Ed Notes Online: On Make-Up Days: Dear Mr. Mulgrew

Ed Notes Online: On Make-Up Days: Dear Mr. Mulgrew:

On Make-Up Days: Dear Mr. Mulgrew

by ed notes online

The strong letter below touches on numerous issues. After the 68 strike they made up days from x-mas vacation and paid doubletime plus extending the day by 45 minutes until all time was made up. I and a friend already had xmas plans so we didn't work those days and we lost that doubletime pay.Dear Mr. Mulgrew:

I was somewhat dismayed by your letter stating we must make up days in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. I'm a little shocked the union would conclude this without having even consulted rank and file.

This, however, is not at all my only concern. First of all, there has been very public talk of relaxing the minimum attendance requirement statewide. We certainly ought to be open to that, and examine our options before simply agreeing to Chancellor Walcott's very public pronouncements. As you pointed out in your letter, we have worked up to 196 days a year and there was never extra compensation for our efforts.

My primary concern is for my members, many of whom, like me, have not been able to stay in their homes for over two weeks. We have not, in fact, spent our time off watching Oprah and eating popcorn. Most of my time 

Henderson aims to avoid mistakes of Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee school closings - The Washington Post

Henderson aims to avoid mistakes of Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee school closings - The Washington Post:

Henderson aims to avoid mistakes of Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee school closings

Katherine Frey/THE WASHINGTON POST - D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson speaks before the D.C. Council and the public about her reasons for proposing to close 20 schools. The public hearing at the Wilson Building on Thursday, November 15, 2012 in Washington, D.C. was the first of several hearings. The second is Monday, November 19, 2012.

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By Emma Brown, Sunday, November 18, 2:00 PM

D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson faces twin challenges as she prepares for thesecond public hearing Monday on her plan to close 20 of the city’s schools: Persuading skeptical parents and politicians that a smaller school system will be stronger, and that she will avoid mistakes her predecessor made during the most recent round of closures.

Then-Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s closure of 23 schools in 2008 cost millions of dollars more than anticipated, according to the city auditor. And the decisions might have led to the exodus of thousands of students from the school system, according to three think tanks that

Jersey Jazzman: Merit Pay: Thoroughly Tested, Thoroughly Failed

Jersey Jazzman: Merit Pay: Thoroughly Tested, Thoroughly Failed:

Merit Pay: Thoroughly Tested, Thoroughly Failed

by Duke

To some people, like the Star-Ledger's Tom Moran, facts are stupid things:

A few thoughts on the comments: No one can be sure that this will work, becausemerit pay has only been tried in a few places, and in different ways. It is pioneering stuff, so by its nature, there is not a long track record. But it sure makes intuitive sense, and is in place in almost every other profession, including journalism. So why not try it with teaching? [emphasis mine]

In fact, merit pay has a very long track record, dating back to 1862:

So try this. The drive to link teacher pay to high stakes tests as advocated by Michelle Rhee, Jeb Bush and their ilk and castigated in so many of Diane’s blogs resembles nothing so closely as the system introduced in England in 1862 – yes, 1862 – for making the level of grants to elementary schools conditional on children’s performance in literacy and numeracy tests. 

What was this eerily familiar system called? Payment by Results, or ‘prizes for success in teaching the rudiments’. What were its consequences? The great Matthew Arnold – poet, 

newteacher: On the Rise of Pearson (oh, and following the money)

newteacher: On the Rise of Pearson (oh, and following the money):

On the Rise of Pearson (oh, and following the money)

A long post that is worth a read here on the rise and influence of Pearson and corporate influence in education reform.  Take pause, friends.  Take pause but feel free to share and post comments here.  Thoughts?

