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Monday, September 5, 2011

Big Education Ape: 9-5-11 AM Schooling for Ruling EDition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now:

Published by Coopmike48 – 6 news spotters today

The Fatal Distraction

nytimes.com - Friday brought two numbers that should have everyone in Washington saying, “My God, what have we done?” One of these numbers was zero — the number of jobs created in August. The other w...

DianeRavitch

Daily Kos: American Schools in Crisis

dailykos.com - A couple of quick notes before returning to the piece. Diane Ravitch may be as qualified as anyone in the US to write a piece about the status of American public schools. She was an Assistant Sec...

DianeRavitch

Schooling for Ruling

deborahmeier.blogspot.com - This is my speech at the Save Our Schools Rally, Saturday, July 30, 2011, on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. One thing that is interesting is that only mad dogs, Englishmen and teachers could imagi...

fklonsky

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coopmike48 Schools Matter: Mathews Turns on National Standards? (Sort of) pt. 2 - http://t.co/E9eDo3f6 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

Labor Day. Stand Up Chicago! « Fred Klonsky's blog

preaprez.wordpress.com - Monday, September 5, 2011 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Rally in Grant Park Near Congress and Columbus Rally to be followed by a march to the site of negotiations. Stand Up! Chicago is working with a gr...

fklonsky

But Will Secretary Duncan Listen To Her?

larryferlazzo.edublogs.org - Sep 04 2011 Larry FerlazzoThe New York Times has published a major article on technology use in schools titled In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores. I’ll be adding it to The Best Research Availa...

mikeklonsky

SocietySee all

PoliticsSee all

US different if Hillary Clinton president

sfgate.com - Richard Drew / AP Former Vice President Dick Cheney, left, is interviewed on the "Fox & friends" television program, about his book "in My Time," in New York Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011. (09-04) 08:38...

mikeklonsky

Bloomberg Defends His Misleading the Public on Aide

nytimes.com - Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg acknowledged on Sunday that he concealed the arrest of former deputy mayor Stephen Goldsmith, but steadfastly refused to apologize for his actions, even as Mr. Goldsmith ...

mikeklonsky

The Fatal Distraction

nytimes.com - Friday brought two numbers that should have everyone in Washington saying, “My God, what have we done?” One of these numbers was zero — the number of jobs created in August. The other w...

leoniehaimson

StoriesSee all

Daily Kos: I don't belong here

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Daily Kos: I don't belong here: I don't belong hereby rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)this is a reposting of a diary from more than 4 years ago that I just encountered while looking for something else...

coopmike48

EnvironmentSee all

For A Better Model on Jobs, Look to Argentina, Not Europe

news.firedoglake.com - Howard Schneider is not just right to if austerity has killed Europe’s economy, but to apply that lesson to the US. After all, the continuing misery in the job market is uniquely tied to the decay ...

coopmike48

CrimeSee all

Two students wounded at party near USC campus

latimesblogs.latimes.com - Two USC students were wounded, one critically, when gunshots were fired at a party near the campus early Sunday. The shooting occurred about 2 a.m. at an apartment complex in the 1200 block of West...

coopmike48

#eduRead this paperSee all

Inequity & Injustice in DPS? | DeFENSE

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Inequity & Injustice in DPS? | DeFENSE: Inequity & Injustice in DPS?by defensedenverby Ed Augden (community activist and retired DPS teacher)According to the 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitutio...

coopmike48

Autism And The Inhumanity Of The Right Wing | Addicting Info

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Autism And The Inhumanity Of The Right Wing | Addicting Info: Autism And The Inhumanity Of The Right WingSeptember 4, 2011By Justin "Filthy Liberal Scum" RosarioI didn't even know it existed until ...

coopmike48

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      Ohio to Retest Teachers Under New Law - High School Notes (usnews.com)

      Ohio to Retest Teachers Under New Law - High School Notes (usnews.com):

      Ohio to Retest Teachers Under New Law

      By JASON KOEBLER

      September 5, 2011 RSS Feed Print

      As soon as next year, approximately 7,000 educators in Ohio's poorest-performing public schools may be required to retake teaching exams under a new law passed by the state.

      Math and English teachers who work at schools ranked in the lowest 10 percent of the state will be required to retake and pass Ohio's teacher licensure exams. If the teachers pass, they will be exempt from retaking the test for three years. Each district's school board will have the option to fire teachers who don't pass the test.

