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Saturday, May 25, 2013

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:









A preliminary taste: #optout #refusal map based on survey data

by Chalk Face, PhD

Click below to view the map. This includes only the first 250 respondents because the tool requires payment for more data points. Good job Long Island, good job.

View UOO DATA MAP in a full screen map


Very glad to see @chrislhayes inviting Karen Lewis onto his show #inners

by Chalk Face, PhD
Here’s a link to the video. Now, catch her again on At the Chalk Face, this Sunday, at 6PM EST, for the rest of the story.

@rweingarten fantastic at one key thing: triangulation #AFT

by Chalk Face, PhD
It’s something I could never do: talk out of multiple sides of my mouth. I try not to have it many ways, but one, the way I know and feel is right. Granted, we all do things that run counter or contrary to that of our employers. We seek a balance. Many of us do […]

No More KINGS!

MAY 25, 2013 BY  1 COMMENT
Over the last few weeks, my first graders have watched this Schoolhouse Rock video at least a dozen times. They would excitedly request a viewing nearly every day.
Why did they like it so much? Honestly, they LOVED the part where the colonist sticks his tongue out at the King! Of course they did-they are first graders!
Each day as I watched along with them, I thought of those that would destroy public schools with their bundles of money that have been stolen from the very children they pretend to be helping. I thought of the irony associated with the title and the name of NY’s Commissioner of Education who has decided that he will NOT listen to the people. I thought of the revolution that has grown among the parents in NYS.
This is dedicated to everyone out there fighting the fight to save public education!
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Top 9 Secret Confessions of a Teacher | Mr. Teachbad

Top 9 Secret Confessions of a Teacher | Mr. Teachbad:

Top 9 Secret Confessions of a Teacher

by teachbad

Not so much secret as they are depressing!”


9. Sometimes during my planning period I lock the door and sleep on a table in the corner of my room.
8. I know it makes me sound like a dick, but I truly believe I am much smarter than all of my bosses.
7. I believe there is no way that changing how we teach is going to change the culture of poor city neighborhoods.
6. If I was doing my job with any integrity, I would be giving a lot more Fs.
5. It is shocking how uniformly bad my bosses are at personnel management and how poorly they treat people.
4. I drink to deaden the pain of reading 
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Happy 70th birthday to my brother Mike Klonsky. | Fred Klonsky

Happy 70th birthday to my brother Mike Klonsky. | Fred Klonsky:

Happy 70th birthday to my brother Mike Klonsky.

by Fred Klonsky
mike

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Webinar: The Parent Trigger from California to Florida | Parents Across America ← NPE News Briefs

Webinar: The Parent Trigger from California to Florida | Parents Across America ← NPE News Briefs:




The Network for Public Education Newsletter – Vol. 1. Issue #9

by NPE News Briefs

Greetings!
Welcome to the ninth edition of our newsletter. We bring you news of a victory in Los Angeles, and new candidate we are supporting in New Jersey.  We have an exciting webinar coming up, and something new for our activist Toolkit — a great place to find ideas for how you can get organized and make a difference.
Remember to follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, and catch up on all the latest news at NPE Newsbriefs!
First story: Our First Endorsee, Teacher Monica Ratliff, Beats the Billionaires in Los Angeles!

Also see:

Click here for the archive of past newsletters via NPE Newletter Archive

Webinar: The Parent Trigger from California to Florida | Parents Across America

by NPE News Briefs

The Parent Trigger from California to Florida
 – Sunday, May 26, 2013 from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM Pacific Time –
 We will be hearing from Lori Yuan, a parent in Adelanto who fought the Parent Trigger at her school, and Parents Across America Founding Member Rita Solnet who, along with other organizations, defeated the Parent Trigger bill in the Florida State Senate on March 9, 2013.
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NPE Endorsement: Marie Corfield for New Jersey State Assembly – Election June 4th. | The Network For Public Education

NPE Endorsement: Marie Corfield for New Jersey State Assembly – Election June 4th. | The Network For Public Education:

NPE Endorsement: Marie Corfield for New Jersey State Assembly – Election June 4th.

by admin
Endorsee #2, Teacher Marie Corfield, Ready to Shake Things Up in New Jersey!

corfieldThe Network for Public Education has endorsed another candidate. Marie Corfield is running for the state assembly, in an election that will take place on June 4th.
Marie became an art teacher in 2001, and has taught at Robert Hunter Elementary School in Flemington since 2004. She Vice President-elect of the Flemington-Raritan Education Association and is also the legislative chairperson.
NPE colored pencils straight revised:Layout 1
After challenging Governor Chris Christie at a Flemington town hall meeting in 2010 about his derisive rhetoric about public education and teachers, the governor posted the video on his You Tube channel where it went viral.
The students of New Jersey need legislators who understand what they need – and it is not more tests and budget cuts to the classroom. Our endorsement means that we strongly believe Marie is a candidate worthy of our support. If everyone who reads this sent her $10, she would have a very sizable boost to her campaign. Her campaign website is here.
Please go here to the ActBlue website and make a donation.
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Friday, May 24, 2013

