March 7, 2011Governor Scott Walker Se...

coopmike48
joannejacobs.com - Spending on remedial classes has doubled at New York City’s community colleges in the last 10 years, in part due to a sharp rise in “triple low remedial” students who are far behind in reading, wri...

coopmike48
scholasticadministrator.typepad.com - March 7, 2011 | Posted At: 12:43 PM | Author: Alexander Russo | Category: Best of the Blogs & Pundits , Media Watch It seemed like educators were really into GothamSchools for a while. But a small...

coopmike48
ascd.typepad.com - In my article "Let Strategies Serve Literature" (Educational Leadership, March 2011), I argue that reading strategies should serve literature and not vice versa. Throughout the article, I maintain ...

coopmike48
ed.gov - Event Date 1: March 08, 2011 09:00 am - 11:00 amU.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller will give opening remarks at the Education Network Meeting for the 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperat...

coopmike48
saveseattleschools.blogspot.com - Here's the latest in the Pottergate saga from the Seattle PI. Thanks to connections in SPS I had a heads up on this but had not seen the details. (I know this information was also given to the Ti...

coopmike48
4lakidsnews.blogspot.com - LA Times Editorial | http://lat.ms/i1xzbG March 7, 2011 - We have our concerns about the implementation of California's so-called parent trigger process, which allows parents at certain low-perfor...

coopmike48
connectedprincipals.com - “The question isn’t whether you will be transparent, authentic, and real, but rather, how much you will let go and be open in the face of new technologies.” Charlene Li, Open Leadership Currently, ...

coopmike48
nytimes.com - A bipartisan group of educators and business and labor leaders plan to announce on Monday their support for a common curriculum that states could adopt for public schools across the nation. ...

coopmike48
chicagonow.com - Pressure Mounts To Ax Teacher Seniority Rules NPR: The Chicago Public Schools system tried to get rid of hundreds of teachers last year without regard to seniority -- but a judge put a stop to it. ...

coopmike48
tourdeforce360.com - Mid February 2011 and Wisconsin's State capitol becomes "ground zero" in the battle between Republicans and Democrats on the way forward, fiscally and politically in the United States. The debate h...

coopmike48
preaprez.wordpress.com - Sometimes the simplest solution is the right solution. In Michael Moore’s terrific message to Wisconsin on Saturday he stated a fact that the those who are rich and powerful want to desperately to ...

mikeklonsky
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Overflow Crowds at City College Conference Hear Call for General Strike in CaliforniaOverflow Crowds at City College Conference Hear Call for General Strike in Californiaby Doug PorterOrganizers fo...

coopmike48
nytimes.com - With states and cities going through hard times, teachers, their pensions and their unions have become big targets for budget cutters. Lawmakers in some states are trying to change teacher tenure r...

coopmike48
ed.gov - March 4, 2011 An excerpt of the op-ed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is printed below. The op-ed, in its entirety, can be found online HERE. “Every day educators across the country are chall...

coopmike48
nytimes.com - Millions of public school students across the nation are seeing their class sizes swell because of budget cuts and teacher layoffs, undermining a decades-long push by parents, administrators and po...

coopmike48
nber.org - Financial incentives for teachers to increase student performance is an increasingly popular education policy around the world. This paper describes a school-based randomized trial in over two-hund...

leoniehaimson
ednotesonline.blogspot.com - It certainly would seem to be obvious without even looking at the data. Think of the strategy. End LIFO, go after the ATRs, create lots more relatively senior ATRs by under resourcing schools selec...

leoniehaimson
palmbeachpost.com - By Dara KamPalm Beach Post Staff WriterUpdated: 11:15 p.m. Sunday, March 6, 2011 Posted: 11:09 p.m. Sunday, March 6, 2011TALLAHASSEE — Is a $2,335-a-year pay cut for the average teacher worth a $44...

coopmike48
blogs.edweek.org - When you talk Wisconsin these days, a few obvious images leap to mind: Scott Walker, collective bargaining, street protests, legislative walkouts, and the like.But lost amid the drama and demonstra...

coopmike48
boston.com - HARTFORD, Conn.—Connecticut lawmakers are considering whether to delay an ambitious slate of school reform plans, including strengthened graduation requirements and linking teacher evaluations to s...

coopmike48
act.credoaction.com - We're only a few weeks into the 112th Congress, and Republicans in Congress are already attempting to pull the plug on public media.While deciding how to fund the government for the remainder of th...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - District recommends termination for Hope Moffett | Philadelphia Public School NotebookDistrict recommends termination for Hope Moffettby Dale Mezzacappa on Mar 07 2011 Posted in Latest newsCOMMENTS...

coopmike48
nypost.com - A coalition of national education reformers is urging Gov. Cuomo to strengthen his proposal to require teacher evaluations by including a repeal of the "last in, first out" law, which requires teac...