      Patrick Galloway, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education, says the earliest the changes will be implemented is prior to the 2012-2013 school year, and that the criteria for

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      Guest Post: Politics Driving Math Classes « The Core Knowledge Blog

      Guest Post: Politics Driving Math Classes « The Core Knowledge Blog:

      Guest Post: Politics Driving Math Classes

      by Robert Pondiscio
      September 5th, 2011

      Tags: , , ,
      Posted in Education Practice, Parents, Teaching | No Comments »

      Today’s post is by Laurie H. Rogers, a member of the executive committee for Where’s the Math? and author of “Betrayed: How the Education Establishment Has Betrayed America and What You Can Do About It.” She blogs at Betrayed (http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/) where this post also appears.

      Several days ago, someone sent me an article on “teaching math for social justice.” I actually hit my desk while reading it, narrowly missing the cat. I shouldn’t read things like that first thing in the morning. It raises my blood pressure and gets the next 12 hours off to a bad start.

      In the article, teaching math for social justice isn’t about math or justice; it’s about

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      Sacramento Press / United Farm Workers & Union March: Soles for SB 126

      Sacramento Press / United Farm Workers & Union March: Soles for SB 126:


      United Farm Workers & Union March: Soles for SB 126

      by Amabelle Ocampo

      Reminiscent of Cesar Chavez's 300 mile pilgrimage from Delano to Sacramento in 1966, more than 5,000 farmworkers, their families, and supporters marched the final steps of a 13-day, 167 miles pilgrimage through California’s Central Valley, to the north steps of the capitol on Sunday, September 4, 2011. The farmworker's call to action is for Governor Jerry Brown to sign SB 126, a bill that would make it easier for farm workers to join unions and speak up for fair labor rights.

      The last leg of the walk for civil liberties in Sacramento began at Southside Park at 10am and ended with an urging of support for Governor Brown to sign the bill that is making its way through the California Legislature.

      SB 126 penned by Senator Darrell Steinberg includes a revised version of the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act (SB 104), a bill that would have made it easier for farm workers to join a union and speak up for their rights,

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      Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… - August’s “The Best…” Lists (There Are Now 763 Of Them)

      Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… - August’s “The Best…” Lists (There Are Now 763 Of Them):

      Email Newsletter Sent-Out I just sent out my free monthly email newsletter. It has about 1,500 subscribers. If you’d like to subscribe, you can complete the subscription form in less than ten seconds.
      August’s Best Posts I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see back issues of those newsletters here and my previous ...
      August’s “The Best…” Lists (There Are Now 763 Of Them) Here’s my monthly round-up of new “The Best…” lists I posted in August (you can see all 763 of them categorized here): The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2011 (So Far) — August, 2011 The Best Websites For English Language Learner ...
      The Best Resources On Teaching Multilevel ESL/EFL Classes I’ve been doing some research on teaching multilevel ESL/EFL classes, and thought I’d share the most useful resources I’ve found online. I hope readers can contribute more… Here are my choices for The Best Resources On Teaching Multilevel ESL/EFL ...
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      Catholic School Teachers Wrestle With Obedience in Contract Talks - NYTimes.com

      Catholic School Teachers Wrestle With Obedience in Contract Talks - NYTimes.com:

      Catholic School Teachers Wrestle With Faith and Obedience in Negotiating a Contract

      Angel Franco/The New York Times

      Rosemarie Beitz, a teacher at a parochial school in Manhattan, handed out leaflets last week.

      By
      Published: September 4, 2011

      Wednesday morning, on the first day of the new school year at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic School in East Harlem, Gertrude Zagarella expects to arrive, as always, at 7:05. By 7:45, the children — mostly Hispanic, black and poor — will be done with breakfast, and then it is Ms. Zagarella’s responsibility to lead all the students, from kindergartners to eighth graders, into the gym for morning prayers.

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      Follow@NYTMetro for New York breaking news and headlines.

      The rest of Wednesday she will spend in Room 11, teaching the new first graders where to find the bathroom, when to wash their hands and how to properly stand in a lunch line. That first day, they feel smaller than they expected, but lucky for them, no one is more experienced at calming first-grade jitters than Ms. Zagarella.

