Jeb Bush Sides With Charter Schools Over Choice in California | Scathing Purple Musings

Jeb Bush Sides With Charter Schools Over Choice in California | Scathing Purple Musings:

Jeb Bush Sides With Charter Schools Over Choice in California

by Bob Sikes

From Penny Arevalo in Mission Viejo Patch:

“During my tenure as Governor of Florida, I saw firsthand the important role charter schools play in comprehensive education reform by helping to raise the bar for all public schools. Charter schools have a long history of providing parents with a choice and offering unique learning experiences for students of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.”
The petition in Carlsbad was rejected, according to the North County Times, because “trustees said they had concerns after hearing that projections for enrollment and for teacher interest in the school had been exaggerated.” The paper added, “Staff members also said they could confirm only 53 parents who said they would enroll in the school, while Oxford claimed 681 local parents had signed the petition.”

Sounding ominously like beginning of last year’s Adelanto fight, Bush’s decision to sign a petition as an outsider 

BSU-led charter schools troubled | Palladium-Item | pal-item.com

BSU-led charter schools troubled | Palladium-Item | pal-item.com:

BSU-led charter schools troubled

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Chief Academic Officer Kevin L. Handley Sr. talks about Galileo Charter School on Aug. 9, 2011. / Joshua Smith / Palladium-Item file photo

Written by

Scott Elliott

The Indianapolis Star

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Indiana has some of the best performing charter schools in the country, a report from a Stanford University announced last week.

But Hoosier charters could be much better, the study also said, if not for one barrier: Ball State University, sponsor of more than half of Indiana’s 66 charter schools, hasn’t done a good job of overseeing them.

Ball State’s approval of — and tolerance for — low-performing charter schools erases many of the gains other charters are making across the state and depresses the overall averages, said Stanford’s Macke Raymond, one of the study’s authors.

“Indiana has seen a tremendous amount of effort to create a strong and vibrant charter sector,” she said. “They’re not helping. The responsibility is pretty clearly on the authorizer.”

Stanford isn’t the only observer troubled by Ball State’s charters.

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers, a trade group for charter school sponsors, just issued a report that 

Richmond charter school

The Office of Charter Schools at Ball State University currently is evaluating renewal of the charter for the Kenneth A. Christmon STEMM Academy, formerly Galileo Charter School. The process includes consideration of the Richmond school’s academic achievement, attendance and financial solvency since it opened in 2005. Evaluation is expected to conclude in March. Ball State could renew the charter for up to five years or close the school.

In its October ranking of schools with grades from A-F, the Indiana Department of Education gave the STEMM Academy an F. The previous year, it had earned an A.

“Do we need to get better? Yes. Improvement is a start,” Chief Academic Officer Kevin Handley told the P-I before the school year began, noting its most important goal is getting students to proficiency.

A teacher’s advice to the Legislature in 2013 | EdSource Today

A teacher’s advice to the Legislature in 2013 | EdSource Today:

A teacher’s advice to the Legislature in 2013

December 20th, 2012 | Add a Comment | 
By David B. Cohen

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David B. Cohen

Looking ahead to the next legislative session, it appears likely we’ll have a replay of some of the education policy debates of 2012. Here are my recommendations for how the Legislature might avoid pitfalls and advance positive changes in education policy next year.

First, do no harm. In the name of accountability, some legislators will be tempted to make laws that increase pressure on schools and teachers. We all want better results from the public school system, but “get-tough” measures dropped on an already overstressed system and workforce won’t get us there. Over a period of years when communities, families and students have experienced greater need for support, we’ve dramatically decreased the capacity of schools to serve these needs. This is not the time to rally around an adversarial approach to school improvement or teaching quality.

Focus evaluations on professional development. Teacher evaluations have become a 

Online MBA Students May Face Challenges With Degree Reputation - US News and World Report

Online MBA Students May Face Challenges With Degree Reputation - US News and World Report:

Online MBA Students May Face Challenges With Degree Reputation

Online graduates of reputable b-schools should downplay the online component, a recruiter says.

