Monday, March 19, 2012

Action Alert: Get the charter school clause out of the state budget | Seattle Education: Action Alert: Get the charter school clause out of the state budgetbyseattleducation2011Senator Tom with his Republican buddies presented a budget last Thursday which included the K-12 funding that had been agreed to previously but a clause regarding charter schools had been added. It was yet another attempt at an end run around the democratic process, something that Senator Tom and others around the country have ... more »

Affordable Care Act Tweetup Features Rep. Keith Ellison and Dr. George Askew of HHS

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Home | First Focus: Affordable Care Act Tweetup Features Rep. Keith Ellison and Dr. George Askew of HHSWednesday, March 21st, 2:00-3:00pm Eastern Time. Hashtag: #InvestInKidsRep. Keith EllisonDr. George AskewWe're excited to partner withMomsRising.orgto host a Twitter "Tweetup" on the big wins for kids in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We're especially excited to be joined by two special guests: U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Dr. George Askew, Senior Health Policy Advisor at the federal Administration for Children and Families. ... more »

Less Sympathy, More Empathy :: Frederick M. Hess

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Less Sympathy, More Empathy :: Frederick M. Hess: Less Sympathy, More Empathyby Frederick M. Hess • Mar 19, 2012 at 9:24 amCross-posted fromEducation WeekPrintSendRSSShareEducators and "reformers" have a knack for sympathy. They feel for the kids, decry achievement gaps, and remind us that we need to do better. Champions of reform are intent on building cultures that "put kids first" and that remind everyone "it's about the kids." As one impassioned twenty-something district official told me, "We're doing the right ... more »

Go Rudy! Beat Jonah! « Fred Klonsky

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Go Rudy! Beat Jonah! « Fred Klonsky: Go Rudy! Beat Jonah!byFred KlonskyRudy Lozano Jr.In the race for the 21st Illinois House District the names may say Rudy Lozano and Sylvano Tabares.Don’t believe it.The race is really between Rudy and Jonah Edelman and tens of thousands of dollars from Edelman’s Stand for Children.Rudy Lozano Jr. is a long-time progressive political activist from the southwest side. He is the son of assassinated community organizer, Rudy Lozano Sr. (Disclosure: I have known Rudy ... more »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES: WEEKEND QUOTABLESbyMike KlonskyJoshua Lott for The New York TimesMatt de la Peña’s novel has been banned at Tucson High for containing “critical race theory.”John Huppenthal, AZ state supt.“When we encountered this situation, we did what Hannibal did to the Romans. This is the eternal battle, the eternal battle of all time, the forces of collectivism against the forces of individuality.”--

Shanker Blog » Learning From Teach For America

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Shanker Blog » Learning From Teach For America: Learning From Teach For AmericabyMatthew Di CarloThere is a small but growing body of evidence about the (usually test-based) effectiveness of teachers from Teach for America (TFA), an extremely selective program that trains and places new teachers in mostly higher needs schools and districts. Rather than review this literature paper-by-paper, which has already been done by others(seehereandhere), I’ll just give you the super-short summary of the higher-quality analyses, and quickly discuss what ... more »

Why Some Parents Resent the Success Charter Schools – SchoolBook

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Why Some Parents Resent the Success Charter Schools – SchoolBook: Why Some Parents Resent the Success Charter SchoolsMarch 19, 2012, 8:24 a.m.ByMARY ANN GIORDANOThe controversy in Brooklyn over the impending arrival of Success Academy charter schools made it onto theOpEd page of The New York Timesthis weekend, when Lucinda Rosenfeld explained just what is making so many middle-class parents so angry.In an opinion article, Ms. Rosenfeld, a writer and the parent of a kindergarten pupil atP.S. 261 Philip Livingstonin Boerum ... more »

Diane Ravitch: Another Battle in the War Against Public Schools - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

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Another Battle in the War Against Public Schools - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com: Another Battle in the War Against Public SchoolsDiane Ravitchis a historian of education at New York University.UPDATEDMARCH 18, 2012, 7:00 PMThe “parent trigger” must be understood within the current context of vilifying public education. Today, there is a national effort to privatize public schools by turning them over to privately managed charters. This movement is financed by some of the nation’s richest foundations -- theBill and ... more »

Teach for America’s new partnership with largest for-profit charter network - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

