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Friday, May 13, 2011

Big Education Ape: 5-13-11 Midday Jail Birds: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. CTA Pres. David Sanchez, et al Edition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now


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scienceblogs.com - Last week, E.D. Kain took Megan McArdle to task for promoting the use of student testing as a means to evaluate teachers. This, to me, was the key point:....nobody is arguing against tests as a way...

mikeklonsky
nytimes.com - There was a sense of relief at nine low-performing city high schools on Thursday as the city’s Department of Education announced they would not be closed next year. The decisions came after months ...

DianeRavitch
blogs.edweek.org - Dear Diane,You ask: "Why don't they listen?"They, the "billionaire boys club," have a different agenda, and the issues we raise are truly not important to them. Or at least to most of those in the ...

DianeRavitch
nola.com - Sue Bordelon's 17-year-old son C.J. faces many obstacles, some unavoidable, others man-made. He has autism and fragile health. He can't walk more than 20 paces without his wheelchair. In class, he ...

DianeRavitch
preaprez.wordpress.com - It was back in late winter when I first heard about the SOS March and National Call to Action. I was impressed by their list of Guiding Principles and their list of education activists who are endo...

fklonsky

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Politics6 MORE ARTICLES
democurmudgeon.blogspot.com - It didn’t take long to remove even more worker rights, from firefighters and police, protected by union organizations that many conservatives consider unconstitutional. Ironically, the bill extendi...

mikeklonsky
nytimes.com - Meredith Attwell Baker, one of two Republicans on the Federal Communications Commission, was not on Comcast’s payroll when she voted to approve its controversial acquisition of NBC Universal, the t...

fklonsky
tomhayden.com - It is becoming almost certain that the U.S. succeed in forcing Iraq to “invite” thousands of American troops to stay indefinitely in the latest imperial outpost of the United States in the Arab wor...

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Education38 MORE ARTICLES
educationnews.org - Chester Finn, Jr. says that Florida's open records laws might be to blame for a lack of interest, but others think there's a lack of qualified professionals. Florida Governor Rick Scott With three ...

leoniehaimson
progressillinois.com - The School Action and Accountability Master Plan Act, which would have required the Chicago Public Schools to follow new procedures before deciding on school closures, appears to be stalled in a Ho...

mikeklonsky
online.wsj.com - New York state is weighing whether to prohibit high-school teachers from grading their own students' Regents exams. The Board of Regents, which sets education policy for the state, is set to vote n...

leoniehaimson
Business3 MORE ARTICLES
emptywheel.firedoglake.com - Two and a half years after privatized auditors largely signed off on practices that contributed to the collapse of Wall Street, and a year after coziness between government inspectors and the oil i...

coopmike48
huffingtonpost.com - Blogger, Google's online publishing platform, has been experiencing a service disruption since Thursday afternoon.Blogger Status informed users of maintenance issues at 3:30 p.m. ET and wrote that ...

coopmike48
firedoglake.com - (photo: Laughing Squid) If you liked the bankster strategy of persuading weak states to reduce regulation, and blackmailing strong states into following suit, you’ll love the version currently bein...

coopmike48
Art & Entertainment1 MORE ARTICLES
nytimes.com - Forget Prince William and Kate. This week’s topic in Modern Love 101 is clearly James Tate, the high school senior from Shelton, Conn., who has become the world’s most famous would-be...

coopmike48
larryferlazzo.edublogs.org - May 12 2011 Larry Ferlazzo Last week, I read a lengthy and fascinating article in The New Yorker titled “Kuwait on the Prairie.” It’s about oil exploration in North Dakota through the scary (for th...

coopmike48
hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - Published at 7:02 pm, May 12, 2011 Photo Credits: The Storm that Swept Mexico THE STORM THAT SWEPT MEXICO is a vibrant new two-hour PBS special that tells the epic story of the Mexican Revolution o...

coopmike48
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progressillinois.com - Illinois legislators and Gov. Pat Quinn seem to be at a stalemate when it comes to figuring out how to cover the state's underfunded employee pensions. Gov. Quinn wants to borrow money in order to ...

fklonsky
blogs.sfweekly.com - ​Wait, not all of your tax dollars are wasted in San Francisco. Your local bureaucrats make it part of their job to send a letter every February to state and federal politicians restating the city'...

coopmike48
mediaite.com - video The White House isn’t releasing the death photos of Osama bin Laden but they have been allowing a select group of Congress members take a look. A number of politicians have already seen the p...

coopmike48
Technology1
insidehighered.com - By Joshua Kim May 12, 2011 9:30 pm EDT My gut reaction is that Microsoft's $8.5 billion purchase of Skype is a good thing for higher ed, and probably a smart move on Microsoft's part. I'm betting t...

coopmike48

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Yong Zhao » Blog Archive » Can you be globally competitive by closing your doors and raising test scores?