The Pearson Monopoly Jennifer Job, UNC Chapel Hill

If you haven’t heard of Pearson, perhaps you have heard of one of the publishers they own, like Adobe, Scott Foresman, Penguin, Longman, Wharton, Harcourt, Puffin, Prentice Hall, or Allyn & Bacon (among others).  If you haven’t heard of Pearson, perhaps you have heard of one of their tests, like the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Stanford Achievement Test, the Millar Analogy Test, or the G.E.D. Or their data systems, like PowerSchool and SASI. [1]

 In a little over a decade, Pearson has practically taken over education as we know it.  Currently, it is the largest educational assessment company in the U.S. Twenty-five states use them as their only source of large-scale testing, and they give and mark over a billion multiple choice
tests every year.[2]  They are one of the largest suppliers of textbooks, especially as they look to acquire Random House this year.  Their British imprint EdExcel is the largest examination board in the UK to be held in non-government 

All Things Education: A project-based loving billionaire with no education expertise is still a billionaire with no education expertise.

All Things Education: A project-based loving billionaire with no education expertise is still a billionaire with no education expertise.:

A project-based loving billionaire with no education expertise is still a billionaire with no education expertise.

from All Things Education by Rachel Levy

Another billionaire is out to reform education. George Lucas has sold Lucasfilm to Disney for $4 billion in cash and stock and plans to spend most of his fortune on education. Lucas is already involved in education with an educational foundation that includes the website Edutopia.

Lucas's announcement has led to calls for him to take a different, more enlightened and humane road than the standardized test-based approach to education championed by Bill Gates, the Waltons, and Eli Broad. And rightly so. It has also led to some public hand-wringing from edu-thinkers who feel that Edutopia's approach to education is too nebulous and sparky but bland and will accomplish a bunch of "visionary" nothing.

Look, when people like George Lucas say things like:

"It's scary to think of our education system as little better than an assembly line with producing diplomas as its only goal."

I brace myself for the descent into pseudo-scientific, new-age hokiness. The school-as-factory metaphor doesn't 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools Week of Nov. 19-23

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools Week of Nov. 19-23:

Seattle Schools Week of Nov. 19-23

by Melissa Westbrook

A short week due to the Thanksgiving holiday.   No school for elementary and K-8 students for Parent-Teacher conferences (really? three whole days).

Enrollment Services close at noon on Wednesday and one-hour early dismissal on Wednesday for all students.  

Community meeting with Director Patu on Saturday the 24th from 10 am to noon at Caffe Vita, 5028 Wilson Avenue S.

I missed this but the district received in October- via the UW Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity - a new Upward Bound Math-Science grant from the DOE.

The five-year, $1.25 million grant is designed to help low-income and first-generation students succeed in high school and pursue post-secondary degrees, especially in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

UBMS will serve 65 students at Seattle’s Chief Sealth, Cleveland and Franklin high schools and is a sister program to OMA&D’s existing Upward Bound program that assists nearly 80 students at the same schools. Over two-thirds of the students at these schools qualify for free or reduced lunch, almost a quarter higher than the rest of the city and state.

UBMS will include a six-week Summer Academy on the UW campus that simulates college and provides an integrated curriculum. A college-level STEM lecture course will be taught by UW faculty and supported by quiz 

D.C. vouchers: What you need to know:

D.C. vouchers: What you need to know

Posted by Valerie Strauss on November 18, 2012 at 1:52 pm

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Here are some things you should know about the D.C. school voucher program that House Majority leader John Boehner took on as a personal mission to save. According to this important investigation by my colleagues Lyndsey Layton and Emma Brown:

  * Hundreds of  D.C. student who receive money from the congressionally created program attend unattended schools, including one school whose curriculum is based on a Bulgarian psychotherapist’s philosophy and one Nation of Islam school.

* Though public dollars are used to pay for the tuition at these private schools, public officials have no say in what or how these institutions’ students are taught. The story says:“The director of the nonprofit organization that manages the D.C. vouchers on behalf of the federal government calls quality control ‘a blind spot.’ ”

* More than 90 percent of students at some of these schools receive tuition money from the 

Teachers laugh: Visit each fun page of what we and our fellow teachers laugh about each day

Home Page:

Teachers laugh: Visit each fun page of what we and our fellow teachers laugh about each day as we yak, vent, gab, rant, jaw, schmooze, philosophize and share.

Updated daily with a little help from you, my humorous friends.

