Sunday, November 6, 2011

Analysis: Is student loan, education bubble next? - Boston.com:Analysis: Is student loan, education bubble next?By Justin PopeAP Education Writer / November 6, 2011E-mail|Print|Comments ()Text size – +First the dot.coms popped, then mortgages. Are student loans and higher education the next bubble, the latest investment craze inflating on borrowed money and misplaced faith it can never go bad?Tweet Be the first to Tweet this!ShareThisSome experts have raised the possibility. Last summer, Moody's Analytics pronounced fears of an education spending bubble "not ... more »

Illinois teacher pensions. Zero hour. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 3 minutes ago

Illinois teacher pensions. Zero hour. « Fred Klonsky's blog:Illinois teacher pensions. Zero hour.by Fred KlonskyPublic employees occupy the Illinois Capitol last week to defend pensions.The Chicago edition of the New York Times carries a story by the Chicago News Cooperative on this week’s final three days of the Illinois General Assembly veto session.It’s a shitty story co-written by Kristen McQueary. McQueary has made a career in journalism out of bashing Illinois teachers. And today’s story will not mark a turn ... more »

Schools Matter: We need “Room to Read” in the United States

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 3 minutes ago

Schools Matter: We need “Room to Read” in the United States:We need “Room to Read” in the United Statesby skrashenSent to the New York Times, November 6, 2011We complain about stagnant reading achievement in the US (the recent NAEP scores), but fail to do the obvious: Support libraries.Across the US, states are cutting library funding, even though research consistently shows that increased access to books results more reading and more reading results in better reading, writing, vocabulary and

NYC Public School Parents: Occupy Wall St. on the attack on public education; & Santos Crespo asks, where's the money? #ows

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 3 minutes ago

NYC Public School Parents: Occupy Wall St. on the attack on public education; Santos Crespo asks, where's the money?:Occupy Wall St. on the attack on public education; Santos Crespo asks, where's the money?by Leonie HaimsonSee this video from Occupy Wall St. about the attack on public education in NYC with testimony from laid-off DC37 school aide Cliftonia Johnson and investigative journalist Chris Hedges. For more on Ms. Johnson and some of the other nearly 700 school aides who were fired ... more »

Patricia Levesque Joins Jeb Bush in Calling for Status Quo After Poor NAEP Numbers | Scathing Purple Musings

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Patricia Levesque Joins Jeb Bush in Calling for Status Quo After Poor NAEP Numbers | Scathing Purple Musings:Patricia Levesque Joins Jeb Bush in Calling for Status Quo After Poor NAEP Numbersby Bob SikesJeb Bush’s PR machine is good at staying on message. A case in point is today’s opinion piece in the Orlando Sentinel by Bush’s top policy wonk Patricia Levesque which comes just days after her boss’ statement in response to Florida’s poor showing on NAEP. Like Bush, Levesque ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Mid Day Posts #ows

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Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Mid Day Posts #owsSunday links. « Fred Klonsky's blogBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-3 minutes agoSunday links. « Fred Klonsky's blog:Sunday links.by Fred KlonskyPhoto: H/T Jed Brandt. Occupy Atlanta.I woke up to this news from Glen Brown: The proposed overhaul of Illinois’ pension system could cost the state $62 billion more than the current system over the next three decades, according to a report prepared for the Teacher Retirement System.Bank Transfer Day ... more »

STUDY: Latinos and Blacks Will be the Most Hurt With Medicaid Cut - Hispanically Speaking News

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STUDY: Latinos and Blacks Will be the Most Hurt With Medicaid Cut - Hispanically Speaking News:STUDY: Latinos and Blacks Will be the Most Hurt With Medicaid CutsA new report, Medicaid: A Lifeline for Blacks and Latinos, shows how the state and federally funded health insurance program for low- income people, has historically played a critical role for people of color, providing coverage for millions of blacks and Latinos of all ages.While Medicaid covers many more white people, because blacks and ... more »

Schools Matter: New Charter Study by Mathematica With More Bad News for Corporate Ed Reform