Yong Zhao » Blog Archive » Can you be globally competitive by closing your doors and raising test scores?

Can you be globally competitive by closing your doors and raising test scores?

by YongZhao
Can you be globally competitive by closing your doors and raising test scores? “Can America be globally competitive by closing its doors and raising test scores in math and reading?” asked an educator from the Netherlands at an international education conference recently. The question was directed at a speaker from the U.S. who had been telling the familiar story of how miserable American education is compared to other countries such as China, India, and Finland. The question was meant to be rhetorical because the answer should obviously be “no,” at least to ...
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More On The Dangers Of Being “Data-Driven” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

More On The Dangers Of Being “Data-Driven” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
“Finishing The School Year Strong” At Edutopia Edutopia just reprinted the excerpt from my book titled “Finishing The School Year Strong.” If you didn’t see it last week when it was published at Education Week Teacher, you might want to take a look…
Make A Cool “SparkTweet” Infographic The Outreach Editor at the Wall Street Journal has developed a cool tool call “SparkTweets.” They are simple infographics like this one (the tweet itself didn’t come out the way I had hoped, even though I used the Blackbird Pie tool to copy it — oh ...
More On The Dangers Of Being “Data-Driven” Here are the newest additions to The Best Resources Showing Why We Need To Be “Data-Informed” & Not “Data-Driven”: Data-Driven Instruction and the Practice of Teaching is by Larry Cuban. The Obituaries for Data-Driven ‘Reform’ Are Being Written is by ...
Yale Makes 260,000 Images Available Online — With No Limitations On Their Usage This news seems pretty neat and, instead of re-inventing the wheel, I’m just going to quote from a Read Write Web post (and I’d encourage you to read their entire piece: *Yale University has one of the larger collections of art, objects and ...
Surprise, Surprise! Study Says Cooperative Learning Is More Effective Than Lectures A study was just announced today claiming — surprise, surprise — that integrating pair work and small groups in teaching is more effective than straight lectures. Science Daily reported it in an article titled Interactive Teaching Methods Double ...
Water Resources World Water Day was back in March, but I’ve recently a couple of new related resources, and I’m now adding them to The Best Resources For Teaching & Learning About World Water Day: Here’s a video titled “Water Changes Everything”: The Water Planet ...
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Here’s to the data system that works | Thoughts on Public Education

Here’s to the data system that works | Thoughts on Public Education

Here’s to the data system that works

Cal-PASS is attracting attention and foundation dollars

Posted on 5/13/11 • Categorized as CALPADS, Data

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

California can’t get a computer system right. Its K-12 longitudinal data system has been a disaster. Post-secondary institutions are squabbling; a P-20 data system, from preschool to post-college, remains a concept.

You’re heard that before; I’ve written it myself.

But that’s not the complete story. Under the radar, Cal-PASS, not to be confused with CALPADS, is working as designed. By sharing data among school districts, communitycolleges, and universities and bringing instructors of all levels together, it’s changing classroom practices and, to an extent, policies.

Run on “budget dust,” as a state finance official calls its budget, it’s attracting smart money – about $4 million from foundations (Hewlett, Irvine, Stuart, Gates, Lumina, Walter S. Johnson) – and is expanding. Next week, it will announce the formal creation of the Institute for

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(RE)Ranking New Jersey’s Achievement Gap « School Finance 101

(RE)Ranking New Jersey’s Achievement Gap « School Finance 101

(RE)Ranking New Jersey’s Achievement Gap

by schoolfinance101
1 person liked this

New Jersey’s current commissioner of education seems to stake much of his arguments for the urgency of implementing reform strategies on the argument that while New Jersey ranks high on average performance, New Jersey ranks 47th in achievement gap between low-income and non-low income children (video here:http://livestre.am/M3YZ). To be fair, this is classic political rhetoric with few or no partisan boundaries.

