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Friday, July 22, 2011

Big Education Ape: 7-22-11 PM Another former Stand for Children member, speaks out EDition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Published by Coopmike48 – 6 news spotters today

Video

nypost.com - A test-run of a new teacher evaluation system set to be phased in this fall rated a whopping 18 percent of participating teachers as "ineffective" -- a designation that can get even tenured teacher...

leoniehaimson

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@coopmike48/big-edu-ape-news-11

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coopmike48 4LAKids SCHOOLS THAT SUSPEND, EXPEL, DENY + Report: Breaking School Rules http://bit.ly/mRGiPH #Edu44 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 State will use $1 million on remedial ed | EdNewsColorado -http://goo.gl/jWPMe43 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Remainders: Critiquing legalese in the city’s co-location plans | GothamSchools - http://goo.gl/rqx8S43 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

Gotham shorts « JD2718

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Gotham shorts « JD2718Gotham shortsby jd2718I’ve been more or less off-line for a month, and haven’t looked closely at Gotham Schools in even longer. A hot day is a good time for A/C and a return.1...

coopmike48

Art & EntertainmentSee all

Klein's DC, NYC Work Prep For News Corp Scandal : NPR

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Klein's DC, NYC Work Prep For News Corp Scandal : NPRKlein's DC, NYC Work Prep For News Corp Scandalby THE ASSOCIATED PRESSWhen Joel Klein left his post as head of New York City schools to join Rup...

coopmike48

PoliticsSee all

Report: US preps subpoenas for News Corp. - TODAY News

today.msnbc.msn.com - The Justice Department is readying subpoenas as part of a probe into allegations that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. attempted to hack into phones of Sept. 11 victims, the Wall Street Journal reported...

leoniehaimson

StoriesSee all

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Jonah?

schooltechconnect.com - How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? So, I went for a long ride through the Loop tonight, after posting that last Edelman subclip, and I guess I need help resolving some questions. Here's what ...

tbfurman

School Tech Connect: Your Moment of Zinn

schooltechconnect.com - Just messing with Youtube's video editor. I'm liking it better than Jaycut. I've decided to work with the lovely and charming Jonah Edelman while discovering the limits of Youtube. All I've done h...

tbfurman

Hyatt -- 'It was the manager's fault'

michaelklonsky.blogspot.com - Some guy named Farley says, "Hyatt is sorry."CHICAGO (Reuters) - Hyatt hotels apologized Friday for an incident in which heat lamps were turned on above workers on strike at a Chicago hotel, when...

mikeklonsky

BusinessSee all

Troubles That Money Can’t Dispel

nytimes.com - “Bury your mistakes,” Rupert Murdoch is fond of saying. But some mistakes don’t stay buried, no matter how much money you throw at them. Time and again in the United States and elsewher...

leoniehaimson

Raising the Ceiling on Income Subject to It)

robertreich.org - The very idea that Social Security might be on the chopping block in order to pay the ransom Republicans are demanding reveals both the cravenness of their demands and the callowness of the opposit...

coopmike48

LeisureSee all

Chicago Hyatt turns heat lamps on picketing workers

dailykos.com - In winter, it can be awfully nice to walk by a luxury hotel that has heat lamps over its entryway. It would be less nice on a day with temperatures over 90 degrees and a heat index over 100 degrees...

mikeklonsky

The perfect formula for toast

wildaboutmath.com - From the BBC:Food scientists at the UK’s University of Leeds have developed a formula for making the perfect piece of toast. The equation – which details butter and toast temperature – took three m...

coopmike48

Daytrips for Davisites: Citrus, Sangria & Wine in Winters

davis.patch.com - Even when there’s nothing in particular going on in Winters, many Davisites spend time there on weekends. Whether it be breakfast at the Putah Creek Café or live music at the Palms, it’s an easy dr...

coopmike48

#eduRead this paperSee all

Gotham shorts « JD2718

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Gotham shorts « JD2718Gotham shortsby jd2718I’ve been more or less off-line for a month, and haven’t looked closely at Gotham Schools in even longer. A hot day is a good time for A/C and a return.1...

coopmike48

#edreformRead this paperSee all

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Jonah?

schooltechconnect.com - How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? So, I went for a long ride through the Loop tonight, after posting that last Edelman subclip, and I guess I need help resolving some questions. Here's what ...

tbfurman

School Tech Connect: Your Moment of Zinn

schooltechconnect.com - Just messing with Youtube's video editor. I'm liking it better than Jaycut. I've decided to work with the lovely and charming Jonah Edelman while discovering the limits of Youtube. All I've done h...

