Monday, January 20, 2014

Morning Wink 1-20-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2


BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS



LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-20-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Are You Sick of Highly Paid Teachers?Thanks to Jennie Shanker for tweeting this to me. It appeared in the Daily Kos. It shows how to adjust the wages of teachers.7 by dianeravitch / 1h Edward Johnson: What Does Dr. King’s Legacy Mean Today?Edward Johnson is a community activist in Atlanta who fights tirelessly for a wiser approach
1-20-14 The Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet: Why Christie’s school ‘fix’ is misguidedNew Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently proposed extending the school year and school day in State of the State speech as reforms intended to improve student achievement, though he didn’t provide details or make any mention of how he would fund it. Here’s a piece questioning the notion that simply adding seat time works. This was written […
1-20-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida
Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: The New York Common Core Story That Frightens Florida GOP LawmakersIt’s come to this in New York: To say John King Jr. is New York’s embattled education commissioner is an understatement. A statewide teachers’ union is making plans to take an unprecedented no-confidence
1-20-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts & Articles on Education PolicyHere are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues: Everything you need to know about Common Core is by Diane Ravitch. I’m adding it to The Best Articles Sharing Concerns About Common Core Standards. Beware Chinese data: Its scho
1-20-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher
Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Illinois election choices.Bev Johns is a frequent contributor to this blog. She mostly keeps me and you up to date on the attempts by the ISBE to raise the class size limits that currently are in place for special education students. She also writes frequently about the election for governor of illino
Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"
Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": “Learning is family affair at Broomfield library”Learning is family affair at Broomfield library is a recent article in a local Colorado newspaper. Here’s how it begins: The sign on the door says the library is for kids, but at Broomfield’s Children’s Library, reading is a family affair. In addition to putting beloved books
1-20-14 Ed Notes Online
Ed Notes Online: Duking it Out in NYSUT - At the Top: Duking it Out in NYSUT - At the TopOn Saturday evening PJSTA (Port Jefferson Station) President Beth Dimino delivered the following message to the members of the PJSTA… For the record, the PJSTA will NOT endorse a slate of NYSUT Officers, led by Andy Pallotta, that endorse and use our vote cope money to pad Cuomo’s war chest! The PJSTA is leadi
1-20-14 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: SANTA BARBARA UNIFIED APPROVES $700,000 iPAD PURCHASE: Offers parents lease-to-own optionParents who wish to purchase pay $708 @ $20 per month. There is no funding source identified to anything beyond the pilot year By Kelsey Brugger | The Santa Barbara Independent http://bit.ly/1mkrqJl Thursday, January 16, 2014  ::  Santa Barbara Unified School Distri
1-20-14 @ The Chalk Face
@ THE CHALK FACE: Dream Deferred, MLK Day 2014: “This rigid refusal to look at ourselves”Dream Deferred, MLK Day 2014: \”This rigid refusal to look at ourselves\”. via Dream Deferred, MLK Day 2014: “This rigid refusal to look at ourselves”.1 by plthomasedd / 20min My MLK Post: An Assignment for Test-Driven ReformersOn this day dedicated to the memory of a remarkable man who gave his life (literall
1-20-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs
With A Brooklyn Accent: The False Prophets of School ReformIt is astonishing to see people who have never taught, or have taught a few years and left, become the major forces shaping education in the United States.. They are guided by a policy ethos,which, if you were describing it in biblical terms, would be regarded as False Idolatry. While holding the human skills great teaching involves in con
1-20-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD
