Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 2-19 #soschat #ReclaimingReform

Parents in Chicago Occupy their School and win a Stakeholder Meeting | The Classroom Sooth #ows #soschat

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 hour ago

Parents in Chicago Occupy their School and win a Stakeholder Meeting | The Classroom Sooth:Parents in Chicago Occupy their School and win a Stakeholder Meetingby classroomsoothCongratulations to the parents of students at Brian Piccolo Elementary School in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. I have a feeling we will see more #OccupyOurSchools in our city and across the nation as the fight to reclaim our public schools grows.While you plan your occupation, please join Parents Across America in national ... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Community Meetings on Saturday the 18th

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 hour ago

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Community Meetings on Saturday the 18th:Community Meetings on Saturday the 18thby Melissa WestbrookI attended Michael DeBell's community meeting. Did anyone attend Sharon Peaslee's? If so, let us know about the discussion.DeBell's meeting was interesting with the majority of participants from McClure Middle School. They had a variety of concerns including less-than-stellar science program, loss of students from "good" elementaries like Coe, John Hay, etc. from elementary to middle school (thus creating funding issues for McClure) and ...more »

Presidents’ Day: The quiz - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 hour ago

Presidents’ Day: The quiz - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:Presidents’ Day: The quizby Valerie StraussIt’s Presidents’ Day Monday, but whom the holiday is meant to honor depends on whom you ask. Even the placement of the apostrophe is open to question!To the U.S. government and Virginia, the home state of George Washington, the holiday is recognized as “Washington’s Birthday.” Some states jointly celebrate the birthdays of George Washington, born Feb. 22, and Abraham Lincoln, born Feb. 12, while ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts 2-19 #SOSchat #p2 #edreform

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 hour ago

‘You are so smart…why did you become a teacher?’ - The Answer Sheet - The Washington PostBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-19 minutes ago‘You are so smart…why did you become a teacher?’ - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:‘You are so smart…why did you become a teacher?’by Valerie StraussThis was written by Carol Corbett Burris, principal of South Side High School in New York. She was named the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators ... more »

Twenty-Three Things You May Not Have Known About the Japanese-American Internment « Student Activism

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 hour ago

Twenty-Three Things You May Not Have Known About the Japanese-American Internment « Student Activism:Twenty-Three Things You May Not Have Known About the Japanese-American Internmentby Angus JohnstonToday is the 70th anniversary of #EO9066, the FDR executive order that authorized Japanese deportation from the West Coast during WWII.— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) February 19, 2012I just posted a string of tweets, including the one above, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Executive Order 9066. EO 9066, signed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt on February ... more »

Jack Hassard: Test-Based Reform: What Values are we Adding? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 hour ago

Jack Hassard: Test-Based Reform: What Values are we Adding? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:Jack Hassard: Test-Based Reform: What Values are we Adding?by Anthony CodyGuest post by Jack Hassard. You can read Part One here.Practicing teachers, clinical professors, and researchers who work in the field know that assessing teachers or students requires much more than simply looking at test scores. And indeed, researchers who have examined the value-added assessment system which purports to measure the "teacher effect" on ... more »

Support PURE! » Climate change deniers want their views in nation’s textbooks

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 hour ago

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » Climate change deniers want their views in nation’s textbooks:Climate change deniers want their views in nation’s textbooksby adminA plot by Chicago-based Heartland Institute to control the way our children are taught about global warming has been exposed. Science? Heartland’s agin’ it.By the way, Heartland Institute’s Bruno Behrend, who runs their Center for School Choice, occasionally posts nasty blog comments about Parents Across America (e.g. here).Here’s what happened, according to Salon.com:On Tuesday, ... more »

Missouri Education Watchdog: Want to Add Your Anti-Common Core Comment on The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Site?

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 hour ago

Missouri Education Watchdog: Want to Add Your Anti-Common Core Comment on The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Site?:Want to Add Your Anti-Common Core Comment on The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Site?by stlgretchenHere's your chance to tell the Gates Foundation what you think about the institution of the common core. The Gates Foundation has spent millions of dollars in various states and organizations to ensure they will be implemented in states....by taxpayer dollars....without taxpayer input.Impatient Optimists, a Bill and Melinda ... more »

Student Bill of Rights From Youth Empowered in the Struggle « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 hour ago

Student Bill of Rights From Youth Empowered in the Struggle « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:Student Bill of Rights From Youth Empowered in the Struggleby millerlfFollowing is a Student Bill of Rights written by student members of Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES), a youth organization associated with Voces de la Frontera. Over one thousand students, mostly in Milwaukee and Racine, have reviewed the document and given input to its content. YES has also received input from a number ... more »

‘You are so smart…why did you become a teacher?’ - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

