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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Big Education Ape: 5-25-11 AM "mandarins of mediocrity Murdoch" Edition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Published by Coopmike48 – 5 contributors today



Media huckster Rupert Murdoch discovers school reform.

schoolingintheownershipsociety.blogspot.com - Look out kids!Rupert Murdoch, the power and money behind FOX News and the right-wing Weekly Standard, has almost single-handedly turned the world's news media into tabloidworld and now wants to do ...
mikeklonsky

What I Learned at Siena - Bridging Differences

blogs.edweek.org - Dear Deborah,Last week, I had the great pleasure of visiting Siena College, a liberal arts college founded by the Franciscan order near Albany, New York. I was there to receive an honorary degree, ...
DianeRavitch

How to Be a Real Education Mayor

huffingtonpost.com - Mayor Emanuel, welcome! It's great to have a new mayor who says that improving our schools is his number one priority. That's a great place to start.More potentially positive steps: you chose an ac...
mikeklonsky

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coopmike48 Schools of Hard Knocks: Budget cuts worry teachers' unions - delcotimes.com - http://goo.gl/cc6Dq5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 COLUMN — Teaching in America: No Child Left Behind - Holland, MI - The Holland Sentinel - http://goo.gl/y4NSV3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Parental involvement reduces dropout rates | Salisbury, NC - Salisbury Post - http://goo.gl/0UsQC3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 CSU leaders plead for education funding - Education and Schools - fresnobee.com - http://goo.gl/HHZ8E3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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Chicago Shopping

chicagobreakingnews.com - School districts across Wisconsin are being asked to release the names of teachers who called in sick during protests in February at the Capitol, a move that led to closures for a day or more in ma...
fklonsky

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No Easy Answers, “No Child Left Behind” – HDNet

hd.net - May 20 2011 5:20 PM EST THIS WEEK ON DAN RATHER REPORTSExcerpt from No Easy AnswersDan Rather Reports This week’s “Dan Rather Reports” features interviews with some of the country’s biggest names i...
coopmike48

Towel Day 2011 or Dude, What's With the Towel?

chalkboarddad.com - I was a gangly sixth grader when my dad took me to Captain Blue Hen Comics and introduced me to the prodigious talent that is Douglas Adams. I'd told him earlier in the day that I wanted to read a ...
coopmike48

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Senate Leader Hancock Defends Court Prison Decision

tomhayden.com - The bipartisan politics of law-and-order is a domestic mirror of the militarization of American foreign policy, with education, economic development and domestic empowerment the losers. The U.S. le...
coopmike48

GOP lawmaker proposes Arizona-style immigration bill

defendwisconsin.org - A bill mirroring some of the tough enforcement measures of Arizona’s controversial immigration bill was introduced Tuesday by a state Republican legislator in Wisconsin. The legislation introduced ...
coopmike48

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Sector Wrap: For-profit education sector

boston.com - NEW YORK—Shares of for-profit education companies ended higher on Tuesday as a William Blair analyst said a long-awaited "gainful employment" rule from the Department of Education won't likely hurt...
coopmike48

TechnologySee all


Viajar es aprender | vivirlaeducacion

vivirlaeducacion.com - Publicado el 19 Abril 2011Archivado en General | En educación no existen las vacaciones. Sí el descanso, la pausa, el cambio de actividad, … Las vacaciones son una perfecta ocasión para darse uno a...
coopmike48

Peter Fonda Threatens Obama - Democratic Underground

democraticunderground.com - Peter Fonda Threatens Obama Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators Important Notices: By participating on ...
coopmike48

#eduRead this paperSee all


THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: BBC news story hot off the press

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: BBC news story hot off the pressBBC news story hot off the pressby The Perimeter PrimateGulen Movement on BBC Radio4 (May 24, 2011): “Edward Stourton investigates the Islamic...
coopmike48

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Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

tvworldwide.com - NCEE - Standing on the Shoulders of Giantsa NCEE Symposium 11:00 A.M. EDT May 24, 2011 American Association for the Advancement of Science 1200 New York Avenue, NW Washington, D.C.
arneduncan

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    Charters require oversight - Turlock Letters - Modbee.com

    Charters require oversight - Turlock Letters - Modbee.com

    Charters require oversight


    The California Teachers Association is not the only group that should be asking for more oversight of charter schools; every taxpayer and person concerned with California education should be doing the same.

