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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Big Education Ape: 5-8-11 PM Jack Booted Bill Collectors at the US ED? Can You Speak Canadian? Edition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Published by Coopmike48 – 7 contributors today

Define “insulting” « Failing Schools

failingschools.wordpress.com - Was this an excerpt from The Onion or did Arne Duncan really say “Diane Ravitch is in denial and she is insulting all of the hardworking teachers, principals and students all across the country who...

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coopmike48 #EDU Modern School: Corporate Cheaters Always Prosper—Deasy Offers Crescendo a Reprieve: Modern School: Corporat... http://bit.ly/j4E1Lp51 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Modern School: Corporate Cheaters Always Prosper—Deasy Offers Crescendo a Reprieve http://bit.ly/jLRvyC#Edu51 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 #EDU Tectonic shift as Campaign for Fiscal Equity exits New York | GothamSchools: Tectonic shift as Campaign for... http://bit.ly/jydHNK51 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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Xenophobia Behind NYT Charter Schools Story?

scholasticadministrator.typepad.com - June 8, 2011 | Posted At: 12:09 PM | Author: Alexander Russo | Category: Media Watch Substitute "Canadian" for "Turkish" and "Christian" for "Islam" and.... no one would care. -- An email response ...

coopmike48

Companies Must Push Harder To Reform Schools, Report Says

huffingtonpost.com - America's business leaders say they want to fix education, but they don't know how to do so effectively.As a result, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce commissioned a report that instructs business leade...

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Sikh man in US punched by man who called him "Osama's brother"

articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com - In a "bias" attack, a Sikh man in US lost 3 teeth after being punched by a man, who accused him of being related to slain al-Qaida chief.PTI, Jun 7, 2011, 04.40pm ISTNEW YORK: In a "bias" attack, a...

mikeklonsky

Office of Governor Jerry Brown

gov.ca.gov - Governor Brown Issues Proclamation Declaring "LGBT Pride Month"6-8-2011SACRAMENTO - Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. today issued a proclamation declaring June 2011, as "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Tr...

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BusinessSee all

Angry Homeowners 'Foreclose' on Lenders

bucks.blogs.nytimes.com - Owners of a house in Florida have engineered a reverse foreclosure against a bank. That makes two so far this year. Just one more, and it’s officially a trend, right? Earlier this year, Patrick Rod...

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Has America in 2011 become 200 AD Rome?

schoolingintheownershipsociety.blogspot.com - Dust-bowl refugees walk towards Los Angeles during the Great Depression. House prices have now fallen further than in the 1930s. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis British Guardian Economics Editor, Lar...

mikeklonsky

What If The NAACP Is Actually Right? | The Jose Vilson

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - What If The NAACP Is Actually Right? | The Jose VilsonWhat If The NAACP Is Actually Right?by JoseSomeone recently tagged me to this piece from What About Our Daughters. I’ll let you read the rest o...

coopmike48

Psst! Bootleg Audio From New America / Slate Event

scholasticadministrator.typepad.com - The voices you're hearing on this muffled bootleg tape (download here) from last night's Slate / New America Foundation event in Tribeca include Steve Brill, author of the forthcoming Class Warfare...

coopmike48

CrimeSee all

Questions surround feds' raid of Stockton home

news10.net - STOCKTON, CA - A federal education official Wednesday morning offered little information as to why federal agents raided a Stockton man's home Tuesday morning. The resident, Kenneth Wright, does no...

mikeklonsky

Mehserle to be Released Sunday « occupy california

occupyca.wordpress.com - By * OAKLAND, California – Johannes Mehserle, the police officer who murdered Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART station on January 1st 2009, will be released from jail this Sunday, June 9th. Mehser...

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    Educating for Human Greatness | Lefty Parent

    Educating for Human Greatness | Lefty Parent

    Educating for Human Greatness

    by Cooper Zale

    The title of this piece is the goal of my friend Lynn Stoddard, who has worked for over 50 years as an elementary school teacher, principal and consultant. His goal is to elevate the profession of teaching and inspire teachers to truly facilitate the development of a young human being rather than merely instruct them on standardized curriculum so they can pass the tests. I am aware of no greater contemporary champion for a holistic approach to teaching and education consistent with the great education innovators of the 20th Century like John Dewey, Waldorf founder Rudolph Steiner, and Maria Montessori.

