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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Nite Cap 4-30-14 #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 CAP




SACRAMENTO Education rally to protest Common Core State Standards | Local News - KCRA Home
Education rally to protest Common Core State Standards | Local News - KCRA Home: Education rally to protest Common Core State StandardsProtesters back bill allowing districts to opt out SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —As school districts across California prepare for the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, a concerned group of citizens is holding a rally at the state Capitol to protest t
Cowen report: Sharp academic growth defies New Orleans’ widespread poverty | The Lens
Cowen report: Sharp academic growth defies New Orleans’ widespread poverty | The Lens: Cowen report: Sharp academic growth defies New Orleans’ widespread povertyBy Jessica Williams, Staff writer    18 MINS AGO      PRINTEighty-four percent of New Orleans students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of poverty. That’s up 9 percent from the 2004-2005 school year.And yet the av
The Myths of Technology Series – “Technology equals engagement” | Connected Principals
The Myths of Technology Series – “Technology equals engagement” | Connected Principals: The Myths of Technology Series – “Technology equals engagement”by George Couros • April 30, 2014 • 0 CommentsFor ISTE 2014 in Atlanta, I will be presenting on the “Myths of Technology and Learning”. As I am really thinking about what I will be sharing at the conference, I wanted to write a series of blog posts
The Pursuit Of The Magic Education Metric
The Pursuit Of The Magic Education Metric:  The Pursuit Of The Magic Education MetricTo address the nation’s struggling economy, the Obama administration has announced a bold proposal to require states to provide more useful data about the career success of business and financial executives who graduate from the nation’s colleges and universities with degrees in finance, accounting, and business a
Video: What Does RESPECT Mean?–Vote today for a new union leadership to defend public education | I AM AN EDUCATOR
Video: What Does RESPECT Mean?–Vote today for a new union leadership to defend public education | I AM AN EDUCATOR: Video: What Does RESPECT Mean?–Vote today for a new union leadership to defend public educationBy I AM AN EDUCATOR on April 30, 2014Voting has begun!I am running for president of the Seattle Education Association (SEA) with a dozen other educators on the RESPECT ticket.  We want to t
empathyeducates – Girls Do Better Than Boys in School at All Ages and Subjects, Study Finds
empathyeducates – Girls Do Better Than Boys in School at All Ages and Subjects, Study Finds: Girls Do Better Than Boys in School at All Ages and Subjects, Study FindsBy Maggie Fox | Originally Published at NBCNews April 29, 2014 11:50 amIt may come as no surprise to teachers, but girls do better than boys in school, a new study finds.What may be a surprise is that this holds true at all ages, in a
Uncommon Denominators: Understanding “Per Pupil” Spending | School Finance 101
Uncommon Denominators: Understanding “Per Pupil” Spending | School Finance 101: Uncommon Denominators: Understanding “Per Pupil” SpendingPosted on April 30, 20140This post is another in my series on data issues in education policy. The point of this post is to encourage readers of education policy research to pay closer attention to the fact that any measure of “per pupil spending” contains two pa
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 4-30-14
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: 3 stories: ALEX CAPUTO-PEARL ELECTED UTLA PRESIDENTAlex Caputo-Pearl won elected president of the United Teachers Los Angeles, defeating incumbent Warren Fletcher in a runoff vote. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times / March 4, 2014) Alex Caputo-Pearl wins runoff election to head L.A. teachers union Howard Blume , LA Times | http://lat.ms/1u4Q3jS  Apr
4-30-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD
LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Decathlon title in hand, El Camino Real gets ready to celebrateThe winning teamPhoto: LA Daily News And now for the celebration. In honor of its seventh national Academic Decathlon championship, El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills is holding a rally tomorrow morning for a team that won th
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Let's not lose sight of most dangerous racism
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Let's not lose sight of most dangerous racism: Let's not lose sight of most dangerous racismEYES ON THE PRIZE... A great point was made by Rev. Jesse Jackson re. Sterling/Bundy racism. Let's not lose sight of where the real problem lies. The Supreme Court and Congress are making changes in the law that will deprive millions of opportunity and equal justice. We should
4-30-14 @ The Chalk Face
@ THE CHALK FACE: More on Two AmericasMore on Two Americas. via More on Two Americas.1 by plthomasedd / 23min  All Week 4-29-14 @ THE CHALK FACE@ THE CHALK FACE: Joanne Barkan’s Three Types of Criticism of Edu-PhilanthropyDiane Ravitch recently praised Joanne Barkan’s “How to Criticize ‘Big Philanthropy’ Effectively.” Barkan’s excellent analysis was first presented at the March 2014 Network for Pu
4-30-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University)
