Thursday, May 5, 2011

Register Now: Healthy School Communities Virtual Conference « Whole Child Education

The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education

Register Now: Healthy School Communities Virtual Conference

May 4th, 2011 by Healthy School Communities

Register today for the first-ever Healthy School Communities Virtual Conference, May 10–13, 2011.Take part in this free online conference to learn more about health and learning. Join Healthy School Communities staff, mentor and mentee sites, ASCD authors, invited speakers, and guests to find out more about what’s working across the United States and Canada and share health and learning stories, including best practices for sustainability and how to meet all areas of coordinated school health.

Session Topics:

Aligning health and education in school
Improving school lunches
Nutrition
Physical activity and physical education
Social/emotional and mental health
The Healthy School Communities model

Featured Presenters and Partners:

Kymm Ballard, Partnership Development Specialist, SPARK
Charlene Burgeson, Executive Director, National Association for Sport and Physical Education
Mike Rulon, Faculty Cadre, Healthy School Communities
JoEllen Tarrallo-Falk, Executive Director, Center for Health and Learning
Brian Wansink, Professor, Cornell University, and author of Mindless Eating
Gloria Wells, Executive Director, Wellsprings Education and Human Service Consulting

Healthy School Communities Mentor Sites Presenters:

Batesville Community School Corporation—Jim Roberts, Superintendent, and Andy Allen, Associate Principal
Iroquois Ridge High School—Deb Robinson, Principal, and Sarah Severin, Parent Engagement
Orange County School District— Melissa Denney, Counselor, and Wendy Stewart, Social Worker
Pottstown School District—Angela Tuck, Principal, and Bridgette McWiggins, School Nurse
T. C. Howe Community High School—Jamie Buffington, Special Education Teacher

Registration is FREE and will be open through the last day of the conference, May 13, 2011. Register now!Space is limited for each session. Preview the session schedule, and learn more about Healthy School Communities.

Middle Grades Roundup

May 4th, 2011 by Klea Scharberg

Ah, middle grades … A complex, challenging, and confusing time in adolescence. Also a complex, challenging, and confusing age for adults to support and develop! In April we looked at the crucial importance of this childhood stage. Supporting students as they transition physically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially is key to ensuring that they are successful and healthy in high school and beyond.

Listen to the Whole Child Podcast with guests Al Arth, a professor of education at York College in Nebraska

What Arne Duncan was (maybe) thinking in his letter to teachers - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

What Arne Duncan was (maybe) thinking in his letter to teachers

by Valerie Strauss

My guest is Aaron Pallas, professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He writes the Sociological Eye on Education blog—where this post first appeared—for The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, non-partisan education-news outlet affiliated with the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media.

Read full article >>

UCLA students came close to finding bin Laden

by Valerie Strauss

Five students at the University of California at Los Angeles and two geography professors actually came close to figuring out where Osama bin Laden was hiding more than two years before he was killed by U.S. special forces.

How did they do it? According to the university’s website, students taking a class called “Rmote Sensing in the Environment” used remote sensing data, high-resolution satellite imagery and an analysis of life characteristics to figure out where he was most likely to be hiding.

Professors Thomas Gillespie and John Agnes developed a probability model that pointed to to a Pakistani city 230 miles from Abbottabad, the place where bin Laden was actually located on Sunday. The model nevertheless predicted that “there was an 88.6 percent chance that Bin Laden would be found in the area where Abbottabad is located,” the website said.

Read full article >>

This Week In Education: Washington: A Coming-Out Party For Mitch Daniels (R-IN)

Washington: A Coming-Out Party For Mitch Daniels (R-IN)

by Alexander Russo

Indiana's Mitch Daniels' vouchers, charters, and tenure reform wins will likely have an influence over the education debate whether or not (as I suspect) he runs for President in 2012:

A Potential Candidate in No Rush for a Race NYT: He went out of his way to praise Mr. Obama’s education policies, saying he wanted to “salute and commend” the administration... Daniels wants piece of 2012 policy