coopmike48
joannejacobs.com - All the talk is about teachers, but school leadership makes a huge difference, notes the Hechinger Report. Of everything we’ve learned about the art and science of reforming a failing school in the...

coopmike48
dailykos.com - I have used a bank many times. I have a checking account and a savings account (although I do admit I haven't added anything to my savings account for the past fifteen years since my pay has been f...

coopmike48
dekerivers.wordpress.com - This will be fun. It is not everyday that folks with tractors get so upset about the state of…well….the state…that they bring a piece of farm equipment to the Wisconsin Capitol. Between the anger ...

coopmike48
whitehouse.gov - Advise the Advisor is a new program to help senior staff at the White House stay connected to the American people. Think of this as your direct line to the some of the President's senior advisors a...

coopmike48
host.madison.com - UW Afro-American studies staffers madison.com | Posted: Monday, March 7, 2011 6:00 am Dear Editor: As a multidisciplinary unit, the department of Afro-American studies has a track record of serving...

coopmike48
education.nationaljournal.com - Monday, March 7, 2011It's difficult to get more than 30 seconds into a conversation about education improvements before teacher effectiveness comes up. Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged governo...

coopmike48
nypost.com - Six months after the city wanted to start a pilot program to evaluate teachers at 11 troubled schools, it has yet to come to an agreement with their union on the terms. The delay is causing critics...

leoniehaimson
ednewscolorado.org - What’s churning: Gov. John Hickenlooper “started the conversation,” as he put it, on 2011-12 education funding Feb. 15 when he proposed K-12 cuts of $332 million and a higher education trim of $36 ...

coopmike48

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coopmike48 Why there's less risk in attacking teachers unions | OregonLive.com -http://goo.gl/1MhJS2 minutes ago · reply

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coopmike48 Tuesday Morning Wisconsin News Headlines - http://goo.gl/0dIwW#WeAreWI #WIUnion2 minutes ago · reply

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coopmike48 Congressman Sensenbrenner adjourns town hall meeting when protesters interrupt :: The Republic -http://goo.gl/VhaJM #WeAreWI #WIUnionabout 1 minute ago · reply

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coopmike48 How Dems are winning: Mark Miller keeps his cool, Scott Fitzgerald blows up - http://goo.gl/zCjIo #WeAreWI#WIUnionabout 1 minute ago · reply

nytimes.com - Pedro Noguera, a sociologist, is the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University. He is also executive director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education and serves on the Sta...

mikeklonsky
gothamschools.org - by Philissa Cramer News from New York City: A prized teacher’s low “value-added” score raises questions about the city’s complex algorithm. (Times) Ongoing debate over the city’s teacher evaluation...

coopmike48
ed.gov - Event Date 1: March 08, 2011 12:15 pm - 02:15 pmU.S. Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary Michael Yudin will participate in a forum hosted by Congresswoman Donna Edwards, D-Md., on th...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Tractor Rally At Wisconsin Capitol Saturday, March 12th At Noon « CAFFEINATED POLITICSTractor Rally At Wisconsin Capitol Saturday, March 12th At NoonMARCH 7, 2011tags: Scott Walker, Union busting, ...

coopmike48
education.nationaljournal.com - Monday, March 7, 2011It's difficult to get more than 30 seconds into a conversation about education improvements before teacher effectiveness comes up. Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged governo...

coopmike48
4lakidsnews.blogspot.com - By Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/eeCD28 Emilio Sanchez teaches fourth-graders at Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, a charter open 195 days a year. (Wally Skalij, Los Ange...

coopmike48
nydailynews.com - Watts/News Mayor Bloomberg conceded that school leaders were right to squirrel away a 'rainy day' fund to offset school budget cuts. Mayor Bloomberg yesterday offered new hope to thrifty principals...

coopmike48
saveseattleschools.blogspot.com - The meeting schedule for this week starts on Wednesday but there are quite a few meetings going into the weekend. All of these meetings should be interesting because of the turn of events last we...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - This Week In Education: Polling: Teachers / Teachers Unions Poll Pretty WellPolling: Teachers / Teachers Unions Poll Pretty Well "Among political elites, virtually everyone is *more* critical of te...

coopmike48
washingtonpost.com - Mayor Vincent C. Gray intends to name interim schools leader Kaya Henderson as permanent schools chancellor this week to replace Michelle A. Rhee, according to a source close to the situation.Gray ...

mikeklonsky
garyrubinstein.teachforus.org - One of the highlights of the TFA 20th anniversary summit was certainly when Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made a rousing speech at the closing ceremony. The most impressive part of his speech ...

leoniehaimson
nytimes.com - A bipartisan group of educators and business and labor leaders plan to announce on Monday their support for a common curriculum that states could adopt for public schools across the nation. ...