      Of the 56 years she has taught in Catholic schools, 55 have been in first grade. At 77, she can think of little that she does not love about it. First graders learn to read. First

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      HS News Pays Tribute to The American Worker this Labor Day - Hispanically Speaking News

      HS News Pays Tribute to The American Worker this Labor Day - Hispanically Speaking News:

      HS News Pays Tribute to The American Worker this Labor Day

      HS News Pays Tribute to The American Worker this Labor Day

      Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means

      Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

      Founder of Labor Day

      More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
      Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”
      But Peter McGuire’s place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

      The First Labor Day

      The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
      In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central

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      Modern School: Today in Labor History—September 5

      Modern School: Today in Labor History—September 5:

      Today in Labor History—September 5

      by Michael Dunn

      Execution of Robespiere
      September 5, 1793 – The revolutionary government began the Terror. (From the Daily Bleed)

      September 5, 1794 – Radical democrat Jacques Roux was arrested in France. (From theDaily Bleed)

      September 5, 1863 – Bread riots occurred in Mobile, Alabama. (From the Daily Bleed)

      September 5, 1882 – The first American Labor Day was observed, with 30,000 workers marching in New York City. (From the Daily Bleed)

      September 5, 1887 – Labor Day was first observed
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      Schools Matter: Mathews Turns on Accountability? (Sort of) pt. 1

      Schools Matter: Mathews Turns on Accountability? (Sort of) pt. 1:


      Mathews Turns on Accountability? (Sort of) pt. 1

      by P. L. Thomas
      WaPo's Jay Mathews appears to have turned against accountability, "We may have accountability wrong," but I'm not sure if this is a sign of some hope or yet more evidence how many people simply don't get it. . .


      Ultimately, we must recognize that the national standards movement (and the inherent increase in standardized testing) are distractions, wastes of time, and redundancies. My own commentary on national standards:


      A case against standards


      While I appreciate the invitation to respond to the draft version of the NCTE/NCATE Standards, I must offer a blanket rejection of the standards and the process.


      My nearly 30 years in education and my scholarship in the fields of education and literacy have led me to view



      Mathews Turns on National Standards? (Sort of) pt. 2

      by P. L. Thomas
      About national standards WaPo's Jay Mathews is now saying, "It sounds great. But it won’t help and won’t work," in "Good riddance to new national standards."

      But momentum, blind momentum, keeps the national standards and national testing not just on the radar, but a reality facing our public schools destined to increase the harm done by thirty years of accountability, standards, and testing spurred by A Nation at Risk. While it sounds compelling, calling for core standards and higher standards must be rejected:

      A case against standards

      While I appreciate the invitation to respond to the draft version of the NCTE/NCATE Standards, I must offer a blanket rejection of the standards and the process.
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      The White Shadow: Bill Gates, Charter Schools, & The Evil Twins « Living Behind the Gates

      The White Shadow: Bill Gates, Charter Schools, & The Evil Twins « Living Behind the Gates:

      The White Shadow: Bill Gates, Charter Schools, & The Evil Twins

      by livingbehindthegates

      Alfred Hitchcock "The White Shadow"

      Someone commented about the graphic nature of the photos in my last blog post where I draw an analogy from Bill Gates/Pearson’s Common Core Curriculum to “The Blob”.

      This blog is being written about a serious topic in very dark times. “The Blob” was a B-Movie cult classic that was considered by the masses to be far from reality.

      However, our true situation with our public schools is a very graphic tale of public education where the

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      Don't Erase People With Disabilities From Our History Books | California Progress Report

      Don't Erase People With Disabilities From Our History Books | California Progress Report:

      Don't Erase People With Disabilities From Our History Books

      by megan

      By Katie Laackmann
      River City High School

      For me and other youth with disabilities, the “back to school” season has special significance this year. Over the summer, our state legislature passed a bill that will finally require California public schools to include the history of the disability rights movement in social studies and history lessons and on July 14, Governor Brown signed it into law.

      In 2010, youth with disabilities led the effort to establish the second week in October as Disability History Week and on the heels of that victory, SB 48 (Leno), the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act will now ensure that our peers in K-12 schools learn about the contributions people with disabilities have made in our country.

      read more
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      A labor icon’s thoughts on education | Thoughts on Public Education

      A labor icon’s thoughts on education | Thoughts on Public Education:

      A labor icon’s thoughts on education

      Albert Shanker's ideas still resonate

      Posted on 9/04/11 • Categorized as Pay, Pensions, Teacher Development, Tenure, Unions

      By Kathryn Baron

      On this Labor Day, in lieu of our regular column, we leave you with some words from Albert Shanker, who served as president of the American Federation of Teachers from 1974 to 1997.

      Albert Shanker speaking at the 1968 United Federation of Teachers Delegate Assembly, Local 2, AFT.(Courtesty Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.)

      Albert Shanker speaking at the 1968 United Federation of Teachers Delegate Assembly, Local 2, AFT.(Courtesty Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.)

