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Saturday, April 21, 2012

Big Education Ape: 4-21-12 PM IT’S ALL ABOUT RUST AT CITY HALL EDition #PINEAPPLEGATE #CTEDREFORM

Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!:
Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!

Published by Coopmike48 – 7 news spotters today

IT’S ALL ABOUT  TRUST AT CITY HALL - Chicago Sun

suntimes.com - MARK BROWN markbrown@suntimes.com April 18, 2012 10:00PM Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks to the press after a city council meeting which voted in favor of the new anti-speeding cameras in Chicago. | Al P...
mikeklonsky

NCLB Outrages (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out)

susanohanian.org - Testing: How to Stop the Reign NOTE: NCLB testing begins tomorrow in New York, when 1.2 million kids begin to take the ELA and math tests in grades 3 - 8. This year the tests contain embedded multi...
DianeRavitch

Wendy Lecker: The real needs in Connecticut classrooms

ctpost.com - In the past few weeks, Connecticut has been inundated with high-priced ads from out-of state lobby groups, op-eds from businessmen, and appearances by the governor, all claiming that there is a "mo...
DianeRavitch

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coopmike48 Transforming Community College System Key to U.S. Competitiveness -- ORLANDO, Fla., April 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- prn.to/IdpVfE3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Report: Community College Attendance Up, But Graduation Rates Remain Low - US News and World Reportbit.ly/IdpW353 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Democurmudgeon: "GOP ideology that in America, it’s every man for himself" bit.ly/IdqfuT57 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

Getting Ready For Daniel Biss

illinoisntu.ning.com - Over at Daniel Biss's website, he talks about his upcoming town hall on pensions.  He wants to focus on two bills that I haven't heard much about, HB 5149 and 6150, which I'll have to research. But...
tbfurman

Education Justice | April 19, 2012 - Pro

educationjustice.org - April 20, 2012 Charter school finance and real estate advisor Illinois Facilities Fund (IFF) issued a report that recommends major disruptions for children and families in 37 public schools in Wash...
DianeRavitch

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Remembering Bernard Rapoport | The Nation

thenation.com - Bernard Rapoport's death at the age of ninety-four has brought to a close one of the storied chapters in the history of American liberalism.Also by the AuthorThe recently-exposed massacre in Hadith...
mikeklonsky

Fethullah Gülen's Official Web Site

en.fgulen.com - Last Updated on Friday, 20 April 2012 20:56 by fgulen.com Friday, 20 April 2012 18:37 An article with the heading “Shadow force grows in Turkey” by Dan Bilefsky and Sebnem Arsu appeared in the Inte...
leoniehaimson

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Murdoch’s Muscle

nytimes.com - When I last saw you, at a White House Correspondents’ Dinner after-party in 2000, you were squiring around a foxy actress named Kathleen York. I have a pretty stiff public appearance, I guess. The ...
mikeklonsky

Bee Gees star Robin Gibb wakes from coma: spokesman

rawstory.com - By Agence France-PresseSaturday, April 21, 2012 16:28 EDT   Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb has woken from a coma and responded to members of his family, his spokesman said Saturday. Gibb, 62, contracte...
coopmike48

PoliticsSee all

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky

preaprez.wordpress.com - I was president of our local for ten years and I hated the last two months of the school year. That is when administrators made decisions That is never a good thing. Yesterday we got a memo from ou...
fklonsky

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Rally Against Nuclear Power at San Onofre on April 29th

obrag.org - Rally Commemorates Chernobyl, TMI, continuing meltdown at Fukushima on Sunday, from Noon to 3pm “Shut Down San Onofre” Momentum builds following Radioactivity Release and Design-Error Shutdown of t...
coopmike48

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Video

nypost.com - State Education Department officials were blind to the feelings of deaf students on this week’s English exams — heartlessly asking them questions about sounds such as the clickety-clack of a woman’...
leoniehaimson

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Illinois Democrat’s plan to blow up the public school system. « Fred Klonsky

Illinois Democrat’s plan to blow up the public school system. « Fred Klonsky:


Illinois Democrat’s plan to blow up the public school system.