tbfurman

Media1

  • leoniehaimsonleoniehaimson

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    4LAKids SCHOOLS THAT SUSPEND, EXPEL, DENY + Report: Breaking School Rules

    4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: SCHOOLS THAT SUSPEND, EXPEL, DENY + Report: Breaking School Rules

    SCHOOLS THAT SUSPEND, EXPEL, DENY + Report: Breaking School Rules

    by smf
    Themes in the News for the week of July 18-22, 2011 by UCLA IDEA | http://bit.ly/oNjVQg 07-22-2011 - A new study by the Council of State Governments Justice Center reveals drastic and varied student disciplinary policies. For the first time, researchers used longitudinal data to track suspensions and expulsions and relate them to students’ rate of high school graduation. In Breaking Schools’
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    Gotham shorts « JD2718

    Gotham shorts « JD2718

    Gotham shorts

    by jd2718

    I’ve been more or less off-line for a month, and haven’t looked closely at Gotham Schools in even longer. A hot day is a good time for A/C and a return.

    1. A 4th year Teaching Fellow is being used by TfA and promoted by Gotham Schools to advocate against tenure and against seniority. Ruben Brosbe. His situation deserves more discussion. But for now, why do you think, of all the teacher-bloggers in New York City, GS runs him? It’s not for his mastery of teaching – he claims not to be there. Why do the editorial boards of the News and Post quote him and not some other not-so-special teacher? And why do the TfAers running E4E not get a regular Ivy League TfAer to be that prominent voice?

    You probably know the answer to some of these questions. Gotham Schools largely created this guy, and marketed him. If you have a problem with what he writes (and you should) you should respond by refusing to comment, by starving GS of the RB attention it craves. If you really have to say something, go directly to his

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    After city’s legal win, Bloomberg attacks UFT and NAACP on air | GothamSchools

    After city’s legal win, Bloomberg attacks UFT and NAACP on air | GothamSchools

    After city’s legal win, Bloomberg attacks UFT and NAACP on air

    by Sarah Darville

    Being able to move forward with plans to close and co-locate schools isn’t enough for Mayor Michael Bloomberg — he said this morning that the UFT and NAACP should feel ashamed for trying to stop the changes.

    Bloomberg used his weekly appearance on “The John Gambling Show” to celebrate yesterday’s late-night decision by Judge Paul Feinman to allow the city to move ahead with 22 school closures and 15 charter school co-locations. The UFT and NAACP sued in May to stop the closure and co-locations.

    “There are thousands of families whose children have been in limbo because of this lawsuit, and now we can give them a clear direction. This is a big victory for the kids, and I think those that brought the suit should be ashamed of themselves. There’s no other way to phrase it,” Bloomberg said.

    UFT officials bristled at the suggestion, saying that the lawsuit — which will now move into a new phase — was

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    PS 9 Co-Location: Another Missed Opportunity by the DOE « EdVox

    PS 9 Co-Location: Another Missed Opportunity by the DOE « EdVox

    PS 9 Co-Location: Another Missed Opportunity by the DOE

    by edvoxny

    by Katie O’Hare


    “You can’t make a decision, then say you are giving a space for feedback because that’s really false democracy…it’s such a missed opportunity.”

    -PS 9 Parent Advocate Committee (PAC) member Ivana Espinet

    On July 20th, the NY State Education Department dismissed an appeal filed by parents at PS 9 in Brooklyn against the co-location of Brooklyn East Collegiate Charter School (BECCS) in their building. It looks like BECCS will be moving in while MS 571 phases out, but that doesn’t mean the larger push for co-location reform

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    Klein's DC, NYC Work Prep For News Corp Scandal : NPR

    Klein's DC, NYC Work Prep For News Corp Scandal : NPR

    Klein's DC, NYC Work Prep For News Corp Scandal

    by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
    When Joel Klein left his post as head of New York City schools to join Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. last year, many observers expected his new gig as senior adviser would be lower-profile and better-paid. So far, it is definitely not the former.
    As Murdoch and his son James were grilled by British lawmakers in the phone hacking scandal Tuesday, Klein was seated just behind them, next to Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng. He wore a dark suit; she a bright pink blazer. Deng stole the show when she leaped up to slap a comedian who tried to toss a pie in the elder Murdoch's face. Klein started to stand up during the commotion, then plopped back down as she let loose a smack.
    Despite his deference to Deng, Klein's
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    10 ways to build the “community school” | Connected Principals