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Teach for America’s new partnership with largest for-profit charter network - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post: Teach for America’s new partnership with largest for-profit charter networkbyValerie StraussTeach for Americaloves to expand its reach, and so it has again, this timepartnering withthe controversial Imagine schools, the nation’s largest for-profit charter school network.That’s an interesting pairing.Imagine is based in Arlington, Virginia, with some 75 schools in more than a dozen states, including Maryland, and the District of Columbia. The for-profit ... more »

Diane Ravitch: In Defense of Facing Reality

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Diane Ravitch: In Defense of Facing Reality: Diane RavitchHistorian, NYU professorGET UPDATES FROM DIANE RAVITCHLike73In Defense of Facing RealityPosted: 03/18/2012 9:24 pmI recently wrote two review articles for theNew York Review of Booksabout the teaching profession. The first wasa review of Pasi Sahlberg'sFinnish Lessons, about the exceptional school system of Finland, which owes much to the high professionalism of its teachers.The second of the two articles was areview of Wendy Kopp'sA Chance to Make History, and it focused on her ... more »

Roy Orbison - In Dreams

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A candy-colored clown they call the sandmanTiptoes to my room every nightJust to sprinkle stardust and to whisper"Go to sleep. Everything is all right."I close my eyes, Then I drift awayInto the magic night. I softly sayA silent prayerLike dreamers do.Then I fall asleep to dream My dreams of you.In dreams I walk with you. In dreams I talk to you.In dreams you're mine. All of the time we're togetherIn dreams, In dreams.But just before the dawn, I awake and ... more »

A Sunday evening watch: Diane Ravitch on Public Education, Privatization and Professionalization | Seattle Education

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A Sunday evening watch: Diane Ravitch on Public Education, Privatization and Professionalization | Seattle Education: A Sunday evening watch: Diane Ravitch on Public Education, Privatization and ProfessionalizationfromSeattle Education 2010byseattleducation2011This presentation by Diane Ravitch was given in San Francisco on January 20th of this year and sponsored by the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers. It includes a question and answer period.This is the description that was provided regarding her talk:She provides an overview of the corpora...more »

Civic Engagement | Inside Higher Ed

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Civic Engagement | Inside Higher Ed: Civic EngagementbyHerman BerlinerBlog:Provost ProseWe have a very active and respected Center for Civic Engagement on our campus. The Center has undertaken many worthwhile initiatives including the development of “a brief workshop for students who will be working with off campus communities.” This workshop, which is slightly over an hour in length, examines how students feel about working with off-campus communities and how these communities feel about working with students. The attitudes stressed to the ... more »

Early Learning: Changing The Rules of Engagement « Cooperative Catalyst

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Early Learning: Changing The Rules of Engagement « Cooperative Catalyst: Early Learning: Changing The Rules of EngagementbyStephen HurleyThis is a cross-post of a piece that I submitted to the newly-established websitevoicEd.ca. Inspired by the work that the Cooperative Catalyst has been doing, and dismayed by the polarization that sometimes characterizes online conversations about education, we had the idea thatthe time might be right for a collaborative working space dedicated to schooling in Canada. Please know just how much your efforts ... more »

Real World Business Advice Applied to Education « InterACT

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Real World Business Advice Applied to Education « InterACT: Real World Business Advice Applied to EducationbyDavid B. CohenTeachers, how many times have we heard that we don’t work “in the real world”? We finish work at 3:00 p.m. every day, we have summers off, and schools are not results-oriented like businesses. Never mind that we take our work home with us (average teacher works 53 hours per week), or that we work on the weekends and in the summer, or ... more »

School Tech Connect: Reflections on Not Teaching

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School Tech Connect: Reflections on Not Teaching: Reflections on Not Teachingbynoreply@blogger.com (Tim)I have been out of the classroom now for a few years. I taught English 7th, 8th, and 9th grade English for 23 years.For me, going into a regular line of work has given me my life back. As an English teacher, I graded and planned every evening and most of every Sunday during the school year. There were also the after-school meetings, the committees, the curriculum mapping, the ...more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Lastest Gates Foundation Research Asked the Teachers

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Seattle Schools Community Forum: Lastest Gates Foundation Research Asked the Teachers: Lastest Gates Foundation Research Asked the TeachersbyMelissa WestbrookA new Gates Foundationreport(with Scholastic) has just come out calledPrimary Sources: 2012 - America's Teachers on the Teaching Profession.They surveyed about 10,000 teachers via e-mail and in person about schools, their classrooms, student and teacher performance and assessment, tenure, family involvement, job satisfaction and digital content. It was not revealed to the teachers who was sponsoring the survey.One chart that ju... more »

