Duncan"s Union Whisperer - Abby Phillip - POLITICO.com

Education envoy keeps the peace - Abby Phillip - POLITICO.com

Education envoy keeps the peace

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Anderson is Arne Duncan's (shown) chief liaison to the nation’s education unions. | AP PhotoClose

By ABBY PHILLIP | 6/21/11 10:25 PM EDT

Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s willingness to publicly pressure teachers unions to “change and evolve” has sometimes strained relations with a key Democratic constituency.

One reason the administration has avoided a major rift with teachers unions is a little-known adviser named Jo Anderson

A former executive director of Illinois’s largest education union, Anderson, 66, is described by some union leaders as labor’s “man on the inside.” As Duncan’s senior adviser, he fills a vital role at the Department of Education: chief liaison to the nation’s education unions.

More than two years into the Obama administration, there has been plenty of cause for conflict with teachers unions, which play a critical role in Democratic voter turnout during election years.

Against the advice of union leaders, the administration encouraged districts to ease restrictions against tying teacher pay to student performance and to lower barriers for firing under-performing teachers. Tensions seemed to explode when Duncan initially appeared to back the firing of teachers at a struggling Rhode Island school last year.

In the midst of all that, a soft-spoken but

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57462.html#ixzz1Q0ThMYW8

8 Questions from a New Teacher « Bill Ayers

8 Questions from a New Teacher « Bill Ayers

8 Questions from a New Teacher

by billayers

1. What words of advice would you give a teacher who is struggling to incorporate reflective writing practices into his or her pedagogy?

Recognize that aesthetics is at the heart of teaching—strive for beauty and something pleasing and lovely in your work—and remember that the opposite of aesthetic is anesthetic. Anesthetics put us to sleep, but an educated person is always striving to open her eyes, to pay attention, to see more clearly from wider and different angles of regard. Wake up! Get moving! Nourish the imaginative and the weird and the queer! This is a call to ourselves no less than to our students. Art often hurts, is unruly and refuses to be domesticated, but art also urges voyages.

2. How would you direct your class to learn the fundamentals of writing while helping them better

O, Canada! From the Guardian/UK

by billayers

Can Canada Really Be Scared of Free-Thinking?

It’s a question I have to ask after being denied entry again – this time, ironically, to give a paper on academics and public debate

William (‘Bill’) Ayers in Chicago’s Grant Park, in 2001. Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground, spent 10 years as a fugitive, a story he told in his book Fugitive Days. The former university professor has again been barred entry from Canada, where he had been invited to give a conference paper. (AP Photo/Ted S Warren)

In January this year, I was invited by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) to address the Worldviews Conference on Media and Higher Education to be held on 16 June 2011 in Toronto. The

Increase counseling to drop suspensions, parents and advocates urge Education Department

Increase counseling to drop suspensions, parents and advocates urge Education Department

BY RACHEL MONAHAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, June 22nd 2011, 4:00 AM

Critics of the city Education Department called on the agency yesterday to reduce the number of student suspensions by trying counseling before barring kids from the classroom.

A crowd of advocates, parents and students overflowed from the agency's headquarters, waiting to testify at a school discipline hearing to blast the increase in suspensions, which surged from 29,000 in 2001-02 to 73,000 in 2008-09.

The numbers also showed a racial disparity in suspensions, with black students accounting for just a third of city students but making up more than half of all suspensions, the Daily News reported in January.

"We know that it's possible to create safe learning environments while keeping students

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2011/06/22/2011-06-22_up_counseling_to_reduce_spike.html#ixzz1Q0R6ZuR9

New Reports Reveal Alarming Facts About the Educational Experiences of Young Men of Color - Hispanically Speaking News

New Reports Reveal Alarming Facts About the Educational Experiences of Young Men of Color - Hispanically Speaking News

New Reports Reveal Alarming Facts About the Educational Experiences of Young Men of Color

College Board Reports Offer Insights into the Educational Challenges Faced by Young Men of Color and Outlines a Series of Concrete Recommendations for Addressing These Issues Nearly half of young men of color age 15 to 24 who graduate from high school will end up unemployed, incarcerated or dead. This jarring statistic is just one of many highlighted in two new reports that will be released today by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center at an event held in collaboration with the Harvard University’s W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research in Cambridge, Mass.. The reports, The Educational Experience of Young Men of Color: A Review of Research, Pathways and Progress and Capturing the Student Voice, are especially relevant given the need for these young men to attain postsecondary degrees if the nation’s economy is to thrive and compete globally. The reports provide the most comprehensive data, research findings and recommendations to date to improve the educational experiences and pathways of young men of color. The qualitative research study, conducted in collaboration with the Business Innovation Factory (BIF), provides findings from 92 in-depth personal student interviews that are captured through video storytelling. This information is combined in a dynamic website. Together, these resources provide a compelling narrative that tracks the progress and pitfalls

Diane Ravitch: Why I march! « Fred Klonsky's blog

Diane Ravitch: Why I march! « Fred Klonsky's blog

Diane Ravitch: Why I march!

by Fred Klonsky

Education historian Diane Ravitch explains why she is going to Washington DC on July 30 for the Save Our Schools march.