Lucy and Ethel at PS 154 in the Bronx.southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com:

Lucy and Ethel at PS 154 in the Bronx

by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher)
"This shit can't be made up"-Maimonides AD 1167 

We can't believe what is happening at PS 154. Lucy and Ethel have completely ruined the possibility of any education, any order, and any discipline. Worse, and I can't believe this is true, Lucy is the least of the problem. It is all Ethel.

As discussed many times on these pages the discipline, specifically the out of control 5th grade, is not just lacking, but non-existent. It is time that Ethel is held responsible for this.

One main reason for the out of control nature of the 5th grade students is that they know that once they are in anyway disciplined or admonished by any other teacher that the usual refrain from these  students is
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UPDATE: Parent trigger leader alleges organizers promised parents pay - San Bernardino County Sun

Parent trigger leader alleges organizers promised parents pay - San Bernardino County Sun:

Parent trigger leader alleges organizers promised parents pay



Posted:   05/24/2013 05:13:33 PM PDT



ADELANTO -- One of the High Desert parents who used a state law to wrest control of their failing elementary school away from school district hands is alleging that the group that helped organize the effort offered to pay parents to promote the "parent trigger" movement nationwide."According to the financial bylaws, there was supposed to be no financial gain" for working with the Desert Trails Parent Union, recruitment coordinator Joe Morales said Thursday.
The father of two children, including a fifth-grader at Desert Trails Elementary School, he helped lead the effort for local parents to use California's parent trigger laws, which allows parents who gather sufficient signatures to wrest control of their school away from officials and, in this case, turn it over to a Hesperia charter school operator at the end of this school year.
The trouble began last fall, he said, when "Won't Back Down," a film telling a fictional story of a parent trigger effort, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis, was being released. Parent Revolution, the non-profit that helped get California's parent trigger law passed in 2010, and which has helped organize all the parent trigger attempts in the state to date, helped promote the movie and the parent trigger concept in the national media.
"When 'Won't Back Down' came out, (Parent Revolution) claimed they had a group of nine people who would go


Read more:http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_23317024/parent-trigger-leader-alleges-organizers-promised-parents-pay#ixzz2UGNnvwBY
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Hart, Weingarten, and Polling About Common Core | deutsch29

Hart, Weingarten, and Polling About Common Core | deutsch29:

Hart, Weingarten, and Polling About Common Core

by deutsch29


In March/April 2013, Hart Associates conducted a poll of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) members regarding opinions about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  A finding publicized by AFT President Randi Weingarten is that “75% of AFT teachers polled support CCSS.”  I took issue with both the finding itself and the manner in which the finding was reported. One of my criticisms regarded the small sample size: only 800 AFT members were polled.
Both Weingarten and Hart Research Associates responded to my post.  Both insist that the sample was of adequate size and “representative of AFT members.”
Nevertheless, if Hart’s and AFT’s goal was to truly discern whether or not teachers support CCSS, their sampling misses the mark.  I would like to detail my position in this post.
Opinion polling is a tricky business. Care needs to be taken in obtaining a representative sample. Gallup is an established name in opinion polls, and one of the standards used by Gallup is the stratified random sample. A 
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San Jose Teachers’ Contract Offers Leadership Pathways | InterACT

San Jose Teachers’ Contract Offers Leadership Pathways | InterACT:

San Jose Teachers’ Contract Offers Leadership Pathways

by David B. Cohen

Promoting Quality Teaching: New Approaches To Compensation and Career Pathways
Promoting Quality Teaching: 
New Approaches To Compensation and Career Pathways

Note: in November 2012, Accomplished California Teachers (ACT) released the policy report “Promoting Quality Teaching: New Approaches to Compensation and Career Pathways.”  The following post is the second in a series of profiles showing how California teacher leaders are beginning to develop and follow diversified career pathways.  California teachers, and our peers around the nation, are looking for opportunities to innovate and lead in our field, but without having to leave the classroom.  Our argument is that educational leadership will improve the more its carried out by those still in the classroom, and that students will benefit from having more accomplished educators remaining the in classroom rather than taking on entirely non-teaching positions.
This addition to the California Teacher Leader Profiles series of blog posts summarizes a promising development from San Jose, CA, as reported by John Fensterwald in EdSource Today:
Breaking new ground in California, San Jose Unified has adopted an innovative teacher evaluation process that gives teachers a role in reviewing their peers and greatly revises the current – and some say outmoded – method of measuring teacher success.
The new system would deny automatic raises to unsatisfactory performers and give evaluators the option of adding another year to the probationary period for new teachers – a provision at odds with the state teachers union. Bucking a national trend, the new system will not use standardized test scores as a direct 
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Jersey Jazzman: NJ Ed Commissioner Cerf is Literally In Charge of Dog S#!^