the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): More on Two AmericasRecently, I posed an argument about two Americas, personified by George W. Bush and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Over the past few days, the controversy surrounding Donald Sterling has offered even more evidence of two Americas. Let’s start with the unlikelie
What Did Arne Duncan Just Do to Washington State? | janresseger
What Did Arne Duncan Just Do to Washington State? | janresseger: What Did Arne Duncan Just Do to Washington State?Posted on April 30, 2014 by janressegerLast Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education revoked Washington state’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waiver. What does this mean and does it matter?In 2011, just before he created waivers from the most onerous consequences of No Child Left Behin
How Common Core Damages Poetry Instruction | Truth in American Education
How Common Core Damages Poetry Instruction | Truth in American Education: How Common Core Damages Poetry InstructionFiled in Common Core State Standards by truthed on April 30, 2014 • 0 CommentsApril is National Poetry Month, but poetry is not well addressed in Common Core’s English language arts standards.  It’s unclear whether the genre will survive a Common Core-based English classroom given th
Morning Wink 4-30-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2
BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTSLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-30-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for allDiane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Jersey Jazzman: Did NPR Sell Out to the Walton Family Foundation?Jersey Jazzman heard NPR describe the reason that Washington State refused to bow to Arne Duncan’s demand that the sate use test
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-30-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Jersey Jazzman: Did NPR Sell Out to the Walton Family Foundation?Jersey Jazzman heard NPR describe the reason that Washington State refused to bow to Arne Duncan’s demand that the sate use test scores to evaluate teacher quality. It wasn’t because the methodology has no evidence behind it. It wasn’t because the method has been ques
4-30-14 Ed Notes Online
Ed Notes Online: Breaking: 26 Teachers and Staff of International High School at Prospect Heights Campus in Brooklyn refuse to give NYC ELA Performance Assessment TestOy! Can I get up that early tomorrow to cover this? Well, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden plant sale is still on tomorrow and it's right across the street. Maybe I'll have some sleepy video for you by Friday. Much irony in that so many P
The Green Berets of Excellence | EduShyster
The Green Berets of Excellence | EduShyster: The Green Berets of Excellence Teaching Alongside TFA Special ForcesBy Johnny BravoMy story starts some years back, on my first day on the job as a public school teacher. (After twenty years of private industry work and collegiate teaching experience, I shifted gears relatively recently and became a teacher). Having expected to encounter a balanced mix
Los Chistes: @ArneDuncan Explodes the Public Education “Struggle Bus” | Cloaking Inequity
Los Chistes: @ArneDuncan Explodes the Public Education “Struggle Bus” | Cloaking Inequity: Los Chistes: @ArneDuncan Explodes the Public Education “Struggle Bus”It has been awhile since Cloaking Inequity featured the humorous Breaking News comics. So today Cloaking Inequity adds a little bit of levity to the great debates about educational policy at the expense of Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Educa
4-30-14 Wait What?
Wait What?: Let Teachers TeachTeresa M. Pelham is the co-blogger for the Hartford Courant’s Mommy Minute blog and a well-known children’s book writer. In recent Courant column entitled, Let’s Ditch Those Tests And Let Teachers Teach, Pelham eloquently put into words what many of us are thinking. More Testing, Less Learning is not what prepares our children for the […] The post Let Teachers Teach a
4-30-14 The Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet: America’s best teachers got a B on this quizThe 62-year-old National Teacher of the Year Program is the oldest national honors program that focuses on teaching excellence, and this week, the 2014 winners from each state, the District and U.S. territories are in the nation’s capital’s for the annual celebration. The teachers have been touring the capital and meeting with various d
4-30-14 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: Teachers at International HS at Prospect Heights Refuse to Give NYC ELA TestFrom Monty Neill: **Media Advisory**  26 Teachers and Staff of International High School at Prospect  Heights refuse to give NYC ELA Performance Assessment Test  WHEN: Thursday, May 1, 2014, 7:45-8:20am,  WHERE: International High School at Prospect Heights, 883 Classon  Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11225  WHAT: Teach
4-30-14 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: Today’s Voucher Expansion Vote Will Forever Define Senate RepublicansA 2013 report from Charity Navigator gives Step Up for Students high marks as administrator of Florida’s voucher system, the misleading named the Florida Tax Credit Program. The report in PR Web quotes
Income Inequality in Milwaukee Among Working Families Unacceptable | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!
