Op-Ed: Jean Pasternak on Charter Schools Stance - Millburn-Short Hills, NJ Patch

Op-Ed: Jean Pasternak on Charter Schools Stance - Millburn-Short Hills, NJ Patch:

Op-Ed: Jean Pasternak on Charter Schools Stance

BOE Member Pasternak clarifies her position on Charter Schools.

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Editor's note: School Board member Jean Pasternak also presented the following at Monday's Board of Education meeting.

I would like to clarify my comments from the last meeting concerning charter schools. Some – not all – of my response was quoted in the Patch, and I believe this lead to a misunderstanding.

Unequivocally, Charter schools do not serve the best interests of the students in Millburn. I am completely against taxation without representation and the current legislation does not allow for taxpayers to have a say about charters opening in their communities. This is wrong and I am committed to fighting to change this.

I am strongly for all community members having the right to express their needs and desires for our education system here in Millburn. As an elected official, I am not only compelled but honored and

Does New Orleans Welcome Disabled Students? : NPR

Does New Orleans Welcome Disabled Students? : NPR:

Does New Orleans Welcome Disabled Students?

by LARRY ABRAMSON

November 15, 2011

New Orleans has become the center of an education revolution, where more than 70 percent of students attend a charter school.

The number of students taught in traditional district-run schools is shrinking fast. That's because parents in post-Hurricane Katrina can pick and choose from a smorgasbord of schools with different approaches and cultures.

By many measures this educational marketplace has improved student achievement. But as this experiment moves ahead, it's led to questions about whether the district is truly open to the most challenging students.

One Family's Story

When Kelly Fisher and her family moved to New Orleans in 2009, they expected her son Noah

School Choice Discrimination Leaves No Choice for Vulnerable Youth of Color | Dignity In Schools

School Choice Discrimination Leaves No Choice for Vulnerable Youth of Color | Dignity In Schools:

School Choice Discrimination Leaves No Choice for Vulnerable Youth of Color

15 Nov in

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The term school choice is commonly used by corporate education reformers as a grotesque misnomer to disguise their attempted end-run around the U.S. Supreme Court’s seminal recognition in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) of the constitutional right of all children to equal educational opportunity, based upon the absolute rejection of the “separate but equal” concept of segregated public education.

School choice programs encourage privatized outsourcing of public education that increases academic segregation based on race, disability, language and poverty that undermines the concept of equal educational opportunity.

By: Ernest Saadiq Morris, Urban Youth Justice

The choice before human beings is not, as a rule, between good and evil but between two evils. -George Orwell

School Choice programs, including school vouchers, charter and magnet schools, are not

NYC Public School Parents: This year's class size data released today; unforgivable!

NYC Public School Parents: This year's class size data released today; unforgivable!:

This year's class size data released today; unforgivable!

by Leonie Haimson

The DOE released this year's class size data todayhere.

Class sizes increased citywide this year again for the 4^th year in a row. In the early grades, the increase was sharper than in any year since records have been kept – at least since 1998.

This year, there were as many Kindergarten children in classes LARGER than 25 (the union contractual maximum) as were in classes of 20 or less –the goal that Bloomberg promised to achieve when he first ran

Teacher: Year Going “Pretty Shitty” | Mr. Teachbad

Teacher: Year Going “Pretty Shitty” | Mr. Teachbad:

Teacher: Year Going “Pretty Shitty”

FAKE EDUCATION NEWS

Omaha, NE–

Tim Laud­ner, 26, is a sec­ond year his­tory teacher at Nor­ris Mid­dle School in Omaha, NE. Mr. Laud­ner is not hav­ing a good year.

He hasn’t lost all hope, but nei­ther is he opti­mistic. I made an appoint­ment to meet with Mr. Laud­ner before school to talk with him about his expe­ri­ences as a sec­ond year teacher.

We got right to it.

Teach­bad Edu­ca­tion News (TEN): Thanks for agree­ing to meet with me this morn­ing. You told me over the phone that your first year was pretty rough. How is your sec­ond year going? How does it compare?

Mr. Laud­ner: You’re wel­come. Yeah, this is my sec­ond year. Legally, I believe a teacher’s first year is required to

Education Research Report: Policy reforms 'demoralizing' teaching profession?

Education Research Report: Policy reforms 'demoralizing' teaching profession?:

Policy reforms 'demoralizing' teaching profession?

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

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A provocative new article in the American Journal of Education argues that many teachers in the age of rigid curricula, high-stakes testing, and reduced classroom autonomy are finding it difficult to access the "moral rewards" of their profession. This demoralization of teaching threatens to drive away even the most passionate and dedicated of teachers.

