Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, December 20, 2013

12-20-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:





Portelos Update: A Para for the Defense, Part 2
The story below is a warning to anyone who might think that taxpayer supported DOE Legal has any interest in the truth.Part 1 is here: Portelos Update: A Para for the Defense, DOE Pulls Race Card, Theresa Europe Sits in to Intimidate Hearing OfficerPORTELOS HEARING DEC. 18, 2013CROSS EXAMINATION by DOE Legal Jordana Shenkman – JS: U heard rumors of Apr 2011 meeting P brought up safety concerns – u
Portelos Update: A Para for the Defense, DOE Pulls Race Card, Theresa Europe Sits in to Intimidate Hearing Officer
There was only fear of the administration. YES everyone is in fear of them, not Portelos. .. former Para, IS 49SI.According to Shenkman, a para - with a high school education - and a parent with 5 kids of her own - is not qualified to make a judgement as to whether someone is a good teacher. What arrogance and elitism. ... Report from Portelos hearing, Dec. 18I finally was able to attend the 14th
Klein Klone Kami Gets Pushback Over Attack on Public Education in Newark
Cami Anderson, the new Michelle Rhee, is trying to pull off massive destruction of Newark public school system. Is Anderson real or just a marionette whose strings are being pulled by ed deformers behind a curtain?From NEW Caucus:ESS CONFERENCE AND RALLY AT WEEQUAHIC HIGH SCHOOL! -  Fight School Closings/Renews/Charters-  11am, Weequahic High School, 279 Chancellor Ave., Newark, 07112.We know most


Teacher Protest Over Naming College Office for Walcott
It's hugely disappointing that administration has unilaterally decided to pay tribute to a man who has worked tirelessly to make our jobs less professional, who has vilified us at every turn, who has refused to offer us the compensation he saw fit to give other city employees, and who has supported every baseless corporate reform that has come down the pike while he occupied this office.....Arthur
12-19-13 Ed Notes Online
Ed Notes Online: Howard Schwach on John King Visit to Long Island and Parents' Objection to inBloomGood to see my old editor at The Wave still battling the forces of evil.By Howard Schwach12/17/13http://liherald.com/valleystream/stories/State-school-boards-say-no-to-InBloom,51762A survey of more than 600 school board members across New York state found that 75 percent overwhelmingly oppose the edu

12-20-13 Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog:






London Theater Collapses and Injures People.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/as-many-as-80-people-injured-in-collapse-at-crowded-london-theater/At 8:15 p.m., the London theater collapses and injured 80 people. 7 were hurt severely. Click the link for more details.


Mexican Government Has Made A Change With Oil
Recently, the Mexican Congress approved the constitutional reform opening up oil exploration, extraction, refining, transportation, distribution and sale of oil and its by-products to local and foreign private investment. If oil and gas production are stepped up, greater prevention of risks is needed, and companies should incorporate the environmental and human costs of their activities.The reform
Nuclear Weapon in Iran
How close is Iran from creating new nuclear weapons?Over the last two year Iran has been incresing their nuclear capability. Because of all the uranium and centrifuges they have on land, in a couple of months they can create a lot of weapons and nuclear bombs. But if there were a way to stop them, then their time in making these weapons will take longer. It will take them more than a year to finis




12-19-13 Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: New Mexico Supreme Court Rules Gay Marriage Constitutional">The New Mexico Supreme Court  : On Thursday, The New Mexico Supreme Court declared gay marriage consitutional based on it being unconstitutional to deny a marriage license to gay and lesbian couples. From the ruling: Prohibiting same-gender marriages is not substantially related to the governmental interes




12-20-13 12-19-13 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:






My Favorite Posts In 2013 — Part Two
I regularly publish a list of my personal favorites posts during the year, and it’s usually my last annual “Best” list of the year. You might also be interested in: My Best Posts Over The Years — Volume One, focused on the year 2007 and includes a fair amount of still-useful material (at least in my opinion). I’d say the same thing about my review of posts from 2008, which you can find in My Best
The Best Posts On Study Finding That Standardized Tests Don’t Measure Cognitive Ability
I’ve previously posted about a new study which found that standardized testing may measure how well a school is doing on training students on lower-level thinking skills needed to do well on…standardized tests, but has practically no value in measuring “fluid intelligence” abilities like ability to transfer knowledge in one area and apply it towards solving a problem in another. There have been a

Surprising Study — NOT: People Learn A Second Language Better By Physically Simulating Words
A new study concludes that: “If language comprehension is a simulation process that uses neural systems of action, then perhaps we can better teach kids how to understand what they read by getting them to literally simulate the actions,” he explained. Researchers attributed this conclusion to what are called “mirror neurons.” Kevin Washburn has a useful and short piece on them if you want to lear


12-19-13 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Find Out What Word Was First Used The Year You Were BornThe OED birthday word generator: which words originated in your birth year? is an interactive from the Oxford English Dictionary that does what its title says. Just because I don’t have any other place to put it, I’m adding it to The Best “Today In History” Sites.8 by

12-20-13 Wait What?