Income Inequality in Milwaukee Among Working Families Unacceptable | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!: Income Inequality in Milwaukee Among Working Families UnacceptableFiled under: Inequality,Wisconsin Class Warfare — millerlf @ 9:08 am Report on income inequality among employed familiesThe annual ETI analysis of state income tax data showed 12 to 1 differences in family income by Milwa
4-30-13 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"
Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": Georgia School District Is Model On How Schools Should NOT Deal With Parents Who Want To “Opt-Out” Of TestsThanks to Bill Ferriter, I’ve learned about a Georgia school district who had a police officer tell parents who were opting out of state tests that they would and their children would be trespassing if they were on sch
4-30-14 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 State Representative Keith Farnham is a child pornographer and molester.“Keith Farnham? Didn’t he vote for pension theft?” I was asked yesterday. “Apparently that may be the best thing he did,” I responded. From the Chicago Tribune. When he resigned his seat on March 19, Farnham told the Trib
4-30-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: San Francisco Symphony Unveils Must-See Redesigned WebsiteThe San Francisco Symphony has just unveiled a newly redesigned website that’s pretty extraordinary. There’s so much there, and it’s so accessible — music, instruments, and you can even compose your own, play it, and share your creation with the world. The text is pr
4-30-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week
With A Brooklyn Accent: As NY's Math Tests Begin- Let Us Honor the Test ResistorsToday, another awful round of testing begins in NY State, this time for Math. Our third graders face three days of testing that are more time consuming than the tests applicants take for Medical School, Business School, Law School or admission to college. How our education policy makers and elected officials signed of
4-30-13 Curmudgucation Week
CURMUDGUCATION: Is There No Common Ground? Well.....I sympathize with Peter DeWitt, the former K-5 principal who has morphed into a pundit/trainer. In his blog at EdWeek he can often be found trying to chart a course between the Scylla of the CCSS-based Reformsters and the Charybdis of rabid opposition to any changey things in school while sailing under the Pigpen's Black Cloud of corporate deceit
4-30-14 Perdido Street School
Perdido Street School: Eva Moskowitz Full Of Crap As UsualEva Moskowitz raised $7.75 million dollars from her Wall Street and corporate backers at the second annual spring fundraiser for Success Academies.Think about that number for a minute - $7.75 million.Then, as she was thanking the governor and the legislature at her spring fundraiser for forcing New York City to either co-locate her schools
4-30-14 The Whole Child Blog — Food for Thought: What the SNAP Cuts Mean for Students and Schools — Whole Child Education
Food for Thought: What the SNAP Cuts Mean for Students and Schools — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGFood for Thought: What the SNAP Cuts Mean for Students and SchoolsApril 30, 2014 by Melanie OlmsteadResearch shows that students with access to good nutrition have higher school attendance records, are better able to focus, and are consistently more engaged than students with poor nutrit
Trouble ahead for local school bonds and parcel taxes? | EdSource Today
Trouble ahead for local school bonds and parcel taxes? | EdSource Today: Trouble ahead for local school bonds and parcel taxes?April 29th, 2014 | Add a Comment | By Mark Baldassare / commentary11Mark BaldassareThe elections this year offer the first statewide look at Californians’ willingness to raise revenue for their local schools since passage of Proposition 30, the tax initiative to benefit ed
NYC Educator: Arwen Receives a Common-Core Aligned Letter
NYC Educator: Arwen Receives a Common-Core Aligned Letter: Arwen Receives a Common-Core Aligned LetterI arrived home from work the other evening to find the following letter awaiting me in my mailbox.  I had heard about the cancellation of the Kindergarten play in Elwood, Long Island, but all that had seemed so far away.  As you might well imagine, as you read below, I was somewhat startled by the
Cry for Newark | Bob Braun's Ledger
Cry for Newark | Bob Braun's Ledger: Cry for NewarkGrace Sergio: “What more do we need to do?”Sad. There’s a word rarely heard in the context of the state’s war on Newark’s neighborhood public schools. Sad. Yet the story of how a cruelly tone-deaf state bureaucrat named Cami Anderson is singlehandedly destroying a community’s neighborhood schools is just that. Sad.  And nothing more illustrates th
SBAC Offers Answers to My Queries About the Common Core Tests :: Frederick M. Hess
SBAC Offers Answers to My Queries About the Common Core Tests :: Frederick M. Hess: SBAC Offers Answers to My Queries About the Common Core Testsby Frederick M. Hess  •  Apr 30, 2014 at 8:47 amCross-posted from Education WeekA few weeks ago, I asked three questions about how confident we should be that the results of the new, quasi-national, computer-assisted Common Core tests will be valid and re
Shanker Blog » We Can't Just Raise Expectations
Shanker Blog » We Can't Just Raise Expectations: We Can’t Just Raise ExpectationsPosted by Esther Quintero on April 30, 2014What exactly is “a culture of high expectations” and how is it created? In fact, what are expectations? I ask these questions because I hear this catchphrase a lot, but it doesn’t seem like the real barriers to developing such a culture are well understood. If we are serious

