Thursday, August 4, 2011

Big Education Ape: 8-4-11 PM New ed fiefdom: The Murdoch/Gates alliance EDition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Published by Coopmike48 – 5 news spotters today

BREAKING: Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith Resigns

nydailynews.com - One of Mayor Bloomberg’s top aides -- and the man many held responsible for the city’s botched response to the December blizzard -- announced his resignation Thursday after just more than a year on...

DianeRavitch

The schools–and the deficits–we deserve

educationgadfly.net - The latest Education Next poll results are packed-full of interesting findings on topics ranging from choice to merit pay, from NCLB to tenure reform. But particularly timely, in this era of fiscal...

DianeRavitch

'No' vote would repeal SB 5 | WTVN Local News

610wtvn.com - COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio voters opposed to a new collective bargaining law that limits public employee unions will get to vote "no" at the ballot box this fall, following a decision Wednesday by...

DianeRavitch

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coopmike48 #UCDavis Title IX Ruling: Judge Finds College Violated Law -http://goo.gl/lYcyg3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Read Save Our Schools March NEWS ▸ today's top stories via @nolesknows @lorrainewdc @chitownstu ▸http://t.co/4XmJWyp #sosmarch46 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Number of Texas schools failing to meet federal standards skyrockets | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com -http://goo.gl/sJh5P5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

Review Aims to Avert Cheating on State Tests

nytimes.com - New York State education officials announced Monday that they had begun to review the way they detect and prevent cheating on standardized tests, taking a step to avoid the cheating scandals that h...

DianeRavitch

The pragmatic Audrey Soglin. « Fred Klonsky's blog

preaprez.wordpress.com - There are a couple of different narratives that emerged from L’affaire Edelman. One was Jonah Edelman’s video narrative. The one where he came swooping into Illinois and manipulated everyone from M...

fklonsky

SocietySee all

Bloomberg to Use Own Funds in Plan to Aid Minority Youth

nytimes.com - The administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, in a blunt acknowledgment that thousands of young black and Latino men are cut off from New York’s civic, educational and economic life, plans to s...

DianeRavitch

Bloomberg declares tenure is not needed in public schools

gothamschools.org - Less than two years after pledging that he did not want to end tenure, Mayor Bloomberg struck a different chord today. “Do I think it’s needed at the public school level? No,” he said today. The st...

leoniehaimson

PoliticsSee all

Obama gets a lucrative birthday gift

latimes.com - Reporting from Chicago— One day after wrapping up a tense budget deal that will impose severe spending cuts, President Obama returned home to Chicago on Wednesday night to pick up campaign cash and...

mikeklonsky

HealthSee all

“Ew Ew Toxic!” « MomsRising Blog

momsrising.org - “Eww Eww Toxic” That’s our new jingle for Campbell’s soup. No more “M’m M’m Good,” we now think “Eww Eww Toxic” is more appropriate. Why the “Eww” jingle? Because, according to experts, Campbell’...

coopmike48

Hand Hygiene is "Elementary"

educationresearchreport.blogspot.com - ฮฉHand washing programs among school children may have a lasting effect in reducing school absences, according to a study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Infection Control (...

coopmike48

Art & EntertainmentSee all

Happy Birthday, Mr. President! Obama Turns 50

hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - Published at 11:50 am, August 4, 2011 Photo Credits: President Obama' turns 50 Obama began his birthday celebrations at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom Wednesday night, as supporters serenaded him with “...

coopmike48

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#eduRead this paperSee all

Meaningful Student Involvement in Education Reform

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Meaningful Student Involvement in Education ReformSTUDENT VOICE IN EDUCATION REFORM There are school systems where students are being engaged as leaders in education reform. Following are examples ...

coopmike48

#coopRead this paperSee all

Robert Oakeshott | The Economist

economist.com - Correction to this article IN ZAMBIA, where he was helping Kenneth Kaunda run the economy, Robert Oakeshott once ran out of petrol. He decided that he and a colleague could push the car the many mi...