Callahan: 'Double-speak' on charter schools | Online Athens

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Callahan: 'Double-speak' on charter schools | Online Athens: Callahan: 'Double-speak' on charter schools‘Double-speak’ on charter schoolsA couple of passages in a Wednesday Banner-Herald column by Tony Roberts, CEO of the Georgia Charter Schools Association, headlined “No private charter schools in Georgia,” need a closer look.Last summer, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional the authorization of charter schools by a state charter school commission. Also ruled unconstitutional was the funneling of local taxpayer education dollars to charters that had not ... more »

“Testing Fan” Mitt Romney Serves Up Anti-Teacher Union Red Meat on FOX News Sunday | Scathing Purple Musings

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“Testing Fan” Mitt Romney Serves Up Anti-Teacher Union Red Meat on FOX News Sunday | Scathing Purple Musings: “Testing Fan” Mitt Romney Serves Up Anti-Teacher Union Red Meat on FOX News SundaybyBob SikesJames Kitfield writing in theNational Journaltakes this snippetfrom Mitt Romney’s interview with Bret Baier:Romney reiterated his support for the testing requirements in the 2001 “No Child Left Behind Act,” but promised as president to push back against a federal teachers’ union that has too much power and often ... more »

Who needs a WAIVER:The Myth of Parent Rights under NCLB

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Parent Rights under NCLB: What Parents Need to Know AboutSchool District PolicyNo Child Left Behind is the new education plan that was signed into law by President Bush in January of 2002. It’s designed to improve student achievement and help schools do a better job of teaching. The law includes a number of important opportunities for parents to be involved with the schools. This Tip Sheet, from the Kansas Parent Information Resource Center (KPIRC), is designed to help parents understand ... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ethics Ruling

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ethics Ruling:

Ethics Ruling

by Charlie Mas

I filed an Ethics complaint against Director DeBell for his participation in the discussion of the MOU with the Alliance for Education despite the fact that he sits on the Alliance board.

The District's Ethics Officer, Mr. Wayne Barnett, dismissed the complaint because Mr. DeBell's service on the board of the Alliance is ex officio. That is, he isn't there as himself but as the president of the school board and therefore there is no conflict of interest because in both capacities his duty of loyalty is to the District. Mr. Barnett also cited analogous decisions by the federal Department of Justice. This is, it would appear, well-traveled ground in the Ethics business and it has been determined that situations like this are not conflicts of interest. In short, exceptions are made when the person's ties to the other institution is a direct consequence of their work for the District. Case closed.

I am grateful to Mr. Barnett for a prompt, detailed, and clear explanation. I understood everything Mr. Barnett wrote and I agreed with the rationale completely. I still don't like it. While the rules may have been followed, the situation is clearly dirty.

The Alliance for Education is not just a fundraising group. They are an advocacy group. Their advocacy efforts

On Privatization and Brutalizing Campuses – The New Inquiry #ows #ucdavis

On Privatization and Brutalizing Campuses – The New Inquiry:

On Privatization and Brutalizing Campuses

By AARON BADY

(By Gina Patnaik and Aaron Bady, both graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley)

Last November, a few days after videos of riot police beating Berkeley student protestors were blowing up on youtube, an article in the New York Times announced that UC-Berkeley’s Chancellor Robert Birgeneau had been travelling to establish a satellite campus within the intimate confines of Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park. Because Birgeneau had been in Asia during the entirety of the week leading up to and following the events of that day, he had had very little to say about what was happening on his campus, with the exception of two extremely tin-eared and downright offensive emails. We knew he was out of town while campus police were brutalizing their campus, but that’s all we knew.

(photo via OccupyCal)

In retrospect, though, the chancellor’s junket is the perfect coincidence: he couldn’t have had anything to do with police violence against anti-privatization protesters because he was quite literally too busy advancing plans to privatize the

Justice for Trayvon Martin

SignOn.org Beta - Justice for Trayvon Martin:

Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed while walking home from a convenience store on the evening of February 26. The shooter, George Zimmerman, was the neighborhood watch captain. Zimmerman, a 200-pound 28-year-old with a history of violence, claimed self defense, even though Trayvon Martin had no criminal history and nothing more than candy and an iced tea in his hands.