Jersey Jazzman: NJ Ed Commissioner Cerf is Literally In Charge of Dog S#!^:

NJ Ed Commissioner Cerf is Literally In Charge of Dog S#!^

by Duke


Folks, there are days when I just can't believe what I have to report:
The state education commissioner has overturned the termination of Haddon Township High School’s athletic director, who in May 2012 was caught on camera placing dog feces on his ex-wife’s car in the school parking lot. 
Just months before, Alan Carr also lied to school administrators about secretly putting an upsetting newspaper article in his ex-wife’s mailbox, records show.
Carr and his ex-wife, also a teacher at the high school, had divorced shortly before the actions occurred.
An administrative law judge initially ruled in April to revoke Carr’s tenure, saying “his ability to serve as a proper example for students has been severely compromised.” The district school board had contended Carr’s behavior violated its anti-bullying policy and warranted dismissal from his tenured 
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Data Center: 2012 Base API school scores and rankings - Inside Bay Area

Data Center: 2012 Base API school scores and rankings - Inside Bay Area:



Data Center: 2012 Base API school scores and rankings

Danny Willis, Oakland Tribune
Posted:   05/24/2013 01:42:19 PM PDT
Updated:   05/24/2013 02:31:42 PM PDT


Created with Caspio
 DistrictSchool2012 Base APIRankSimilar Schools Rank
 Santa Clara UnifiedMillikin Elementary9981010
 Cupertino UnionWilliam Faria Elementary9981010
 Cupertino UnionMurdock-Portal Elementary9971010
 Fremont UnifiedMission San Jose Elementary9961010
 Palo Alto UnifiedHerbert Hoover Elementary9951010
 Santa Clara County Office of EducationBullis Charter9941010
 Fremont UnifiedJohn Gomes Elementary9901010
 Redwood City ElementaryNorth Star Academy9901010
 San Francisco UnifiedChin (John Yehall) Elementary9891010
 Hillsborough City ElementaryNorth Hillsborough9891010
 Mountain View WhismanIndependent Study Program98810 
 Cupertino UnionNelson S. Dilworth Elementary9881010
 Evergreen ElementaryTom Matsumoto Elementary9881010
 Fremont UnifiedJames Leitch Elementary9871010
 Cupertino UnionJoaquin Miller Middle9871010
 Cupertino UnionGarden Gate Elementary986109
 Fremont UnifiedWilliam Hopkins Junior High9861010
 Cupertino UnionJohn F. Kennedy Middle9851010
 Cupertino UnionL. P. Collins Elementary985109
 Orinda Union ElementarySleepy Hollow Elementary9841010
 Los Altos ElementaryOak Avenue Elementary983109
 Cupertino UnionSam H. Lawson Middle9831010
 Castro Valley UnifiedJensen Ranch Elementary982109
 Los Altos ElementaryArdis G. Egan Junior High9811010
 Los Altos ElementaryCovington Elementary981109
Show per page   
 Page    of 397 NextLast
 
Records 1-25 of 9905
Created with Caspio
Database by Daniel J. Willis

State school API rankings show middle school can be tough, but some excel

By Sharon Noguchi snoguchi@mercurynews.com
Posted:   05/24/2013 11:06:39 AM PDT
Updated:   05/24/2013 04:06:25 PM PDT


Middle school -- where the minds of newly minted teenagers are suddenly hijacked by hormones and stop-and-start growth -- is a challenging level to teach.
And yet at Milpitas Unified's two middle schools defy the trend and have propelled its seventh- and eighth-graders to the top when compared with schools of similar diversity.
As California's Academic Performance Index scores released Friday indicate, even districts with high-scoring elementary schools falter in grades 6, 7 and 8. And while some high-performing schools in the South Bay and Peninsula excel on middle-school standardized tests, more falter. The 1-to-10 rankings that compare schools statewide and with similar schools showed wide variation in area schools. The rankings are based on results of tests taken in spring of 2012.
The school rankings released Friday comparing schools of similar demographics illustrate the middle-school challenge. In the Burlingame, Millbrae, Jefferson in Daly City and Mountain View-Whisman districts, elementary schools average above 5 on the 1-to-10 scale. But their middle schools ranked only a 4.
The drop is even more pronounced in other districts. Campbell Union's 10 elementary schools average 5.1 on their similar school ranking, but its two middle schools rank an average of 1.5. Ravenswood elementary schools, in East 
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