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Thursday, April 28, 2011

Big Education Ape: 4-28-11 AM Birther of a Nation Edition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now


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bigeducationape.blogspot.com - We Party Patriots » Blog Archive » 132 Cities, 26 Townships and 16 Villages Eligible for Takeover Under Snyder’s Financial Martial La 132 Cities, 26 Townships and 16 Villages Eligible for Takeover ...

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nytimes.com - ST. PAUL — With the dust settling on legislative sessions around the country, 2011 is shaping up as one of the most consequential years in memory for changes in the way schools are run.The new poli...

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nydailynews.com - Craig Warga/News Columbia University's main campus near 116th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. West Harlem residents are angry that plans for a new public school pledged as part of Columbia Univer...

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preaprez.wordpress.com - Responding to what many have called an ethnic studies witch hunt, Tucson students took over a Tucson school board meeting today.“Just like the people of Wisconsin took a stand and said ‘enough is e...

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perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com - Bloomberg really lives in his own reality:Tavis Smiley is bringing his late-night PBS show to New York this week, and his first guest was Mayor Michael Bloomberg.The talk show host asked Bloomberg ...

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coopmike48 Mayor Daley Breaks Ground on New Back of the Yards High School - Hispanically Speaking News -http://goo.gl/1CgQV2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Separation Anxiety - Inside Higher Ed - http://goo.gl/COKyGabout 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 It's time to pass California tax hikes legislatively - California Teachers Association - http://goo.gl/7TCoQ47 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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#edu Read this paper54 MORE ARTICLES
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Fallout from evaluation of D.C. public schools - The Answer Sheet - The Washington PostFallout from evaluation of D.C. public schoolsby Valerie StraussThe following post was written by two members ...

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bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Modern School: Rick Snyder Likes It Longer, Harder, Faster and CutRick Snyder Likes It Longer, Harder, Faster and Cutby Michael DunnMichigan Gov. Rick Snyder confirmed Tuesday that he wants to impo...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Two Very Good Posts Related To School Reform | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...“The Courage To Blog With Students” The Courage To Blog With Students is an article by my Teacher Leaders Netwo...

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Education140 MORE ARTICLES
modeducation.blogspot.com - digg_url="http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2011/04/gates-broad-purchase-lausd-one-boss-at.html"; Los Angeles Unified School District new superintendent, John Deasy, has hired five new over-price...

mikeklonsky
LoHud.com - LEWISBORO — Hundreds of teachers from at least 15 school districts are protesting at John Jay High School tonight in support of local unions.The Katonah-Lewisboro Teachers Association is objecting ...

leoniehaimson
schooltechconnect.com - Here's Rev. Calvin Morris, and I should have linked to this earlier, describing the flip-side of the accountability movement: the school-to-prison pipeline. The two phenomena are inextricably conne...

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Politics30 MORE ARTICLES
blogs.suntimes.com - WASHINGTON--President Obama released his "long form" birth certificate on Wednesday, in an attempt to defuse and defang revived questions about whether he was born in the U.S. fueled lately by Dona...

mikeklonsky
preaprez.wordpress.com - Word today that the International Association of Firefighters is halting all financial contributions to the National Democrats should establish a model. It has for me.“The attacks launched at our m...

mikeklonsky
upi.com - Slideshow US Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, (R) and Libyan rebel military leader Abdel-Fattah Younis (R) tour their headquarters in their eastern stronghold city of Benghazi on April 22, 2011. McCain urge...

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Stories14 MORE ARTICLES
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Happy birthday, FSP! « Failing SchoolsHappy birthday, FSP!APRIL 28, 2011by SabrinaToo often our first inclination when we learn a lesson, gain a new insight, have an awareness, or glimpse a new tru...

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cbsnews.com - (CBS News) LONDON - Except for the crowds and the gowns and the jewelry - on a certain level royal weddings over the years are like many others. But royal weddings are different in one special way...