It's a deep injustice that George Zimmerman remains free. That's why I created a petition on SignOn.org to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, which says:

George Zimmerman's shooting of Trayvon Martin, an African American teenager, reveals a history of racism in Sanford, Florida, that has stubbornly refused to die. Weeks after the shooting, the Sanford police department is slow to release details of the shooting and, more surprisingly, has not arrested George Zimmerman, a man who has a history of violence.

We urge you to sign this petition to protect private citizens from gun violence and inept law enforcement. Florida's Attorney General Pam Bondi must step in and provide justice for Trayvon Martin, his family, and the community.

Will you sign the petition? Click here to add your name, and then pass it along to your friends:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=272971&id=37516-18176922-fodprex&t=2

Thanks!

Americas Promise Alliance - Building a Grad Nation Summit to be Held March 18-21 in Washington, DC

Americas Promise Alliance - Building a Grad Nation Summit to be Held March 18-21 in Washington, DC:

Building a Grad Nation Summit to be Held March 18-21 in Washington, DC

Colin and Alma Powell, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, George Lucas and Michelle Rhee To Attend

WHAT :

America’s Promise Alliance, Alliance for Excellent Education, Civic Enterprises and the Everyone Graduates Centerwill host the 2012 Building a Grad Nation Summit. The annual event brings together nearly 1,000 leaders in education, politics, business, media, nonprofit and research from across the country to discuss progress and challenges in ending the high school dropout crisis. This year’s Summit will include the release of new national and state data on graduation rates, as well as appearances by General Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, StudentsFirst Founder and former DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and filmmaker and education activist George Lucas among many others.

Highlights from the Summit will include:

· March 18: Youth Leaders Pre-Summit Conference

· March 19: Release of the 2012 Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic report. The highly anticipated annual report will provide a national update on the number of “dropout factory” high schools and latest U.S. graduation rate figures. Remarks by National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling and Secretary Arne Duncan. Secretary Duncan will also lead a panel discussion on school improvement grants. AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson will make a special announcement. Michelle Rhee and other education reform leaders will discuss innovation

· March 20: Business leaders and educators discuss how they can work together to improve education outcomes for youth. Panel will include Larry Merlo of CVS and Alberto Carvalho, Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Schools, among many others. Latest research on the economic impact of the dropout crisis. Closing remarks from renowned filmmaker and education activist George Lucas and America’s Promise Founding Chairman General Colin Powell

Attendees will participate in sessions on a variety of topics including: college readiness, access and affordability, role of technology in student learning, school transformation and early childhood education, as well as a larger session focused on America’s changing demographics and the impact that will have on the education landscape.

The opening and luncheon plenary sessions on March 19 and 20 will be webcast live. To view any webcast or find a copy of the full summit agenda please visit: www.americaspromise.org/summit

WHO (CONFIRMED SPEAKERS INCLUDE) :

· Colin and Alma Powell, Founding Chairman and Board Chair, America’s Promise Alliance

· Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education

· George Lucas, Filmmaker & Chairman, the George Lucas Educational Foundation

· Gene Sperling, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy & Director, National Economic Council

· Michelle Rhee, Founder and CEO, StudentsFirst

· Jose Antonio Tijerino, President and CEO, Hispanic Heritage Foundation

DATE, LOCATION AND RSVP INFORMATION :

March 18-21, 2011—Marriott Wardman Park Hotel — 2660 Woodley Place, NW — Washington, DC

Credentialed news media are invited to attend and cover the Summit. To RSVP, please contact: Colleen Wilber atcolleenw@americaspromise.org or 202-657-0647.

Schools Report: Failing To Prepare Students Hurts National Security, Prosperity

Schools Report: Failing To Prepare Students Hurts National Security, Prosperity:

Schools Report: Failing To Prepare Students Hurts National Security, Prosperity

by Joy Resmovits

Thirty years ago, a Reagan administration report warned of "a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people." The report, "A Nation at Risk," tied that mediocrity to the alleged failure of America's schools.

Fast forward to 2012, and the story hasn't changed, former New York City schools chief Joel Klein and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote in a report provided to The Huffington Post slated to be released Tuesday. "The sad fact is that the rising tide of mediocrity is not something that belongs in history books," said the report produced by a Council on Foreign Relations task force they co-chaired.