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

‘You are so smart…why did you become a teacher?’ - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:‘You are so smart…why did you become a teacher?’by Valerie StraussThis was written by Carol Corbett Burris, principal of South Side High School in New York. She was named the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State. She is one of the co-authors of the principals’ letter against evaluating teachers by student test scores, which has ... more »

Schools Matter: Rethinking Teacher Quality and Metrics-mania

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

Schools Matter: Rethinking Teacher Quality and Metrics-mania:Rethinking Teacher Quality and Metrics-maniaby P. L. ThomasOnce President Barack Obama referred to the claim that teacher quality translates directly into increasing lifetime earnings of students, that assertion and connected study are destined to remain in the public domain in the same way that claims about three quality teachers in a row has persisted. These claims share something other than being quickly and broadly embraced, however; they are also misleading, incomplete, and harmful to ... more »

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky

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

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky:Sunday links.by Fred KlonskyThe Piccolo Occupation celebrates a victory last night when the CPS agreed to actually talk to parents and teachers at the school before closing it down. Photo: Katie Osgood.The tactic of occupation chalked up another victory last night as community members triumphantly walked out of Brian Piccolo school in Chicago’s West Humboldt Park neighborhood. The school was occupied Friday night after CPS and Mayor Emanuel refused to meet with parents opposed to handing ...more »

QWERTY - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - A Professional Networking Community for Educators

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

QWERTY - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - A Professional Networking Community for Educators:QWERTYIn Jim Collins’ latest work, Great by Choice, he offers the following shift in innovation strategy: fire bullets first…then cannon balls. A warfare metaphor? Yes. But what does it mean? Traditionally, military strategy has been to soften up an opponent’s defenses by lobbing in artillery first, before sending in men armed with weapons. Makes sense. Create a strategic advantage before committing lives. So how ... more »

Civics and Civility : Thoughts on Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee in Oakland (Community Voices) | Oakland Local

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

Civics and Civility : Thoughts on Michelle Rhee in Oakland (Community Voices) | Oakland Local:Civics and Civility : Thoughts on Michelle Rhee in Oakland (Community Voices)C.j. Hirschfeld Sat, 18 Feb at 8:38amMichelle Rhee, www.studentsfirst.org/pages/about-michelle-rheeTwo recent incidents have made me worry about the decline of public discourse in Oakland and about how organized labor is contributing to that decline.It troubles me to write this because I respect the important role labor unions have played in American history, and I support the ... more »

Santorum Criticizes Education System and Obama - NYTimes.com

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

Santorum Criticizes Education System and Obama - NYTimes.com:Santorum Questions Education System; Criticizes ObamaMichael McElroy for The New York TimesRick Santorum said the idea of governments operating public schools was “anachronistic.”By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.Published: February 18, 2012RECOMMENDTWITTERLINKEDINCOMMENTS(450)E-MAILPRINTREPRINTSSHARECOLUMBUS, Ohio — With his candidacy surging, Rick Santorum on Saturday questioned the legitimacy of state-run public education systems and suggested that President Obama’s agenda sprang from a “phony theology.”MultimediaInteractive Featu... more »

Daily Kos: Dear Mr. President,

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

Daily Kos: Dear Mr. President,:Dear Mr. President,by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)I am a teacher. You know, one of those about whom you and your Secretary of Education say are so important to our young people. If only I - and thousands, perhaps millions of other teachers - could believe those words. There are things your administration has done that we respect, at least most of us. The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act meant large numbers of teachers and other public employees did ... more »

TV and movies give exposure to autism disorders - NorthJersey.com

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

TV and movies give exposure to autism disorders - NorthJersey.com:TV and movies give exposure to autism disordersSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012, 9:43 AMBY VIRGINIA ROHANSTAFF WRITERTHE RECORDPRINT | E-MAILMax Braverman, 10, is obsessed with bugs and cannot handle any change in plans.Linda (Sandra Bullock) comforts her son, Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), who has Asperger's syndrome, in 'Extremely Loud Incredibly Close.''Parenthood's' Max Braverman (Max Burkholder) also has Asperger's.Jake Bohm, 11, does not speak or make eye ... more »

A Southwest Florida Newspaper Leads in Establishing a Local Education Alliance | Scathing Purple Musings

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

A Southwest Florida Newspaper Leads in Establishing a Local Education Alliance | Scathing Purple Musings:A Southwest Florida Newspaper Leads in Establishing a Local Education Allianceby Bob SikesNo Jeb Bush. No Gerard Robinson. Not even Rick Scott, who makes his home in the area. The Fort Meyers News-Press clearly saw the need to separate a local initiative from the current crop of Tallahassee lawmakers in creating The Alliance of Education Leaders. In this morning’s op-ed they subtly explain why:Indeed, there are ... more »