    From chapter 1 page 1 of his book Educating for Human Greatness, Lynn frames the challenges for the profession of teaching in the current US educational context…

    In 1983 a National Commission on Excellence in Education issued a “Nation at Risk Report” and

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    Tectonic shift as Campaign for Fiscal Equity exits New York | GothamSchools

    Tectonic shift as Campaign for Fiscal Equity exits New York | GothamSchools

    Tectonic shift as Campaign for Fiscal Equity exits New York

    by Elizabeth Green

    The Campaign for Fiscal Equity, the advocacy organization whose historic, years-long lawsuit brought increased funding to the New York City schools, is closing its doors — at least in its current format, The New York Timesreported this afternoon.

    The organization’s last employee, Executive Director Helaine Doran, will leave at the end of the month because the group has run out of funding, the Times reports.

    The development comes despite the fact that the dollars won by the group’s lawsuit have fallen far short of what was promised in a settlement between the group and the state in 2007.

    The Times is right to describe the development as part of a greater shift in the way that philanthropists think about education advocacy, one that has made groups like former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee’s Students First active in New York City while the Campaign for Fiscal Equity struggled. The old mantra was that urban districts failed because they have been historically under-funded; now, advocates are more likely to argue

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    Modern School: Corporate Cheaters Always Prosper—Deasy Offers Crescendo a Reprieve

    Modern School: Corporate Cheaters Always Prosper—Deasy Offers Crescendo a Reprieve

    Corporate Cheaters Always Prosper—Deasy Offers Crescendo a Reprieve


    Crescendo Charters has continued running its six schools in LAUSD, despite the fact that their boss had directed teachers and principals to help students cheat on state standardized exams. The scandal led the state education department to invalidate the schools’ results. In March, the school board voted to shut down the schools, allowing LAUSD to take the campuses back and start collecting the state funding that had gone directly to Crescendo’s corrupt bosses (See LAUSD Changes Course, Modern School). All this is set to be reversed (again), this time by charter-loving Superintendent John Deasy, who has never met a charter (or profit-based reform) he didn’t like.

    Deasy told the board Tuesday he's leaning toward a reprieve after seeing strong reforms at the charter in the wake of the 2010 testing scandal, the
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    The Type 75 theory of the lone troublemaker. « Fred Klonsky's blog

    The Type 75 theory of the lone troublemaker. « Fred Klonsky's blog

    The Type 75 theory of the lone troublemaker.

    by Fred Klonsky

    In 2003 when teachers went out on strike in the district, the superintendent was sure that the union president was just trying to show who was boss. That he could pull all the teachers out if he wanted. She had expressed this to people on several occasions. He was just a lone troublemaker.

    The fact that the teachers were carrying a monumental burden of health insurance costs, an issue that would eight years later consume the nation in debate, in her mind couldn’t possibly be the problem.

    It had to be the lone troublemaker.

    Years later a parent approached the former union president and asked, “When are you retiring?”

    “Next year,” the teacher said. “A year and a day from now. Why?”

    She explained that the building’s Type 75 had told her that nothing would change in the building until some teachers retire next year.

    The Type 75 was new to the building this year. The general consensus among the faculty and staff has been that

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    How to Avoid Dumbing High Schools Down in Re-authorizing ESEA Sandra Stotsky « Jay P. Greene's Blog

    Sandra Stotsky « Jay P. Greene's Blog

    How to Avoid Dumbing High Schools Down in Re-authorizing ESEA

    February 22, 2011

    (Guest Post by Sandra Stotsky)

    President Obama wants all states to adopt Common Core’s standards for mathematics and English language arts and reading . He also wants states to use tests based on these standards in the re-authorization of ESEA. The feds are also funding development of not only these tests but also curriculum and instructional resources tied to these standards. Despite the questionable legal basis for all of this, it is hard to find legislators commenting on the implications of the language the feds want in a re-authorized ESEA, perhaps because they have been mesmerized by the glib phrase that states should use standards “that prepare all students for college and career”? Who would oppose that? Yet, there are good reasons why Congress should remove wording in the re-authorization of ESEA that implicitly requires states to adopt or use Common Core’s standards, or leaves states no choice but to adopt or use them.