by Fred Klonsky
Illinois is a blue state.
We’re not talking about Walker’s Wisconsin or Kasich’s Ohio.
We talking Democrats. Chicago’s Mayor Emanuel. Governor Quinn. Party Chairman and Speaker Madigan. Senate President Cullerton.
Governor Pat Quinn’s pension proposal, which he claims he was “put on this earth” to create, will blow up the state’s public schools just as sure as I’m writing this.
And combined with Madigan’s proposal for a constitutional amendment to prevent improvements in pension benefits and the Cullerton plan to move the pension obligation to local districts, what we have is a looming disaster for public education in Illinois that is truly epic.
Just take Quinn’s proposal to extend the retirement age to 67.
Combined with Senate Bill 7, which ended tenure as we know it, this is a one-two punch that will get rid of senior 
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Wal-Mart: Quite The Model Corporate Citizen | Edwize

Wal-Mart: Quite The Model Corporate Citizen | Edwize:


Wal-Mart: Quite The Model Corporate Citizen

by Leo Casey
I

n a major expose, the New York Times has revealed a trail of corruption, bribery and cover-up at the highest levels of Wal-Mart, a leading corporate funder of anti-union and anti-public education projects and initiatives.
The list of 2011 grantees of the Walton Family Foundation, the Wal-Mart’s corporate foundation, reads like a veritable who’s who of corporate education reform efforts. Among the more prominent beneficiaries of Wal-Mart money are:
  • Michelle Rhee’s and Joel Klein’s StudentFirst
  • Eva Moskowitz’s Success Charter Network
  • Education Reform Now, the not for profit arm of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER)
  • The New Teacher Project
  • Teach for America
  • The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the state charter school organizations in California, 
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COMMENT WOW: Charter schools a dividing issue in Sacramento County OR Thank You Gloria you Charter Queen

Charter schools a dividing issue in Sacramento County education board races - Elections - The Sacramento Bee:




In response to questions regarding the financial viability of Fortune (and Kevin Johnson's St. Hope), Greg Geeting sent me a 'study' of African American performance differentials in Sacramento and the state that had been the basis for the SCOE board's majority decision to fund Fortune, which wasn't a 'study' at all, but rather a mere fifteen or so page series of bars and graphs with little or no analysis, substantive or otherwise, some of which weren't even related to the issue of African American performance, but concluding that her services were needed...  
This 'study' was utterly irrelevant....In reality there was no rationale for the board's decision to fund Fortune, but merely the will to establish her very willing nonunion unqualified fraud of a school to divert resources from PUBLIC to PRIVATE schools...
Of course NONE of what was sent to me bore ANY relationship to Fortune's (or St. Hope's) financial viability....
The REASONS this issue is important is not only for the sustainability of the schools, but also for the SCOE's fiduciary obligations to education in the County, in order to avoid catastrophe's like St. Hope's nearly $5 million dollar accrued debt, to date, and climbing, with no plan for liquidation, to date...  Another reason why this is important is to gauge whether an organization is entering this field merely to actually provide a service or to feather their own nests...  Given Fortune's ABYSMAL financial history -- their revenues had been in FREEFALL for the past FIVE YEARS RUNNING for her EXISTING school -- it was suspected that she was merely lining her own wallet through this entre into the elementary charter school effort, making up some specious 'study' to rationalize her efforts...The board was provided references to financial statements for BOTH organizations, which they failed to address -- I would speculate because they did not understand how to read an IRS 990 FORM... which clearly state the economic detriment incurred by BOTH organizations...NONE of the board members confronted this issue with EITHER Fortune OR St. Hope... IN BREACH OF THIS FIDUCIARY DUTY....
...and the SCOE board majority that voted FOR granting Fortune this contract did so in this breach....
We later learned that at least one, or more, board members also served on FORTUNE'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS WHILE serving on the SCOE... which is a prosecutable offense for which these board members should be held accountable....
I hope those elected will reconsider this contract's vote for it is a disgrace to the conduct of civil business...  I'm glad to see the CTA stepping up to fight this , and I hope those candidates who will END  this CORPORATE WELFARE to FORTUNE and ST. HOPE will prevail at election.....
KEEP PUBLIC SCHOOLS PUBLIC!!!
DUMP CHARTERS!!!