As I have been discussing on this blog, comparisons of achievement gaps across states between children in families above the arbitrary 185% income level and below that income level are very problematic. In my last post on this topic, I showed that states where there is a larger gap in income between these two groups (the above and below the line groups), there is also a larger gap in achievement. That is, the size of the achievement gap is largely a function of the income distribution in each state.

Let’s take this all one more, last step and ask – If we correct for the differences in income between low and higher income families – how do the achievement gap rankings change? And, let’s do this with an average

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Suburban Schools and American Public Opinion on Education - E.D. Kain - American Times - Forbes

Suburban Schools and American Public Opinion on Education - E.D. Kain - American Times - Forbes

Suburban Schools and American Public Opinion on Education

by E.D. Kain

Megan McArdle writes:

I find it maddening how many upper middle class parents energetically "support public education" against the depredations of vouchers and other reforms, while moving their own children into better school districts or better programs. Especially parents in Manhattan and a few areas of Brooklyn who proudly note that their experience shows how great public education is, while failing to note that their schools work because these comparatively affluent parents with a great deal of social and political capital fight like hell to divert as many resources as possible–including the best teachers–into a handful of schools in affluent areas. New York’s famed magnet schools are a big part of this dramatic inequality, and yet the middle class parents who sent their kids there somehow thought their kids had more in common with the kids at Samuel J. Tilden than at Dalton.

Graduation rates at Dalton and Stuyvesant are pretty similar. The 4-year graduation rate at Tilden was 37%.

Or as I said a couple of years ago: "Memo to suburban voucher opponents who ‘support public education’: you’re already sending your kid to private school. You’re just confused because your

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CTA Pres., 26 Others Await Release from Jail – Arrests Publicize Schools’ Plight « State of Emergency

CTA Pres., 26 Others Await Release from Jail – Arrests Publicize Schools’ Plight « State of Emergency
CTA Pres., 26 Others Await Release from Jail – Arrests Publicize Schools’ Plight Photo: Hundreds of Capitol Insiders cheer CTA Pres. David Sanchez (center) as he prepares to lead teachers Thursday evening to the offices of two Republican leaders: Sen. Bob Dutton and Assembly Member Connie Conway. (SACRAMENTO, Calif.) President ...
San Diego EA members take 500 separate actions during Day of Teacher Celebration On Wednesday, May 11 roughly 200 educators attended SDEA’s Day of the Teacher Action Celebration and participated in an amazing 500 separate actions in the space of two hours pressuring state and local politicians to support our schools. In addition ...
Highlights From Thurs, May 12th – SOE Action Week *THURSDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS* - Sacramento – CTA Insider Drill Team Tells Lawmakers To Stop Passing the Buck - State Capitol – Capitol Insiders Risk Arrest to Protect Children & Schools - San Jose – CTA Berryessa Members Hold Coalition ...
CTA Berryessa Members Hold Coalition Town Hall in San Jose Several dozen parents and other school stakeholders attended a lively town hall meeting tonight held by CTA Berryessa (CTAB), the chapter representing educators in the Berryessa Union School District. Educators, education support professionals, ...
CTA Members Refuse to Leave Capitol and Demand Passage of Tax Extensions to Keep Deeper Cuts Away from Schools, Colleges and Essential Public Services CTA President David A. Sanchez and 26 other educators took a stand for students this evening by refusing to leave the offices of Senate Republican Leader Bob Dutton and Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway. The educators were peacefully arrested ...
Dutton 13 Thirteen CTA members, including CTA Board President David A. Sanchez and CTA Board member Larry Allen made a strong stand for public education outside the office of Sen. Minority Leader Bob Dutton, chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, your budget plan has got ...
We Shall Not Be Moved, “Conway 14″ Sing Prior to Arrest Fourteen Capitol insiders, including CTA Board Members Theresa Montano (center, in red shirt) and David Goldberg (in rear at right) sing a chorus of Solidarity Forever as California Highway Patrol officers prepare to arrest them, outside of the ...
Capitol Insiders Risk Arrest to Protect Children and Schools A Highway Patrol officer prepares to take into custody the first 14 Capitol Insiders who refused to leave the building when so directed slightly after 6PM on Thursday evening. These 14 placed themselves outside the offices of Assembly Republican ...
North Orange County Teachers Take On Talk Radio North Orange County United Teachers Rally to Protect Schools Hundreds of educators lined Harbor Boulevard in F
SOE Teach-in: New Republican Budget Proposal Would Further Decimate Schools During a CTA-sponsored teach-in at the state Capitol on Thursday, Finance Expert Stephen Rhoads tells participants the the Republican budget proposal released today would suspend the Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) and undercut efforts to ...
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The SOS Washington March and the issue of collective bargaining. « Fred Klonsky's blog