Today's Focus Funny:

* Current Issues: Virtual education or corporate scam? Even the New York Times knows the truth.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/opinion/virtually-educated.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Back to humor:Please share your ideas with us for any page or category.
Everyone needs a good laugh. Share this site with your friends and colleagues. Visit Teachers Laugh on Facebook for more teacher issues. Have fun!
- Ken Burla

"I've searched all the parks in all the cities and found no statues to committees."
- G. K. Chesterton (contributed by mickeyorlando)

 

Response: Celebrating our Students' Good Writing - Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo - Education Week Teacher

Response: Celebrating our Students' Good Writing - Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo - Education Week Teacher:

Response: Celebrating our Students' Good Writing

By Larry Ferlazzo on November 18, 2012 1:01 PM

(Note: This is the first post in a multi-part series on teaching writing)

Katie Ciresi asked:

What advice can you give to help teachers be more effective in helping students become better writers?

This series is a companion to last year's five posts on Helping Our Students Become Better Readers.

I'm "kicking off" with guest responses from three educators: Mary Tedrow, Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey. Look for many more in the coming three weeks.

Response From Mary Tedrow

Mary Tedrow, NBCT, has taught high school English for 24 years in Winchester, VA. She is a charter member of the Teacher Leaders Network and a Co-Director of the Northern Virginia 

A Wedding and Some Free Advice | Mr. Teachbad

A Wedding and Some Free Advice | Mr. Teachbad:

A Wedding and Some Free Advice

We went to a wed­ding yes­ter­day. It was two friends I used to teach with. They met at the school where we worked and found love in a hope­less place.

My wife and I don’t go to many wed­dings any­more. There was a long period where we went to four or five wed­dings every year. That grad­u­ally tapered off and faded into the cur­rent era of sec­ond wed­dings and bar mitzvas.

This was that rare first wed­ding of two good friends. Nothin’ bet­ter than that. Unless, of course, it doesn’t work out. Then it can be truly hor­ri­ble. But these two love each other and, maybe just as impor­tant, they really like each other. It’s a good thing to see.

There were about 20 for­mer and cur­rent teach­ers there who we had worked with. It was great to see peo­ple and find out what they were doing. I was reminded again that there are great places to teach. A lot of my for­mer col­leagues are really happy with the schools they’ve moved to. I’m bummed I never found a school like that.

All and all I think I’m glad to be out, but I know that teach­ing doesn’t have to be the way it was in the poo-hole school where we all taught. I think I could have been happy teach­ing for a long time in the right place. As it turns out I lasted 

Jersey Jazzman: Tom Moran LOVES My Writing!

Jersey Jazzman: Tom Moran LOVES My Writing!:

Tom Moran LOVES My Writing!

by Duke

Jersey Jazzman, 11/14/12:

So why cheat in a game you already know you're going to win? Nothing's been proved yet; keep watching.

Tom Moran, Star-Ledger Op-Ed Editor, 11/18/12:

If you are winning a game fair and square, why would you cheat to run up the score?

I'm flattered, Tom. Take as many metaphors as you want...

(Come one, relax; I'm just kidding. Sort of...)

What are we both talking about? The revelation that Robert Treat Academy, long the darling of the charter cheerleaders in New Jersey, has been caught up in a cheating scandal:

The state Department of Education’s year-long investigation into testing irregularities in a handful of public schools in 2010 and 2011 has leveled serious accusations against two 

Diane in the Evening 11-18-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

NYC School Policy: Churn, Churn, Churn

by dianerav

Juan Gonzalez of the New York Daily News doesn’t usually write about education, but when he does, he hits it out of the park.
In this article, he interviews parents who can’t understand why their neighborhood school is being closed–again. It was closed and renamed in 2008, now it will be closed and renamed again.
The mayor wants to close 36 schools this year. After a full decade of mayoral control, with no one to say no to whatever the mayor wanted, there is another crop of failing schools. And next year there will be more and the year after that one. Despite all the reforms, failure never ends.
Mayor Bloomberg likes to close neighborhood schools. He likes putting kids on buses or in the subway to attend 

Are Teachers Unions Bad for Education?