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    Unionized Charter Teacher Speaks Out for Small Class Size | Edwize

    Unionized Charter Teacher Speaks Out for Small Class Size | Edwize

    Unionized Charter Teacher Speaks Out for Small Class Size

    by Christina Collins

    The LA Times just published a powerful essay from a union member who teaches at a Green Dot Charter School in Los Angeles. She effectively captures the importance of small class sizes in building teacher-student relationships — and in ensuring that every student gets the personalized attention they need to successfully learn:

    I’m not sure what the breaking point is, but once you get much above 25 students, providing individual attention becomes difficult. To keep my English class of 31 under control, I have to rely on high-energy routines and structured group activities. In place of freewheeling discussion, I pepper the room with rapid-fire questions. To respond to their essays, I use a rubric emphasizing the four or five qualities I’m targeting for the whole class, and then write one or two short individualized sentences at the bottom of the page. With more than 150 students in my classes, I

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    Public Financing Supports Growth of Online Charter Schools - ParentAdvocates.org

    Parent Advocates - ParentAdvocates.org

    Public Financing Supports Growth of Online Charter Schools
    Linda Brown said her ninth-grade son, who is in special education, “is doing way better than he would have in public school.” But she added that for her fifth-grade daughter, “the social aspect is the thing we miss the most.” On their own, San Jose parents have organized and take turns teaching weekly art, music and science programs at a local church. Oversight for California public charter schools falls to the authorizing districts. Although the Jefferson Elementary School district reviews CAVA’s curriculum and its budget, it lacks the manpower to verify the records.

    June 4, 2010
    THE BAY CITIZEN
    Public Financing Supports Growth of Online Charter Schools

    By CAROL POGASH
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/us/04bccharter.html
    Laura Drews has converted a corner of her San Jose dining room into a public school. Every weekday, she guides her first-, fifth- and eighth-grade children through their class assignments, delivered through textbooks and desktop computers.

    The Drews’ unorthodox education is paid for by taxpayers,
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    Guy who debunked Rhee's Baltimore ''miracle'' blows up her faux DC miracle

    Guy who debunked Rhee's Baltimore ''miracle'' blows up her faux DC miracle

    Guy who debunked Rhee's Baltimore ''miracle'' blows up her faux DC miracle Guy Brandenburg, a former teacher and mathematician, who famously debunked Rhee’s Baltimore miracle claims has posted a series analyzing the latest DC standardized test scores. Once again, he thoroughly and meticulously dissects the test scores this ...

    Test scores at top ErasureGate schools drop Written by Jay Mathews for the Washington Post. Read the entire article here. “*We finally know how individual schools did on the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System tests in 2011. It turns out that some of the schools that faced questions about ...

    Post-ErasureGate, DC test scores flatline Written by Bill Turque for the Washington Post. Read the entire article here. “*The school-by-school 2011 DC CAS data released Tuesday tell a more revealing story than the aggregate numbers reported last month. Those figures showed DCPS elementary ...
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    All Education Matters: Arianna Huffington, "245,000 College Grads Looking for Sugar Daddies"

    All Education Matters: Arianna Huffington, "245,000 College Grads Looking for Sugar Daddies"

    Arianna Huffington, "245,000 College Grads Looking for Sugar Daddies"

    from All Education Matters by C. Cryn Johannsen
    Lawrence O'Donnell interviewed Arianna Huffinton last night to discuss the disastrous debt deal that the President helped implement. At one point she said he needs intense therapy, because it makes no sense politically or economically.

    But here's what is most disgusting, and something I've been writing about for nearly 3 years - the student lending crisis. She brought it up, too.

    Arianna referred to a recent article that was written in the Huff Post about young, college grads seeking "sugar
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    Narrow Thinking about Health and Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

    Narrow Thinking about Health and Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

    Narrow Thinking about Health and Schools

    by larrycuban

    In 1965, Jack Geiger, a doctor working in the Mississippi Delta, founded one of the first federally-funded community health centers in the U.S. There he treated many children who were seriously malnourished. He wrote “prescriptions” for meat, milk, vegetables, and fruit that were to be “filled” at nearby grocery stores. Grocery store owners then submitted bills to the community health center where Geiger used the pharmacy budget to pay the bills.

