Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Meeting students where they are often requires knowing, celebrating, and incorporating their cultural backgrounds.

By Sophie Quinton

Arizona's attorney general called the program "propagandizing and brainwashing." An administrative law judge ruled that it "promotes racial resentment against 'Whites,' and advocates ethnic solidarity of Latinos."

With that, the Tucson Unified School District's controversial Mexican-American studies courses shut down in 2011. Yet a University of Arizona study found that the mostly Latino students who took the courses were 46 percent to 150 percent more likely to graduate from high school than those who did not. The study also determined positive effects on math and reading test scores. An independent audit of the curriculum confirmed that taking the courses helped students succeed in school.

All good teachers build a bridge between what students know and what they need to learn. Yet teaching that embraces students' cultural backgrounds has largely been left out of current debates on what makes teachers effective. The drama in Tucson helps explain why: Culturally responsive teaching often requires confronting some of the most painful divides in American life.

"Basically, it's about effective teaching, but it takes into consideration the changing demographics of America's schools," says Jacqueline

Mother Crusader: FIX IT! Because This IS NOT How We Do Things In Highland Park. Here, We RESIST!

Mother Crusader: FIX IT! Because This IS NOT How We Do Things In Highland Park. Here, We RESIST!:

FIX IT! Because This IS NOT How We Do Things In Highland Park. Here, We RESIST!

I've honestly never seen anything like what happened last night in my home town of Highland Park, New Jersey.

Scores of Highland Park residents and union supporters came out Monday night to the auditorium at Bartle Elementary to protest layoffs of nine staff members at Highland Park's schools, including two top union officials.

The school board and administration were literally surrounded by critics: So many people showed up that they had to take out a partition in the wall, doubling the size of the room and letting the overflow crowd tickle into the nosebleeds. (emphasis mine)

Yup, that's right. The Board, at the recommendation of our brand new Superintendent, approved a Reduction in Force (RIF) of nine district employees on November 4th, 2013. The RIF included the

RECAP: Beyond Borders #StuVoice Chat - Student Voice

Student Voice:

RECAP: Beyond Borders #StuVoice Chat

Poll: New York Voters are Divided on Common Core | Truth in American Education

Poll: New York Voters are Divided on Common Core | Truth in American Education:

Poll: New York Voters are Divided on Common Core

Filed in Common Core State Standards, Education at State Level by Shane Vander Hart on November 19, 2013 • 0 Comments

Siena College released a poll yesterday on New Yorkers views of the Common Core and standardized testing. 806 registered voters were surveyed between November 11-14. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.5%

49% of New Yorkers are not confident that the Common Core State Standards will make students more college and career ready. 45% of voters are confident that it will. There is also a variety of opinion about how demanding the standards are.

About a third of voters (34 percent) think Common Core standards are too demanding, while about one-quarter (27 percent) think they are not demanding enough and one-quarter (23 percent) think they are about right. Twenty-eight percent say that efforts to improve education in the last three years have moved New York schools in the right direction, 22 percent say they have moved schools in the wrong direction and a plurality, 44 percent, think they have had little impact. There is too much testing in public schools, 52 percent say, while 12 percent say there is

Will Political Centrists Go Outside Their Comfort Zones To Expand Pre-K Access?

Will Political Centrists Go Outside Their Comfort Zones To Expand Pre-K Access?:

Will Political Centrists Go Outside Their Comfort Zones To Expand Pre-K Access?

Building on President Obama’s “Preschool for All Initiative” proposed earlier this year – that would dramatically expand access to prekindergarten programs for 4-year olds – Democratic leaders in both chambers last week introduced the “Strong Start for America’s Children Act”. The new bill differs somewhat from what the White House proposed, as explained by Education Week’s Alyson Klein who examin

by Jeff Bryant / 2min

"Zero-Tolerance: The History of Structural Violence on Our Students" | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