AM News: US Chamber Tries To Revive Education Role

by Alexander Russo

Chamber pushes GOP-backed reforms for schools Washington Times: The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee plans to introduce a bill before summer... US students show poor grasp of civics basics NYT: Fewer than half of US eighth-graders knew the purpose of the Bill of Rights on the most recent national civics exam... Questions, confusion in classrooms over bin Laden AP: It was a day of infamy they don't remember... For Next Chief of Newark Schools, Hard Choices NYT: If she is approved, Cami Anderson faces choices about how to use a $200 million windfall to help address problems... Ohio student drowns, 2 swept to sea in Costa Rica AP: An Ohio teenager on a school mission trip to Costa Rica drowned in a riptide Wednesday and two of her classmates were swept to sea, officials said... Seattle schools to send out 70 pink slips Seattle Times: Seattle Public Schools plans to send layoff notices to about 30 teachers and 40 other school employees... Two Students Plead Guilty in Bullying of Teenager Boston Globe: Two of six students in South Hadley, Mass., who were charged with bullying Phoebe Prince before her suicide last year have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges... Texas teacher on leave over bin Laden comment AP: A Southeast Texas school has put a teacher on leave pending an investigation into an allegation that he asked an American-born Muslim student if she was grieving because her "uncle" had died... Why Obama is reading up on High Tech High Union Tribune: These days, the biggest source of pride among students and teachers is their chance to have President Barack Obama deliver their graduation speech next month.

Anti-charter bill runs into trouble | Thoughts on Public Education

Anti-charter bill runs into trouble
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Charter could be denied based on financial impact

Posted on 5/05/11 • Categorized as Charters

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

A bill sponsored by the California Teachers Association to radically change the state’s charter school law and give districts unappealable power to reject charter petitions failed towin majority support of the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday.

That doesn’t mean the end of AB 1172, but its author, Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, a Democrat representing Whittier and Norwalk, will have to make changes he so far hasn’t agreed to if it’s to stand a chance. Only two Democrats on the 11-member committee voted to support the bill.

The bill, which raised the charter community’s threat alert from orange to red, would make three major changes. It would:

Enable a district for the first time to reject charters based on the district’s financial

Jersey Jazzman: Teacher Bashing = Woman Bashing

Mission Accomplished President Bush Reacts to Osama Bin Laden's Death with Will Ferrell from Will Ferrell

The New Kleptocracy They are just shameless: New York City’s Department of Education already has contracts with Wireless Generation — a Brooklyn-based education technology company — but the timing of this latest one is bound to cause a stir, fairly or not. About six ...

Deep Reformy Thoughts Governor Chris Christie says the only purpose of the teachers union is to protect bad teachers. But "bad" teachers pay the same in union dues as "good" teachers. Why would the union care if a "bad" teacher was replaced with a "good" teacher? In fact, ...

Teacher Bashing = Woman Bashing When you hear a corporatist reformer like Chris Christie go on about how there is "greed and excess" in the schools, or that teachers have "me first" attitude, keep in mind two things: 1) 3 out of 4 public school teachers are women. 2) Women make 78 ...

NYC Educator: Citizenship in an Era of Standardized Testing

Citizenship in an Era of Standardized Testing

by Miss Eyre

As someone who loves history and civics, I was saddened (though hardly surprised) to note that most American students failed a recent standardized civics exam, and the civics exam scores are better than those in history. I can't say I'm surprised, though. When I taught middle school humanities, social studies was easily the class that got shortchanged the most in terms of instructional time. Social studies classes were, it seemed, expendable. My students received only four periods a week, compared to five periods of science and eight periods each of math and English.

We are certainly reaping what we have sown. In an era in which we are more consistently being misled by people in power, a discerning and critical mind applied to questions about the life of a citizen is absolutely necessary. I think I've done and continue to do my part, but, as I observed earlier this week, it's not something that one teacher can do alone.

"During the past decade or so," says Charles N. Quigley, executive director of the Center for Civic

Kimble's Corner: Jack Kimble (Courageousness)

Jack Kimble (Courageousness)

by Representative Kimble

My decision to make an add buy last week targeting Obama for being soft on terror was probably a bad idea in retrospect, but the buy allowed me to put together a new forward looking commercial with a positive message for voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

Indiana’s Destructive Education Reform Plan :: Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action

Indiana’s Destructive Education Reform Plan

by TeacherSabrina

The following was written by parent advocate and Organizing Committee member Natalie Schwartz.

Indiana’s Destructive Education Reform Plan

By Natalie Schwartz

Indiana touts its “Putting Students First” education agenda, but the state’s detrimental education reform package puts politics first and students last.

“Indiana legislators have succeeded in passing the most comprehensive education reform package in the nation,” the Indiana Department of Education announced in a press release on Friday. “Today marked the end of the 2011 legislative session, and every component of the state’s ‘Putting Students First’ education agenda has either been signed or awaits the governor’s pen.”

Indiana’s education reform plan demonstrates that the people making decisions about our children’s education

Conference For Education This Saturday At Pasadena City College - Perdaily.com

Conference For Education This Saturday At Pasadena City College

by Leonard Isenberg

This Saturday, May 7
Student & Teacher Conference

Education is a Right!