the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Dream Deferred, MLK Day 2014: “This rigid refusal to look at ourselves”“What happens to a dream deferred?” asks Langston Hughes in “Harlem.” As a poem of social consciousness, “Harlem” may often be reduced to literary analysis or an artifact of the Harlem Renaissance; as
1-20-14 Perdido Street School
Perdido Street School: Hey Governor Cuomo, Where's The Merit Pay Money Coming From?The Jamestown Post-Journal wants to know:Danielle O'Connor, superintendent of Frewsburg Central School, said the logic of promising bonus pay to teachers while her district is still struggling with a $1.2 million gap elimination adjustment is less than sound. "We would certainly be able to strengthen our distri
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES: WEEKEND QUOTABLESAmiri Baraka's son Ras, delivers his eulogy (Video).Ras Baraka "Every nurse that would come in the room he said, 'Hey, my son is running for mayor. He came to the hospital with a bag of (political) literature." -- NJ.comMichael Eric Dyson We’ve deliberately dismembered him [Dr. Martin Luther King] through manipulation of
Academia's indentured servants - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
Academia's indentured servants - Opinion - Al Jazeera English: Academia's indentured servantsOutspoken academics are rare: most tenured faculty have stayed silent about the adjunct crisis, notes Kendzior.Last Modified: 11 Apr 2013 11:19Sarah KendziorSarah Kendzior is an anthropologist who recently received her PhD from Washington University in St Louis.RSS   "To work outside of academia, even
Alternatives to Teach for America | NGS Movement
Alternatives to Teach for America | NGS Movement: Alternatives to Teach for AmericaTeach For America has an average acceptance rate of less than 15%, the majority of the applicants from Ivy league schools…tough odds for the majority of young people. The good news is there are plenty of other ways to work to address the education disparity in this country and even in other parts of the world.  Some
My MLK Post: An Assignment for Test-Driven Reformers | deutsch29
My MLK Post: An Assignment for Test-Driven Reformers | deutsch29: My MLK Post: An Assignment for Test-Driven ReformersJanuary 20, 2014On this day dedicated to the memory of a remarkable man who gave his life (literally) for the sake of civil rights and social equity, I expect that education privatizers will use the opportunity to promote themselves as “overcoming” opposition to their self-serving,
The Shriver Report – Pushing Back Against Poverty
The Shriver Report – Pushing Back Against Poverty: Pushing Back Against PovertyJOYA MISRA, PHD | 01.20.2014© michaeljung – Fotolia.comIn 2010, more than one in five U.S. children lived in poverty – substantially more than in most other wealthy countries. Poverty affects children in a variety of ways, including poor nutrition, housing, health and educational outcomes. No mother would choose poverty
New Jersey Civil Rights Attorney Says School Reform Must Consider Real Issues: Segregation and Poverty | janresseger
New Jersey Civil Rights Attorney Says School Reform Must Consider Real Issues: Segregation and Poverty | janresseger: New Jersey Civil Rights Attorney Says School Reform Must Consider Real Issues: Segregation and PovertyPosted on January 20, 2014 by janressegerOn this day as we reflect upon the life and work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, an article by New Jersey civil rights attorney Paul Tracte
Teen Birth Rates Drop, But Districts Fight Parent Dropouts - High School Notes (usnews.com)
Teen Birth Rates Drop, But Districts Fight Parent Dropouts - High School Notes (usnews.com): Teen Birth Rates Drop, But Districts Fight Parent DropoutsBy KELSEY SHEEHYJanuary 20, 2014 RSS Feed PrintWorking with teen parents to develop a plan and support can help districts fight dropouts.Critics slam MTV's "16 and Pregnant" for glamorizing teen pregnancy, but a new study suggests the hit
Legislative Alert: HB 2133 Student Privacy Bill: Contact the House Education Committee now | Seattle Education
Legislative Alert: HB 2133 Student Privacy Bill: Contact the House Education Committee now | Seattle Education: Legislative Alert: HB 2133 Student Privacy Bill: Contact the House Education Committee nowWhat is the issue with student privacy?There are a few:It used to be that students’ grades, disciplinary records, teachers comments and test scores on standardized tests were kept in files that coul