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Schools Matter: New Charter Study by Mathematica With More Bad News for Corporate Ed Reform:New Charter Study by Mathematica With More Bad News for Corporate Ed Reformby Jim HornThe first national charter school study was conducted in 2009 by CREDO at Stanford, and the co-funders of the study (the Walton Foundation and Pearson) were not enamored by the results. So bad were they for charter school fans that the study, though given skimpy coverage by the LA Times, was never ...more »

How & Why a Democratic President Privatized Our School System « Same Subject, Continued #ows

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How Why a Democratic President Privatized Our School System « Same Subject, Continued:How Why a Democratic President Privatized Our School System3112011Barack Obama is presiding over the beginning of a process that will inexorably result in the privatization of our school system. That doesn’t mean of course that all of our schools will be owned by big corporations; rather it means that within the next five to ten years, our largest school systems will be enmeshed with the private sector, and ... more »

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 hours ago

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky's blog:Sunday links.by Fred KlonskyPhoto: H/T Jed Brandt. Occupy Atlanta.I woke up to this news from Glen Brown: The proposed overhaul of Illinois’ pension system could cost the state $62 billion more than the current system over the next three decades, according to a report prepared for the Teacher Retirement System.Bank Transfer Day was yesterday. You can still transfer your money out of a big bank to a credit union on Monday. Or Tuesday.The Tea Party ... more »

Erik Fresen’s False Prophecy | Scathing Purple Musings

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Erik Fresen’s False Prophecy | Scathing Purple Musings:Erik Fresen’s False Prophecyby Bob SikesThe Miami Heraldhas published a comprehensive look at Florida’s new teacher evaluation system the state will have under SB736. Reporters Laura Insensee and Sarah Butrymowicz interviewed several people for their article, including Rep. Erik Fresen of Miami.The Herald reporters demonstrated considerable professionalism in not pointing out that Fresens’ family owns several Academica charter schools in Miami. Perhaps they should have. Fresen let loose with a real whopper. After ... more »

Dr. Cornell West and Chris Hedges at Goldman Sachs Mock Trial Occupy Wall Street on Nov 3, 2011 People’s Hearing | Seattle Education #ows

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Dr. Cornell West and Chris Hedges at Goldman Sachs Mock Trial Occupy Wall Street on Nov 3, 2011 People’s Hearing | Seattle Education:Dr. Cornell West and Chris Hedges at Goldman Sachs Mock Trial Occupy Wall Street on Nov 3, 2011 People’s Hearingby seattleducation2011

With A Brooklyn Accent: Why Teachers Must Become Community Organizers and Justice Fighters #ows

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With A Brooklyn Accent: Why Teachers Must Become Community Organizers and Justice Fighters:Why Teachers Must Become Community Organizers and Justice FightersWhy Teachers Must Become Community Organizers and Justice FightersMark NaisonThere is a long history of Teacher Activism in the United States. In New York City, the tradition goes back to the late 1930s when teachers associated with the Communist Party and the New York City Teachers Union fought to have Negro History Month honored in the NYC Public schools, to ... more »

Thinking differently about time on task

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Thinking differently about time on task:Thinking differently about time on taskby Susan HeaddenMore time on task — growing evidence, along with simple common sense, shows that the more hours students engage in learning, the more they can boost their academic achievement. That, along with increasing concerns about the learning reversals students suffer over the summer, is why more and more school districts are starting to think beyond the confines of the six-hour-a-day, 180-day-a-year box.An analysis by Education Sector, which has ... more »

Onward & Upward - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post

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Onward Upward - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post:Onward Upward Colleagues who have known me over the yeas ask, “Walter, what’s up? Why is ASCD supporting the Common Core State Standards?” as if we have gone over to the dark side. My initial answer is, “Standards are not evil!” followed by, “Besides, ASCD very thoughtfully and deliberately made the decision to get involved in this work. Common Core and Whole Childgo hand in hand!” The 5 strands of ...more »

Ozomatli to Occupy LA: Can’t Let the Bullshit Split Us Up! | California Father #OWS

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Ozomatli to Occupy LA: Can’t Let the Bullshit Split Us Up! | California Father:Ozomatli to Occupy LA: Can’t Let the Bullshit Split Us Up!by California Father

Kaplan University feeds off taxpayers in myriad ways | Dailycensored.com

Kaplan University feeds off taxpayers in myriad ways | Dailycensored.com:

Kaplan University feeds off taxpayers in myriad ways

by Danny Weil

I know that I have devoted a great deal of time covering Kaplan University. The crime syndicate continues to bob its head in the frothy sea of neo-liberal economics on a daily basis and little is covered in mainstream corporate press.