coopmike48
papers.nber.org - Financial incentives for teachers to increase student performance is an increasingly popular education policy around the world. This paper describes a school-based randomized trial in over two-hund...

coopmike48
nydailynews.com - Exclusive Galasso/North Jersey Media Group City schools are already down 135 arts teachers - even before the massive layoffs projected for next year, Education Department data show.Last year, publi...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Brownley to push for finance reform | Thoughts on Public EducationBrownley to push for finance reform - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess As bleak as it looks for school funding this year, the s...

coopmike48
blog.nj.com - Published: Monday, March 07, 2011, 8:00 AMNEWARK — Newark Mayor Cory Booker speaks of school reform with eloquence and passion. He is a man of deep conviction. All these — eloquence, passion, and c...

leoniehaimson
online.wsj.com - DALLAS—As Texas schools scrounge for cash to buy supplies and threaten to lay off teachers, $830 million in education funding earmarked for the state is sitting at the federal Department of Educati...

coopmike48
nytimes.com - Most reasonable people would agree that, when layoffs become necessary, teachers should be let go through objective evaluations of how well they improve student performance, and not merely on the b...

leoniehaimson
nytimes.com - No one at the Lab Middle School for Collaborative Studies works harder than Stacey Isaacson, a seventh-grade English and social studies teacher. She is out the door of her Queens home by 6:15 a.m.,...

leoniehaimson
seattletimes.nwsource.com - Seattle has a year to figure out who should be its next superintendent of schools, someone different from the last one.No one has a good word to say about the recently departed Maria Goodloe-Johnso...

coopmike48
nytimes.com - No one at the Lab Middle School for Collaborative Studies works harder than Stacey Isaacson, a seventh-grade English and social studies teacher. She is out the door of her Queens home by 6:15 a.m.,...

coopmike48

Isaac Graves: Bill Ayers And Other School Experts On Education Equality

Isaac Graves: Bill Ayers And Other School Experts On Education Equality

Bill Ayers And Other School Experts On Education Equality

As a leader within the alternative and democratic education community, I am frequently asked the question, "What is democratic education?" When I was a teenager, and at that time a recent graduate of a democratic school, I used to give a fairly dogmatic and uninviting response which included a bullet point list of requirements to be "democratic." Surprisingly, this was not an effective method to talk about what I was most passionate about. This style of communication disappeared as I grew up and my experience as an organizer and educator evolved. I learned to approach individuals humbly, listen genuinely, internalize and digest, respond gently and with care, share what is true for me, and not feel as though I needed to provide answers and solutions. I learned what I try to teach the young people in my life today -- how to meaningfully and authentically communicate and be in community with others while honoring one's own unique self and needs. When asked, "What is democratic education?" today, I am excited to share my

“The CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern Day Slavery” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“The CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern Day Slavery” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Will LAUSD layoffs be a model? | Thoughts on Public Education

Will LAUSD layoffs be a model? | Thoughts on Public Education

Will LAUSD layoffs be a model?

Districts not totally tied to seniority-based system
By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

An appeals court on Monday refused to delay a settlement that will shield children in 45 low-income schools in Los Angeles Unified from layoffs that would create havoc with their education. With a March 15 deadline a week away for teacher layoff notices statewide, the big question is whether other districts will follow the lead of Los Angeles Unified and protect their most vulnerable children as well.

Districts have a model in the deal reached between LAUSD and attorneys representing students most victimized by the yearly churn of teacher layoffs. They also have a District Court judge’s decision last year empowering them to deviate from standard seniority-based layoffs under state law when children’s right to equal educational opportunity is adversel

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD INTERVENTION ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD INTERVENTION ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Why Wisconsin Matters to ALL Workers | California Progress Report

Why Wisconsin Matters to ALL Workers | California Progress Report

Beware the Invisible Hand

By Willie L. Pelote Sr.
AFSCME

In California, the state government currently spends more than $34 billion a year paying private contractors to do jobs that civil servants can perform for half the cost. Another $900 million of taxpayer funds is wasted annually propping up the state’s failed enterprise zone program. Common sense dictates that any proposal to balance the state budget begin here.

Instead, what is being implemented in state capitals across the country are plans to eradicate traditional retirement and health care benefits for civil servants and, in some cases, to return civil servants to 19th century working conditions by eliminating their First Amendment right to assemble, organize, and bargain collectively as free citizens.

read more

Why Wisconsin Matters to ALL Workers

By Art Pulaski
California Labor Federation

I recall vividly my first union job. At the age of 16, I joined the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union as a supermarket clerk. I remember the good wages in my first paycheck and the sense of pride I felt when I received my first union card.

Back then, about a quarter of all private sector workers were union members. Collective bargaining allowed us a path to a better life. The standard of living rose, not just for those of us in a union, but even for those who weren’t.

