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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Big Education Ape: 11-30-11 AM Alert From the Sacramento Comprehensive High School Coalition EDition #OWS

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now:

Published by Coopmike48 – 8 news spotters today

Duncan Calls for Urgency in Lowering College Costs

nytimes.com - Education Secretary Arne Duncan in a speech Tuesday pushed higher education officials to “think more creatively — and with much greater urgency — about how to contain the spiraling costs of college...

arneduncan

Why Rich Kids Cheat On The SAT

forbes.com - Shortly before Thanksgiving, The New York Times reported that criminal charges have been filed against 20 students in an affluent New York suburb for allegedly cheating on the SAT. Some of those ch...

DianeRavitch

K12 Inc.: Public Online Schools, Private Profits

kunc.org - At a time when public schools are seeing deep cuts in funding, there’s a growing market for companies running online elementary, middle and high schools. The largest for-profit company overseeing t...

DianeRavitch

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fklonsky Conservatives apparently believe it is okay for a married man to cheat on his wife only if she is in the hospital with cancer.2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Blue Jersey:: News Roundup & Open Thread for Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 - goo.gl/KXnwx2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 What is the future of affirmative action? | Being Latino Online Magazine - goo.gl/2yPpc2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Stadium Agency Shortfall | No Soup for Sears, CME | Charters’ Choppy Results - Chicago News Cooperative -goo.gl/zDZxr2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

An Urban Teacher's Education: Distraction Matters

anurbanteacherseducation.com - I spent a large portion of my Thanksgiving Break doing things like watching The Walking Dead and Dexter. (I don't really love either of the shows, but my affinity for both end-of-the-world scenario...

leoniehaimson

Best and Worst in American Education, 2011

hoover.org - This was truly harmful for standards-based education reform, particularly because of how thoroughly it has been misinterpreted and misrepresented. What the public should have learned from the Atlan...

mikeklonsky

SocietySee all

Occupy Durban! | Abahlali baseMjondolo

abahlali.org - 27 November 2011 Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement Occupy Durban!Occupations Currently Underway in Hillary, KwaMashu and Pinetown We are human beings, not dogs, and every human being has a righ...

mikeklonsky

Teacher Arrested Protesting for Education Funding in Olympia

seattleducation2010.wordpress.com - Jesse Hagopian, teacher in the Seattle Public School System and Founding Member of Seattle Equality Educators (SEE) was arrested on Monday for standing up for his students. Jesse Hagopian standing ...

DianeRavitch

PoliticsSee all

Bob Herbert: Occupy Wall Street's Cry of the Heart

thenation.com - Despite all the dismissive criticism, Occupy Wall Street has spread across the globe since its inception three month ago. How could a leaderless and seemingly amorphous movement achieve such global...

mikeklonsky

StoriesSee all

Latest #OccupySupply Update – Coats Arrive!

fdlaction.firedoglake.com - Jon Walker models the new OccupySupply Coat We took delivery on our first shipment of heavyweight duck blanket lined jackets, made by UFCW local 1541 workers and modeled by Jon Walker in the photo....

coopmike48

BusinessSee all

Banks made billions on secret Federal Reserve loans

sfgate.com - Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images The Federal Reserve and a group of big banks battled in court for two-plus years to keep details of the huge 2007-2010 bailout a secret. The Federal Reserve and the ...

coopmike48

Hank Paulson’s Secret: Of Course the System Is Rigged

fdlaction.firedoglake.com - When former Goldman Sachs exec Henry Paulson was Treasury Secretary he apparently gave his hedge fund buddies extremely helpful and lucrative secret information about his plans to seize Freddie Mae...

coopmike48

WorldSee all

2 Occupy Demonstrations Face Eviction

nytimes.com - In center city Philadelphia, hundreds gathered outside City Hall in a show of solidarity ahead of a city-imposed Sunday evening deadline to clear a campsite there. The protesters braced for a polic...