    Consider: Probably to avoid costly litigation, the Alameda County school board recently reauthorized the FAME Charter School for five years despite the troubling findings of a Fiscal Management Team Audit.

    This small charter serves approximately 700 nearly exclusively Muslim students in its classroom program and 300 non-Muslim students in its independent study program. Its board of directors paid its executive director $363,000 yearly compensation, bought a $75,000 Mercedes for her personal use, and paid her $958 speeding ticket. Relatives and friends of the director and board benefited by loaning the school money at rates and fees far in excess of commercial banks and the county Office of Education.



    Read more: http://www.modbee.com/2011/05/24/1703109/charters-require-oversight.html#ixzz1NMl291Hh
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    Schooling in the Ownership Society: Media huckster Rupert Murdoch discovers school reform.

    Schooling in the Ownership Society: Media huckster Rupert Murdoch discovers school reform.

    Media huckster Rupert Murdoch discovers school reform.

    by Mike Klonsky
    Look out kids!

    Rupert Murdoch, the power and money behind FOX News and the right-wing Weekly Standard, has almost single-handedly turned the world's news media into tabloidworld and now wants to do the same to the world of public education. He's hired former NYC chancellor Joel Klein as his education front man and he has already signed a $400 million deal with Mayor Bloomberg to bring NewsCorp into the schools.

    You can see Klein's hand in this obviously-planted Guardian story where Murdoch poses computers in the schools as the solution to poverty and racism.
    Murdoch attacked the "mandarins of mediocrity" who argued children were too poor, too ignorant to
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    Modern School: Pro-Union Capitalist or Typical Libertarian Moron?

    Modern School: Pro-Union Capitalist or Typical Libertarian Moron?

    Pro-Union Capitalist or Typical Libertarian Moron?

    by Michael Dunn

    Erik Kain had a curious piece recently in Forbes called the Economics of Unions. In his article, he argued for less regulation of unions and called for an end to corrupt and “unimaginative” leadership. He said that public sector unions may “actually be defending the interests of service recipients at the expense of their bureaucratic bosses,” and suggested that teachers unions serve the interests of students, as they “have often been the only group poised to resist authoritarian school reformers.”

    While all this might seem surreal coming from a Forbes writer, it seems less so when placed in the context of Kains’ overall perspective. He is a libertarian who loves capitalism and personal freedom, but hates government. For example, when he argued that organized labor since Taft-Hartley was a “creature of state-capitalism,” he was implying that the state is already too
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    Wake up and smell the school cuts | Thoughts on Public Education

    Wake up and smell the school cuts | Thoughts on Public Education

    Redistricting’s shadow on budget - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

    by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess


    Wake up and smell the school cuts - by Kathryn Baron

    by Kathryn Baron
    Forgive Patty Koel if she rants for a moment; she has a lot to say, and most of it is dire. “The last few years have been the most severe in terms of cuts that have entered into the classroom,” said the president of the PTA Council in Millbrae, a small community south of San [...]

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    NYC Educator: Moving Ever Backward

    NYC Educator: Moving Ever Backward

    Moving Ever Backward

    by NYC Educator
    Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott has very publicly promised to speak of teachers with respect, perhaps hoping to strike a contrast with his recent predecessors and the Emperor. I'm all for that. I don't believe in screaming fights, mostly because they're not altogether effective. Of course, after a never-ending decade of PEP meetings in which the public is routinely and entirely ignored, I understand how things can get.

    Chancellor Walcott, after working behind the scenes all this time, understands very well. Unfortunately, it's tough to ratchet down the tone when he rolls out the same tired old nonsense we've been hearing all along. For example, as Miss Eyre ably documents, his new way of showing respect to teachers is looking for a way to fire them without just cause, make them guilty until proven innocent, and place the burden on them to show the firings are "arbitrary and capricious." Short of looking into the souls of administrators, or at least those who have them, that's a tough row to hoe.