"Zero-Tolerance: The History of Structural Violence on Our Students" | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity: "Zero-Tolerance: The History of Structural Violence on Our Students"Posted on: Monday November 18th, 2013OTL allies from the Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC) and the Dignity in Schools Campaign – New York (DSC-NY) are presen

by mike simpson / 18h

NEWS AND VIEWS

The Most Important Lesson Schools Can Teach Kids About Reading: It’s Fun

The Atlantic

“Discussions of reading, especially public policy discussions, focus almost exclusively on its utilitarian value. What’s missing is the pleasure readers derive from the reading they do … Pleasure is not incidental to reading – it’s essential … Teachers of reading and literature need to make pleasure more central to our practice … Instructors should be mindful of the variety of pleasures that readers experience and not privilege intellectual pleasures, the characteristic province of school … Students should have regular opportunities to behave the way adult readers do and choose their own reading. They know the kinds of texts from which they will take pleasure. At the same time, teachers should expand the possibility of pleasure by introducing students to new books they might not select on their own.”
Read more …

‘White Moms’ Remark Fuels Common Core Clash

Politico

“Education Secretary Arne Duncan … told a gathering of state superintendents of education that ‘white suburban moms’ were rebelling against the Common Core academic standards – new guidelines for math and language arts instruction – because … ‘their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought’ … To the immense frustration of Common Core supporters, an eclectic array of critics have raised sustained and impassioned objections about the new standards … Many parent … called Duncan’s remark patronizing and said it fit into a pattern of state and national education officials dismissing parents and ignoring their concerns.”
Read more …

Why Good Teachers Embrace Culture

National Journal

“The Tucson Unified School District’s controversial Mexican-American studies courses shut down in 2011. Yet a University of Arizona study found that the mostly Latino students who took the courses were 46% to 150% more likely to graduate from high school than those who did not. The study also determined positive effects on math and reading test scores … Culturally responsive pedagogy starts with the premise that race and class matter, and that some schools fail to send diverse students signals that they belong … It’s a philosophy that makes intuitive sense, and that’s backed by a range of academic studies… New Mexican-American and African-American studies classes will return to TUSD high schools this fall, as a decades-old desegregation ruling mandates that the district offer ethnic-studies classes.”
Read more …

Special Education Budget Cuts, Sequestration, Hurt America’s Most Vulnerable Students

The Huffington Post

“For American students with disabilities, class sizes are increasing, services are waning and providers are disappearing. More than half of parents who have children with disabilities and responded to a survey say their schools have altered special education services because of declining funding … Sequestration cleaved $579 million from federal special education funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act this year – a figure that may worsen, depending on Congress … IDEA specifies that Congress would pay up to 40% of the average that states were spending on each student with disabilities. The closest Congress got to this funding level was in in 2005, when it hit 18.5%, and in 2009, when the one-time economic stimulus boosted payments. Since sequestration, Congress has been paying just 14%.”
Read more …

Udacity’s Sebastian Thrun, Godfather Of Free Online Education, Changes Course

Fast Company

“Something that had been unthinkable – that the Internet might put a free, Ivy League–caliber education within reach of the world’s poor – seems tantalizingly close … But there’s a problem: The man who started this revolution no longer believes the hype … ‘I’d aspired to give people a profound education–to teach them something substantial,’ [says] Professor Sebastian Thrun … ‘We were on the front pages of newspapers and magazines, and at the same time, I was realizing, we don’t educate people as others wished, or as I wished. We have a lousy product’ … ‘We’re not doing anything as rich and powerful as what a traditional liberal-arts education would offer you’.”
Read more …

Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Nite Cap 11-19-13 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

James Baldwin said it best:

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

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YESTERDAY

Choosing Democracy: Why Good Teachers Embrace Culture

Why Good Teachers Embrace Culture

Mother Crusader: FIX IT! Because This IS NOT How We Do Things In Highland Park. Here, We RESIST!

FIX IT! Because This IS NOT How We Do Things In Highland Park. Here, We RESIST!

RECAP: Beyond Borders #StuVoice Chat - Student Voice

Poll: New York Voters are Divided on Common Core | Truth in American Education

Poll: New York Voters are Divided on Common Core

Will Political Centrists Go Outside Their Comfort Zones To Expand Pre-K Access?

NEWS AND VIEWS

The Most Important Lesson Schools Can Teach Kids About Reading: It’s Fun

The Atlantic

‘White Moms’ Remark Fuels Common Core Clash

Politico

Why Good Teachers Embrace Culture

National Journal

Special Education Budget Cuts, Sequestration, Hurt America’s Most Vulnerable Students

The Huffington Post

Udacity’s Sebastian Thrun, Godfather Of Free Online Education, Changes Course

Fast Company

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