Can’t Wait to Have Students Read This | Outside the Cave

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 16 hours ago

Can’t Wait to Have Students Read This | Outside the Cave:Can’t Wait to Have Students Read Thisby Stephen LazarThere’s an interesting op-ed in Thursday’s New York Times, “Why China’s Political Model Is Superior.” The author Eric X. Li, makes some claims in it that are beyond radical from an American perspective:In the history of human governance, spanning thousands of years, there have been two major experiments in democracy. The first was Athens, which lasted a century and a half; the ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 2-18 #soschat #ReclaimingReform

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 16 hours ago

LAUSD Supt. John Deasy addresses Miramonte sex-abuse allegations - latimes.comBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-52 minutes agoLAUSD Supt. John Deasy addresses Miramonte sex-abuse allegations - latimes.com:LAUSD Supt. John Deasy addresses Miramonte sex-abuse allegationsIn the wake of teachers being charged with lewd acts with students, Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. John Deasy has sought to reassure teachers and staff in a video address.In his four-minute address, which was sent to the employees districtwide, Deasy said the investigation into the ... more »

NYC Public School Parents: The battle for the soul of a community: #soschat

NYC Public School Parents: The battle for the soul of a community: Thursday night's contentious charter school hearing in S. Williamsburg -- and the memory of another controversial co-location 25 years ago:

The battle for the soul of a community: Thursday night's contentious charter school hearing in S. Williamsburg -- and reference to 1986 boycott because of another "co-location"

by Leonie Haimson

Please check out the videos of Thursday night’s contentious hearing on the proposed co-location of yet another branch of the Success Academy charter school, this one in IS 50 in South Williamsburg, a proposal that the entire community has risen up in opposition to, because of the discriminatory recruitment andenrollment policies of the hedge-fund backedSuccess Academy charters, their policy ofpushing out high needs students, and the fact that there are four under-enrolled public elementary schools in this mostly Latino neighborhood within three blocks of the proposed charter.

Nearly 500 parents, teachers, students, and community leaders filled the large auditorium, with more than 80 of them speaking out against this co-location proposal, and fewer than five parents from Brooklyn spoke out in support. The rest of the audience consisted of parents bused in from the

Parents in Chicago Occupy their School and win a stakeholder meeting. | The Classroom Sooth

Parents in Chicago Occupy their School and win a stakeholder meeting. | The Classroom Sooth:

Parents in Chicago Occupy their School and win a stakeholder meeting.

by classroomsooth

Congratulations to the parents of students at Brian Piccolo Public School in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago.
I have a feeling we will see more #OccupyOurSchools in our city and across the nation as the fight to reclaim our public schools grows.
While you plan your occupation, please join Parents Across America in national conference call on education reform on Monday Feb 20th. Call in is at 8pm Eastern.
Conference Dial-in Number: (424) 203-8075
Participant Access Code: 1037540#
Adam
Declaration #1 from Piccolo occupation
11:49pm – February 17th, 2012
We, the Piccolo Occupation, are putting our childrens’ education
first. Piccolo has failed because CPS has refused to invest in public
education. The school has struggled for years but you have taken out
all the programs, classes and opportunities to learn. We have had 3
principals in the last five years.We have not been able to work with
anyone on a long-term basis to address the chronic disinvestment in
our school. CPS and City Hall have failed us and our children. Your
goal is to privatize the education system by giving it to corporations
that support the mayor. We have been ignored, you have ignored our
children and now you are trying to make money off of them.
The Chicago Public Schools is in violation of its own remediation and
probation policy. CPS is in violation of the Illinois School Code and
the Illinois Civil Rights Act. CPS is in violation of Illinois Senate
Bill 630. Because of this, a moratorium has been introduced in the
Illinois Legislative Assembly by the School Facilities Taskforce. We
are enacting our moratorium for ourselves with this sit-in do to the
fact that CPS not once has laid out the necessary corrective action
for Brian Piccolo or Paolo Cassals along with the Local School
Councils for getting them off of probation during the last five years.
The School Improvement Plans for Academic Achievement (SIPAA) at these
two schools have lacked the budgetary resources to bridge the
achievement gap of our student populations. Furhter, the SIPAAs along
with the budgets at the time of their signings have not had real
community input. Therefor, these actions could very well be civil
rights violations. At the recent CPS hearings, the former principle of
Cassals testified that not once in the last five years had CPS met
with her nor with the LSC about any of the necessary corrective action
for Paola Cassals to be removed off of probation.
Because CPS has been not willing to meet with or listen to us, this is
what we want:
1) A meeting with Mayor Rahm Emanuel
2) A meeting with at least five of the Chicago School Board members present
3) The removal of Piccolo and Cassals from the turnaround list

Peg with Pen: Looking the Other Way

Peg with Pen: Looking the Other Way:

Looking the Other Way

by Peggy

This weekend I attended the Colorado People’s Assembly, agathering of activists from across the state who are working hard to wake upColorado. They have brilliant ideas and strategies – they weren’t crunching numbers to determine howthe end result will create profit for a few.