The report, called the U.S. Education Reform and National Security report, argues for treating education as a national-security issue, noting that deficiencies in areas like foreign languages hold back America's capacity to produce soldiers, diplomats and spies. It calls for increased standards, accountability and school choice --

CSU to close door on spring 2013 enrollment | Davis Enterprise

CSU to close door on spring 2013 enrollment | Davis Enterprise:

CSU to close door on spring 2013 enrollment

by San Francisco Chronicle

By Nanette Asimov
LONG BEACH — With a few exceptions, California State University will not accept students for the spring semester of 2013, and will reduce its overall enrollment for next year by 25,000, officials said Monday.
In addition, all students applying for fall admission in the 2012-13 academic year will be wait-listed until the outcome of the November election is known.
The uncertainty of the voter response to a tax increase measure on the November ballot forced the university to cut its budget now, said Robert Turnage, CSU’s budget czar. The measure’s failure would result in a probable $200 million cut to CSU, he said.
With fall tuition rising to $7,017, Turnage said the decision was made to cut spring enrollment. “It’s pretty clear that enthusiasm for fee increases is pretty much not there,” he said.
Instead, CSU will cancel spring 2013 enrollment. That will close the door on about 16,000 students who typically

Jersey Jazzman: Where My Head Explodes

Jersey Jazzman: Where My Head Explodes:

Where My Head Explodes

by Duke

Someone please save us from education "experts" like Laura Waters:

Over the past few months, the Christie Administration has intensified its focus on New Jersey's failure to provide educational equity. While our wealthier kids score top marks on assessments of national achievement, many poor students attend schools where most kids don't meet basic levels of proficiency in reading and math. In some of our neediest schools over 40 percent of third graders can't read at grade level.

This disparity in achievement is old news, inflated by our rampant home-rule ethic, which segregates schoolchildren into 590 economically disparate school districts, and by New Jersey's relatively high test scores, which statistically compound achievement gaps.

But here's what's new: New Jersey seems poised to formally acknowledge this bifurcation of our K-12 public education system by forging ahead with a reform-oriented agenda

Parent Revolution Continues its Campaign of Deception to Advance Parent Trigger Legislation | Scathing Purple Musings

Parent Revolution Continues its Campaign of Deception to Advance Parent Trigger Legislation | Scathing Purple Musings:

Parent Revolution Continues its Campaign of Deception to Advance Parent Trigger Legislation

by Bob Sikes

The New York Times “Room for Debate” series offers a productive glimpse at the national debate over parent trigger legislation. Among five opinions was that of Parent Revolution executive director, Ben Austin, who writes:

Those seeking to understand parent triggers need look no farther than the parents at Desert Trails Elementary in Adelanto, Calif., who are actually using the law in real time. Parents there have spent nine months organizing 70 percent of the parents at their systematically failing school.

Austin’s 70 percent number is misleading. Reports the Los Angeles Times:

Shortly after the announcement, the school board voted 5 to 0 to accept Supt. Darin Brawley’s recommendation to reject the petition. Brawley reported that the district could verify only 235 signatures of 466 submitted; among the signatures thrown out were 97 from parents who

More Real World Business Advice « InterACT

More Real World Business Advice « InterACT:

More Real World Business Advice

by David B. Cohen

Dan Pink, addressing the NBPTS Conference in July, 2011 (photo by the author)

As faulty as business-to-school comparisons can be, there are some guiding principles that can apply in both realms, especially if we set aside the serious differences in mission and resources, and focus on interpersonal dynamics in complex organizations. Authors like Dan Pink (left), Bob Sutton, and Samuel Culbertson offer insights that are not drawn specifically from schools, but speak to the motivations and goals of educators. Inyesterday’s blog post, I mentioned that the Sunday Business Section in the New York Times (3/18/12) had a couple of articles that had useful applications to education, and that it would be nice if business-minded education reformers would actually apply this kind of thinking to policies they advocate in schools. I went on to discuss a business consulting service that helps executives work more effectively with employees by paying attention to personal styles and habits.
As promised, today’s post features Exhibit B from yesterday’s New York Times Business Section: “Can’t Admit To Failure? Don’t Apply” – an interview with Tracy Matura, General Manager of the Smart car unit at Mercedes-Benz USA. Surely the automobile business is a “real world” workplace, populated by executives who are data-driven, results-oriented, objective and concrete. And yet, Matura’s lessons in leadership and management