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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Big Education Ape:5-18-11 AM Evaluate This! Edition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now


Published by Coopmike48 – 6 contributors today

On Cursing When Necessary | The Jose Vilson

thejosevilson.com - Today, I got an e-mail from my SOS March compatriot Nancy Flanagan about the flare-up of protest towards Justin Hamilton, press secretary for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Not sure what the p...

fklonsky

Sneak Attack | New Haven Independent

newhavenindependent.org - The New Haven Board of Education is poised to approve the first takeover of a city school by a for-profit “turnaround” company at a hastily-called meeting tonight—and the contract starts tomorrow.T...

DianeRavitch

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coopmike48 Local educators have say on No Child Left Behind program - Naperville Sun - http://goo.gl/W6aGS4 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Teachers want broader goals in revised No Child law | Local News | PE.com - http://goo.gl/qEMRa3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 The fuzzy math of teacher layoffs - SNOG - May 17, 2011 - Blogs - Sacramento News & Review -http://goo.gl/c6UbD3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Los Angeles elections: Bennett Kayser leading in Los Angeles school board runoff - latimes.com - http://goo.gl/zm3Jx2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

Standardized Testing Mythbusters! - Living in Dialogue

blogs.edweek.org - 18497 « Local Teacher Association's President: We Must Challenge the Obama Administration's Education Policies | Main An excellent new book, "The Myths of Standardized Tests," has hit the shelves, ...

mikeklonsky

LivingSee all

Teacher Needs Help

neikor.blogspot.com - It pains to watch the virulent attacks on public employees like myself. Primary targets are the pension systems that support police, firefighters, nurses and teachers in their retirement. In Illi...

mikeklonsky

PoliticsSee all

Comments

wbez.org - Mayor Rahm Emanuel has said he intends to focus on the city's schools. And at certain points during his inauguration speech today it sounded like Emanuel was being sworn in as school board presiden...

mikeklonsky

StoriesSee all

School Tech Connect: Use The Technology

schooltechconnect.com - I have suggested this before, but as my mother once told me, "If you keep saying things on your blog, they will come true." So here goes again. It is long past time for our state associations to cr...

tbfurman

With love and memories :: rogerebert.com :: In Memory

rogerebert.suntimes.com - / /October 31, 2008 Studs Terkel In the last two years I've written two long articles about Studs. My 95th birthday tribute is here. My recent reflection, "How Studs helps me live my life," is here...

mikeklonsky

May « City School Stories

cityschoolstories.com - by Frank Murphy This book provides a first hand account of the life of an urban elementary school principal in the era of No Child Left Behind. On Monday and Wednesday, I post an installment of the...

coopmike48

Art & EntertainmentSee all

Leadership changes on Oakland teachers union board

ibabuzz.com - By Katy Murphy Monday, May 16th, 2011 at 4:28 pm in OEA, leadership changes, teachers, union contract. Challengers have unseated at least three incumbents on the executive board of the Oakland Educ...

coopmike48

BusinessSee all

Today's Teamster News 05.18.11

teamsternation.blogspot.com - Scott Walker Quietly Consolidating Power In Wisconsin Huffington Post ..."This is the most massive turn toward privatization of public services in not only the history of the state of Wisconsin,...

coopmike48

Protesters crash JPMorgan's shareholder meeting

teamsternation.blogspot.com - The Showdown in Ohio tells us that hundreds of workers, clergy and homeowners are rallying in Columbus against JPMorgan Chase because of the ginormous bank's predatory loan practices and eagerness ...

mikeklonsky

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Brown decision ended segregationist policies but not practices

Brown decision ended segregationist policies but not practices

Brown decision ended segregationist policies but not practices

by Andrea L. Zopp

Sixty years ago, 13 families sued the board of education of Topeka, Kansas, on behalf of 20 students to end state-supported school segregation. The case would be referred to by its lead plaintiff Oliver Brown, a father, welder and assistant pastor asked by his local NAACP chapter to join the class action lawsuit that would change the landscape of public education for years to come.

Tuesday marked the 57th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. The Board of Education decision that declared state-supported segregation unconstitutional and separate schools “inherently unequal.” The decision paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement and a period of bold and brazen protests of America’s racially discriminatory policies.