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beinglatino.wordpress.com - by Rosie Galvez A couple of months ago, a good friend and I were having a conversation about happiness. She stated that being happy is only a momentary feeling or emotion. She did not believe it’s ...

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baycitizen.org - Dave Jones, California's insurance commissioner, can deny rate increases requested by auto and life insurance companies. But his office has never had the authority to say "no" to health insurers wh...

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tulsaworld.com - Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said minorities earn less than white people because they don’t work as hard and have less initiative.“We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that’s tra...

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firstfocus.net - HomeNewsSurvey Shows Protecting Children’s Programs in the Federal Budget is Voters’ Top Priority April 26, 2011 Contact: Katie Peters202.657.0685 (office)202.445.4312 (mobile)KatieP@firstfocus.net...

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Health1 MORE ARTICLES
womensenews.org - Embolism is a major danger of pregnancy. But recent data from New York City finds black women dying from it in numbers that are startling, given the well-known interventions. A disparity in health ...

coopmike48
msnbc.msn.com - WASHINGTON — A simple checklist that parents fill out in the waiting room may help doctors someday screen for warning signs of autism as early as a baby's first birthday. Don't miss these Health st...

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sacramentopress.com - Sacramento’s Fruitridge Health & Wellness Collective (FHWC) is inaugurating its 5-year pledge to UC Davis Health System, pledging $50,000, which will be distributed evenly between UC Davis Health S...

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nytimes.com - NORWALK, Conn. — The tale outlined outside court by the defendant’s supporters had a heartbreaking story line — a child tossed out of school, a homeless mother charged with felony theft for the cri...

coopmike48
modeducation.blogspot.com - digg_url="http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2011/04/mumia-death-sentence-ruled.html"; (Image by jcrakow)Mumia Abu-Jamal won a new lease on life Tuesday when the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ...

coopmike48
northjersey.com - TRENTON — A former Rutgers University freshman who prosecutors say used a webcam to spy on his roommate's same-sex encounter will be arraigned next month on hate crime charges. AP This West Windsor...

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Developing Better Teacher Evaluation Systems - High School Notes (usnews.com)

Developing Better Teacher Evaluation Systems - High School Notes (usnews.com)

Developing Better Teacher Evaluation Systems

By U.S. News Staff

Posted: April 28, 2011

Print

With many states passing merit-pay laws, finding a good method to evaluate educators is imperative. A new report from The Brookings Institution a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, says a way to accurately judge student progress, or a teacher's "value added," needs to be developed, and these systems need to be uniform among school districts. Many school districts that evaluate teachers currently put a 50 percent weight on principal or administrator evaluations of teachers, and the remaining 50 percent on teacher "value added," typically measured through student test score improvement.

I talked with Grover Whitehurst, director of Brookings' Brown Center on Education Policy, about states' decisions to revamp teacher pay and the future of teacher evaluation systems.

With many states moving toward merit-pay systems, is there a sense of urgen

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News | www.kochwatch.org

News | www.kochwatch.org
This Modern World: Conservabot Returns! CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
Michigan Messenger: Detroit pension systems challenge Emergency Manager law Experts disagree on chances of success *April 21, 2011-* Benton Harbor may be the first city in the state to be completely taken over by an Emergency Manager under a new law that grants such appointees nearly unlimited power over local governments, ...
Market Watch: New Civil War erupts, led by super rich, GOP *Commentary: ‘Shock Doctrine,’ Reaganomics trigger explosive class war* *March 22, 2011-* *Yes, “there’s class warfare, all right,” warns Warren Buffett. “But it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Yes, the rich are ...
Real News Network: Draconian Michigan Bill Promoted by Major Corporations WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
Rachel Maddow: on what the GOP actually thinks of Really Really Really Big Government WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
Thom Hartmann: I'll bet you didn't see this Palin on "Face the Nation" WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
NYT: Op-Ed: The Republican Threat to Voting *April 26, 2011-* Less than a year before the 2012 presidential voting begins, Republican legislatures and governors across the country are rewriting voting laws to make it much harder for the young, the poor and African-Americans — groups that ...
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bill affects more than voter ID Absentee ballots limited, primary date moved in new GOP version *April 26, 2011-* The latest version of a bill requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls would make sweeping changes to Wisconsin elections - moving the September primary to August, ...
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Fallout from evaluation of D.C. public schools - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Fallout from evaluation of D.C. public schools - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Fallout from evaluation of D.C. public schools