fklonsky

Iran Students Storm British Embassy in Tehran - Global

theatlanticwire.com - Students in Tehran stormed the British embassy there on Tuesday, forcing their way inside, where they threw papers from the windows and took down the British flag. The attack started with dozens pr...

coopmike48

#eduRead this paperSee all

Schools Matter: Got 4K? Start Teaching Today--in Texas

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Schools Matter: Got 4K? Start Teaching Today--in Texas:Got 4K? Start Teaching Today--in Texasby Jim HornOnline and for-profit teacher "preparation," another innovative job creating strategy from th...

coopmike48

#owsSee all

OCCUPY EDUCATION I occupy Education...

occupyedu.tumblr.com - 29th November 2011 Photo with 6 notes From a student at Occupy High… I occupy Education because I am the future, the pillars of society. We are the future, the pillars of society. The good and the...

coopmike48

OCCUPY EDUCATION Don’t analyze me....

occupyedu.tumblr.com - This is a collection of adults and children's messages that challenge public school to become something more than it is - messages that dare public school to serve students' passions instead of pol...

coopmike48

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    Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Uncapping and de-regulating charter schools

    Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Uncapping and de-regulating charter schools:

    Uncapping and de-regulating charter schools

    by Mike Klonsky
    Spurred on by Race To The Top

    While public education budgets are being slashed, federal support for privately-managed charter schools has increased to new heights including a $52 million increase in charter school funding last year. Since 2009, with $100 billion in stimulus funding for education, including $4.35 billion in the competitive Race to the Top fund behind him, Arne Duncan has offered a stern warning to states: "Embrace charters or risk losing stimulus dollars."

    But while Duncan claims it's all about "quality, not quantity" when it comes to charter school expansion and while he tells us that "charters are not
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    Poll: Dedicated tax with ed reforms is winner | Thoughts on Public Education

    Poll: Dedicated tax with ed reforms is winner | Thoughts on Public Education:

    Poll: Dedicated tax with ed reforms is winner - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

    by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess
    A new poll has confirmed what Ted Lempert, president of Children Now, and others in the 2012 Kids Education Plan coalition expected: An initiative coupling school reforms with a tax increase dedicated to education has a good chance of winning at the polls a year from now. The qualifiers are important. Less than a majority of [...]

    Voters want more of what they won’t pay for: stronger higher education - by David Plank

    by David Plank
    The latest PPIC poll on higher education in California was released last month, and the findings will bring no cheer to our state’s public colleges and universities. On the bright side, most respondents affirm that a strong higher education system is important for California’s future, and they agree that recent budget [...]
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    Daily Kos: Line Grows Long for Free Meals at U.S. School

    Daily Kos: Line Grows Long for Free Meals at U.S. School:

    Line Grows Long for Free Meals at U.S. School

    by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)
    The number of students receiving subsidized lunches rose to 21 million last school year from 18 million in 2006-7, a 17 percent increase, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data from the Department of Agriculture, which administers the meals program. Eleven states, including Florida, Nevada, New Jersey and Tennessee, had four-year increases of 25 percent or more, huge shifts in a vast program long characterized by incremental growth.

    That is the 2nd paragraph of this NY Times article by Sam Dillon. It is chock full of facts, including data on the explosion of those being served in various locations, including things like unemployed engineers and technicians in Rochester NY where downsizing at Kodak and other companies has cost them their jobs.

    The basic framework is this - you qualify for free lunch at up to 130% of the poverty level, which is $29,055 for a family of four. You get a reduced price lunch (at $.40) with income of up to $41,348 for a family of four.

    The Dept. of Education uses the lunch program for an indicator of poverty in Federal Testing (National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP), and noted that percentage of 4th graders receiving either subsidized or free lunches is now 52%, up from 49% 2 years ago.

    More below the squiggle.