The SOS Washington March and the issue of collective bargaining. « Fred Klonsky's blog
Endorse Obama this July? At last summer’s NEA convention in New Orleans the delegates voted no confidence in Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan. At this summer’s NEA convention in Chicago the delegates will be asked to endorse Obama. The administration ignored the last ...
House passes anti-teacher law. Goes to Governor’s desk. It would take an unlikely veto by Pat Quinn. The House passed the bill by an overwhelming vote this afternoon. While the Chicago Teachers Union tried to mount a way too late attack on the bill, the leadership of the IEA and the IFT allied with the ...
Teachers, students protest Mayor’s budget cuts at NY rally. Teachers, students protest Mayor’s budget cuts at downtown rally | 7online.com. Thousands are marching towards Battery Park in Manhattan at this hour to protest Mayor Bloomberg’s cuts in teachers and public service employees. Bloomberg has ...
The SOS Washington March and the issue of collective bargaining. It was back in late winter when I first heard about the SOS March and National Call to Action. I was impressed by their list of Guiding Principles and their list of education activists who are endorsing it. But I first read about the March and Call ...
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California State of Emergency Day 5 Live Blog | Reflections on Teaching

California State of Emergency Day 5 Live Blog | Reflections on Teaching
My Links on State of Emergency Posts on this blog tagged “StateofEmergency” My Diigo Bookmarks tagged “StateofEmergency” My YouTube State of Emergency playlist My Flickr photoset of pictures from State of Emergency State of Emergency FB Page CTA’s State of Emergency Website ...
California State of Emergency Day 5 Live Blog California State of Emergency Day Five
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Twitter, Simply Complicated. « My Island View

Twitter, Simply Complicated. « My Island View

Twitter, Simply Complicated.

by tomwhitby

Twitter’s biggest obstacle to being the number one tool of Professional Development for educators is Twitter. It is a simple tool, based on a simple idea, which is complicated by its simplicity. To use twitter is to get it. To explain Twitter is a losing proposition. Twitter’s reputation as an application is its worst enemy. It has been the brunt of comedians’ jokes since it began. Members of the Hollywood crowd embraced it for the purpose of engaging their fans with a majority of mindless tweets to build a following. Many have a following in the millions. The concept most accepted by the public is that Twitter is used by individuals to broadcast to people the meaningless actions and events in their day-to-day existence. How could this ever be taken seriously, not to even mention being used as a tool for Professional Development for educators?

Social learning is common to all. We learn through social encounters. We pass along information in social settings. We collaborate with others in our social engagements. A committee is simply a gathering of individuals for social interaction for the purpose of learning and creating. This all occurs in our face to face world. This all takes place with people who can assemble in close proximity at predetermined location and a pre-determined,

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Thursday, May 12, 2011

Schools Matter: The Learn Act: An Expensive Mistake

Schools Matter: The Learn Act: An Expensive Mistake

The Learn Act: An Expensive Mistake

by skrashen
The LEARN Act: An Expensive Mistake

Sent to the Seattle Times, May 12

There is no evidence Sen. Murray's bill to improve literacy will work ("Murray's literacy plan a test of clout, May 11). As the Times notes, Sen. Murray's LEARN Act is a combination of three existing programs. None have been successful.

Reading First only helped children do better on tests in which they pronounced words presented in a list. It had no impact on tests in which children had to understand what they read. The Early Reading First Act is for pre-schoolers. According to Education Week, evaluation of one version of this program produced

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