Ravitch shares a Building Bridges column with Debbie Meier in Ed Week.

I will be marching with the Save Our Schools coalition of teachers and parents on July 30 in Washington, D.C. I know you will be, too. I hope we are joined by many thousands of concerned citizens who want to save our

Physical Activity Levels of High School Students—United States, 2010 - Hispanically Speaking News

Physical Activity Levels of High School Students—United States, 2010 - Hispanically Speaking News

Physical Activity Levels of High School Students—United States, 2010

High school students need more daily physical activity

High school students nationwide are not getting enough daily physical activity, according to the CDC 2010 National Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Study (NYPANS), a school-based study. The findings, published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, emphasize the need for youth to increase levels of physical activity. Healthy People 2020 (HP 2020) objectives measure recommended levels of youth physical activity and are based on the2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: Youth aged 6 to 17 years need 1 hour of physical activity each day and muscle strengthening activity at least 3 days a week.
Among U.S. high school students in grades 9–12, in 2010:
* Approximately 1 out of 10 (12.2%) met the HP 2020 objective for both aerobic and muscle strengthening

New Reports Reveal Alarming Facts About the Educational Experiences of Young Men of Color

College Board Reports Offer Insights into the Educational Challenges Faced by Young Men of Color and Outlines a Series of Concrete Recommendations for Addressing These Issues

Nearly half of young men of color age 15 to 24 who graduate from high school will end up unemployed, incarcerated or dead. This jarring statistic is just one of many highlighted in two new reports that will be released today by theCollege Board Advocacy & Policy Center at an event held in collaboration with the Harvard University’s W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research in Cambridge, Mass.. The reports, The Educational Experience of Young Men of Color: A Review of Research, Pathways and Progress and Capturing the Student Voice, are especially relevant given the need for these young men to attain postsecondary degrees if the nation’s economy is to thrive and compete globally.
The reports provide the most comprehensive data, research findings and recommendations to date to improve the educational experiences and pathways of young men of color. The qualitative research study, conducted in 

Mess with Prop 98, do not pass Go | Thoughts on Public Education

Mess with Prop 98, do not pass Go | Thoughts on Public Education

Mess with Prop 98, do not pass Go - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

In finding that legislators had passed a squirrely budget last week and therefore won’t get paid as of June 16, Controller John Chiang determined Tuesday that lawmakers had shorted the Proposition 98 obligation to K-12 schools and community colleges by about $1.3 billion. He’s not alone. That’s roughly the same amount that School Services of California, [...]

Prepare more students for algebra but be fair to those who aren’t ready - by Bill Honig

by Bill Honig

One of the most intractable problems facing California schools is the shockingly low performance of students in our middle grades. In 2009, on the respected NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) test, only Mississippi, Alabama, and Washington, D.C., scored lower than our state. It’s true that many of our students take Algebra, which is not [...]

How to write an article about parenting - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

How to write an article about parenting - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

How to write an article about parenting

by Valerie Strauss

--

This was written by Alfie Kohn, the author of 12 books about education and human behavior, including “The Schools Our Children Deserve,” “The Homework Myth,” and the newly published“Feel-Bad Education . . . And Other Contrarian Essays on Children & Schooling.” He lives (actually) in the Boston area and (virtually) atwww.alfiekohn.com.

Read full article >>

A D.C. teacher’s troubled experience with IMPACT

by Valerie Strauss

This is a statement that Laura Fuchs, a social studies teacher at H.D. Woodson Senior High School in Washington D.C., recently delivered to D.C. Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s Teachers Cabinet about Fuchs’ experiences with the IMPACT teacher evaluation system.

IMPACT was instituted during the tenure of former chancellor Michelle Rhee. It is now headed by Jason Kamras, chief of Human Capital for the D.C. public schools.

IMPACT is actually a collection of some 20 different evaluation systems for teachers in different capacities and other school personnel. Some teachers are evaluated by the standardized test scores of their students and by observations of their teaching.

Read full article >>

Bill would streamline leadership of K-12 school system | California Watch

Bill would streamline leadership of K-12 school system | California Watch

Bill would streamline leadership of K-12 school system

by Corey G. Johnson

Corey G. Johnson

Casey West/Flickr

A bill that recently sailed through the Senate would shift the policymaking powers of the State Board of Education to the superintendent of public instruction and the state's Department of Education.