    At present, states must report student scores yearly to USDE to show Adequate Yearly Progress. States now use scores from state

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    When Cops Go Commando, It’s No Laughing Matter | Cato @ Liberty

    When Cops Go Commando, It’s No Laughing Matter | Cato @ Liberty

    When Cops Go Commando, It’s No Laughing Matter

    Posted by David Rittgers

    I received a response to my recent blog post on the Department of Education serving a warrant and dragging Kenneth Wright of Stockton, California from his home at six in the morning (incident added to the Raidmap, and here’s an updated link to the story). Here is the word from Department of Education Press Secretary Justin Hamilton:

    “Yesterday, the Depart of Education’s office of inspector general executed a search warrant at Stockton California residence with the presence of local law enforcement authorities.

    While it was reported in local media that the search was related to a defaulted student loan, that is incorrect. This is related to a criminal investigation. The Inspector General’s Office does not execute search warrants for late loan payments.

    Because this is an ongoing criminal investigation, we can’t comment on the specifics of the case. We can say that the OIG’s office conducts about 30-35 search warrants a year on issues such as bribery, fraud, and embezzlement of federal student aid funds.

    All further questions on this issue should be directed to the Department of Education’s

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    Remarks by the First Lady at Let's Move! Child Care Announcement | The White House

    Remarks by the First Lady at Let's Move! Child Care Announcement | The White House