YESTERDAY

NYCDOEnuts Is Back And Has Something to Say! southbronxschool.com
http://www.southbronxschool.com: NYCDOEnuts Is Back And Has Something to Say!A special welcome and a special thank you for guest blogging, to one of The Crack Team's favorite bloggers, OLDNYCDOEnuts who was the originator ofNYCDOEnuts blog. Kind of like the two Darrin Stevens. With OLD NYCDoenuts as Dick York.The Crack Team is lying around the SBSB newsroom yesterday when an email from DOEnuts com
V.A.M.: Value Added Measure: Dr. King's Dream?
V.A.M.: Value Added Measure: Dr. King's Dream?: Dr. King's Dream?"If you can ride at the front of the bus, but you cannot read, you are not free."  (Arne Duncan)Let's use the imagery of Arne Duncan.  Let us imagine students in the United States all riding somewhere.  Let us imagine that their transportation symbolizes their school.  Public-school students are riding on public buses. Afte
1-19-14 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: Selections from, comments on Ravitch, Everything you need to know about the common coreExcerpts from, and a few friendly comments on, Diane Ravitch's essay, Everything you need to know about the common core.  (Comments marked with "SK").  My hope is that this very strong essay will turn the tide.http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/01/18/everything-you
United We stand; Divided We Fall: Remember the castrated dog. | Reclaim Reform
United We stand; Divided We Fall: Remember the castrated dog. | Reclaim Reform: United We stand; Divided We Fall: Remember the castrated dog.Posted on January 19, 2014by Ken Previti“United we stand; divided we fall.”What is there to not understand?The Chicago Tribune on 12/3/13 depicted the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME), a part of the AFL-CIO, as a cas
The question no one in Georgia wants answered: How much does... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com
The question no one in Georgia wants answered: How much does... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com: The question no one in Georgia wants answered: How much does it cost to educate students to excellence? COMMENT(3) 0 0 0 NewView Larger How do we educate to excellence?Previous PostsRural Schools: They are driving students to success in Pinto, not Cadillac. But they are still trying. January 18, 2014Turni
SKrashen: Selections from, comments on Ravitch, Everything you need to know about the common core
SKrashen: Selections from, comments on Ravitch, Everything you need to know about the common core: Selections from, comments on Ravitch, Everything you need to know about the common coreExcerpts from, and a few friendly comments on, Diane Ravitch's essay, Everything you need to know about the common core.  (Comments marked with "SK").  My hope is that this very strong essay will turn the
Nite Cap 1-19-14 #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."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP1-19-14 Seattle Schools Community ForumSeattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools This WeekMonday, January 20thNo School in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. DayWednesday, January 22ndSchool Board Meeting, starting at 4:15 pm.  Agenda.  Note
1-19-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools This WeekMonday, January 20thNo School in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. DayWednesday, January 22ndSchool Board Meeting, starting at 4:15 pm.  Agenda.  Note: there is to be an Executive Session after the Board meeting for 30 minutes.  Action Items- removal (basically) of open choice seats in high school from the New Student Assignment Plan Transit
1-19-14 Jersey Jazzman
Jersey Jazzman: Newark Charters: Let's Please Get the Facts RightLaura Waters:Look to our charters. At KIPP's TEAM Academy Charter School in Newark students attend school from 7:30-4:00 Mondays through Fridays and also go to school two Saturdays a month. The school year begins in August and goes through June. TEAM's students regularly outperform peers at other area schools despite similar demograp
Four Newark Principals Get Bullied Out of School By Female Christie Clone- Coalition for Public Education/Coaliciรณn por la Educaciรณn Pรบblica
Coalition for Public Education/Coaliciรณn por la Educaciรณn Pรบblica: Four Newark Principals Get Bullied Out of School By Female Christie Clone-  But the Fight Is On for POWER Over the Schools!Councilman Ras Baraka's Mass Meeting to Stop School Closings held at Hopewell Baptist Church on Muhammad Ali Ave in Newark, New Jersey on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday 1-15-14.Things move quickly in the
Register Today. United Opt Out. Denver. March 28th – 30th. | United Opt Out National
Register Today. United Opt Out. Denver. March 28th – 30th. | United Opt Out National: REGISTER TODAY. UNITED OPT OUT. DENVER. MARCH 28TH – 30TH.Join United Opt Out, March 28th – 30th, 2014 in Denver, CO.“Why Denver?” Good question. We are coming to Denver because we have many friends that need our help. We are devoting the entire event to action on three themes: union organizing, corporate educati
Teach For America is Barking Up the Wrong Tree | Cloaking Inequity
Teach For America is Barking Up the Wrong Tree | Cloaking Inequity: Teach For America is Barking Up the Wrong TreeIt doesn’t take a Philadelphia lawyer to tell that the man who serves the master one day, and the enemy six, has just six chances out of seven to go to the devil. You are barking up the wrong tree, Johnson. — James Hall, Legends of the West.Before I respond to the content of Miller’s J
Newark school boss Anderson cracks down on critics, suspends five principals in one day | Bob Braun's Ledger
Newark school boss Anderson cracks down on critics, suspends five principals in one day | Bob Braun's Ledger: Newark school boss Anderson cracks down on critics, suspends five principals in one dayAt Newark’s Hawthorne Avenue School, the test scores are up, higher than state-imposed goals—and certainly better than those of the highly touted “Renew” schools favored by the administration. The hallwa
Everything you need to know about Common Core — Ravitch
Everything you need to know about Common Core — Ravitch: Everything you need to know about Common Core — RavitchBY VALERIE STRAUSSJanuary 18 at 8:45 amDiane Ravitch(Network for Public Education)Diane Ravitch, the education historian who has become the leader of the movement against corporate-influenced school reform, gave this speech to the Modern Language Association on Jan. 11 about the past, pr
Morning Wink 1-19-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2
BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS1-18-14 Wait What?Wait What?: A look at Steve Perry’s record of absenteeism and use of social media to bully othersOn Tuesday January 21, 2014 the Hartford Board of Education will hold a special executive session to discuss Capital Prep Principal Steve Perry.  The public has the opportunity to address the Hartford Board of Education starting at 5:30 pm.  T


LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-20-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:



Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch



The MLK Test for Corporate Reformers, via the Schneider Standards
Mercedes Schneider has created a test question for corporate reformers. She proposes a compare and contrast between Martin Luther King’s original “I Have a Dream” speech and the vision of “reformers” who claim that their tactics to leave no child untested and no  public school undisturbed is “the civil rights issue of our time.”
Julian Vasquez Heilig on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Extremist
On his blog “Cloaking Inequity,” Julian Vasquez Heilig remembers Dr. King as an extremist and quotes his words. Heilig writes: So if you are a supporter of union busting via mayoral control, parent trigger, vouchers, and charters you are at odds with MLK, and you will find yourself on the wrong side of history.  Says Heilig: Be inspired to be a creative extremist for unions and living wages. Hono

EduShyster Imagines Dr. MLK & Today’s “Reform” Movement
EduShyster has a dream, but it is not the one that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke about in 1963 at the March on Washington. She has a dream of Dr. King returning today to see the new “reform” movement which so often claims that it is the “civil rights movement” of our time. He tours the “no excuses” school and sees that it is segregated. He discovers that the new “civil rights movement” is fun

Naison on Dr. King’s Legacy
I am going to violate the unwritten rule of blogging here by reprinting the entire post, plus adding the link. Typically, I post only a summary and the link, to drive traffic to other bloggers. But in this case, I think Mark Naison has written such a valuable summary of Dr. King’s legacy that I want to share it with you, crediting him. He writes: http://bknation.org/2014/01/troubled-legacy-dr-mart
Bob Braun: More on the Outrage in Newark
Bob Braun covered politics and education in New Jersey for the Star-Ledger for 50 years until his recent retirement. He now has his own blog, which is an invaluable source of information and insight into New Jersey political doings. Here he writes about the ouster of five Newark principals by state-appointed superintendent Cami Anderson. Four of them spoke at a public hearing about the pending clo
The Sorry Condition of Civil Rights in New Jersey
Social activist Jan Resseger points us to a sobering article by civil rights attorney Paul Trachtenberg of Rutgers University in New Jersey. Trachtenberg describes the two school systems in New Jersey, one overwhelmingly white and successful, the other highly segregated and poor. One controls its schools, the other is controlled by the state. She writes: “One, the predominantly white, well-to-do a