    The federal agency that funded community health centers, then called the Office of Economic Opportunity

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    A Walton Family Funded Group, a Hedge Fund BIllionaire, and Circumventing the Political Process in Connecticut | Scathing Purple Musings

    A Walton Family Funded Group, a Hedge Fund BIllionaire, and Circumventing the Political Process in Connecticut | Scathing Purple Musings

    A Walton Family Funded Group, a Hedge Fund BIllionaire, and Circumventing the Political Process in Connecticut

    by Bob Sikes

    The usual suspects and the same sleezy business model have emerged in Connecticut. And another day,another hedge fund billionaire looks to throw his money around in the coporate takeover of education.

    Using a similar template as that from Washington DC and New York City goes the route of billionaire hedge funder Steve Mandel in a bid to give Bridgeport, Connecticut’s school board oversight to the mayor. The parties were put together by a group funded by $1.3 million from the Walton Family Foundation. From the Connecticut Post:

    HARTFORD — A consultant for a Greenwich billionaire interested in education reform was

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    Meaningful Student Involvement in Education Reform

    Meaningful Student Involvement in Education Reform

    STUDENT VOICE IN EDUCATION REFORM There are school systems where students are being engaged as leaders in education reform. Following are examples and resources highlighting specific efforts where educators have worked with students to improve schools through education reform programs. Examples | Tools | Info about Ed Reform

    Meaningful Student Involvement Def: Engaging students as partners in educational planning, research, teaching, evaluating, decision-making, advocacy, and more.

    There are three criteria for being included on this list:

    1. Student-Inclusive Leadership - The activities are driven, led, or guided by students.

    2. Education System-Focused - The activities are led by or equally partnered with district or state education agencies.

    3. Sustained Activity - The action does not stop after a single event or process.

    EXAMPLES of Student Voice in Education Reform

    Portland Superintendent's Student Advisory Council Student Body Presidents and/or their representatives from every High School and Middle

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    Shanker Blog » In The Classroom, Differences Can Become Assets

    Shanker Blog » In The Classroom, Differences Can Become Assets

    In The Classroom, Differences Can Become Assets

    by Esther Quintero

    Author, speaker and education expert Sir Ken Robinson argues that today’s education system is anachronistic and needs to be rethought. Robinson notes that our current model, shaped by the industrial revolution, reveals a “production line” approach: for example, we group kids by “date of manufacture”, instruct them “by batches”, and subject them all to standardized tests. Yet, we often miss the most fundamental questions – for example, Robinson asks, “Why is age the most important thing kids have in common?”

    In spite of the various theories about the stages of cognitive development (Piaget, etc.), it is difficult to decide how to group children. Academically and linguistically diverse classrooms have become a prevalent phenomenon in the U.S. and other parts of the world, posing important challenges for educators whose mission is to support

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    AFT Criticized for Parent-Trigger Presentation - Teacher Beat - Education Week

    AFT Criticized for Parent-Trigger Presentation - Teacher Beat - Education Week

    AFT Criticized for Parent-Trigger Presentation

    by Stephen Sawchuk

    The American Federation of Teachers has landed in a bit of hot water over a presentation, given by a regional affiliate lobbyist at its recent TEACH professional-development conference, that details how the Connecticut chapter "diffused" a "parent trigger" legislative proposal in that state.

    Parent triggers, as you know, generally would allow parents to sign a petition to close and reconstitute a struggling school under new governance, such as a charter school.

    The Powerpoint presentation was highlighted by union critic RiShawn Biddle at DropoutNation.