I went to the Colorado People’s Assembly to help create communityand to do a teach-in on the effects of corporate education reform. It can be hard for me to speak objectivelyabout these issues – these issues are wrought with pain for so many people –yet, I recognize that the facts, the stories, speak for themselves, and often thatis all that needs to be told. I try to share this information within the confines of an hour - not an easy feat and it is inevitable that after

Daily Kos: A couple of personal and professional observations

Daily Kos: A couple of personal and professional observations:

A couple of personal and professional observations

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

1) I am active enough in enough circles to have a very good sense of what teachers think on a lot of topics.

2) In general, teachers have tended not to be outspoken, but so many are so upset with this administration that they have been saying and doing things that in the past would have been inconceivable.

3) My diary earlier today, Dear Mr. President, neither said that I would not vote for the President nor did it advocate that other teachers not vote for the President. What I did is to express my concerns and those i hear from other teachers. Whether or not people in either the administration or the campaign want to listen, what I wrote is an accurate representation of what increasing numbers of teachers feel, including those who are members of unions - and until two weeks ago when i resigned, i was my building's union rep.

4) That both unions have already endorsed Obama is not necessarily a reflection of what th

Schools Matter: Charles Murray, KIPP, and the Second Coming of Eugenics

Schools Matter: Charles Murray, KIPP, and the Second Coming of Eugenics:

Charles Murray, KIPP, and the Second Coming of Eugenics

by Jim Horn

A similar version of this commentary was published by Substance News earlier today:

The old-school eugenics of the previous century was aimed to eradicate all sorts of unfit and anti-social behavior, from theft to laziness to wandering to sexual deviance. The source of these problems was thought to be a biological defect in the genes, or germ plasm, as that mysteriously-determinative substance was known a hundred years ago.

With the rise of behaviorism and the eventual scientific acceptance of what common sense has always told us about the importance of environment in shaping organisms, genetic determinism finally gave way, even if biology textbook writers continued to imprint the eugenics dogma in school books well into the 1950s. And even as the publication of The Bell Curve in 1994 signaled a final assault by the last eugenicist hold-outs defending the

Chicago: Tell Rahm. “Support our schools. Don’t shut them down.” « Fred Klonsky

Chicago: Tell Rahm. “Support our schools. Don’t shut them down.” « Fred Klonsky:

Chicago: Tell Rahm. “Support our schools. Don’t shut them down.”

by Fred Klonsky

CHARTER SCHOOLS - THE THRILL IS GONE #SOSCHAT #EREFORM

Not All Charter Schools Suck but Closure Rate Tops 15 Percent

Charter Schools Closure Rate Tops 15 Percent:

• Of the approximately 6,700 charter schools that have ever opened across the United States, 1,036 have closed since 1992. There are 500 additional charter schools that have been consolidated back into the district or received a charter but were unable to open.

• There are five primary reasons for charter closures – financial (41.7 percent), mismanagement (24 percent), academic (18.6 percent), district obstacles (6.3 percent) and facilities (4.6 percent).

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS WEBSITE

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

A compilation of news articles about charter schools which have been charged with, or are highly suspected of, tampering with admissions, grades, attendance and testing; misuse of funds and embezzlement; engaging in nepotism and conflicts of interest; engaging in complicated and shady real estate deals; and/or have been engaging in other questionable, unethical, borderline-legal, or illegal activities. This is also a record of charter school instability and other unsavory tidbits.

Couldn't Find Your Own Special Charter School Scandal

Just Type the name of your city or charter school in the box below

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

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CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

Be sure to check out two other Great blogs:

-THE BROAD REPORT (as in Eli) -THE PERIMETER PRIMATE

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Parents in Chicago Occupy their School and win a Stakeholder Meeting | The Classroom Sooth #ows #soschat

Parents in Chicago Occupy their School and win a Stakeholder Meeting | The Classroom Sooth:

Parents in Chicago Occupy their School and win a Stakeholder Meeting

by classroomsooth

Congratulations to the parents of students at Brian Piccolo Elementary School in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago.

I have a feeling we will see more #OccupyOurSchools in our city and across the nation as the fight to reclaim our public schools grows.

While you plan your occupation, please join Parents Across America in national conference call on education reform on Monday Feb 20th. Call in is at 8pm Eastern.

Conference Dial-in Number: (424) 203-8075

Participant Access Code: 1037540#

Adam

Declaration #1 from Piccolo occupation

11:49pm – February 17th, 2012

We, the Piccolo Occupation, are putting our childrens’ education

first. Piccolo has failed because CPS has refused to invest in public

education. The school has struggled for years but you have taken out

all the programs, classes and opportunities to learn. We have had 3