    10 ways to build the “community school” | Connected Principals

    10 ways to build the “community school”

    by Justin Tarte


    Something that we take for granted far too often is the power of “the school community.” Whether we always recognize it or not, schools play a vital role in our society, and as such their involvement and significance to our communities can’t be easily dismissed.

    http://goo.gl/0o9Ru

    Many times throughout the school year our facilities are used to host a plethora of activities from all different sectors of the community. Schools have and will continue to provide safe and centralized facilities that many communities have become accustom to when it comes to scheduling and planning local events. Though it may

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    Tom Olson, another former Stand for Children member, speaks out « Parents Across America

    Tom Olson, another former Stand for Children member, speaks out « Parents Across America

    Tom Olson, another former Stand for Children member, speaks out

    by leoniehaimson

    As an educator and strategic planning facilitator over the past four decades, Tom Olson has advised 13 different states on their education reform efforts, and has consulted with more than 500 local district and state strategic reform projects. He also served as a volunteer member on several Stand for Children (SFC) State Task Forces, and was a board member of the SFC Political Action Committee. He wrote the following letter to Jonah Edelman, the founder of Stand for Children, joining Susan Barrett as a former member now speaking out publicly about how the organization has profoundly changed.

    Dear Jonah:

    I’ve viewed the video of your recent presentation to the Aspen Institute about how

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    Teach For America Elaborates Its Response to NEA Criticism - Teacher Beat - Education Week

    Teach For America Elaborates Its Response to NEA Criticism - Teacher Beat - Education Week

    Teach For America Elaborates Its Response to NEA Criticism

    by Stephen Sawchuk

    In a recent email newsletter dispatched to alumni, Teach For America officials said they were "deeply disappointed" by a recent National Education Association resolution opposing TFA efforts—but they also vowed to engage more with professional associations.

    It's the alternative route's most explicit response so far to the NEA slap, which you may remember took place at the union's Representative Assembly earlier this month. At the convention, delegates took a strong stance against the program, saying they opposed TFA contracts in districts "where there is no teacher shortage or

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    School Tech Connect: Shmeh! I'll Do It Myself!

    School Tech Connect: Shmeh! I'll Do It Myself!

    Shmeh! I'll Do It Myself!

    by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)
    Having had some limited experience in dairy farming, I can tell you that "taking the bull by the horns" is not a good way to think about interacting with a bull.

    However, in the matter of Stand For Children, I feel that we're either a nation of laws, or we're not. So, I
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    Top DOE official proposes happy hour to celebrate lawsuit news | GothamSchools

    Top DOE official proposes happy hour to celebrate lawsuit news | GothamSchools

    Top DOE official proposes happy hour to celebrate lawsuit news

    by Philissa Cramer

    The Department of Education official in charge of opening and closing schools has proposed drinking to the news that some of his plans can go forward.

    In an email to at nearly 80 top-ranking DOE employees — but not to Chancellor Dennis Walcott — Deputy Chancellor of Portfolio Planning Marc Sternberg announced a happy hour to celebrate last night’s State Supreme Court ruling in the lawsuit filed by the UFT and NAACP. He wrote:

    Last night:

    New York Supreme Court Justice Paul Feinman denied the UFT and NAACP’s request for a preliminary injunction preventing the Department of Education from moving forward to close 22 failing schools and co-locate 15 public charter schools in DOE buildings. The judge’s ruling allows

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    Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Hyatt -- 'It was the manager's fault'

    Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Hyatt -- 'It was the manager's fault'

    Hyatt -- 'It was the manager's fault'

    Some guy named Farley says, "Hyatt is sorry."

    CHICAGO (Reuters) - Hyatt hotels apologized Friday for an incident in which heat lamps were turned on above workers on strike at a Chicago hotel, when theheat index was already 90 degrees.
    Hyatt said that the decision to turn on the heaters was made by a manager. "It was clearly a decision that was not in line with our values
    Posted by at

    Hear Superintendents Across Wisconsin: Walker’s “Education Budget” Hurts School Districts « Larry Miller's Blog

    Hear Superintendents Across Wisconsin: Walker’s “Education Budget” Hurts School Districts « Larry Miller's Blog

    Hear Superintendents Across Wisconsin: Walker’s “Education Budget” Hurts School Districts

    by millerlf

    New Wisconsin budget creates
    fiscal obstacles for schools, kids

    July 20th press conference at Greenfield School District
    School District officials and parents from around the state met to let the public know that the state budget cuts are curtailing students’ opportunity to learn.