    Another sign of Walcott's newfound "respect" is that he once again pits us against the children we serve--them
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    Daily Kos: thoughts on disaster relief funds

    Daily Kos: thoughts on disaster relief funds

    thoughts on disaster relief funds

    by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

    inspired in part by Eric Cantor's ridiculous insistence that such funds for the areas hit in the Midwest by tornadoes be offset by cuts elsewhere.

    First, a similar approach could be made on any unplanned need - thus by his logic the expenditures after September 11 for the military and homeland security should have been offset by cuts elsewhere. Except everyone recognizes that in an emergency it is perfectly acceptable to borrow money.

    Second, prudent planning would recognize that there are always unplanned contingencies that will require a response. We know there may be earthquakes, tornadoes, river floods, even massive fires, during the course of any one year. We have some awareness of the level of expenditures that might be necessary to respond to such. Thus someone being responsible would budget on a contingency basis - budget for and appropriate some number of billions to be spent in response to Federally-declared disasters. If that money is not used in that year, it is returned to the treasury thus reducing the deficit for the year. Further, write into law some additional amount that can be appropriated without offsets.

    Alternatively, there could be the funding of a trust fund or if you will insurance pool where any money not spent is simply accumulated. I don't like that idea quite as well, because the tendency would not be to continue adding to it, and/or to borrow against it for other purposes, as we have previously borrowed from Social Security surplus and are now borrowing from federal pensions.

    Just a few more thoughts below:

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    Last Stand for Children First: Meet Monica Caldwell: Our New East Coast Director of Teacher Development

    Last Stand for Children First: Meet Monica Caldwell: Our New East Coast Director of Teacher Development

    Meet Monica Caldwell: Our New East Coast Director of Teacher Development

    by Last Stand for Children

    Hello, my name is Monica Caldwell and I am the new East Coast Director of Teacher Development for Last Stand for Children First. What does that huge title mean? Well, basically I'm in charge of helping to improve the quality of instruction by getting good teachers into the classroom and bad teachers out. I believe that nothing is more important to a child's education than having a great teacher and I aim to see that every child on the East Coast has just that.

    To tell you a little about myself, I'm 25 years old and I've spent the last year teaching in inner city San Diego as a Last Stand for Children Fellow. Before that, I was spent 2 years managing an Extreme Fitness and Tan and before that I was a philosophy major at the University of Chicago. I enjoy bike riding, Arcade Fire, and Jersey Shore.

    This year in San Diego I learned literally a ton about teaching. A lot of my kids were literally growing up on the
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    Schools Matter: Please pay attention to the LEARN Act

    Schools Matter: Please pay attention to the LEARN Act

    Please pay attention to the LEARN Act

    by skrashen

    Posted on the NCTE Connected Community, May 24

    The NCTE Inbox (May 24) confirmed NCTE's official support for the LEARN Act and urged members to pitch in and call their Senator to support the Act. I posted my letter opposing the LEARN Act, which was published in the Seattle Times. Today (May 24), Valerie Strauss in her Answer Sheet blog in the Washington Post carried an expanded version of my critique of the LEARN Act. Please check it out at:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-learn-act-an-expensive-mistake/2011/05/23/AFG4569G_blog.html

    This is a big one, colleagues. As NCTE points out, LEARN is a “comprehensive literacy policy sustains

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    Exige que autoricen la concentración de Puerta del Sol | vivirlaeducacion

    Exige que autoricen la concentración de Puerta del Sol | vivirlaeducacion

    Exige que autoricen la concentración de Puerta del Sol

    by admin

    Hay quienes solo saben prohibir y prohibir. Tendremos que prohibir tanta prohibición. Laz vida se resume en tolerancia. Vive y deja vivir. Democracia ya. Despierta tu conciencia!