For example, according to the Orlando business Journal, Florida has issued $1.7 billion in tax breaks and other ‘incentives’ to businesses, you know, the corporatee ‘job creators’ since 1995, with the expectation of creating 225,000 new jobs, reports the St. Petersburg Times. But only about one-third of those jobs have been filled(http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/morning_call/2011/10/incentives-create-fewer-jobs.html).

Among the largest recipients of incentives is the Sanford-Burnham Medical

More on Florida Charter Exec’s Troublesome Imagine Schools Empire | Scathing Purple Musings

More on Florida Charter Exec’s Troublesome Imagine Schools Empire | Scathing Purple Musings:

More on Florida Charter Exec’s Troublesome Imagine Schools Empire

by Bob Sikes

The largest charter operator in the nation is Dennis W. Bakke. The Imagine School’s CEO was on Rick Scott’s education transition team. I wrote here late last month on Bakke’s three failing Florida charter schools. It seems that his poor record doesn’t only exist in Florida. Reporting in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Elisa Crouch writes about Imagine’s massive problems there:

But the Post-Dispatch has found problems at Imagine schools that run far deeper than its low test scores.
Interviews with dozens of parents and educators and review of hundreds of pages of documents

In an Era of Funding Darkness, Community Organizations Ally with Corporations, CEO’s « InterACT

In an Era of Funding Darkness, Community Organizations Ally with Corporations, CEO’s « InterACT:

In an Era of Funding Darkness, Community Organizations Ally with Corporations, CEO’s

by Martha Infante

It has been a few weeks since the latest salvo in education reform politics, and honestly, I had to calm down before I wrote about it. I am sure there is a reason why this latest campaign pushed my buttons, and the words indignant, meddlesome, and hubris come to mind.

It was on a long 15 hour day when I returned home after teaching, conducting two parent meetings in the evening, and picking up donations for the Washington D.C. trip. As is customary, I read through my twitter feed

#ows Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Strange Promotion of Billionaire and Hedge Funder Meddling in Education Policy | Scathing Purple Musings

The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Strange Promotion of Billionaire and Hedge Funder Meddling in Education Policy | Scathing Purple Musings:

The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Strange Promotion of Billionaire and Hedge Funder Meddling in Education Policy

by Bob Sikes

Is it still philanthropy if your donation money goes to starting your own school? Apparently so. From Robert Trigaux writing in the St. Petersburg Times:

At first glance, the generosity of Florida’s top philanthropist in 2011 might suggest big givers are making a strong comeback this year.
Billionaire Bill Koch, whose Oxbow Corp. in West Palm Beach sells materials in the energy and steel industries, committed a whopping $50 million to start a new college preparatory school called Oxbridge Academy. That gift tops, by far, any individual donation by Floridians so far this year.
Koch’s mega-gift just happens to be going to a school he is starting. That’s not quite the same

“Humiliation is Not a Classroom Management Technique!” « Diary of a Public School Teacher!

“Humiliation is Not a Classroom Management Technique!” « Diary of a Public School Teacher!:

“Humiliation is Not a Classroom Management Technique!”

by Oldschoolteach

My youngest son is no angel, not in any way, shape, or form. He had been getting in ”trouble” since preschool. I would go to pick him up and he would wave, and grin, at me from the timeout area. He didn’t know any better, he was just one of those kids that was always up and about. Back then, if you were that kid, you ended up in timeout.