Proudly Sponsored by



Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/21/4431235/charter-schools-a-dividing-issue.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy
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Action for the Week of April 22nd, 2012: Blast the Media with THIS STORY | United Opt Out National

Action for the Week of April 22nd, 2012: Blast the Media with THIS STORY | United Opt Out National:


Action for the Week of April 22nd, 2012: Blast the Media with THIS STORY




Here at United Opt Out National we focus on opting out of corporate education reform.  One way to “opt out” is to refuse the state test.  By refusing to take the state test we deny them the data they need to profit and punish. This is no ordinary test, this is a high stakes test which is not used as a diagnostic tool to support real learning – rather, it hampers and destroys learning by creating a narrow curriculum and consequently a daily test prep environment void of fine arts, P.E., developmentally appropriate play, recess, libraries, necessary resources and more. They feed our children tests and deny them real learning and real teaching.
This past week has been an especially harsh week for some parents who are attempting to protect their children from high stakes testing.  You see, as the stakes increase, educators will bully parents in order to get the data – principals and teachers know that without the data they may lose their jobs or their schools may be shut down – they work in an environment filled with fear. Corporate 
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CM Barron Blast’s Co-location Proposals at Council Hearing [Video] « New York City Parents Union

CM Barron Blast’s Co-location Proposals at Council Hearing [Video] « New York City Parents Union:


CM Barron Blast’s Co-location Proposals at Council Hearing [Video]


The issue of co-locating charter and public schools in the same building is a contentious one, and at an education hearing discussing the topic yesterday afternoon, the first two Council Members to speak thoroughly attacked the proposals in their districts.
“Co-location has been nothing but chaos,” East New York Councilman Charles Barron declared while criticizing the poor graduation rate among black and Latino students. “If you go into some of the schools in our district, you will see that the battles around co-location are taking away from serious educational approaches to our children.”
He concluded his speech by saying, “I just want overall to say in my last five seconds, you’ve been a dismal failure no matter how much you want to come here with this kind of nonsense. Failure. Failure.”  Click here to read more.
Watch the video below.
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How Democrats Are Abandoning the Most Vulnerable in Our Public Schools | Scathing Purple Musings

How Democrats Are Abandoning the Most Vulnerable in Our Public Schools | Scathing Purple Musings:


How Democrats Are Abandoning the Most Vulnerable in Our Public Schools

by Bob Sikes
One wonders what late Senator Ted Kennedy would make of the current school reform movement. The senate icon, who is widely seen as the father and champion of special education in the nation’s public schools, died in 2009 before folks like Michelle Rhee and the rich guys of Democrats for Education Reform took to the national stage. Kennedy’s co-sponsorship in 1975 of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) shifted the way that the nation’s disabled and disadvantaged children were treated in public schools across the nation. In no way, shape or form is IDEA flawless, but the spirit and cost of the new policies which emerged still are accepted by the American sense of compassion.
Sadly, today’s education reform movement is in many ways ignoring these most vulnerable children. High stakes testing, charter school expansion and tax credit voucher schemes advance as though these kids do not exist. Democrats have long assumed - and in many cases justifiably – to be the protectors of these children.  Lets examine why this is no longer the case.
No better place to start in any discussion of education policy involves the most polarizing figure in former DC school chancellor turned super-lobbyist, Michelle Rhee. And no more effective take on Rhee exists than in this recent observation by the nation’s most influential champion of public schools in Diane Ravitch.
I am trying to understand Michelle Rhee. She has allied herself with the most right-wing governors 
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Parents Across America members meet with USDE, saying: “Listen to parents, change your policy direction.” | Seattle Education

Parents Across America members meet with USDE, saying: “Listen to parents, change your policy direction.” | Seattle Education:


Parents Across America members meet with USDE, saying: “Listen to parents, change your policy direction.”