Brown is a reminder of what can be accomplished if a few ordinary citizens challenge a law they know to be wrong. But it also demonstrates that it isn’t enough to end segregationist polici

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Today’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts/Articles On School Reform Issues | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Today’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts/Articles On School Reform Issues | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
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 ...
Today’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts/Articles On School Reform Issues Here’s a “round-up” of several recent excellent posts/articles on school reform issues: An excellent post appeared in The Washington Post’s “The Answer Sheet” titled NY regent: Why we shouldn’t link teacher evaluation to test scores. Here is the ...
Ideas For The Last Two Days Of School Finishing the School Year Strong is the title of a popular excerpt from my new book that recently appeared in Education Week Teacher. It talks about the last five or six weeks of school. Now Eye on Education, the book’s publisher, has published ...
“Hot Spot” Interview — Report From Morocco I recently began a new regular interview series. There are always lots of “hot spots” around the world — places where there are natural disasters, political upheavals, etc. And English teachers can be found in most of those places. If you are an ...
Some Good Resources On Self-Control Here are are couple of new posts on self-control studies I’ve already extensively written about, but they can serve as useful summaries. I’m adding this post to My Best Posts About Helping Students Develop Their Capacity For Self-Control, which is ...
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SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Michelle Alexander's visit to Sacramento May 25, 2011

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Michelle Alexander's visit to Sacramento May 25, 2011
The Post-Wisconsin Game Plan Published on The Nation (http://www.thenation.com) John Nichols | May 11, 2011 Mary Kay Henry had just spent a day talking with many of the thousands of Wisconsinites who had packed the State Capitol in Madison for the February protests against ...
Michelle Alexander's visit to Sacramento May 25, 2011 On Wednesday, May 25, 2011 from 6:30pm-8pm at the Women’s Civic Improvement Center, 3555 3rd Ave., Sacramento, CA the Sacramento Chapter of All of Us Or None (AOUON) and the Sacramento Area Black Caucus (SABC), is inviting the public to a free lecture ...
Cornel West v. Barack Obama Published on *The Nation* (http://www.thenation.com) Melissa Harris-Perry | May 17, 2011 Professor Cornel West is President Obama’s silenced, disregarded, disrespected moral conscience, according to Chris Hedges’s recent column, “The Obama Deception: ...
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Teacher: ‘My employer has become my enemy’ - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Teacher: ‘My employer has become my enemy’ - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Teacher: ‘My employer has become my enemy’

by Valerie Strauss

A library media educator in Los Angeles who blogs under the name Mizz Murphy wrote a powerful, first-person account of hearings being held by the Los Angeles Unified School District for teachers and others who who have received a Reduction in Force notice and are trying to keep their jobs.

The district, the nation’s second largest, sent layoff notices recently to about 5,000 teachers and other staff to help close a projected deficit for next year or more than $400 million. It is not clear how many people will lose their jobs because the budget has not been finalized.

Read full article >>
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CTA’s president-elect blesses budget | Thoughts on Public Education

CTA’s president-elect blesses budget | Thoughts on Public Education

CTA’s president-elect blesses budget

Dean Vogel is confident Brown will get GOP votes

Posted on 5/18/11 • Categorized as Uncategorized

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

The incoming president of the California Teachers Association said Tuesday that he likes Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised state budget and expressed confidence that the four Republican legislators needed to pass $9 billion in tax extensions would vote for them.

“We believe that this is the best possible budget for us right now,” CTA Vice President DeanVogel said at a forum on the budget sponsored by the Silicon Valley Education Foundation in San Jose. “We believe the potential for four votes is better today than a few weeks ago.”

But Vogel, who assumes the presidency next month, also warned against placing the tax extensions on the ballot in November or earlier, as Brown has implied that he favors. Under that scenario, the Legislature would vote to extend the temporary tax increases – the sales tax, the vehicle license fee, and the personal income tax (which would be suspended next year, then resumed) – for four months, until voters could decide whether to continue them

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NYC Educator: Thank You Sir. May I Have Another?

NYC Educator: Thank You Sir. May I Have Another?

Thank You Sir. May I Have Another?

by NYC Educator
Over and over, we lie down with dogs, and marvel at the ensuing fleas. We invite Bill Gates to investigate what makes teachers "effective." He comes in and tests cameras in classrooms, because everyone knows those fowl teachers cannot be trusted unless you monitor them every second. We invite him to speak at our convention, and the following week he attacks the wastefulness of those bloated teacher pensions, wondering aloud why we can't eat cat food like other elderly folk who aren't Bill Gates.