Wait What?:






Michele Rhee’s StudentsFirst rally to support Steve Perry; Board fails to take up Perry’s threatening tweet
At last night’s Hartford Board of Education meeting Hartford Superintendent Christina Kishimoto and Hartford Board of Education Chairman Matt Poland failed to address the status of the promised investigation into Capital Prep Steve Perry’s threatening email rant or the growing controversy surrounding the Capital Prep Scholarship Fund. Instead the meeting was dominated by a lobbying […]The post Mic

12-19-13 Wait What?
Wait What?: Yup, Capital Prep’s Steve Perry Tweets about the dangers of Social Media…Dr. Steve Perry ‏@DrStevePerry Social media has had a net negative affect on schools. Kids & adults are free to tee off on each other & the schools are left to clean it up (December 18, 2013)   This from a man who has sent out 32,971 Tweets, many during school hours, costing Hartford and Connecticut […]The

12-20-13 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:




‘Duck Dynasty’s’ Phil Robertson: A former teacher with a master’s degree
“Duck Dynasty’s” Phil Robertson, now  famously suspended from his family’s popular cable reality television show for making shockingly offensive remarks about blacks and gays in a GQ interview, once taught in Louisiana schools, has a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a masters degree in education, with an English concentration. He even “kinda liked” Shakespeare. […]    


Colorado university terminates popular prostitution lecture
A tenured sociology professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder is leaving the school after being told by school officials that she could no longer teach a lecture on prostitution — which includes a voluntarily skit in which students portray the lives of prostitutes as they speak to an interviewer — in a long-popular […]    


Evaluating the evaluations of teacher education programs
Donald E. Heller is dean of the College of Education at Michigan State University who, in this post, describes a recent written encounter with the National Council on Teacher Quality, an organization created by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in 2000 in order to promote alternative teacher certification and try to diminish the influence of […]    
Five basic — but misinterpreted — keys to creating a cool classroom culture
Here’s an excerpt from a new book about American education by veteran teacher David Greene called Doing the Right Thing — A Teacher Speaks. Greene taught social studies and coached in New York City schools for 38 years, worked as a field supervisor for Fordham University, mentored Teach For America Corps members in the Bronx and […]    
Why grade inflation (even at Harvard) is a big problem
The Harvard Crimson, the university’s student newspaper, recently published a story about the continuing problem of grade inflation at the elite institution. Here’s a piece about why it matters, from Diane R. Dean is associate professor for higher education administration and policy at Illinois State University. Arthur Levine is president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship […]    

12-19-13 The Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet: Maryland takes on new Common Core role as ‘favor’ to Obama, Gov. O’Malley saysHow’s this for messy? Top Maryland officials approved a contract making the state the “fiscal agent”  for one of two multi-state consortia developing  standardized tests aligned with the Common Core State Standards despite objections that the contract has no minority business participation and concerns


12-20-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:







2014 Is Going to Be a Great Year for Education
THERE IS NO PLACE LEFT FOR THE WIZARD BEHIND THE CURTAIN TO HIDEDING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD!FRIDAY, DEC 20, 2013 12:45 PM UTCExposing the education “reformers’” big lie: Here’s how progressives — and our kids — beat the corporate establishmentA populist uprising is coming in defense of public schools. Are Democrats on the side of Wall Street or the people?JEFF BRYANT                     more  TOPI

Happy Holidays, Wendy--Now, Goodbye!
Wonder if this will earn the Pittsburgh School Board some threatening letters from Exxon-Mobil for its non-CorpEd stance:Here’s some education news that you don’t hear every day: The Pittsburgh school board is rescinding a $750,000 contract with Teach For America, and keeping open an elementary school slated to be shuttered.The board’s four new members, taking a new reform tact, drove the decision
Doug Martin's Podcast with Justin Oakley Now Posted
by Doug MartinIf you missed my talk with Justin Oakley on his Just Let Me Teach show on Indiana Talks radio and several great call-in guests (Rick Muir, Cindi Pastore, Melanie Wright, Clyde Gaw, and Crystal Bramel), you can now listen to the podcast. Thanks for tuning in!!!!! And thanks to Donna Yates Mace for her support, too!!!! We discuss current school privatization efforts in Indiana and beyo
Who Controls the Table Wins
NOTE: The current education reform agenda focusing primarily on Common Core remains to be a failure of leadership. Public school teachers, public schools, and public school students are little more than collateral damage in the battle to see who can out-standard and out-test and out-rigor whom. Professional organizations, unions, and political leadership are fighting for a place at the table—not s

YESTERDAY

Advanced math: Offer, don't require
Sent to the Denver Post, Dec. 19, 2013Sandra Stotsky thinks that the "Common Core fails to prepare students for STEM") Dec. 17), and that all students should be required to go way beyond Algebra II to be ready for the brave new world of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Even if the STEM crisis were real, this is not a good idea. Of course, advanced math classes should be offere
12-19-13 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: Excuses, Excuses...In response to test scores for New York City:New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's reign as head of the nation's largest school system resulted in greatly improved graduation rates, but test scores that lagged behind the pace of other large American cities. New York City students' scores on national math and reading tests released Wednesday didn't show signific