When he was in the second grade, I had a conference with his teacher. She couldn’t wait for me to sit down as she proclaimed, “He needs to be on medication! You need to put him on medication!” (We won’t go into the fact that

Florida Governor Scott stopped by Courts again…his answer … Get rid of our current Supreme Court system… Pink Slip Rick « Continuing Change

Florida Governor Scott stopped by Courts again…his answer … Get rid of our current Supreme Court system… Pink Slip Rick « Continuing Change:

Florida Governor Scott stopped by Courts again…his answer … Get rid of our current Supreme Court system… Pink Slip Rick

by gatorbonbc

Florida courts stop Gov Scott again…

is it wonder he is proposing changes to Florida’s Supreme Court ?

I kid you not…he wants to split our Supreme Court, moving all current Justices to Criminal side, giving him free reign to appoint the

How Rick Scott’s Call for More STEM Education Helps Focus on Florida School’s Real Problem | Scathing Purple Musings

How Rick Scott’s Call for More STEM Education Helps Focus on Florida School’s Real Problem | Scathing Purple Musings:

How Rick Scott’s Call for More STEM Education Helps Focus on Florida School’s Real Problem

by Bob Sikes

Writing in this morning’s Gainesville Sun, Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida president Ed. H. Moore takes Governor Rick Scott’s call for an emphasis on STEM education and applies the realities of what kind of students are arriving on the state’s college campuses.

The governor is correct. We do need to focus on STEM. We also need to focus on the production of students entering college capable of mastering, in both speech and writing, at least one language. Too many students still leave our high schools deficient in English skills and requiring remediation.
Our higher education institutions have capacity to expand STEM access. We can too easily fill

MPR’s Unfortunate Sidestepping around Money Questions in the Charter CMO Report « School Finance 101

MPR’s Unfortunate Sidestepping around Money Questions in the Charter CMO Report « School Finance 101:

MPR’s Unfortunate Sidestepping around Money Questions in the Charter CMO Report

by schoolfinance101

Let me start by pointing out that Mathematica Policy Research, in my view, is an exceptional research organization. They have good people. They do good work and have done much to inform public policy in what I believe are positive ways. That’s why I found it so depressing when I started digging through the recent report on Charter CMOs – a report which as framed, was intended to explore the differences in effectiveness, practices and resources of charter schools operated by various Charter Management Organizations.
First, allow me to point out that I believe that the “relative effectiveness of CMOs” is not necessarily the right question – though it does have particular policy relevance when framed that way. Rather, I believe that the right questions at this point are not about charter versus non-charter, KIPP versus Imagine or White Hat, but rather about what these schools are doing, and whether we have evidence that it works (across a broad array of

When VAMs Fail: Evaluating Ohio’s School Performance Measures

by schoolfinance101

Any reader of my blog knows already that I’m a skeptic of the usefulness of Value-added models for guiding high stakes decisions regarding personnel in schools. As I’ve explained on previous occasions, while statistical models of large numbers of data points – like lots of teachers or lots of schools – might provide us with some useful information on the extent of variation in student outcomes across schools or teachers and might reveal for us some useful patterns – it’s generally not a useful exercise to try to say anything about any one single point within the data set. Yes, teacher “effectiveness” estimates tend to be based on the many student points across students taught by that teacher, but are still highly unstable. Unstable to the point, where even as a researcher hoping to find value in this information, I’ve become skeptical.
However, I had still been holding out more hope that school level aggregate information on student growth – value added estimates – might still be more useful mainly because it represents a higher level of aggregation. That is,

Analysis: Is student loan, education bubble next? - Boston.com

Analysis: Is student loan, education bubble next? - Boston.com:

Analysis: Is student loan, education bubble next?

By Justin Pope

AP Education Writer / November 6, 2011

Text size – +

First the dot.coms popped, then mortgages. Are student loans and higher education the next bubble, the latest investment craze inflating on borrowed money and misplaced faith it can never go bad?

Some experts have raised the possibility. Last summer, Moody's Analytics pronounced fears of an education spending bubble "not without merit." Last spring, investor and PayPal founder Peter Thiel called attention to his claims of an education bubble by awarding two dozen young entrepreneurs $100,000 each NOT to attend college.