Posted on April 21, 2012 by  | Leave a comment
Press Release:
WASHINGTON, D. C. – Several members of Parents Across America (PAA), a national network of activist parents, participated in a Parent Leaders meeting today hosted by the U. S. Department of Education’s Office of Communications and Outreach. Attending the USDE meeting were PAA members from New York City, Chicago, Florida, New Orleans, Arizona and Austin TX.
Frustration over the way parent voices are ignored in education policy debates led the parents to form PAA just over a year ago. Since then, they have published position papers and op-eds, and fought hard and won against proposed “parent trigger” legislation, school budget cuts, and privatization in many states across the nation. They have met with scores of Congressional 
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Missouri Education Watchdog: Why do we Need a State Board of Education in Missouri?

Missouri Education Watchdog: Why do we Need a State Board of Education in Missouri?:


Why do we Need a State Board of Education in Missouri?

by stlgretchen

DESE and the State Board of Education is being led around the nose by the Federal Government again.  Why do we need a State Board of Education or DESE when all the decisions are being made by the Department of Education?   As practically all educational decisions are being made by Arne Duncan, let's reduce the state employees on the state level and take our orders directly for educational direction from Washington, DC.  We have no state autonomy, but hey, DOEd can establish its national policies for teacher effectiveness ratings, thereby taking away the pesky responsibilities of state employees to make 
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ILLINOIS GOVERNOR REVEALS PENSION REFORM PLAN « Teachers Fight Back

ILLINOIS GOVERNOR REVEALS PENSION REFORM PLAN « Teachers Fight Back:


ILLINOIS GOVERNOR REVEALS PENSION REFORM PLAN

by alkleen
I won’t go into details about the “Reform Plan”, I’m sure you have heard and read about it in the news. I doubt it will be acted upon by the legislature until after the November election. The legislators don’t have the intestinal fortitude to consider anything until the election is over.
I do want to comment on the message that it sends to the teachers of Illinois. I believe the reform sends the following message:
1. When the governor says that education is the number one priority in Illinois, he doesn’t include the teachers in that. Education is the most important, teachers are not.
2. We are heading back to the days when college education majors and beginning teachers knew they were entering a profession where pay and benefits will never be on a par with the private sector jobs.
3. Teachers had a nice little run of several years where they were beginning to feel appreciated because their 
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Saturday coffee + Old school. « Fred Klonsky

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky:


Saturday coffee.

by Fred Klonsky
PopoutI was president of our local for ten years and I hated the last two months of the school year.
That is when administrators made decisions
That is never a good thing.
Yesterday we got a memo from our Type 75 (who will not be back next year). She hasn’t done the required fire


Old school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGgafB0RmE8&feature=related

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Cory Booker on Newark creating 'village' for teachers: 'This is how we reinvent a great American city' - NorthJersey.com

Cory Booker on Newark creating 'village' for teachers: 'This is how we reinvent a great American city' - NorthJersey.com:

SATURDAY APRIL 21, 2012, 12:06 PM


Cory Booker on Newark creating 'village' for teachers: 'This is how we reinvent a great American city'

ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE RECORD
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NEWARK — They are two of the most persistent challenges in trying to rebuild long-struggling cities like Newark: improving the schools and growing a middle class.
Here, officials are hoping that a novel concept — reserving sleek new apartments designed by a world-famous architect for teachers — can help on both fronts.
"This is how we reinvent and rebuild a great American city," Mayor Cory Booker declared when ground was broken for Teachers Village, a downtown development of eight buildings planned to have 200 apartments for teachers, three charter schools, a day care center and stores. It's being designed by 
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President Obama Calls on Congress to Prevent Student Loan Interest Rates from Doubling | ED.gov Blog

President Obama Calls on Congress to Prevent Student Loan Interest Rates from Doubling | ED.gov Blog:


President Obama Calls on Congress to Prevent Student Loan Interest Rates from Doubling

by Cameron Brenchley
“In America, higher education cannot be a luxury,” President Obama said in his weekly address. “It’s an economic imperative that every family must be able to afford.” At a time when higher education has never been more important, the President is calling on Congress to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling for more than 7.4 million students this summer. Without action, the average borrower will see an average of $1,000 to their debt.
Watch the address:
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