by Valerie Strauss

The following post was written by two members of a committee that authored a report released last month by the National Research Council on evaluating D.C. public school reform under Michelle Rhee. They are Robert Hauser, executive director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Research Council, and Christopher Edley, dean of the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

The report, called “A Plan for Evaluating the District of Columbia’s Public Schools: From Impressions to Evidence ,” concluded that the standardized test scores that have been trumpeted to show improvement in the D.C. schools under Rhee provide limited information about the causes of improvements or variability in student performance.

Duncan gets a gift of omission

by Valerie Strauss

Education Secretary Arne Duncan just appeared at a forum on how to redo the law known as No Child Left Behind and he got a gift from Montgomery County Public Schools Chancellor Jerry Weast.

It wasn’t a traditional gift, but rather, a gift of omission.

The forumon Wednesday was held at John F. Kennedy High School, where about 75 county officials, students, parents and others gathered for a session that is part of a tour around the country Duncan is taking to talk about reauthorizing NCLB, formally known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

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Two Very Good Posts Related To School Reform | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Two Very Good Posts Related To School Reform | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
“The Courage To Blog With Students” The Courage To Blog With Students is an article by my Teacher Leaders Network colleague Marsha Ratzel that is a “must-read” for any teacher using blogs with their students, or considering the idea. It appears in Education Week: Teacher Magazine. I’m ...
Two Very Good Posts Related To School Reform Here are two very good posts applicable to school reform issues that have appeared recently: In a Data-Heavy Society, Being Defined by the Numbers is by Alina Tugend at The New York Times. I’m adding it to The Best Resources Showing Why We Need To ...
Special Edition Of “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t” I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post about in this blog but, just because of time constraints, have not gotten around to doing. Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a few and list them here with ...
The Best Resources For Learning About The “Achievement Gap” A piece at the Huffington Post today titled “A Test: Why Was the Black-White Gap Closing When It was Closing?” reminded me of a post I wrote awhile back. Its headline was Surprise, Surprise! Study Finds Achievement Gap Progress Stops In Eighties ...
“Yahoo Sells Delicious To YouTube Founders” As you might have heard already, there are changed coming to Delicious, the social bookmarking application. You can read all about it at TechCrunch, Yahoo Sells Delicious To YouTube Founders. And, if you haven’t already received an email from ...
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4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: May 24th Day of Action Parents & Community: “WAKE UP, CALIFORNIA”

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: May 24th Day of Action Parents & Community: “WAKE UP, CALIFORNIA”

LOS ANGELES UNIFIED IS ACADEMIC DECATHLON’S STAR STUDENT: The nation's troubled second-largest school system doesn't get a lot of respect — except when it comes to the Academic Decathlon. By Rick Rojas, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/kCg5Sk Members of the Granada Hills Charter High School Academic Decathlon team join hands in celebration upon their return to school after winning the 2011 State Academic Decathlon in Sacramento. (Mel ...
CAN JOHN DEASY FIX HUNTINGTON PARK HIGH? LAUSD superintendent faces his first test at a disastrous, fractured school By Jason S. Mandell | L.A. Weekly | http://bit.ly/lULMUk Thursday, Apr 28 2011 - Two weeks ago, as John Deasy took over as superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for tearing up the teachers' union ...
LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE FORUM IN EAGLE ROCK MAY 4 Please Join Us for LAUSD School Board Runoff Election Candidates Forum With Candidates Bennett Kayser & Louis Sanchez Running for District 5 School Board Member in the election on May 17 ...