    Remarks by the First Lady at Let's Move! Child Care Announcement

    by The White House
    Release Time:
    For Immediate Release

    12:21 P.M. EDT
    MRS. OBAMA: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Everyone, please be seated. Hello. Hola!
    AUDIENCE: Hola!
    MRS. OBAMA: Doesn’t get any better than that. (Laughter.)
    But I am just thrilled and delighted to be here.
    First, I want to thank General Cartwright for that moving testimony as well as his introduction. This is an example of where the several issues that I work on intersect so nicely. And I think General Cartwright made it very clear how health and nutrition, our child care facilities, the work that we do to support our military families, this is all about the same thing in so many ways. And we are so grateful for his leadership and his service and his family’s sacrifice on so many issues, particularly these. We are grateful, and I am so sorry you didn’t get the nap. (Laughter.) I know we did promise it, but you didn’t get snack time, either. (Laughter.)
    I also want to thank Secretary Sebelius for joining us today as well as her work. And I have to say, Secretary, it’s actually called The Dougie, not The Doogie. (Laughter.) It’s okay, you know. I know your cool factor just went down by one, but it’s okay. (Laughter.)
    SECRETARY SEBELIUS: You had to call me out.
    MRS. OBAMA: I had to. I said it back there. I said I’m calling her out, calling her out.
    But obviously all the progress that we have made, we could not have done it without her leadership, without her staff support, and we are again so grateful to you for being so focused on these issues. Thank you again for being here.
    I also want to thank Renata Claros and Myrna Peralta also for hosting us in this wonderful facility. You all are doing some magnificent work here at CentroNia. It is amazing, and I’m so glad that we had the cameras on to see the quality of care that you all provide here.
    Just want to thank a few other people, as well: Dr. Jim Gavin, who is from the Partnership for Healthy America -- Healthier America; David Lissy from Bright Horizons Family Solutions; David Bailey from Nemours Foundation; Linda Smith from NACCRRA. All of these groups have come together today to help put together this event and the initiative that we’re announcing today.
    Again, I am thrilled to be here. Este es un lugar maravilloso. (Laughter and applause.) I can say that because it is absolutely true. That is easy to say. This is a perfect setting for us to launch our latest effort with "Let's Move.”
    As many of you know, for almost a year and a half we’ve been bringing folks together to tackle the epidemic of childhood obesity. We’ve been working with some of our biggest corporations and non-profit organizations across the country. We’ve been signing up hundreds of schools for the HealthierUS School Challenge. We’ve been kicking off efforts to enlist support from folks all over this country -- chefs, and health professionals, mayors, and faith leaders.
    But in addition to all of this work, we’ve also been doing a lot of listening, as well. And one of the things that we’ve heard across the board -- from child care providers to health experts to moms and dads -- it is how vital it is to get our kids started on the path to a healthy life from the very beginning.
    These early years are pivotal. When you look at the statistics -- and Secretary Sebelius talked about some of them -- but more than half of obese children become overweight before their second birthday. It starts that early.
    Obesity rates among kids ages two to five have doubled in the last few decades. And some children as young as three are showing warning signs of heart disease. And that wasn’t always the -- that wasn’t something that many of us grew up -- these statistics didn’t exist when many of us were younger.
    And with more than half of our nation’s kids under the age of five in some type of child care arrangement, day care facilities and home-based providers oftentimes play a very central role in providing the healthy foundations that our kids need.
    And that's why we are so excited to launch our Let’s Move Child Care. Through this initiative, we’re going to be providing Let’s Move Child Care participants with an easy checklist so providers know some very easy steps that they can take to make kids healthy.
    And it’s as simple as five steps. That's the beauty of this stuff. It’s not complicated. It is not costly. It’s just a matter of knowledge and implementation.
    One of the steps -- one to two hours of physical activity, things that we saw up in the playroom. It is not easy to make young kids sit still. (Laughter.) They like to move. So that's their natural way of being. You just have to give them the environment, and a couple of balls, and some plastic containers, and have them move for a couple hours a day.
    The second is limiting screen time for all kids, but making sure we eliminate it for kids under two. And I know a lot of parents get shocked by that -- not the TV! -- but that's one of those small things at an early age that keeps kids, their minds active. It forces us as parents to engage them in a different way. So turning off the TV, creating some limits is another one of the steps.
    The third is serving a fruit or a vegetable at every meal. At every meal. Not just once in a while but at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and throwing it in at snack time, as well.
    This is one I like, the fourth one: Serve only water, low-fat milk, or 100 percent juice. That's something that a lot of parents don't understand, is the high level of sugar content that are in the average juice box juice drink. And if kids are geared towards drinking milk and water, that's all they’re ultimately going to want anyway, and that is going to be a huge lifesaver, at no cost for most families.
    And finally, supporting mothers who choose to breastfeed. Whether we do it in our workplaces or in our child care facilities, breastfeeding, as we have learned, is one of the ways to reduce the level of obesity in a child. The longer a mother can breastfeed, the better off a child will be on a whole range of health issues. And I know here at CentroNia that you all are working to make sure that mothers can bring their milk to their child on a daily basis. Those are the kind of things that workplaces -- that we all need to understand is an important part of a family’s well being and a child’s health.
    And with the help of the Nemours Foundation and NACCRRA, we have the tools and the information that can help parents and providers answer questions and implement the checklist either in their environments or in their homes. So all people have to do to get more information is to go to letsmove.gov or they can also go to healthykidshealthyfuture.org to learn more.
    On these websites there will be plenty of how-to tips and ideas to help create a healthier environment for kids. It’s as simple as that.
    But, you know, the one thing that you won’t need for this, you won’t need a fundraising plan. No one’s going to need to start a capital campaign to take part in Let’s Move Child Care. No one’s going to have to hire new staff or completely overhaul their programming.
    Here at CentroNia you all have found ways to save money in how you feed these young people, or at least keep the costs neutral. So there are ways to implement these five simple steps in a way that doesn’t have to require more funding.
    But everyone is going to see that these small changes can make a big difference. And that's been the beauty of "Let's Move.” We’re not talking about grand-scale changes. These are small, basic, simple things that people have to reincorporate into our lives at every level because what we have learned is that if our kids get into the habit of getting up and playing again, and turning off the TV, and finding other ways to engage themselves other than the computer, which is wonderful but it shouldn’t be the only way, if they relearn how to do that, that's a good thing.