    The presentation characterizes the parent-trigger bill as a sub rosa attempt by charter school supporters to create more such schools, references attempts to "kill" the bill, and ultimately details how the AFT Connecticut

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    Schools scramble to keep federal grants - latimes.com

    Schools scramble to keep federal grants - latimes.com

    Schools scramble to keep federal grants

    Local officials are quickly revising some school reform plans to keep federal grants of up to $2 million per school this year for a group of campuses, including some overseen by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

    Problems arose when federal evaluators found that a small sampling of schools they visited in March had not carried out promised reforms or else had carried out plans with elements not eligible for funding. State reviewers then followed up to identify problems in more than 40 school systems, including Los Angeles Unified, Pomona Unified, Riverside Unified, Santa Ana Unified, San Bernardino City Unified, San Diego Unified and San Francisco Unified.

    The state Board of Education voted in July to delay funding if key issues were not addressed by the fall.

    San Francisco Unified has had among the most pressing shortcomings to resolve. That district had

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    The Unfunded Mandates of Florida’s New School Reform Bill | Scathing Purple Musings

    The Unfunded Mandates of Florida’s New School Reform Bill | Scathing Purple Musings

    The Unfunded Mandates of Florida’s New School Reform Bill

    by Bob Sikes

    Intrepid Flagler School Board member Colleen Conklin has responded to criticism of her proposal to sue the state of Florida for failing to fund education. Conklin takes the state’s lawmakers to task for unfunded mandates.

    Every year legislators burden Florida school districts and taxpayers with bills that mandate actions, but provide little or no funding for implementation. This past year, Senate Bill 736 was loaded with expensive, unproven reforms. According to the Florida Senate’s own analysis, development and administration of the statewide, standardized assessments in SB 736 will cost

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    Are Smart People Getting Smarter, or Just Better at Taking Standardized Tests? - E.D. Kain - American Times - Forbes

    Are Smart People Getting Smarter, or Just Better at Taking Standardized Tests? - E.D. Kain - American Times - Forbes

    Are Smart People Getting Smarter, or Just Better at Taking Standardized Tests?

    by E.D. Kain

    isaac_newton_hdJonah Lehrer has a piece up touching on a recent study examining the “Flynn Effect” which describes increases in the IQ of populations over the past several decades. Lehrer suggests several factors which might be leading to increased intelligence, including a more complex and intellectual culture, with more complicated TV shows like Lost and the various “cognitive workouts” aired on HBO.

    Alex Knapp begs to differ. His alternative hypothesis? Far from a more intellectual culture, he notes the rise of standardized tests:

    As far as I’ve been able to tell, standardized test use in schools has increased since the 1960s and that use continues to grow apace. I’d suggest that as standardized tests are used more in schools, students get better at


    A Pitch for the Creators of ‘Parks and Recreation’: Do an Episode About Lemonade Stands

    by E.D. Kain

    ron swansonI often ask myself this question: “What Would Ron Swanson Do?”

    The question bubbled up recently when I wrote this piece on the war on lemonade stands. All across the country, local governments are shutting down the lemonade stands of five and six-year-old kids who are operating without a license.

    Now, many Americans probably don’t realize that in order to sell lemonade outside of your house or down the street you probably need a food handler’s permit, or a peddler’s permit, or a vendor’s license, or some other piece of paper or the cops will shut you

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    Schooling in the Ownership Society: New ed fiefdom: The Murdoch/Gates alliance

    Schooling in the Ownership Society: New ed fiefdom: The Murdoch/Gates alliance

    New ed fiefdom: The Murdoch/Gates alliance

    by Mike Klonsky
    Bill Gates & Rupert Murdoch at the 2009 Microsoft CEO Summit

    The Obama/Boehner Debt Ceiling deal could weaken and even destroy large areas of public space and public sector educational initiatives. At the same time, it will expand the power of new private fiefdoms built on alliances between giant philanthropies and corporate "reformers."