May 24th Day of Action Parents & Community: “WAKE UP, CALIFORNIA”

Hello from the Educate Our State team:

Yesterday, we hosted a great call with over 50 excited and engaged parents and community members asking how they can help bring awareness to the budget crisis facing our schools and apply pressure on the state legislature to support public education funding. The call was the kick-off meeting for“Wake Up California!” a day of action organized by Educate Our State.

On Tuesday, May 24th events will be held to “Wake Up California!” to the disaster facing public education. Parents are planning rallies in front of schools and in city squares while others are working on larger scale plans with speakers and maybe even a local celebrity. All with the same message to our legislators: Save public education funding! Support our schools!


Are you interested in getting involved? Want to host an event? Please email us (info@educateourstate.org) and we’ll invite you to the next planning conference call on Tuesday, May 3rd at 8:30am.

“Wake Up California!” event details:

  • On Tuesday, May 24, 2011 local rallies are in the works in Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Diego, Lafayette, Santa Cruz, Long Beach, Modesto and many many more!
  • Detailed information is available on our website at www.educateourstate.org
  • Email us at info@educateourstate.org to get involved and follow us on facebook for updates.
  • Can’t attend? Donate $10 to support the planning and execution of these events at www.educateourstate.org/donate-now.

Together we can “Wake Up California!” and let our voices be heard.

Thank you,

Educate Our State

www.educateourstate.org

www.facebook.com/educateourstate

Twitter: Educateourstate

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Education reform effort targets achievement gap | California Watch

Education reform effort targets achievement gap | California Watch

Education reform effort targets achievement gap

by Ellen Huet

CEFutcher/istockphoto.com

A new federal education commission aimed at reforming school financing recently launched its public outreach with a first stop in California.

The 27-member Equity and Excellence Commission, established in February, is focused on closing the achievement gap that separates poor, mostly black and Latino students from their more affluent, largely white peers. It hopes to raise public awareness and generate discussion, with the goal of getting more money to those

Poll: Fears of school cuts stir support for budget plan

by Chase Davis

joe goldberg/Flickr

Fear of teacher layoffs and other cuts to public schools is leading a majority of Californians to support some combination of spending cuts and taxes in order to close the state's $26 billion budget gap, according to aPublic Policy Institute of California poll released today.

A majority of likely voters – 61 percent – support the general framework of Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to fill the budget hole with a combination of spending cuts and new revenues. But the poll also shows an electorate that is still very divided over what those revenues should be.

A majority of adults opposes raising sales and income taxes, but more than two-thirds of adults support raising

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Counterintuitive, or just dumb? - Bites - Opinions - April 28, 2011 - Sacramento News & Review

Counterintuitive, or just dumb? - Bites - Opinions - April 28, 2011 - Sacramento News & Review

Counterintuitive, or just dumb?



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


This article was published on 04.28.11.


The Sacramento City Unified School District is getting ready to fire hundreds of teachers, cut sports programs and end school-bus transportation. Still, it continues to add top managers.
Despite the fiscal crisis, SCUSD Superintendent Jonathan Raymond wants to go ahead with plans to hire a new assistant superintendent of education information technology as well as an assistant superintendent of capital asset management. Each will make somewhere between $105,000 and $132,000.
District officials point out that these technically aren’t new positions—but were created by eliminating a position here, moving some money around there.
Still, Bites wonders about the need for plum positions like the new information-technology job, which sounds a lot like czar of test-score tracking.
“As I’m sure you are aware, maintaining accurate student data—that aligns with statewide and federal standards—is critical to both improving student learning and accurate reporting to the
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The Associated Press: Indiana lawmakers OK broadest voucher plan in US

The Associated Press: Indiana lawmakers OK broadest voucher plan in US
Indiana lawmakers OK broadest voucher plan in US

(AP) – 15 hours ago

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana will create the nation's broadest private school voucher system and enact other sweeping education changes, making the state a showcase of conservative ideas just as Gov. Mitch Daniels nears an announcement on whether he will make a 2012 presidential run.

