A new look at the CREDO charter school study - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

A new look at the CREDO charter school study - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

A new look at the CREDO charter school study

by Valerie Strauss

This was written by Matthew Di Carlo, senior fellow at the non-profit Albert Shanker Institute, located in Washington, D.C. This post originally appeared on the institute’s blog.

By Matthew Di Carlo

Most people involved in education policy know exactly what you mean when you refer to “the CREDO study.” I can’t prove this, but suspect it may be the most frequently mentioned research report over the past two years (it was released in 2009).

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Schools gave students perks based on test scores

by Valerie Strauss

There is, apparently, no end to the way schools can misuse standardized test scores.

A novel abuse just occurred at two California high school, where students last year were given identification cards and homework planners in one of three colors, based on how well they did on standardized tests.

According to the Orange County Register, a black ID card — indicating the highest scores — earned a student special privileges and perks, such as free admission to home sporting events at Kennedy High School in La Palma and discounts to school dances and at local businesses, it said. The poor kids with the white cards, indicating the lowest scores, got zilch though and were required to stand in their own line in the cafeteria at lunch. You can’t make up this stuff.

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Down to wire on Race to Top | Thoughts on Public Education

Down to wire on Race to Top | Thoughts on Public Education:

Down to wire on Race to Top

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Torlakson pushing for it; Brown must agree

Posted on 10/11/11 • Categorized as Preschool, Race to the Top

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

With applications due in Washington a week from tomorrow, Gov. Jerry Brown still hasn’t decided whether to let California apply for the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge. But, with Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson four-square behind it, the state Department of Education is preparing an application on the assumption – or at least the hope – that Brown will sign on.

Race to the Tots, as I call it, is a $700 million competition in which California could snare as much as $100 million to expand the quantity and improve the quality of its preschool and early learning programs. Early education advocates have called on the state to use the

Daily Kos: Eugene Robinson loves the Occupy protests #ows

Daily Kos: Eugene Robinson loves the Occupy protests:

Eugene Robinson loves the Occupy protests

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

as he writes in his column titled The Occupy protests: A timely call for justice. He gives lots of reasons, beginning like this:

Occupy Wall Street and its kindred protests around the country are inept, incoherent and hopelessly quixotic. God, I love ’em.

After noting the refusal to make specific demands, and criticizing Eric Cantor as a hypocrite for his attacks on Occupy Wall Stree while having praised the Tea Partiers, he notes his belief that the protests are occurring at just the right time aimed at precisely the rught target, and may be the start of something "big and important,' and then he offers this paragraph:

“Economic justice” may mean different things to different people, but it’s not an empty phrase. It captures the sense that somehow, when we weren’t looking, the concept of fairness was deleted from our economic system — and our political lexicon. Economic injustice became the norm.

School Tech Connect: Get Mad, Get On The Phone

School Tech Connect: Get Mad, Get On The Phone:

Get Mad, Get On The Phone

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim)

They're gunning for the pensions. Call Stenger today.

Ray Wohl, CORE member, Pension Board Candidate

Don't be fooled by this Reg Weaver red herring. They're trying to eliminate the elected pension boards. As far as I can tell, the current legislation is aimed at the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund, but I have no doubt that the hopes and dreams of this dreadful Naperville representative--- Darlene Senger--- and her allies Tom

Sniffing Out the Real Agenda of Jeb Bush’s Education Summit | Scathing Purple Musings

Sniffing Out the Real Agenda of Jeb Bush’s Education Summit | Scathing Purple Musings:

Sniffing Out the Real Agenda of Jeb Bush’s Education Summit

by Bob Sikes

Rebecca Bowe, writing in the San Francisco Guardian, cuts to the chase on what’s really going to be happening at Jeb Bush’s education summit his foundation is having next week in San Francisco.

Panelists at the event will include News Corporation executives, CEOs of for-profit schools, state senators from Florida, Arizona, and Oklahoma, and the author of a book titled School Boards in America: A Flawed Exercise in Democracy.