By MENACHEM WECKER

December 24, 2012 RSS Feed Print

However flexible online MBA programs are for students, employers have not yet bought into them fully.

When they promote their online MBAprograms, business schools that offer online executive education invariably refer to the flexibility those programs afford to students, who don't need to show up in a particular classroom at a specific time. Although MBA graduates may need to don suits when they later work in the C-suite, they can study in their pajamas if they go to b-school online, or more easily juggle an online MBA program with a full-time job.

But schools need to grapple with another aspect of online MBA programs' reputations—the notion that executive education 

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-24-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

This Is What Courage Means

by dianerav

Earlier today I posted about four teachers in Louisiana who started a recall campaign against Governor Bobby Jindal and the Speaker of the Louisiana House. The odds against them were overwhelming. They had no organization, no money, and no political experience. They didn’t collect enough signatures to get on the ballot. They confronted a powerful political machine. They filed their reports late and were

Kudos for Superintendent Joshua Starr

by dianerav

Joshua Starr is superintendent of the Montgomery County public schools. He has stepped forward as an outspoken critic of standardized testing. He is emerging as a national voice against the national obsession with testing, ranking and rating students, teachers and schools. He has a different agenda: education. He recently was criticized for failing to follow the lead of ex-superintendents Rhee, Klein and Brizard, none of whom has a 

Andere: Who Wins Nobel Prizes?

by dianerav

Eduardo Andere is one of Mexico’s leading education researchers. Here, he comments on a post by Stephen Krashen about the PISA results.
Well, maybe Mr. Krashen is right! The analysis below may help to buttress many people’s view why American education isn’t so bad after all:
The education of Nobel Prize winners
By Eduardo Andere M .
The 2012 Nobel Prize edition is over. Most Nobel awards throughout history have been assigned to people of a 

Lessons from Finland

by dianerav

If you want to know why Finnish schools are so admired, consider the following:
Finnish schools do not have standardized testing until college entry. Admission to teacher education is highly selective. Teaching is a prestigious career. Child poverty is very low. Finnish schools emphasize the arts, physical activity, and a broad curriculum.
If you can’t visit Finland, read Pasi Sahlberg’s book Finnish Lessons, which is now

Four Courageous Teachers in Louisiana

by dianerav

Last spring, four teachers in Calcasieu Parish in Louisiana decided “enough is enough” when Governor Bobby Jindal rushed through his legislation targeting teachers and attacking public education. They decided they would launch a campaign to recall Jindal and House Speaker Chuck Kleckley. None had ever been politically active before.
You have to understand that Bobby Jindal–at this moment in time–owns Louisiana politics, lock, stock, and barrel. The teachers’ campaign was akin to a petition drive against the emperor of Rome.
Their campaign didn’t get very far. They didn’t have an organization or money, and they didn’t collect enough 

How Test Errors Prevented Students from Graduating

by dianerav

A post on the NYC Parents Blog tells the sad story of a middle-school student who was not allowed to graduate with her class because she had supposedly failed the ELA exam. She was an honor student, and it made no sense, but the NYC Department of Education was adamant. The tests don’t lie, do they?
When her class walked across the stage to pick up their diplomas, she was not among them. She felt awful.
Except the tests were wrong. She had not failed the test. There was a mistake. She did pass the test. So many weeks after the graduation, she was able to report to the school and pick up her diploma, like picking up a letter, 

Diane in the Evening 12-23-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 4 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: In Defense of Tracking by dianerav When Marc Epstein, who was a history teacher at Jamaica High School in New York City (now closed to make way for small schools), read Carol Burris’s post opposing differentiated diplomas and tracking, he wrote to express his disagreement. I invited him to write a post, and he said he had already written it. It is here. What do you think? Ms. Katie Has the Last Word on the Meaning of the Twitter Kerfuffle by dianerav Katie Osgood teaches children in a psychiatric hospital in Chicago. She is one of our most eloquent blogge... more »

The Quick and the Ed » The Biggest Story of 2012 May Also Be the Most Overhyped

The Quick and the Ed » The Biggest Story of 2012 May Also Be the Most Overhyped:

The Biggest Story of 2012 May Also Be the Most Overhyped

by Kris Amundson

This is the time of year when bloggers and reporters (some of whom, in the interest of full disclosure, are planning to take some time off for the holidays) produce a series of Year in Review stories. We asked our staff and our K20 Task Force members to share their thoughts on the biggest education news story of 2012. We also asked them for the most over-hyped education story of the year.
The answer, perhaps surprisingly, was the same. Online learning in higher education, and the way it has been covered by the news media, is both the most significant story of the year . . . and also the one that has been trivialized by shallow reporting.
As K20 Task Force member Tom Dawson noted, “2012 will be remembered as the year that the traditional academy got over its phobia of online education.”
Ben Wildavsky, also a member of our K20 Task Force, highlighted “the sheer number of students who signed up: 

Election 2012: The True Impact on Oakland Schools « Classroom Struggle

Election 2012: The True Impact on Oakland Schools « Classroom Struggle:

Election 2012: The True Impact on Oakland Schools

by ClassroomStruggle

Here is a new article by two Oakland educators that explores the recent local and national elections as it relates to public education.  It touches on everything from Proposition 30, to Race to the Top, to GO Public Schools (an Oakland non-profit) which had an enormous impact on the recent Oakland School Board elections.  We hope it sparks conversation and look forward to your comments.

Election 2012: The True Impact on Oakland Schools

By Margarita Monteverde and Felicia Vivanco

Introduction

Over the weeks and months leading up to the November 6 elections, electoral politics dominated the conversation in the news, social media and discussion; a unique moment in a culture normally preoccupied 

Students Last: Have You Heard The One About....

Students Last: Have You Heard The One About....:

Have You Heard The One About....

by Students Last

...the woman who enrolled her child in a new school?  After the principal welcomed them to the learning community, the mother made a request, "It is very important to me that my child have a first year teacher."

The principal responded with a nod, "We have several first year teachers on staff."

The woman continued, "And can you guarantee that my child will get the teacher who has received the least amount of preparation for the job?"

"Um, two of our new teachers only attended five weeks of training this summer," the confused principal replied.

"Wonderful," the woman answered. "And of those two teachers, would you please ensure that my child gets the 

The Innovative Educator: School Today....What they don't tell you. (Written by a teacher)

The Innovative Educator: School Today....What they don't tell you. (Written by a teacher):

School Today....What they don't tell you. (Written by a teacher)

by noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen)

Guest post by Ed J. Komperda, III | Originally posted and shared with hundreds on Facebook

"What did you do in school today?" "Nothing."
Ah….the generic response of children when confronted upon their parents arrival home from work. No need to press the issue. As a 15-year veteran public school teacher, I'll share the 411 from an insider's perspective -- with a well-deserved angle of candidness and transparency for parents and tax payers.

Your child is becoming highly proficient with filling in little circles on bubble sheets and is acquiring a wealth of knowledge on the questioning and structure of standardized tests.
Gym class now requires sitting. Due to new federal and state educational mandates, students are required to trade their gym clothes for pencils and paper while attending physical education class on a number of days during the school year.

Today's students are test-taking gurus, a direct result of being instructed via a curriculum driven by high-stakes standardized testing. A 4th grader in New York, for instance, will spend around five weeks in which they'll be subjected to some form of standardized assessments. This figure does not account for

Advanced studies program's expansion could mean high school for east Sacramento - Education - The Sacramento Bee

Advanced studies program's expansion could mean high school for east Sacramento - Education - The Sacramento Bee:

Advanced studies program's expansion could mean high school for east Sacramento

By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com

Published: Monday, Dec. 24, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1B

For years, the notion of bringing a high school to east Sacramento has been steeped in political posturing and bitterness. When recommendations were made, fierce opposition arose.

However, some say a parent-led effort may finally put to rest several issues that have dogged the school district, including what to do with the underenrolled Kit Carson Middle School.

The Sacramento City Unified School District is moving forward with plans to bring the International Baccalaureate program to Kit Carson and Caleb Greenwood, a K-8 school in River Park.