We endorse mayoral control, because who knows how bad it can be, and besides this Bloomberg fellow goes to baseball games with Randi Weingarten. He must be OK. Then after it turns out to be an unmitigated disaster, we make a list of improvements we'd like before we'll accept its renewal. When we don't get them, we support its renewal anyway.

We allow them to get rid of seniority transfers, and give power to principals to have absolute veto over incoming teachers. We design an open market that allows anyone to transfer anywhere, as long as principals think it's
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Daily Kos: 100 years ago a genius died in Vienna

Daily Kos: 100 years ago a genius died in Vienna

100 years ago a genius died in Vienna

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Today we think of Gustav Mahler as a composer, first and foremost. Occasionally we remember that his wife Alma was a major figure in the arts scene with her relationshipss - including while she was married to Mahler with the architect Walter Gropius - with a number of significant men.

We should also not forget that Mahler was considered one the greatest conductors of his time, completely reforming in just three short years, 1908-1911, two major New York City Cultural institutions, first the Metropolitan Opera, and then the New York Philharmonic.

Mahler Took Mnahattan, an op ed in today's New York Times by classical music critic Peter G. Davis, explores the impact of those years, and the special relationship the Philharmonic still maintains with Mahler's music, with Davis offering some interesting words, with which I will begin below the fold, where I will also offer some of Mahler's music.

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On Cursing When Necessary | The Jose Vilson

On Cursing When Necessary | The Jose Vilson

On Cursing When Necessary

by Jose

Today, I got an e-mail from my SOS March compatriot Nancy Flanagan about the flare-up of protest towards Justin Hamilton, press secretary for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Not sure what the press secretary thought when he got on Twitter. Maybe he assumed we teachers would just parrot the edu-jargon of the day or repeat someone else with thousands of followers and let him only argue with that leader and not the rest of us on the ground. Maybe he assumed we were all going to get a warm belly for him retweeting anything that we said in his general direction. Maybe he believed that, since teachers fear losing their jobs for having an opinion, that we’re all nervous sheep.

Or maybe he thought we wouldn’t actually talk about Arne Duncan, and by extension, Barack Obama.

Yet, here we are, asserting our voices in ways that he probably didn’t expect. That includes cursing. Apparently,

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School Tech Connect: Use The Technology

School Tech Connect: Use The Technology

Use The Technology

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)
I have suggested this before, but as my mother once told me, "If you keep saying things on your blog, they will come true." So here goes again.

It is long past time for our state associations to crowdsource the lobbying efforts. The model they have now is the same as it was in 1980: lobby days, frantic calls for letters. It's fine, but we've been living in the MeetUp generation since 2001 and people are ready to use the technology.

The IEA and IFT should let members opt-in to a database that allows them to see the contact information of other members who reside in the same legislative and senate districts. It would be very easy to
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Education Reform Philanthropy Has Changed Radically Over the Past Decade - Dana Goldstein

Education Reform Philanthropy Has Changed Radically Over the Past Decade - Dana Goldstein

Education Reform Philanthropy Has Changed Radically Over the Past Decade

by Dana Goldstein

With the NewSchools Venture Fund Summit kicking off this evening, I thought I'd do an overview of the state of K-12 education philanthropy. I'm warning you now, friends: This is gonna get wonky! But stick with me and I promise you'll learn at least three interesting facts that will make you sound smart when discusing education reform at parties. (Those are the kinds of parties you go to, right?)

The NewSchools Venture Fund is one of the founding institutions of "venture philanthropy," a school of charitable giving that borrows its ethos from the world of venture capital. Venture philanthropists seek out non-profits that pursue social change while embracing data-driven corporate accountability standards. These donors often seek

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Cornel West v. Barack Obama

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Cornel West v. Barack Obama

Cornel West v. Barack Obama

Published on The Nation (http://www.thenation.com)

Melissa Harris-Perry | May 17, 2011

Professor Cornel West is President Obama’s silenced, disregarded, disrespected moral conscience, according to Chris Hedges’s recent column, “The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West went Ballistic.” [1] In a self-aggrandizing, victimology sermon deceptively wrapped in the discourse of prophetic witness, Professor West offers thin criticism of President Obama and stunning insight into the delicate ego of the self-appointed black leadership class that has been largely supplanted in recent years.

West begins with a bit of historical revision. West suggests that the President discarded him without provocation after he offered the
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