      Professionalization of Teaching: In aspeech to the National Press Club on January 29, 1985, Shanker called for a national exam for beginning teachers and a national board to improve the teaching profession.

      It would be a group which would spend a period of time studying what is it that a teacher should know before becoming certified, and how do you measure it? And it would seek to have instruments established.

      Before someone finally gets the ticket, [there] ought to be an internship program. Teaching is the only profession that I know of where a person begins the first day with the same responsibility that he or she will have

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      Returning to School: Education for a Livable Planet « Cooperative Catalyst

      Returning to School: Education for a Livable Planet « Cooperative Catalyst:

      Returning to School: Education for a Livable Planet

      by zoeweil

      For my blog post today, I’m sharing a recent post I wrote for Common Dreams, a progressive news site. Here’s an excerpt from“Returning to School: Education for a Livable Planet”:

      “Students and teachers are returning to school. I know few in either group who are genuinely excited at the prospect. This is a travesty and a tragedy.

      Humans are, by nature, passionate about learning. It is truly extraordinary that in a few thousand years our species has learned to create elaborate shelters and to heat and cool them so that the temperature is always comfortable. We have turned minerals and ores into metals that we’ve shaped


      Why “who” is more important than “what”

      by stevemiranda

      Here’s a peek inside a staff meeting at PSCS, the school where I work. We have only four teachers, three administrators, and an administrative assistant, so the conversations are always very intimate.

      PSCS founder Andy Smallman led a conversation that was inspired by Parker Palmer’s book A Hidden Wholeness. He started by drawing a map.


      The traditional way of looking at school is from the outside-in. So, when schools are hiring new teachers, they

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      Labor Day by Timothy Riley |

      Labor Day by Timothy Riley |:

      Labor Day by Timothy Riley

      by bluecheddar
      P1070467 (Large)
      This is a guest post by Timothy Riley. I must confess, that although I was aware of the history of the Labor movement, including the fact that there were those who sacrificed their very lives for the cause, I really did not fully appreciate it. Labor Day was just a long weekend with a few parades I never attended and a telethon. I quite simply did not get it. I do now, I do now. Now I know that most of the basic rights we take for granted,safe work conditions, a living wage, weekends, health insurance,retirement, workers’ compensation, unemployment compensation,and so much more were all realized through the labor and union movement. As the right wing has waged its war on the unions the standard of living for all middle class Americans has declined. First they decimated the private sector unions and now they have set their sights on their public sector brethren. I have never been a member of a Union, yet I have enjoyed the fruits of their struggle against often unconscionable odds. As I have joined this new fight against seemingly unconscionable odds, I have met some of the finest, most uncommonly decent people of my life [...]
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      A Labor Day speech: Eugene Debs. « Fred Klonsky's blog

      A Labor Day speech: Eugene Debs. « Fred Klonsky's blog:

      A Labor Day speech: Eugene Debs.

      by Fred Klonsky
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      Daily Kos: Postal Service Is Nearing Default as Losses Mount

      Daily Kos: Postal Service Is Nearing Default as Losses Mount:

      Postal Service Is Nearing Default as Losses Mount

      by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

      So reads the title of this NY Times story by Steven Greenhouse. The problems of the Postal Service should surprise few: email, electronic bill paying, competition from the package delivery services, the ability to get catalogs via electronic delivery. What caught my attention, however, is some of the proposed solutions to the agency's severe financial problems:

      They include eliminating Saturday mail delivery, closing up to 3,700 postal locations and laying off 120,000 workers — nearly one-fifth of the agency’s work force — despite a no-layoffs clause in the unions’ contracts.

      Nice to hear of laying off almost 20% of the agency's workforce - on Labor Day.

      But it gets worse.

      Labor represents 80 percent of the agency’s expenses, compared with 53 percent at United Parcel
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      Mixed Messages, or Meaningless Labels? « InterACT

      Mixed Messages, or Meaningless Labels? « InterACT:

      Mixed Messages, or Meaningless Labels?

      by David B. Cohen

      California education writers and citizens are wondering what to make of the contrasting stories told by state and federal accountability measures. In short, the state uses an Academic Performance Index that sets a level of satisfactory performance and also targets for growth that are based on prior performance. The federal system under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) relies an a measure called Adequate Yearly Progress. (Kathryn Baron has a more detailed explanation at Thought on Public Education). Somehow, schools that are doing quite well by state measures are turning out to be failures on the federal

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