    School board members, district administrators and parents from across the state gathered in Greenfield on Wednesday to speak about how the $1.6 billion education state budget cut impacts schools, families and communities. Their message was: “It’s not OK.”

    According to Bruce Quinton, superintendent of the Pepin School District, Governor Scott Walker’s recent cuts

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    NYC Public School Parents: Say it Ain't So, Hakeem! Jeffries flip-flops on charters and school closings

    NYC Public School Parents: Say it Ain't So, Hakeem! Jeffries flip-flops on charters and school closings

    Say it Ain't So, Hakeem! Jeffries flip-flops on charters and school closings

    by Leonie Haimson

    Below is a press release from Mona Davids of the NYC Parents Union. Just a few months ago, Assemblymember Hakeem Jeffries from Brooklyn sponsored legislation in Albany that would require a one year moratorium on closing schools in NYC; he also opposed a charter co-location in his district. Today, just hours after the Judge Feinman ruledthat the school closings and co-locations could go forward, Jeffries co-authored an oped for the Daily News, along with AM Karim Camera, attacking the NAACP for suing to stop these same closings and co-locations.
    What happened? As the press release notes, Jeffries has
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    Jersey Jazzman: Sad

    Jersey Jazzman: Sad

    Sad

    by Duke
    But... but... but... gold-plated benefits!

    Attracting the best students to teaching -- and keeping them -- is tough for schools across the country. Average starting teaching salaries are $39,000, and rise with experience to an average of $54,000, according to "Closing the Talent Gap," a 2010 report by McKinsey & Company. Teacher salaries can't compete with other careers, the report said, and annual teacher turnover in the United States is 14%. At "high-needs" high schools, it is 20%.

    Save Our Schools March & National Call to Action
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    Patchy data clouds view of civil rights in schools - Florida Wires - MiamiHerald.com

    Patchy data clouds view of civil rights in schools - Florida Wires - MiamiHerald.com

    Patchy data clouds view of civil rights in schools

    BY MOLLY DAVIS

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

    BATON ROUGE, La. -- Researchers have long found differences in how schools and juvenile facilities discipline minority and white students, but inconsistent data collection has made analysis difficult.

    An increase in civil rights complaints arising from disciplinary actions has caught the eye of the U.S. Department of Education. Currently, eight of the agency's 13 civil rights investigations on discipline are in Southern states. Some investigations are based on formal complaints, but others are initiated by the department to determine if a district is complying with civil rights law.

    In St. James Parish, La., the DOE followed up on a complaint and found that when black students broke



    Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/22/2325973/patchy-data-clouds-view-of-civil.html#ixzz1SrgNihax
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    The Myth of the Common School | Lefty Parent

    The Myth of the Common School | Lefty Parent

    The Myth of the Common School

    by Cooper Zale

    There are at least two misnomers out there today about the beginnings of the U.S. public school system…

    1. That it was set up to to bring basic instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic to the children whose families did not have the means to hire tutors or send their children to private schools.

    2. That it was set up on the factory model to train workers to work in the proliferating factories of the beginnings

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    Education Research Report: 1 in 4 gay/lesbian high school students are homeless

    Education Research Report: 1 in 4 gay/lesbian high school students are homeless

    1 in 4 gay/lesbian high school students are homeless

    by Jonathan Kantrowitz
    Ω



    Among homeless teens, GLB teens are more likely to live away from their families

    Roughly 1 in 4 lesbian or gay teens and 15 percent of bisexual teens are homeless, versus 3 percent of exclusively heterosexual teens, finds a Children's Hospital Boston study of more than 6,300 Massachusetts public high school students. Moreover, among teens who were homeless, those who were gay, lesbian or bisexual (GLB) were consistently more likely than heterosexuals to be on their own, unaccompanied by a parent or guardian.