The conference will feature a number of “strategy sessions,” and one is actually called, “Don’t Let a Financial Crisis Go To Waste.” The session will focus on education funding formulas and purports to explain “just what lawmakers and policymakers can do to get a better return-on-investment for their education dollars,” according the conference agenda. It will be moderated by a director of

Because Mos Def Can Say It Better Than I Can Right Now | The Jose Vilson

Because Mos Def Can Say It Better Than I Can Right Now | The Jose Vilson:

Because Mos Def Can Say It Better Than I Can Right Now

by Jose

Mos Def

Because Mos Def can say it better than I can (all emphases mine) …

The fresh, the author and associates are proud to present
M-Def the Black, fantastic raw
Dynamic, true Ecstatic, ghetto outstanding
Classic active every place, I have
The skill, power, passion, raise your red lantern

Missouri Education Watchdog: Don't Pay Attention to the Organizers Behind the Curtain #ows!

Missouri Education Watchdog: Don't Pay Attention to the Organizers Behind the Curtain!:

Don't Pay Attention to the Organizers Behind the Curtain!

from Missouri Education Watchdog by stlgretchen

The word "tyranny" seems to be popping up these days when talking about education. Don Powers, an attorney reviewing how education operates these days, wrote:

“What we discovered is a transition to a tyrannical form of government. Sections of the USCA that supported local, states’ rights and local control of schools as well as sections that placed restrictions on the Federal DOEd were being repealed all together and in instances replaced by sections that grant more control to the federal level. We also checked other areas of the USCA and found this to be the rule, and not the exception. From the historical records, that we could check with our meager resources, it has apparently been going on since before the1960’s.”

Check out the heading on our blog and its reference to living in a totalitarian democracy, which could be

NYC Public School Parents: Former Achievement First parents speak out!

NYC Public School Parents: Former Achievement First parents speak out!:

Former Achievement First parents speak out!

by Leonie Haimson

There is a fierce battle over whether an Achievement First charter school will open in Providence. RI-Can and the other Astroturf groups funded by the Walton Foundation and the hedge fund crowd are pushing hard, promoting the spread of this chain of charter schools.

As a public service, we are featuring the eloquent and stirring first-person accounts of two courageous and eloquent NYC parents, May Taliaferrow and Leslie-Ann Byfield, talking about what their children and other children endured at this charter school, known for its strict disciplinary policies and harsh treatment of students

Early Draft Of No Child Left Behind Re-Write Reduces Federal Role In Education:

Joy ResmovitsJoy.resmovits@huffingtonpost.comBecome a fan of this reporter

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Early Draft Of No Child Left Behind Re-Write Reduces Federal Role In Education

First Posted: 10/10/11 08:31 PM ET Updated: 10/10/11 08:41 PM ET

An early draft of a Senate committee's sweeping rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act rolls back major accountability provisions of the law's current form, known as No Child Left Behind.

The bill would require states to develop their own standards for student performance with little federal oversight, according to language obtained by The Huffington Post.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, is expected to publicize the committee's finished draft of the bill on Tuesday. The committee will mark up the bill on Oct. 18 before it hits the Senate floor. While various senators have introduced smaller ESEA bills since the law was up for reauthorization in 2007, the Harkin bill is the product of months of negotiations and is the Senate's most

Lobbying, Insider Trading & Censorship at the Washington Post: Kaplan U | Dailycensored.com

Lobbying, Insider Trading & Censorship at the Washington Post: Kaplan U | Dailycensored.com:

Lobbying, Insider Trading & Censorship at the Washington Post: Kaplan U

Written by Danny WeilBusiness, EducationOct 10, 2011

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Lobbying, Insider Trading & Censorship at the Washington Post

While The Washington Post (traded on the NY Stock Excange as ‘WaPo’) is known for its historic Watergate expose and the Pentagon papers, the modern Washington Post Company is a publicly traded corporation which derives 62% of its income from its primary subsidiary, Kaplan University, a for profit system of universities that operates like a criminal enterprise throughout the US.

Kaplan , which obtains 90% of its revenues from federal student loans backed by US taxpayers (usually in the form of Title IV loans), has been the subject of multiple government investigations, probing lawsuits and legal inquiries alleging the company engages in fraudulent business practices – including but not limited to marketing improprieties, robo-signing of student loans (not much different than

Thousands converge on mortgage bankers at #occupychicago. Tribune has something in its eye. « Fred Klonsky's blog #ows

Thousands converge on mortgage bankers at #occupychicago. Tribune has something in its eye. « Fred Klonsky's blog:

Thousands converge on mortgage bankers at #occupychicago. Tribune has something in its eye.

by Fred Klonsky

Thousands march to the meeting of mortgage bankers at @occupychicago

Respect Elizabeth Warren