    We know that if we open up children’s palates to new tastes -- I mean, one of the things we watched upstairs -- babies, little bitty babies eating salad and fish and strawberries and mashed sweet potatoes, and loving it, because that's what they’re used to eating -- that that's going to -- starting that at an early age is going to set their palates for what they will eat and what they can tolerate. You’ve seen that here.
    And if they’re not glued to the TV screen all day, those are the things that set the stage for habits for a healthy life early on. Just small pieces of information; things we want to make sure people know. Whether they -- and how they implement it, that's a whole different story. But a lot of families don't even know.
    All of this comes as a response to parents across the country who have voiced their support for healthier child care centers. Again, moms and dads know. They are relying on these health care centers. Many of them would much rather be at home with their own kids doing this, but they can’t. So they come to places like this, and they are counting on all of you, all of us, to make sure these options don't thwart what they’re trying to do in their home. And we’re so excited that many child care providers are already committing to implement the checklist at their facilities.
    The Department of Defense is signing up all of its facilities, which, as the General mentioned, is serving more than 200,000 children each day. So they’re on board.
    Head Start is going to be encouraging its programs to meet this goal, so they’re on board.
    The General Services Administration will enlist 100 percent of their facilities, which serve nearly 10,000 kids to follow this checklist.
    And through our Let’s Move Cities and Towns program that we’ve also launched, we have several mayors in places like Omaha, Nebraska; and Greenville, South Carolina; and Avondale, Arizona that are coming up and making commitments to improve the child care in their communities.
    The Partnership for a Healthier America is working with private providers like Bright Horizons. That's the nation’s second largest private child care provider, and they’re going to implement this checklist at nearly 600 child care centers across the country.
    So we already have commitments that are going to affect hundreds of thousands of children today. Again, that's why we’re excited to be able to launch this. That's why these partners here today are so important, because we wouldn’t have this announcement if we didn’t have the folks ready to step up and invest and get the ball rolling and be the models as CentroNia is to show we can do this, and it can work, and it can work really, really well.
    And I got to see a lot of that, walking around this morning. I saw and heard about all the steps they’ve taken right here right in our own community that include -- they cook their own meals on-site. They have a chef who cares deeply about what she is doing and how she is feeding the kids and the quality of the food, and that information is then being used to educate families.
    I saw the menu -- fish -- it was a good-looking lunch. (Laughter.) Let me tell you. And I haven’t had lunch yet, and I was tempted to take a strawberry, but I thought, you know, that might not look that good -- First Lady stealing food from children. (Laughter.) So I left their plates alone. But I was hungry.
    But they are serving their own meals and doing it in a cost-neutral way, and expanding that to the employees of the center. I understand you all have the opportunity to buy this good food, and I hope everybody is, because it was really good. (Laughter.)
    And they serve their meals family-style, which is -- seems like a small thing, but sitting down -- how old were the little ones we were sitting with? Babies. Little itty-bitty babies, right? They were serving themselves, using the tongs, learning manners, having conversation -- not with real sentences or anything -- (laughter) -- but all the expression that goes along with sitting at the table and having a glass of milk and passing the food.
    The ritual of sitting down and re-introducing that activity into the life of kids, it also helps them balance what they eat, because if you’re not just sitting down, chowing down, you can moderate what you eat because the meal isn't just about feeding yourself physically. It’s about feeding your emotional soul. So they serve it family-style. And this is also a learning tool for the young kids here.
    And they’ve been using the MyPlate, just to put another plug in there for MyPlate. We haven’t talked about that enough. (Laughter.) But learning, helping the kids understand the proportions that they need, that they mostly should be eating fruits and vegetables at each meal; that protein is a smaller portion, and, you know, that -- what is a grain? I mean, all of that is going on right now in the school at mealtime. It is beautiful.
    They use local parks and community spaces so that the kids can get outside on a regular basis. They planted a garden for fresh foods, which security wouldn’t let me see -- (laughter) -- but I got the picture. It’s there.
    They built a dance studio that we got to see, where a lot of good moves happen -- even The Dougie. (Laughter.)
    And they’ve plopped a playground on the top of their roof here, which, again, I didn’t get to see that, either, but I know that it’s nice.
    And now -- and this is interesting outcomes -- the nurse here says that the number of kids visiting her office with stomachaches has dropped significantly. Immediate benefits. Things we take for granted at how our kids eat and what they put in their body affects how they feel every day, which then it in turns affects how they perform each day.
    They say that they’re noticing that more children will try new foods, again, because if you’re introducing it at 12 months and 20 months, then it’s not so foreign when they’re four.
    And since kids like what they’re trying, they’re even asking their parents for healthy things like salad once they come home. And let me tell you, a lot of parents say, how do I get my kids to enjoy vegetables? We have to give them to them. I mean, that's really the simple answer. They have to eat it and eat it regularly until they understand that this is the new flavor, this is how it tastes, this is how the crunch feels. They have to play around with their food, in a way.
    And that's really what this is all about. Just like the drawings they sketch here, they find their way to the refrigerator, just like the songs that they sing here start to echo throughout their homes, all of these healthy habits that the kids here are learning will also find their way home, and these young people, as small as they are, will become leaders in their own homes, because they’re going to ask for things that their parents never knew they would even try.
    And that's why I am so excited about Let’s Move Child Care, because I know that child care facilities and home-based providers can be a real building block for an entire generation of healthy kids. That's the power that you all have, and the potential and the opportunity.
    So I want to thank you for sharing this wonderful few hours with me. It has been truly joyful. Your children are amazing. And that must mean they have some amazing parents, and I know some of them are here, because many of the employees have children who go here. (Applause.) So well done.
    The staff here is incredible. You can tell in just a few short minutes that they care deeply about these kids, and the kids care deeply about them, because they certainly weren’t coming to us. (Laughter.) They knew who they were with.
    So I congratulate you on the success that you’ve had. Our goal is to show you off as a model. I know that there are many other facilities around the country that are doing cutting-edge things. Our goal is to lift them up, give people tools and steps, if they choose to implement this, to show them that there is a way and there are people who have done it and can give some guidance and some support. So we are grateful to you all for the work that you have done. And I look forward to working more with you in the months and years ahead.
    So let’s just keep on moving. Thank you so much. (Applause.)
    END 12:41 P.M. EDT