    La Junta Electoral Provincial de Madrid y otras Juntas Provinciales del resto del país han prohibido las concentraciones convocadas para esta tarde en la Puerta del Sol y otros muchos puntos de España. La

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    THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: BBC news story hot off the press

    THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: BBC news story hot off the press

    BBC news story hot off the press

    by The Perimeter Primate
    Gulen Movement on BBC Radio4 (May 24, 2011): “Edward Stourton investigates the Islamic Gulen movement in Turkey whose influence permeates right around the world.”



    @1:20 min.
    …Many of the students here are fee-paying, but scholarships for bright children from poor backgrounds are a big feature of Gulen schools. They began in Turkey, but they’ve now spread everywhere from Kazakhstan to Texas…there’s even one in Britain…
    Note how the piece says “fee-paying” with scholarship supplementation? Outside the U.S., Gulen schools are tuition-based and private, NOT publicly-funded!

    It is only in the U.S., with our pathetically-monitored charter school system (of which members of the Gulen movement have taken advantage), where this amorphous but highly organized and driven group is running their schools with hard-earned public money.

    Here's something to ask Arne Duncan and your local and state officials next time you see them: Why are you
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    Tuesday, May 24, 2011

    Dictionary exercises « Failing Schools

    Dictionary exercises « Failing Schools

    Dictionary exercises

    MAY 24, 2011
    by mariasallee

    I remember a particularly boring homework assignment once given by my 4th grade teacher, in which we had to find definitions of certain listed words from the dictionary and write them down verbatim. All of them. Sometimes words have various meanings and they mean different things in different contexts so I was impatient with the rote nature of the assignment and with the cramping of my hand as I copied the definitions. Most of the words were ones already in my vocabulary, so I found that the exercise confused rather than enhanced my understanding of them because it somehow muddled my mostly-accurate sense of context for each of them, contexts I had gained through natural use of language and by reading lots and lots of books. (I wonder what the reaction was of the kids who didn’t care much for language…)

    Later in my public school education, I read Orwell’s 1984 with its Ministry of Truth, Newspeak and other notions of societal control. I’m thinking Orwell couldn’t really have predicted the things that are happening in contemporary society, but all the same he nailed part of the issue

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    Board of Education officially cancels community elections over school-reform plans | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

    Board of Education officially cancels community elections over school-reform plans | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

    Board of Education officially cancels community elections over school-reform plans

    In a largely symbolic but intensely debated move, the Board of Education narrowly voted Tuesday to end elections that allowed parents, high school students, school employees and community members to choose among different reform plans for schools.

    These elections were part of the controversial “public school choice” process, by which groups inside and outside the Los Angeles Unified School District have bid for control of dozens of low-achieving schools and newly built campuses. The school-control process was about to enter its third year.

    The nonbinding elections were meant to provide input for top district officials. The school board makes the final choice on which bidder takes control of a school.

    These advisory elections “didn’t work,” said board member Tamar Galatzan, who represents the west San Fernando Valley. Galatzan listed a string of reported election abuses, including intimidation tactics and incentives such as gifts, parties or course credit.

    The results were a measure only of which “campaign team did a better job organizing,” Galatzan said.

    Galatzan’s district had been the scene of intense politicking this year over a new high school. Granada Hills Charter High School and a team of district teachers and administrators were bidding for the
    Posted by at

    Draft of a Letter to the New York State Board of Regents 2011 | The Jose Vilson

    Draft of a Letter to the New York State Board of Regents 2011 | The Jose Vilson

    Draft of a Letter to the New York State Board of Regents 2011

    by Jose

    To Whom This May Concern:

    Anytime I get the opportunity to score the New York State Mathematics Exam, whether as scoring leader, table leader, or part of the scoring team, I try to ingest the super-technical rubrics and guidelines in order to be the best scorer possible. Every time we sit through the trainings, whichever end I sit on, the sea of groans often shakes the walls of the gymnasium with disgust. Disgust turns to disappointment when the sample papers look very much like the actual papers we start grading. None of this is in self-interest as we don’t grade our own schools, and never do we get to think of the ramifications of the students who miss a certain grade level by a few points.

    With that said, if these exams are how we’re going to judge our students’ academic worth or our teachers’

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