by dianerav

After several consecutive years of hearing that teachers’ unions are terrible, teachers’ unions are an obstacle to reform, teachers’ unions are greedy, it’s easy to cringe when the subject of unions comes up. I personally have gotten over that. I have come to realize that the war on unions is part of the larger war on public education. The unions are the strongest political ally for the public schools, which are the workplaces of their members, and they need make no apology to the far-right that wants to reduce all working people to atomized individuals, lacking representation.
Bruce Baker decided to explore the recent attacks on teachers’ unions after reading a comment in The 

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-18-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] About That Bipartisan Consensus to Privatize Public Education by dianerav If ever evidence was needed about the bizarre mind meld between the Obama administration and the far-right of the Republican party, here it is. Secretary Arne Duncan is giving the keynote to Jeb Bush’s Excellence in Education summit in Washington, D.C. on November 28. Another keynote will be delivered to the same gathering of the leaders of the privatization movement by John Podesta of the Center for American Progress, who headed the... more »

Diane in the Evening 11-17-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: EduShyster Finds the Biggest Turkey Idea of School Reform by dianerav EduShyster has done it again. Imagine a conference on the freshest, boldest education idea of ever. Who would you want to hear from? Of LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-17-12 Diane Ravitch's blog coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] If Baseball Were Like Race to the Top by dianerav I recently posted a hilarious item that asked what would happen if basketball leagues were run in accordance with the rules of N... more »

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-17-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] If Baseball Were Like Race to the Top by dianerav I recently posted a hilarious item that asked what would happen if basketball leagues were run in accordance with the rules of No Child Left Behind. John Thompson asks what would Major League Baseball look like if it were conducted in accordance with the requirements of Race to the Top and the School Improvement Grants. Why this sudden interest in sports analogies? My guess is that education policy has become so insane that he Does Segregation Improve T... more »

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitc...

A City Education: A Post-Sandy Day of Service in Staten Island | Education on GOOD

A City Education: A Post-Sandy Day of Service in Staten Island | Education on GOOD:

A City Education: A Post-Sandy Day of Service in Staten Island

In our A City Education series, City Year corps members share their experiences working as tutors and mentors in schools in hopes of closing the opportunity gap and ending the dropout crisis.
"Why I serve" statements are an important aspect of City Year culture. At the beginning of the school year, corps members are asked to provide statements explaining why we choose to dedicate a year of service in schools. My teammates and I all come from different backgrounds, and we all have different goals for our future. But what binds us together is our desire to help the students, teachers, and families in the school and community in which we serve, and our decision to use this time in our lives to work towards the betterment of New York City. That has never been more true than in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
As you've seen in the news, thousands of New Yorkers were devastated by Sandy—their homes and neighborhoods were destroyed by the storm. Staten Island was one of the hardest hit boroughs, and when New 

Democurmudgeon: Walker's "Red State" push opposite Presidential Election Results. Education Big Target Again.

Democurmudgeon: Walker's "Red State" push opposite Presidential Election Results. Education Big Target Again.:

Walker's "Red State" push opposite Presidential Election Results. Education Big Target Again.

by Democurmudgeon

With a super majority in the state legislature, any talk of bipartisanship or compromise is ridiculous and frustrating for me to watch.

Democratic talk has centered on cooperation and "reaching across the aisle." This is what I've seen in every media interview so far, and I’m hoping that at some time we stop giving Republicans the benefit of the doubt. It makes them look good and Democrats look even weaker.

What we have in "common" is a sidebar to their real ideological agenda, and Democratic legislators are embarrassing themselves with happy talk of cooperation. Stop it,  please.

The most recent signal we’re going of the ideological cliff comes from comments made by Gov. Walker in California, who listed actions he wants to take, actions no liberal in their right mind would support. His announcement came even before he’s talked to his own party’s leaders.

State Rep. Robin Vos, the next Assembly speaker, said … he has yet to talk to Walker personally about his legislative proposals … “hopefully, we can also work to bring Democrats who 

Teachers Don't Suck !: My First Time!

Teachers Don't Suck !: My First Time!:

My First Time!

by Walt S.

I read about the Newark teacher's settlement today in the Ledger.

One of the statements made was "implementing a system known as merit pay for the first time in New Jersey".

 I beg to differ!

Way back in 1965 when I first began teaching I worked at New Providence High School in Union County as a chemistry teacher.

At that time there was a "merit pay" system in place. I was not part of it because it