The hope is to create a kindergarten-through-12th-grade IB track, where students would attend Caleb Greenwood for elementary school before completing middle school and high school at Kit Carson.

"I am completely excited about it," said Mimi Lewis, the mother of two students at Caleb

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/12/24/5073897/advanced-studies-programs-expansion.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy

Misreading the Right to Bear Arms | Alternet

Misreading the Right to Bear Arms | Alternet:

Misreading the Right to Bear Arms

Confronting gun ownership is an argument about violence -- not about autonomy and freedom.

December 24, 2012  |  

 

Photo Credit: Cheryl Casey | Shutterstock.com

 

Fundamentalism is often associated with religion, specifically when literal interpretations of religious texts drive dogma.

Religious fundamentalism exposes how commitments to the material thing can often create behaviors that contradict the larger principles. Consider how interpreting the scripturally-based truism "spare the rod, spoil the child" (Proverbs 13:24) as license for physically spanking or beating children stands in stark contrast to the recurring messages from Jesus about non-violence and the sanctity of children, and all living creatures in powerless circumstances.

Fundamentalism fails because it honors objects over principles. Such is also the case in political fundamentalism, specifically when a gun fetish trumps commitments to liberty and freedom.

Americans, for example, are a gun-loving people who have committed to the right 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky

Maps show charter schools are on average several blocks closer to elementary schools that Chicago Public Schools considers under capacity

CPS Liar-In-Chief Becky Carroll

“What you’re seeing is just by looking at the location of these charters, more are located in areas that are underutilized than over capacity, but they are not the main driver of underutilization.” --Sun-Times:  Union sees problem with charters being closer to under-capacity schools  

Times of Trenton Editorial

To fully appreciate the conditions at Trenton Central High School requires watching for showering plaster from the peeling ceilings, sidestepping warped floor tiles, and sniffing the musty odor of 

Survivor Says Principal, Others Saved Her in U.S. School Rampage - NYTimes.com

Survivor Says Principal, Others Saved Her in U.S. School Rampage - NYTimes.com:

Survivor Says Principal, Others Saved Her in U.S. School Rampage

By REUTERS

Published: December 23, 2012 at 10:07 PM ET

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NEWTOWN, Connecticut (Reuters) - A survivor of the elementary school massacre in Connecticut that killed 26 people said on Sunday the principal and two staff members had saved her and others' lives by warning that a gunman was in the building.

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Becky Virgalla, a reading consultant at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, said she was in a meeting with Principal Dawn Hochsprung, school psychologist Mary Sherlach and other colleagues when the shooter broke into the building on December 14.

Hochsprung, Sherlach and lead teacher Natalie Hammond "went out in the hall to check out the noise that we didn't know that was gunshots at first," Virgalla told Reuters Television at a memorial where the names of the victims were written on wooden angels.

"The three of them were shot and they yelled back 'shooter, stay put.' And they saved my life and the life of four others who were at that meeting," she said.

On the Economics and thus the Politics of Guns : blue cheddar

On the Economics and thus the Politics of Guns : blue cheddar:

On the Economics and thus the Politics of Guns

by Featured Wisconsin Blogger

This is a guest post by Grant Petty. Unlike cars, TV sets, washing machines, and cell phones, guns rarely wear out, break, get lost or become obsolete. A typical handgun can easily fire tens of thousands of rounds with no decline in usability or lethality. The vast majority of privately held guns, owned for self-protection, hunting, or occasional target practice never even come close to this kind of usage. Guns are thus one of those rarest of beasts: a non-perishable, non-consumable commodity. It follows that the vast majority of guns manufactured in at least the past 30 years or so are still in circulation and in working order, waiting patiently in someone’s drawer, cabinet, glove compartment, or jacket pocket to be pulled out and either used or passed on to someone else. In any manufacturing business, non-perishability of the product you sell poses a huge problem. In particular, if you want to stay profitable as a manufacturer and seller of new guns in a nearly saturated market, you basically have two possible strategies: 1) seduce existing gun owners into buying ever more guns and, especially, fancier and more expensive guns; 2) try to convince current non-owners that they just aren’t more »