Sponsored by Sen. Carol Liu, D-Pasadena, SB 204 seeks to untangle what has been a complex bureaucratic relationship among the state board, state superintendent and governor's office. The state Senate voted 26-13 in favor of the bill on June 1. The proposal now is being reviewed by the Assembly's Education Committee.

If approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, the bill would create a director of

NYC Educator: Is It Worth It?

NYC Educator: Is It Worth It?

Is It Worth It?

by NYC Educator

Mayor Bloomberg wants city workers to pay him thirty million a month to refrain from firing teachers and closing firehouses. While there seems to be a fund that can cover it, it doesn't seem like the best idea ever. For one thing, what happens at the end of the year? It's fairly obvious that Bloomberg will dredge up some new slimeball senator to kill seniority rights and try to fire us all over again.

Last year, of course, he pretended to avoid utterly unnecessary layoffs by unilaterally announcing teachers would not get the raise he granted to all other city workers. This year, he's claiming there's a fiscal crisis while he sits on a 3 billion dollar surplus, a one billion dollar rainy day fund, and a few hundred million that he disappeared from the DOE. There is no reason whatsoever to fire a single teacher and the mayor is

NYC Public School Parents: Julie Cavanagh and Khem Irby on the new film, An Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

NYC Public School Parents: Julie Cavanagh and Khem Irby on the new film, An Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

Julie Cavanagh and Khem Irby on the new film, An Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

Speaking out about the myths behind charter schools, unions, and the importance of parent rights.

Data-Driven To Distraction (Dennis Shirley and Andy Hargreaves) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Data-Driven To Distraction (Dennis Shirley and Andy Hargreaves) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Data-Driven To Distraction (Dennis Shirley and Andy Hargreaves)

by larrycuban

This Education Week “Commentary” by Boston College professors Shirley and Hargreaves was published October 4, 2006. In England, RATL (see below) continues its collaborative, educator-driven process of reform “by schools for schools” in 2011.

Every few years in American education, a new slogan is coined as the Next Big Thing. Total quality management, shared decision-making, and outcomes-based education all marched across the educational landscape once, grabbing headlines, filling copy—and leaving little improvement in learning in their wake.

Right now, data-driven instruction, results-oriented improvement, and evidence-based education are the watchwords. They show up everywhere—from state education department Web sites to principals’ and superintendents’ job descriptions—insisting that instructional practices should be driven by the analysis of student-achievement data as measured by prescribed standardized tests….

Teachers are no longer the drivers of reform, but the driven. Many teachers and schools, in fact, are being driven to distraction. Under the pressures of the federal No Child Left Behind Act and its mandate for “adequate yearly

A Success For Both Of Us, If We Can Have One | The Jose Vilson

A Success For Both Of Us, If We Can Have One | The Jose Vilson

A Success For Both Of Us, If We Can Have One

by Jose

When you said a 7th grade class, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought you had made it to the next grade along with some of the other knuckleheads I had seen the year before. No matter. You’d be in my class and I was going to make you love math, even if you were given a score of a 1. You were told to repeat the grade earlier on because they place your value on a math test instead of your academic potential. They saw a red mark and a “promotion-in-doubt” next to your ID and thought it would be best if you repeated the material, even if that test didn’t really indicate your capacity for the material, but your capacity to pass that test.

Again, no matter.

A few days after I figured out how I would approach you, one of the first things I said to you after class was that we were going to prove everyone wrong about your math capacity. If only I used that same line with everyone else in my class, or else they might have done better. There you were, quietly kicking ass while nothing on your report changed. You were still labeled a 1 in math even as you were slowly creeping up in your grades. Your

Schools Matter: Why Diane Ravitch Is Marching on July 30

Schools Matter: Why Diane Ravitch Is Marching on July 30

Why Diane Ravitch Is Marching on July 30

by Jim Horn

From Ed Week:

I will be marching with the Save Our Schools coalition of teachers and parents on July 30 in Washington, D.C. I know you will be, too. I hope we are joined by many thousands of concerned citizens who want to save our schools from the bad ideas and bad policies now harming them.

I am marching to protest the status quo of high-stakes testing, attacks on the education profession, and creeping privatization.

I want to protest the federal government's punitive ideas about school reform, specifically, No Child Left Behind and the Race to the Top. Neither of these programs has any validation in research or practice or evidence. The nation's teachers and parents know that NCLB has been a policy disaster. Race to the Top incorporates the same failed ideas. Why doesn't Congress

I want to protest the wave of school closings caused by these cruel federal policies. Public schools are a public trust, not shoe stores. If they are struggling, they should be improved, not killed.