But today, too few workers have the right to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions. Years of assaults by corporations on the freedom to join unions have taken a terrible toll.

read more

Preservation or Degradation of State Services? Let the People Speak

By California State Senator Noreen Evans

The design of California’s commemorative state quarter and the ongoing budget debate in Sacramento might seem unrelated. However, when twenty Californians sat down to deliberate upon what image would best depict the spirit of the Golden State, they settled upon the now-familiar relief of California’s founding naturalist John Muir gazing towards Yosemite’s Half Dome with a soaring condor overhead.

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The Answer Sheet - The ed report that all 'reformers' should read

The Answer Sheet - The ed report that all 'reformers' should read

The ed report that all 'reformers' should read

Here are two take-away messages for school reformers around the country that are embedded in an important new report about how the D.C. public school system is faring under the 2007 law that gave the mayor control. * The standardized test scores that have been trumpeted to show improvement in the schools cannot legitimately be used to show progress in student learning. This is true, the report says, not only for D.C. schools but for any and all other school systems that use standardized tests as a measure of achievement.



Why schools should try things not "research-based"

This was written by Raymond J. McNulty, president of the International Center for Leadership in Education, a New York-based organization that assists schools and districts in implementing organizational change. By Raymond J. McNulty In the national quest to reform our K-12 school system, a buzz phrase in schools across the country has been "research-based best practices." Who can argue against what seems to be working in the best schools in the country – and what has been proven to work in the past? With pressure to meet adequate yearly progress as required under No Child Left Behind, to use data at every turn, to help meet the needs of every child – and to do all of this on the taxpayer’s dime – schools feel the pressure to show proof that their techniques deliver results. But if we want to see real change in our schools and move the needle

NYC Educator: A Note to Ms. Isaacson

NYC Educator: A Note to Ms. Isaacson

A Note to Ms. Isaacson

Dear Ms. Isaacson,

It sounds like you're not the type to let nonsense like the "Teacher Report Cards" get you down, which is good. You probably don't even need the words of encouragement I want to offer you; it seems like your supervisor and your students have all the words of encouragement you could ever want.

From those who know you best, the children and adults with whom you work every day, we hear nothing but praise. If a mathematical formula says

More excerpts from Florida Senate Bill 736 … this is an unfunded mandate… Vote NO, tomorrow… March 9th « Continuing Change

More excerpts from Florida Senate Bill 736 … this is an unfunded mandate… Vote NO, tomorrow… March 9th « Continuing Change

More excerpts from Florida Senate Bill 736 … this is an unfunded mandate… Vote NO, tomorrow… March 9th

More excerpts from Florida SB 736 … this is an unfunded mandate…

The bill requires counties to create assessments (ie. more tests $$$) yet makes NO provision for funding.

This is what the bill requires:

So,

solidaridad: ICS phonebanking for Luis Sanchez? Conflict of interest much?

solidaridad: ICS phonebanking for Luis Sanchez? Conflict of interest much?

ICS phonebanking for Luis Sanchez? Conflict of interest much?

"We have our cake, and are eating it too." — Eli Broad (Predatory Pseudo-Philanthropist and Corporate Charter School Backer)

It doesn't take much to realize that Villaraigosa's Sanchez, whose backers and politics are identical to Flores, will treat our community with the same arrogant disdain.
Bad enough that Luis Sanchez is reactionary Philip Anschutz'scorporate candidate of choice. Even worse that Sanchez is putting his business connections and cronies ahead of the Echo Parque community's desire to make CRES #14 a public school, which is a natural considering that he hangs out in Beverly Hills tossing back cocktails with the affluent charter-voucher school jet set.

Indeed, just when you think Luis Sanchez couldn't be more unscrupulous and scandalous, he surprises with ever more deplorable acts of ignominy.

I got word over the weekend from several East Side parents that Inne

It is Not a Teacher Effectiveness Problem. It is a Poverty Problem. « Teacher Reality

It is Not a Teacher Effectiveness Problem. It is a Poverty Problem. « Teacher Reality

It is Not a Teacher Effectiveness Problem. It is a Poverty Problem.

I read an article today on CBSNews.com that profiled homeless children in America. The families that were profiled were from Seminole County, Florida, where I live and work as a teacher. I recognized the name of one of the students, Destiny Corfee, who was profiled, but couldn’t remember where I had heard that name before. I called our school counselor and she looked up the name and told me that the young 11 year old went to an elementary school in a nearby town. Then it hit me where I had heard her name.

Months ago, my children and I had made a trip to McDonalds to buy some sweet tea. It was a scorching hot day and we needed something ice-cold to drink to bring home with us in preparation for some yard work. We saw a couple sitting on a curb near the drive through. The man was holding a cardboard sign that read, “Please Help: Family of 5″. To be honest, I was initially shocked to see people there in my middle-class suburb begging for