    The latest fiefdom is being constructed as an alliance between the Gates Foundation and corrupt media mogul
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    Democrats and Educational Equity | DeFENSE

    Democrats and Educational Equity | DeFENSE

    Democrats and Educational Equity

    by defensedenver

    by Ed Augden, Retired DPS Teacher and Community Activist

    Alexander Ooms may be right in his viewpoint expressed in the Denver Post on July 25, that elected Democrats may now favor so-called “education reform.” At least, Democratic politicians in Colorado’s state legislature appear to favor a conservative approach to education or acquiesce to it. SB 191, for example, was sponsored by State Sen. Michael Johnston and supported by former State Sen. Chris Romer. This is the face of the Colorado Democrats on educational issues, one that adheres to amateur educators and ignores teachers and verifiable research. Johnston represents the leadership of the Colorado Democratic Party. While most middle class and poor families with school age children seek a neighborhood school that offers a comprehensive education, corporate Democratic legislators such as Johnston, often favor replacing neighborhood schools with charter

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    Media’s take on the Save Our Schools Rally and March | Dissident Voice #sosmarch

    Media’s take on the Save Our Schools Rally and March | Dissident Voice

    Media’s take on the Save Our Schools Rally and March

    by Myles Hoenig

    We know the media sucks when it comes to reporting real news with real facts and real analysis. Liberal media personalities, like Olbermann, Shultz, etc. are as pathetically vacuous in their reporting and analysis as well, if in a different way.

People are going ape shit over Keith Olbermann’s Four Great Hypocrisies About the Debt Deal.Yet nowhere does he put any responsibility of the crisis on the Democrats, or even Obama. Apparently, it’s not important or newsworthy that it was Obama who originally called for cutting into Social Security, not the Republicans. It was a Republican financial mess from beginning to end. It’s all their fault.

    But playing to their base is what they do. Fox appeals to conservatives and hate groups. Keith, Ed, Rachel, et al. cater to bourgeois liberals.

    There is a nascent movement growing to fight for public education, to reverse the attacks on teachers, calls for equity in funding and an end to high stakes tests that do absolutely nothing to help students learn and, in fact, force the dumbing down of curriculum in order to make AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) rather than face the fate of takeover by a private corporation. There’s a lot of money to be made in privatizing what was once public

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    Advise Texas: Why high school counselors matter | The Education Front Blog | dallasnews.com

    Advise Texas: Why high school counselors matter | The Education Front Blog | dallasnews.com

    Advise Texas: Why high school counselors matter

    By

    William McKenzie/ Editorial Columnist

    wmckenzie@dallasnews.com | Bio

    5:00 AM on Thu., Aug. 4, 2011 |

    One thing that Raymund Paredes, the state's higher education commissioner, said during our Sunday Points interview is that the state has launched a program to get more college students to become high school counselors. He likened Advise Texas to Teach for America, which searches for young, top talent to enter teaching.

    When he said that, I thought back to a conversation I once had with Robert Scott, the state's public education commissioner. I asked him how Texas gets more families who have no college-going tradition to think about sending their kids to college. He said that more counselors in high schools would help.

    They could make a huge impact by getting the word out to students about what various universities look for,

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    Not a photo op, but a real protest - The Boston Globe

    Not a photo op, but a real protest - The Boston Globe

    Not a photo op, but a real protest

    August 4, 2011

    I WENT to the Save Our Schools march in Washington last Saturday with my son, Matt Damon, and thousands of citizens who are worried about the harm corporate education reform is causing to children, teachers, and communities. The only reporting of this march in The Boston Globe was in the “Names’’ section in a trivial little item called “Damon loves teachers,’’ that made no mention of the importance of this march and its goals.

    Not only did thousands of people pour into Washington to protest education policy, but the nation’s leading education thinkers were all there speaking out. I would think you would sit up and take notice when the nation’s top education leaders are out in the streets protesting the policies the government is implementing.

    Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, the Globe has been publishing editorials that are in support of the corporate education reforms that promot

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    Matt Damon’s Mom Scolds the Bostin Globe on its Pro-Corporate Refrom Bias | Scathing Purple Musings

    Matt Damon’s Mom Scolds the Bostin Globe on its Pro-Corporate Refrom Bias | Scathing Purple Musings

    Matt Damon’s Mom Scolds the Bostin Globe on its Pro-Corporate Refrom Bias

    by Bob Sikes

    Matt Damon’s mother, a former teacher, joined her son at the July 30 Save Our Schools March in Washington DC. Nancy Carlsson-Paige certainly supported the March, but focused much of a letter she wrote to the editor ofThe Boston Globe on the newspaper itself:

    I WENT to the Save Our Schools march in Washington last Saturday with my son, Matt Damon, and thousands of citizens who are worried about the harm corporate education reform is causing to children, teachers, and communities. The only reporting of this march in The Boston Globe was in the “Names’’ section in a trivial little item called “Damon loves teachers,’’ that made no mention of the importance of this march and its goals

    Not only did thousands of people pour into Washington to protest education policy, but the nation’s

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    Jersey Jazzman: Lawrence O'Donnell Nails It

    Jersey Jazzman: Lawrence O'Donnell Nails It

    Lawrence O'Donnell Nails It

    by Duke
    When students can shuffle off their failures onto their teachers, are we really creating a culture of accountability?




    When I brought home a bad report card, it never occurred to me, or my parents, to blame my teacher... I also hated and did badly in anything involving writing of any kind. Which is kind of like wicked ironic since I then grew up to be a writer. That just points to the unpredictable ways we learn things.
    As I have argued here before: failure IS an option. It can be a very powerful motivator for a student (or a parent). I
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    The pragmatic Audrey Soglin. « Fred Klonsky's blog

    The pragmatic Audrey Soglin. « Fred Klonsky's blog

    The pragmatic Audrey Soglin.

    by Fred Klonsky

    There are a couple of different narratives the emerged from the L’affaire Edelman.

    One was Jonah Edelman’s video narrative. The one where he came swooping into Illinois and manipulated everyone from Michael Madigan to my mama into buying into Stand for Children’s program.

    In this narrative, the IEA leadership was bamboozled into backing Senate Bill 7.

    Another narrative is the union’s narrative. In this story, Illinois established the model for collaboration nationwide.

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    Jersey Jazzman: Why We Need Tenure

    Jersey Jazzman: Why We Need Tenure

    Why We Need Tenure

    by Duke
    Let's go back to Elizabeth, NJ for just a sec:
    In his civil complaint, Davison said he "yielded to the pressure" and purchased tickets. He ultimately was promoted to become a tenured administrator. But when he stopped paying for the political tickets, he said he lost a plum assignment and was later suspended.
    "The unwritten rule in this culture of political cronyism is that non-participation in the purchase and sale of tickets to fundraising events can be hazardous to one’s job

    Cleaning Up Gov. Ah-nold's Mess

    by Duke
    So my brand new, shiny troll keeps bringing up this LA Times report about how hard it is to fire a bad teacher in California, and particularly in LA. That's got to be the teachers' fault; or, at the very least, the union's fault. Right?

    Wrong.
    The Commission accredits college and university teacher preparation programs, oversees teacher induction programs, and licenses as well as investigates and disciplines teachers facing misconduct and criminal charges. Darling-Hammond’s particular interest is in teacher preparation. But it was deficiencies in handling the policing function, by the Division of Professional Practices, that led to scathing findings
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    Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Secret Ravitch Group at Duncan's DOE? #SOSMarch

    Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Secret Ravitch Group at Duncan's DOE?

    Secret Ravitch Group at Duncan's DOE?

    
    Bush media whore, Williams was
    paid to defend NCLB.
     Suggestion for journalists, especially ed writers: Ask Secretary Duncan or his press guys Cunningham or Hamilton about DOE staffers assigned to the secretRavitch Group. Word from dept. insiders is that such a group has been meeting regularly.

    Is Duncan really spending badly-needed (especially after the Obama/Boehner debt deal) funds to have this relatively large group of DOE staffers strategize how to undercut criticism from Diane
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