Saturday, May 7, 12 noon - 4pm
Pasadena City College, Creveling Lounge
1570 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena 91106
Creveling is near the corner of Colorado & Hill
Metro Gold Line Stop: Allen
Directions Metro & Bus Campus Map & Parking

Video: Join students and teachers at a fight back conference for education this Saturday

Student & Teacher Fight Back Conference on May 7th! Education is a Right! from PSLweb.org on Vimeo.

"Education is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!"

Join students, young people, teachers and others for a Student & Teacher Fight Back Conference this May. There will be speakers, organizing sessions, strategizing and plans for action.

How we can build a united, fight back movement for quality education
Where is the money? The truth behind budget cuts and tuition hikes
Students organize to stop war, racism, sexism and anti-LGBT bigotry
End enrollment cuts--education should be free and accessible for all
Educators fight for union rights, against privatization and layoffs
Students and teachers demand full rights for immigrants
Build for May 9-13 Statewide Week of Action for Education

Sponsored by Students Fight Back (PCC, Cerritos, CSULB, CSUF, LACC, Harbor College, LBCC, SMC, SDCC), Youth & Student ANSWER, People's History Association, Students for Justice in Palestine, PSL and more.

Download a conference flyer to distribute at your school.

For more info: 213-251-1058, info@studentsfightback.org or answerla@answerl

The Trend is Your Friend

by California Father

So watch out for Wireless Generation, a computerized assessment, grouping, and instruction environment playing in your neighborhood school soon. I had been trying to bring myself up to speed on its components so I can implement

An Educated City « Bill Ayers

An Educated City

by billayers

I want to build an educated city, a school without walls where we can live in search of, rather than in accommodation to. I want us to accept ourselves as works-in-progress, searching and unfinished, on the move in a dynamic, going world, with Chicago as our commons, our performance space, and our workshop.
I want to de-couple education from schooling: all human beings are learning from birth until death—learning, like eating and breathing, is entirely natural. It’s wasteful to think of education as a K-12 affair, or to think of education as preparation for life rather than life itself.
I want a city poised to learn more in order to achieve more in terms of human enlightenment and freedom.
An educated city would take seriously the notion that residents are the sovereign, neither objects to manipulate nor subjects to be ruled. Education, formal and informal, would become focused on the creation of engaged citizens capable of developing the public square and the common space.

Inquiry sought into D.C. test scores - USATODAY.com

Inquiry sought into D.C. test scores

By Marisol Bello and Jack Gillum, USA TODAY

Updated 4h 12m ago |

10 |

Reprints & Permissions

WASHINGTON — Former D.C. Public Schools chancellor Michelle Rhee is criss-crossing the country, establishing her profile as a national education leader.

By Charlie Nye, The Indianapolis Star
Michelle Rhee, founder and CEO of StudentsFirst and former chancellor of the D.C. Public Schools, says she supports a broader probe into test erasures.

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By Charlie Nye, The Indianapolis Star

Michelle Rhee, founder and CEO of StudentsFirst and former chancellor of the D.C. Public Schools, says she supports a broader probe into test erasures.

She is headlining education rallies with parents and chatting about teacher evaluations with governors.

Yet as she pushes efforts to assess teachers based partly on their students' test scores, parents and teachers in the nation's capital are calling for a federal investigation of high scores during Rhee's tenure.

More than 3,700 teachers and parents are petitioning the U.S. Department of Education and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate.

MORE: Rhee's written responses to USA TODAY
INTERACTIVE: D.C. schools flagged for corrected tests

The petition follows a USA TODAY investigation that found 103 schools — more than half of D.C.'s public schools — with unusually high rates of wrong answers erased and changed to right ones on student tests from 2008 through 2010, while Rhee was schools chief.

The petitioners, led by a group of teachers and parents who opposed Rhee during her

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! – First Book Blog

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week!

MAY04
20111 COMMENT

WRITTEN BY ROCHEE JEFFREY

Teacher Appreciation Week provides us with the opportunity to celebrate great teachers who change lives and inspire young people to reach for their dreams. First Book is especially grateful to teachers who work tirelessly to fight illiteracy and introduce children to the joy of of reading.
In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, we asked our guest blogger, Sabrina Stevens Shupe, to share her advice on how to inspire students to discover the joy of reading. Shupe is a teacher, writer, and education activist in Colorado. She has worked with students in struggling communities in Philadelphia and Denver, and currently works with grassroots education movements around the country.

I’m sure it’s not surprising to hear a teacher say this, but I absolutely love books. Some of my earliest and fondest memories of childhood involve reading: being read to by my parents and teachers,

Lobby Day pics. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Lobby Day pics.

by Fred Klonsky

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