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    Why Charter Schools Are Not The Answer | News One

    Why Charter Schools Are Not The Answer | News One

    Why Charter Schools Are Not The Answer

    Written by Casey Gane-McCalla, Lead Blogger on June 8, 2011 1:50 pm

    Charter schools have been in the news a lot lately due to a lawsuit filed by the United Federation of Teacher’s Union and the NAACP against the New York City Department of Education. The lawsuit was filed to help prevent the city from closing public schools and replacing them with charter schools.

    While these charter schools have great potential, they can also be harmful. Most charter schools use a lottery system; so thinking that charter schools can stop the education crisis is like solving the economic crisis with scratch tickets. While a few lucky students may benefit from the lottery system, most children will not benefit at all.

    One of the reasons the right wing is so supportive of charter schools is that they do not require teachers to be in their powerful union. The UFT is a big supporter of the Democratic party and opposes

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    Who Knew the Department of Education Even Had SWAT Teams? « Student Activism

    Who Knew the Department of Education Even Had SWAT Teams? « Student Activism

    Who Knew the Department of Education Even Had SWAT Teams?

    by Angus Johnston

    Stockton, California resident Kenneth Wright says a team of federal agents sent by the Department of Education busted down his door without warning yesterday morning, handcuffing him in the back of a cop car for more than six hours. And, he says, it was all because his estranged wife defaulted on her student loans.

    The feds, meanwhile, deny that the raid was conducted over a student loan default, but confirm that the squad was sent by the DOE. The department’s Office of the Inspector General, a spokesperson says, “conducts about

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    Department Of Education: Raid Of California Man's Home Was Not Related To Defaulted Student Loans

    Department Of Education: Raid Of California Man's Home Was Not Related To Defaulted Student Loans

    Dept. Of Education: We Did Not Raid Man's Home Over Defaulted Student Loans

    by The Huffington Post News Team
    WASHINGTON -- The Department of Education is disputing a local news report that it sent a S.W.A.T. team to knock down the door and search the house of an individual because he defaulted on student loans.

    Stockton, Calif. resident Kenneth Wright told the local ABC affiliate that on Tuesday, approximately 15 officers stormed into his home at 6 a.m., placed him in handcuffs and kept him in a squad car for nearly six hours while his three young children remained inside the house.

    Wright said one of the individuals grabbed him by the neck and led him outside to his front lawn.

    "He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there," Wright said.

    The initial report said the U.S. Department of Education "issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his
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