"The moral rewards of teaching are activated when educators feel that they are doing what is right in terms of one's students, the teaching profession, and themselves," writes Doris Santoro, a professor of education at Bowdoin College. But, she argues, current policy reforms often take away a teacher's ability to be responsive to students' needs, and blunt the sense that a teacher is doing what is right for students. This in turn leads to feelings of frustration and hopelessness that are too often misdiagnosed as "teacher burnout."

"However, the burnout explanation fails to account for situations where the conditions of teaching change so

FOCUS ON TESTING HURTS STUDENTS IN HIGH SCHOOL HEALTH CLASSES

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

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High school health classes fail to help students refuse sexual advances or endorse safe sex habits when teachers focus primarily on testing knowledge, a new study reveals.

But when teachers emphasized learning the material for its own sake, and to improve health, students had much better responses. In these kinds of classrooms, students had lower intentions of having sex and felt better able to navigate sexual situations.

“A focus on tests doesn’t help students in health classes make healthier choices,” said Eric M. Anderman, lead author of the study and professor of educational psychology at Ohio State University.

IEA leadership pats itself on the back for pension win. Really? « Fred Klonsky

IEA leadership pats itself on the back for pension win. Really? « Fred Klonsky:

IEA leadership pats itself on the back for pension win. Really?

by Fred Klonsky

IEA President Cinda Klickna sent out a self-congratulatory message to members this week. Patting herself on the back, she said,

Why SB 512 didn’t pass

The IEA strategy was to mobilize members at the most opportune time.

We sought to keep our members informed via the IEA website, which has seen a huge increase in visits. www.ieanea.org has had more than one million page views already this year and an average of more than 20 thousand views per day this week alone.

We’ve also reached large segments of our members through our Facebook and Twitter feeds.

IEA also used radio advertising to heighten public awareness of the unfair pension attack, running

Taxpayers Billed for Millionaires’ Kids at Charter School - Bloomberg

Taxpayers Billed for Millionaires’ Kids at Charter School - Bloomberg:

Taxpayers Billed for Millionaires’ Kids at Charter School

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By John Hechinger - Nov 14, 2011 9:01 PM PT

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In Silicon Valley, Bullis elementary school accepts one in six kindergarten applicants, offers Chinese and asks families to donate $5,000 per child each year. Parents include Ken Moore, son of Intel Corp.’s co-founder, and Steven Kirsch, inventor of the optical mouse.

Bullis isn’t a high-end private school. It’s a taxpayer- funded, privately run public school, part of the charter-school movement that educates 1.8 million U.S. children. While charters are heralded for offering underprivileged kids an alternative to failing U.S. districts, Bulli

Database: See teacher staff cuts, trends at every California school -| Sacramento Bee

Database: See teacher staff cuts, trends at every California school - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee:

Database: See teacher staff cuts, trends at every California school

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By Phillip Reese
preese@sacbee.com

Published: Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011 - 9:16 am

California school districts cut their teaching staffs by almost 25,000, or 8 percent, between 2008 and 2011. That's the equivalent of laying off every teacher in San Diego County.

This database shows changes in teacher staffing at every school and district in the state from 2008 to 2011.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/14/4054559/database-see-teaching-staff-cuts.html#ixzz1dnenSwA0

No School Vouchers Please!!! Another Poll Affirms Public Opposition

Democurmudgeon: No School Vouchers Please!!! Another Poll Affirms Public Opposition:

No School Vouchers Please!!! Another Poll Affirms Public Opposition

How can it be the Republican politicians are so hot for vouchers, while the public is opposed to them? In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker wanted a statewide voucher system and no testing. The voucher idea was pared down dramatically, but the districts forced to include vouchers didn’t want them.

To show the Republican disconnect with voters, here are the poll results from the not so liberal state of Tennessee:

WBIR: Tennesseans favor more spending for early childhood education, oppose tuition vouchers and think teachers deserve more money but are uncomfortable giving them bonuses, a Vanderbilt University poll has found.

3 out of every 5 Tennesseans believe the state should spend more money on pre-kindergarten programs, and a

Want to Stop Sexual Harassment at Work? First Stop it in School! « MomsRising Blog

Want to Stop Sexual Harassment at Work? First Stop it in School! « MomsRising Blog:

Want to Stop Sexual Harassment at Work? First Stop it in School!

Posted November 15th, 2011 by Holly Kearl

Sexual harassment allegations by four women against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain have made the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace headline news. What many people may not realize is that such harassment is a widespread problem in middle and high schools, too.

During the 2010-11 school year, nearly 48 percent of students in grades 7 through 12 in the United States said they experienced sexual harassment, according to a new nationally representative study by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) which I co-authored. Additionally, nearly one in three students (28 percent) said they had witnessed harassment that school year.

The forms of sexual harassment most often cited by students included someone

Read more: http://www.momsrising.org/blog/want-to-stop-sexual-harassment-at-work-first-stop-it-in-school/#ixzz1dnWI5ezP