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    Inclusivity in Education: When it comes to African American history, students aren't getting the full story | The Defenders Online | A Civil Rights Blog

    Inclusivity in Education: When it comes to African American history, students aren't getting the full story | The Defenders Online | A Civil Rights Blog:

    Inclusivity in Education: When it comes to African American history, students aren’t getting the full story

    Posted By | November 29th, 2011 | Category: Education | No Comments » Print This Post Print This Post

    By Tarice L.S. Gray

    It was in 1988 when educational scholar Professor Jenice View had an epiphany of sorts regarding African American history. At an event featuring Dorothy Cotton a former confidant of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Educational Director of his organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Professor View sat in awe of the woman’s story. As she listened she became more and more intrigued by the historic figure – and more angry.

    “I was thinking, why have I never heard of this woman before?” she said. “Why don’t I know her story? And I thought of myself as a well informed well read person who loved history.” So View, Assistant Professor of Educational Transformation at George Mason University, got to work. Her mission of discovery lead her to our public school classrooms where students across the board seem to be missing some

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    Blue Jersey:: Anti-Voucher Rally in Jersey City, Wednesday Afternoon

    Blue Jersey:: Anti-Voucher Rally in Jersey City, Wednesday Afternoon:

    Anti-Voucher Rally in Jersey City, Wednesday Afternoon

    by KendalJames
    Opportunity! Scholarships! Action! All of these things sound awesome, and even moreso when you string them together - "Opportunity Scholarship Act" - it just rolls off the tongue, like "Madoff Investment Securities," or "House Un-American Activities Committee." Still, everyone knows that the OSA, likely to rear its zombie-vampire head once again in the lame duck, is just a marketing name for school vouchers - a famously failed scheme with over two decades of pure bleh to show for itself - a misuse of taxpayer money and violation of civil liberties done in the interest of advancing an education "solution" that has not, in over 20 years, done anything to improve student achievement. Even voucher advocates now must concede that students who receive vouchers do no better than students in regular public schools. (You can see this defeat in action as many voucher advocates now no longer sell better test scores in their pitch, instead pivoting to a promise to boost parent involvement.) You have to wonder what else voucher advocates will suggest - a new VCR for every classroom in the state?
    Posted by at

    All Education Matters: Peaceful IU student protesters assaulted (forceful aggression) at JP Morgan-Chase event

    All Education Matters: Peaceful IU student protesters assaulted (forceful aggression) at JP Morgan-Chase event:

    Peaceful IU student protesters assaulted (forceful aggression) at JP Morgan-Chase event

    by Cryn Johannsen
    Shame on this this detective! Shame on him! What is his name? Why did he shove these peaceful protesters? Is this how we treat our youth? Shame on him! Shame! Shame! Shame!

    Popout

    Credit: @OccupyColleges

    Here is what someone wrote underneath the clip:

    A group of peaceful student protesters were assaulted by detective Greg McClure with the Indiana University

    Debtor Owes $620K!!! Here's why we need a Debtors Strike!

    THIS. This is why we need a debtors strike! And we don't need no stinkin' "forgiveness."

    Posted by at

    ‘Broader, bolder’ strategy to ending poverty’s influence on education - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

    ‘Broader, bolder’ strategy to ending poverty’s influence on education - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

    ‘Broader, bolder’ strategy to ending poverty’s influence on education

    by Valerie Strauss

    This was written by Pedro Noguera, Peter L. Agnew professor of education at New York University.

    By Pedro Noguera

    While it might seem encouraging for education and civil rights leaders to assert that poverty isn’t an obstacle to higher student achievement, the evidence does not support such claims. Over 50 years, numerous studies have documented how poverty and related social conditions — such as lack of access to health care, early childhood education and stable housing — affect child development and student achievement.