Recent weeks have seen another spate of "bubble" headlines -- student loan defaults up, tuition rising another 8.3 percent this year and finally, out Thursday, a new report estimating that average student debt for borrowers from the college class of 2010 has passed $25,000. And all that on top of a multi-year slump in

Illinois teacher pensions. Zero hour. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Illinois teacher pensions. Zero hour. « Fred Klonsky's blog:

Illinois teacher pensions. Zero hour.

by Fred Klonsky

Public employees occupy the Illinois Capitol last week to defend pensions.

The Chicago edition of the New York Times carries a story by the Chicago News Cooperative on this week’s final three days of the Illinois General Assembly veto session.

It’s a shitty story co-written by Kristen McQueary. McQueary has made a career in journalism out of bashing Illinois teachers. And today’s story will not mark a turn in her career. It assumes the pension crisis positions of GOP House leader Tom Cross and Ty Fahner of the corporate one percenters in the Civic Committee as truth.

McQueary is the Judith Miller of the Illinois pension story. Miller was the NY Times reporter that wrote the lies about weapons of mass destruction that aided George Bush in justifying the invasion of Iraq and his ten-year war.

The good news take-away from the Times story?

The Civic Committee has spent millions of dollars to push this bill through. And the outcome is still unknown.

Nobody knows for sure if Democratic Party House Speaker has the 30 votes he needs.

Oh. I’m pretty sure Madigan knows. But he ain’t saying.

Maybe the IEA Government Relations head counters know. But they’re being quiet too. They’ve gone from don’t worry, be happy two weeks ago to code red last week.

Here’s the deal: Take nothing for granted. Assume nobody is a lock one way or the other. Call today, tomorrow and keep calling through adjournment. 1 888 412 6570. Follow the prompts. “Don’t mess with our TRS.”

What is true in the Times piece?

Union members are flooding lawmakers’ offices with phone calls and angry e-mails. Hundreds of state workers, teachers and police officers staged a protest

Schools Matter: We need “Room to Read” in the United States

Schools Matter: We need “Room to Read” in the United States:

We need “Room to Read” in the United States

by skrashen

Sent to the New York Times, November 6, 2011

We complain about stagnant reading achievement in the US (the recent NAEP scores), but fail to do the obvious: Support libraries.

Across the US, states are cutting library funding, even though research consistently shows that increased access to books results more reading and more reading results in better reading, writing, vocabulary and

NYC Public School Parents: Occupy Wall St. on the attack on public education; & Santos Crespo asks, where's the money? #ows

NYC Public School Parents: Occupy Wall St. on the attack on public education; & Santos Crespo asks, where's the money?:

Occupy Wall St. on the attack on public education; & Santos Crespo asks, where's the money?

by Leonie Haimson

See this video from Occupy Wall St. about the attack on public education in NYC with testimony from laid-off DC37 school aide Cliftonia Johnson and investigative journalist Chris Hedges. For more on Ms. Johnson and some of the other nearly 700 school aides who were fired this year, and who performed valuable services to our kids, see this NYT article. The entire Occupy Wall St. session, a people's trial of Goldman Sachs, took place on Nov. 3 at Zuccotti Park, is here.

Also, see the letter that DC37 labor leader Santos Crespo sent to Mayor Bloomberg last week below, showing

Patricia Levesque Joins Jeb Bush in Calling for Status Quo After Poor NAEP Numbers | Scathing Purple Musings

Patricia Levesque Joins Jeb Bush in Calling for Status Quo After Poor NAEP Numbers | Scathing Purple Musings:

Patricia Levesque Joins Jeb Bush in Calling for Status Quo After Poor NAEP Numbers

by Bob Sikes

Jeb Bush’s PR machine is good at staying on message. A case in point is today’s opinion piece in the Orlando Sentinel by Bush’s top policy wonk Patricia Levesque which comes just days after her boss’ statement in response to Florida’s poor showing on NAEP. Like Bush, Levesque seeks to establish their own version of the news. Writes Levesque:

In evaluating the scores, Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson declared the results will “help us further adapt classroom instruction to
accommodate the needs of our students.”
The problem?
We are celebrating a success story that has essentially stalled. Fact is, once students stop making gains, they start falling behind. If Florida leaders