    The study,     published online July 21 by the American Journal of Public Health, is the first to quantify the risk of homelessness among teens of different sexual orientations with population-based data. "Prior studies in
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    Teacher Selection: Smart Selection vs. Dumb Selection « School Finance 101

    Teacher Selection: Smart Selection vs. Dumb Selection « School Finance 101

    Teacher Selection: Smart Selection vs. Dumb Selection

    by schoolfinance101

    I had a twitter argument the other day about a blog posting that compared the current debate around “de-selection” of bad teachers to eugenics. It is perhaps a bit harsh to compare Hanushek (cited author of papers on de-selecting bad teachers) to Hitler, if that was indeed the intent. However, I did not take that as the intent of the posting by Cedar Riener. Offensive or not, I felt that the blog posting made 3 key points about errors of reasoning that apply to both eugenecists and to those promoting empirical de-selection of fixed shares of the teacher workforce. Here’s a quick summary of those three points:

    • The first error is a deterministic view of a complex and uncertain process.
    • The second common error becomes apparent once the need arises to concretely measure quality.
    • The third error is a belief that important traits are fixed rather than changeable.

    These are critically important, and help us to delineate between smart selection and, well, dumb selection.


    More Flunkin’ out from Flunkout Nation (and junk graph of the week!)

    by schoolfinance101

    Earlier today I stumbled across this brilliant post by RiShawn Biddle over at Dropout Nation.

    Biddle boldly claims:

    Despite the arguments (and the pretty charts) of such defenders as Rutgers’ Bruce Baker, there isno evidence that spending more on American public education will lead to better results for children.

    Now, regarding the “no evidence” claim, I would recommend reading this article from Teachers College Record, this year, which summarizes a multitude of rigorous empirical studies of state school finance reforms finding

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    All Education Matters: BREAKING! Whistleblower David Goodstein Slams Kaplan and Wins!

    All Education Matters: BREAKING! Whistleblower David Goodstein Slams Kaplan and Wins!

    BREAKING! Whistleblower David Goodstein Slams Kaplan and Wins!

    by C. Cryn Johannsen
    In November of 2010, I wrote about David Goodstein's suit against Kaplan. He came to me with his story about one of Kaplan's campuses in Pennsylvania. He alleged that they lured students into signing up for a surgical-technology program that literally had no end, i.e., the program could not be completed. The students were defrauded and left with mountains of debt. Goodstein, a high-ranking employee at Kaplan, was outraged by the situation, and took action. (Kaplan is owned by the Washington Post, which is one of the reasons they never write about the student lending crisis, and especially not the for-profit issue. In fact, they have come out in
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    Schools Matter: Library rental fees take from the needy and give to the greedy

    Schools Matter: Library rental fees take from the needy and give to the greedy

    Library rental fees take from the needy and give to the greedy

    by skrashen

    Library rental fees take from the needy and give to the greedy

    Sent to the Atlantic, July 22

    Barry Greenfield suggests that public libraries charge public library patrons a "rental fee." (July 21). Much of this would have to come from low-income patrons: Research in library services shows that members of high-poverty families are more likely to use the public library than members of higher-income families, a tendency that is more pronounced when times get hard. The library is often their primary source of books and the only way they can access the internet.

    If we accept Greenfield's suggestion and charge 50 cents per item, this would raise about one billion dollars per

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    My teacher . . . the computer? « InterACT

    My teacher . . . the computer? « InterACT

    My teacher . . . the computer?

    by Kelly A. Kovacic

    The last of the folding chairs on the portable stage and across the athletic field were packed and loaded. Orchid petals from leis lay scattered on the grass. The cheers, hugs, and essential celebratory photos were done. The parking lot was nearly empty, as only a few families and faculty members lingered on campus to savor the celebration. Occasional echoes of laughter drifted down the hall as I was about to close my classroom, having survived another graduation ceremony and another school year. S entered, still in his cap and gown, still with that familiar smile on his face. For S, the journey to today’s podium had been circuitous and tough. During his seven years at our school, S endured his mother’s

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    Professional Comfort Zone? « My Island View

    Professional Comfort Zone? « My Island View

    Professional Comfort Zone?

    by tomwhitby

    I recently read a post from Andrew Marcinek, an educator who I greatly respect and often agree with. Are We Chasing Technology or Mastering It? His post however caused me, for the first time after several years of connection, to disagree with him. In his post he asserts that we should slow down the way we expect teachers to learn and use technology as a tool for learning. He makes some valid points. We can never be on the cutting edge of Technology, since it changes and advances so rapidly. I totally agree. There is also an explosion of education applications available which causes information overload for even the most Tech-Savvy educator. Again I agree. I agree with Andy’s approach to teaching teachers. We cannot shove Technology down their throats with an arrogant approach espousing what we know as the best thing for all teachers to do.

    There was a passage however that grabbed me, and set me off a bit. For those of you who know me, it really does not take too much. The passage read:

    If your colleagues use PowerPoint effectively and the kids are learning from it then let them go. Let them

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