    Read full article >>
    Posted by at

    Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Power Corrupts…

    Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Power Corrupts…:

    Power Corrupts…

    by alicemercer

    Most of the news from the UC school to the west have been about, police power, tuition hikes, and executive pay. This story, on the sports page, would normally get a lot more discussion, but it’s likely to get lost in furor, and that’s a shame, because while it’s not as important as these other stories, the university is at the cusp of facing a choice about whether to “play like the big boys”– south state “neighbor” and frequently on probation USC, and who could resist comparisons to the corrupting influence of big-time college ball at Penn State? What is so lovely about this piece is how revealing many of the quotes from the report are about so-called amateur athletics. Here are some choice picks:

    …(S)ome facets of UC Davis’ operating philosophy do not align with many top-tier Division I programs.

    Among the audit’s more controversial points has been that several of the eight “core principles” established by UC Davis to guide its move to Division I may actually “represent an impediment to increased competitiveness in Division I.”

    Apparently, in amateur athletics there is no room from niceties like “philosophy” and “principles”, but they do

    Posted by at

    NYC Educator: Was There Clarity Now?

    NYC Educator: Was There Clarity Now?:

    Was There Clarity Now?

    by NYC Educator
    Good morning. You can imagine how thrilled I must be to be amongst all you instructional purveyors. Let's get right down to it and clarify why we're in this location at this point in time. Our objective, naturally, is to enhance the experience of your instructional targets.

    We will do this, of course, via differentiated instruction. Over decades of facilitating standards-based rigorous curriculum and instructing pedagogues how to integrate rubric-centered learning styles, I've concludeddefinitively the most desirable mode of achieving differentiated instruction is via the quality review rubric, because it's uniform, and thus there is no room
    Posted by at

    In the Baltimore Fishbowl with Morgan State’s Ray Winbush – Outtakes | Re:education in Baltimore

    In the Baltimore Fishbowl with Morgan State’s Ray Winbush – Outtakes | Re:education in Baltimore:

    In the Baltimore Fishbowl with Morgan State’s Ray Winbush – Outtakes

    I hadn’t much thought about the racial dimensions of education reform before October 20, 2011, when I went to the Enoch Pratt Free Library for an event put together by the Open Society Institute-Baltimore. They have been running a series of discussions called “Talking About Race.” The twelfth – on educating black boys – seemed tangentially relevant to me, a person who blogs about education. I wrote up my notes here and promised to follow up with more from Ray Winbush.

    I’ve kept my promise. A short thread from what was around a 6,000 word interview featured yesterday on the homepage of Baltimore Fishbowl.

    What else happens when you get a white mom living in Hampden together with a black professor from Morgan State for a little interview on race, education, and the future of public schooling in Baltimore? This.

    Your 140-character-or-less Twitter profile describes you as “a person attempting to replace white supremacy with justice.” What do you mean by that? And how does education fit into that personal mission?

    I believe – and it’s not just me believing, it’s not a religion, but – there is a system of white supremacy. And what we want

    Posted by at

    LAUSD TEACHERS: VOTE NO ON TENTATIVE LAUSD/UTLA AGREEMENT...IF YOU CAN - Perdaily.com

    LAUSD TEACHERS: VOTE NO ON TENTATIVE LAUSD/UTLA AGREEMENT...IF YOU CAN - Perdaily.com:

    LAUSD TEACHERS: VOTE NO ON TENTATIVE LAUSD/UTLA AGREEMENT...IF YOU CAN

    by Leonard Isenberg
    Vote No.jpeg
    (Mensaje se repite en Español)

    (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)

    LAUSD and UTLA have announced that they have reached a tentative agreement UTLA President Warren Fletcher is either suffering from early onset Alzheimer's or he has totally capitulated to LAUSD leadership either out of being in over his head as UTLA president, stupidity, or concern about maintaining his recent personal good fortune of having his annual salary and benefits phenomenally augmented over his measly teachers salary and a manner not too dissimilar to LAUSD administration that also have forgotten that they started their careers in
    Posted by at

    TEACHER EVALUATIONS AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT « Teachers Fight Back

    TEACHER EVALUATIONS AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT « Teachers Fight Back:

    TEACHER EVALUATIONS AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

    leave a comment »

    How much of a teacher’s evaluation should be based on the academic performance of their students ? This is currently a hot debate among teachers, administrators, government officials and education reformers.