The Republican-controlled state Legislature handed Daniels a huge victory Wednesday when the House voted 55-43 to give final approval to a bill creating the voucher program that would allow even middle-class families to use taxpayer money to send their children to private schools.

Unlike other systems that are limited to lower-income households, children with special needs or those in failing schools, Indiana's voucher program will be open to a much larger pool of students, including those already in excellent schools. Families would have to meet certain

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The Question Not Asked In Charter School Controversy Then and Now « City School Stories

Reflections: Then and Now « City School Stories

Reflections: Then and Now

by fmurphy

The Question Not Asked In Charter School Controversy

Submitted by Frank Murphy, April 28, 2011

The current controversy that surrounds the School District’s plan to convert Martin Luther King High School into a charter school is raising questions about the ethics of school reform. For many years, the media message has been that our public schools are failing us and they need to be overhauled. The solution most often offered for this stated problem is to privatize public schools and services. In so doing, the advocates of this strategy claim, the competitive nature of free market forces will compel schools to either improve or close.

What the corporate reformers don’t mention as they pitch their school makeover plans, is the profits they stand to make. Suave entrepreneurs and corporations who manage to gain control of public school funds guarantee for

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Tax the wealthy to fund schools | Thoughts on Public Education

Tax the wealthy to fund schools | Thoughts on Public Education
Tax the wealthy to fund schools - by Kathryn Baron Most Californians are worried that additional cuts to public schools will hurt the quality of education, but they don’t have much faith in the Legislature to solve the problem. A new survey by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) found that ...
New UC role: Grow career tech - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess Instead of just weeding out career technical courses, Sen. Darrell Steinberg wants University of California educators to plant some career tech seeds and cultivate them. That’s not something that the UC system, with a lingering bias against applied ...
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Worried About Budget's Toll on Schools, Most Californians Favor Income Tax Hike—But Only for Wealthiest | California Progress Report

Worried About Budget's Toll on Schools, Most Californians Favor Income Tax Hike—But Only for Wealthiest | California Progress Report

Worried About Budget's Toll on Schools, Most Californians Favor Income Tax Hike—But Only for Wealthiest

by megan

By Public Policy Institute of California

SAN FRANCISCO, April 27, 2011—Most Californians are very concerned that the state's budget deficit will result in cuts to public schools, the area of the budget they most want to protect, according to a statewide survey released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), with funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. To maintain current funding for K–12 education, a strong majority favor raising income taxes for the wealthiest Californians, but most oppose raising the state sales tax or personal income taxes overall.

With California leaders at a standoff over how to fill the state's $26 billion budget gap, strong majorities of

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NYC Educator: New Network for Closing Schools: Uh, Thanks?

NYC Educator: New Network for Closing Schools: Uh, Thanks?

New Network for Closing Schools: Uh, Thanks?

by Miss Eyre
Chancellor Walcott yesterday announced the formation of new "Children First" networks that would specialize in giving guidance to schools that are about to be closed.

Just that sentence alone ought to give you pause. I know it had that effect on me.

Schools that are being phased out have typically been troubled by a variety of challenges. In many cases, these schools have not received adequate support for these challenges despite asking for it many times, sometimes over the course of years. The strange case of P.S. 114 is one that shows that, despite steady improvement in test
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Happy birthday, FSP! « Failing Schools

Happy birthday, FSP! « Failing Schools

Happy birthday, FSP!

APRIL 28, 2011
by Sabrina

Too often our first inclination when we learn a lesson, gain a new insight, have an awareness, or glimpse a new truth is to judge ourselves– for not seeing it sooner, not knowing it before, or being in denial too long. That’s not necessary. It’s not appropriate. We’re not at fault because we didn’t have this awareness or understand this lesson until now.

We don’t need to see the truth one moment before we see it. Judging ourselves for not

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