Are You Sick of Highly Paid Teachers?
Thanks to Jennie Shanker for tweeting this to me. It appeared in the Daily Kos. It shows how to adjust the wages of teachers.
Edward Johnson: What Does Dr. King’s Legacy Mean Today?
Edward Johnson is a community activist in Atlanta who fights tirelessly for a wiser approach to education than the current ideology of competition. He is a devotee of Dr. Edward Deming, who taught that when things go wrong, it is because systems fail, and the systems must be fixed. He also taught that teamwork and collaboration produce better results for everyone than incentives, threats, and com
A Critique of David Coleman’s Reading of ”Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
Daniel E. Ferguson, who taught in his native Birmingham, is now a doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia University. Here he reviews David Coleman’s “close reading” of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Coleman wants the reader to interpret the text without reference to his or her personal views. He demonstrates that this technique is designed to serve the needs
Paul Thomas: Ending Poverty Requires Community, Not War
Paul Thomas has written a post to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in which Paul explains that it is a great mistake to think that we can end poverty by making “war” on it. War always leaves victims and collateral damage. He writes: A big picture message offered in Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow is that the war on drugs, a key part of the larger era of mass incarceration, has devas
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: When Breaking the Law Is Just
In Newark, several principals spoke out against closing schools. They were “indefinitely suspended.” Should they have spoken out? Should they have kept their views to themselves? Dr. King had some advice to those who feel that what was done to their community was unjust. The principals did not “break a law.” They were, in some people’s eyes, insubordinate. Is that akin to law-breaking? Most of us
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-19-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Paul Horton: Why We Need to Tell Stories About Our LivesPaul Horton, who teaches history at the University of Chicago Lab School, here ponders a famous remark by David Coleman, architect of the Common Core standards. Coleman said, while giving a speech in New York that was taped, that students need to learn that no one gives a s— a






1-20-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:









The Education Department’s strange new report on teaching
One of the most controversial issues in public education today is the use of “value-added measures” to evaluate teachers and principals. What these measures, known as VAM, purportedly do is to calculate the “value” of a teacher in student achievement through complicated formulas that use student standardized test scores as a base. Assessment experts have […]    


MLK: ‘Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education’
I published this last year, and I’m doing it again: Martin Luther King Jr., was prescient on a lot of things, including education. Here are some things he wrote decades ago that sound contemporary. – Here’s an excerpt from “The Purpose of Education,” a piece he wrote in the February 1947 edition of the Morehouse College student newspaper, the […]    


Why Christie’s school ‘fix’ is misguided
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently proposed extending the school year and school day in State of the State speech as reforms intended to improve student achievement, though he didn’t provide details or make any mention of how he would fund it. Here’s a piece questioning the notion that simply adding seat time works. This was written […]    






All Week @ The Answer Sheet 1-18-14
The Answer Sheet:All Week @ The Answer SheetEverything you need to know about Common Core — RavitchDiane Ravitch, the education historian who has become the leader of the movement against corporate-influenced school reform, gave this speech to the Modern Language Association on Jan. 11 about the past, present and future of the Common Core State Standards. Here’s her speech: As an organization of t

1-20-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:










Red States Looking to Dump Common Core, So Where’s Jeb Bush Now?
Via Shane Vander Hart has this from Restore Oklahoma Public Education: The “Resolution To Protect Oklahoma’s Education System” was passed today (January 18, 2014) by the Oklahoma GOP Committee during their regular meeting. This resolution records the will of the Oklahoma Republican Party Executive Committee to direct Republican floor leaders to both slate Common Core bills for hearing in Committe


The New York Common Core Story That Frightens Florida GOP Lawmakers

It’s come to this in New York: To say John King Jr. is New York’s embattled education commissioner is an understatement. A statewide teachers’ union is making plans to take an unprecedented no-confidence vote against him. New York State United Teachers represents more than 600,000 teachers. Union president Richard Iannuzzi said King’s failure to address the problems with the Common Core curriculum


1-19-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida
Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: Common Core’s Florida “rebranding and messaging is largely political.”Miami Herald reporter Kathleen McGrory spoke with Common Core’s opponents and she found out that they aren’t buying the FLOE spin: TALLAHASSEE — The state education department tried to distance itself