    Next year Chicago Public schools will start a new teacher evaluation process. How well students perform academically would count as one-quarter of a teacher’s evaluation. After two years , the student growth component of the evaluations would jump to a minimum of 30 percent.

    Several surveys have shown that most teachers strongly oppose tying student achievement to their own performance. Many teachers dislike the idea of being measured against factors that they cannot control, like when a student’s home life affects academic performance.

    What I would like to see is an evaluation process that acknowledges everything that a teacher does for

    Posted by at

    Jersey Jazzman: Follow the Money

    Jersey Jazzman: Follow the Money:

    Follow the Money

    by Duke
    This one is a little complicated, but I'll try to make it worth your while:

    We'll start with Rupert Murdoch, who is, of course, stinking rich from running his media empire, which includes the rabidly right-wing Fox News - a favored media stop for NJ Governor Chris Christie.

    Last year, Murdoch apparently way overpaid for a company called Wireless Generation, which is an education services contractor. He installed former NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein as the president of the company, which turned out to be a smart investment, as Klein (a former lawyer in the Clinton administration) also serves as his consigliere during the phone-hacking scandal Murdoch is embroiled in.

    It's worth noting that Wireless Generation is the company that allegedly screwed up New Jersey's Race To The
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    On Getting Better At Your Craft | The Jose Vilson

    On Getting Better At Your Craft | The Jose Vilson:

    On Getting Better At Your Craft

    by Jose

    Detroit Classroom

    This year, I decided I was going to focus more intently on developing lesson plans day-to-day. To be honest, I lost a bit of that, thinking that developing plans by units would be substantive enough to get through to my students and through my curriculum. I was approaching “getting better” by concentrating on getting better at developing units (something I had never done before), but then I was losing sight of the day-to-day. Having a lesson plan every day, or at least 90% of the time, makes a world of difference in classroom management as well as delivery of the lesson. That sounds obvious for the great teacher, but … I’m not great yet.

    My flaws are innumerable, and I blame myself first and foremost for things that happen in my classroom, even

    Posted by at

    Two grassroots school board candidates defeat two business-backed ed reform incumbents in Seattle | Seattle Education

    Two grassroots school board candidates defeat two business-backed ed reform incumbents in Seattle | Seattle Education:

    Two grassroots school board candidates defeat two business-backed ed reform incumbents in Seattle

    by seattleducation2011
    Four strong grassroots challengers took on four rubber-stamping, corporate ed reform school board incumbents here in Seattle on Nov. 8. All but one race was close. Two of the challengers won!
    Martha “Marty” McLaren and Sharon Peaslee both won, and will soon join Seattle’s seven-member school board, hopefully tipping the balance towards sensible, responsible and thoughtful leadership that is responsive to the parents and community of SPS, and not outside political agendas.
    (They will be sworn in at 4 p.m. today at the JSCEE district headquarters.)
    Posted by at

    An Urban Teacher's Education: Distraction Matters

    An Urban Teacher's Education: Distraction Matters:

    Distraction Matters

    by James Boutin
    I spent a large portion of my Thanksgiving Break doing things like watching The Walking Dead and Dexter. (I don't really love either of the shows, but my affinity for both end-of-the-world scenarios and serial killers doing good work keeps me interested enough.)

    I should have been mapping out my world history curriculum for next semester, which I've been telling myself I would do since the year began. I had also planned on doing some research into valuable media outlets for Washington State education policy and news. (Keeping up with education news was so much easier in the big urban districts on the East Coast.)

    Instead of being even moderately responsible, I pretty much slothed away my five-day break. And while I had a
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