YESTERDAY

The Liberal Education Reform Revolt | Jacobin
The Liberal Education Reform Revolt | Jacobin: The Liberal Education Reform Revolt7.31.13by Lois WeinerAre liberals finally ready to oppose neoliberal education reform?(Katrina Ohstrom / Jacobin)An eloquent call to “reclaim the conversation” challenges leading liberal educators to repudiate their involvement in what’s being called “corporate school reform.” We finally see liberal activists opposin
4-29-14 Ed Notes Online: LA Dreamin: Alex Caputo-Pearl Wins Run-Off for Presidency with 80% Over Incumbent Warren Fletcher
Ed Notes Online: LA Dreamin: Alex Caputo-Pearl Wins Run-Off for Presidency with 80% Over Incumbent Warren Fletcher: LA Dreamin: Alex Caputo-Pearl Wins Run-Off for Presidency with 80% Over Incumbent Warren FletcherBreaking: Alex Caputo-Pearl, the Union Power candidate for UTLA President, just defeated Warren Fletcher, the incumbent UTLA President, in the run-off election, winning 80% of the vote, c
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: 20,000 homeless CPS students. Not an 'excuse' but a reality.
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: 20,000 homeless CPS students. Not an 'excuse' but a reality.: 20,000 homeless CPS students. Not an 'excuse' but a reality.Homeless Jesus statue unveiled in Chicago. But 20,000 homeless students remain invisible. I and many others have been trying to make the case for years, that children's lived experiences outside of school have as great, or even greater impact on m
The Table of Contents to My Book | deutsch29
The Table of Contents to My Book | deutsch29: The Table of Contents to My BookApril 29, 2014On April 27, 2014, I announced publication of my book, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education.I realize that the Amazon.com listing of my book currently lacks the interactive component allowing shoppers the opportunity to “look inside” the book.So, I have decided to o
Gerald Bracey: The Hatchet Job On Linda Darling-Hammond
Gerald Bracey: The Hatchet Job On Linda Darling-Hammond: The Hatchet Job On Linda Darling-HammondWhen Senator Clinton was still a candidate for president, both she and Senator Obama sought counsel from an educator friend of mine. He told them both not to say anything about education. No matter what you say, he told me that he told them, you're going to make a lot of people mad (he made his point i
Nite Cap 4-29-14 #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 CAP4-29-13 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": “Parental Advice To Education Policy Makers”Parental Advice To Education Policy Makers is




SACRAMENTO Education rally to protest Common Core State Standards | Local News - KCRA Home

Education rally to protest Common Core State Standards | Local News - KCRA Home:



Education rally to protest Common Core State Standards

Protesters back bill allowing districts to opt out










 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —As school districts across California prepare for the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, a concerned group of citizens is holding a rally at the state Capitol to protest the new requirements.

Hundreds are expected at the 10 a.m. rally on the southeast side of the Capitol building.
The event is organized by Democrats Against Common Core, Californians United Against Common Core and Eagle Forum of California.
The groups call the new standards a privately backed, federal takeover of the state-run education system.
California is among 45 states that have adopted the standards designed to establish nationwide objectives for all schools.
Backers of the new standards said until now, there has not been a way to make sure students from different districts and different states were meeting the same education goals.
Protesters scheduled Wednesday's rally just ahead of an Education Committee hearing at 1:30 p.m.
Assembly Bill 2307 will be heard at the hearing. The bill would give local school districts the option to opt out of the Common Core Standards that are to be implemented by the 2014-15 school year.
Protesters argue implementation of the standards will cost $1.6 billion.
California State Superintendent Tom Torlakson said the standards are designed to make sure students across the state and the nation are held to the same standards that encourage critical thinking.
"Instead of the old bubble test, we’re measuring critical thinking, problem solving, good communication skills, it’s heading in the right direction and then CA adopted its own reforms, the governor’s local control funding formula, which invest more resources to the districts that need the help the most," said Torlakson.
Lydia Gutierrez is on the list of speakers at the Capitol rally. She is running against Torlakson for the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.


Read more: http://www.kcra.com/news/education-rally-to-protest-common-core-state-standards/25732184#ixzz30PIkO6P6

Cowen report: Sharp academic growth defies New Orleans’ widespread poverty | The Lens

Cowen report: Sharp academic growth defies New Orleans’ widespread poverty | The Lens:



Cowen report: Sharp academic growth defies New Orleans’ widespread poverty

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Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991

Eighty-four percent of New Orleans students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of poverty. That’s up 9 percent from the 2004-2005 school year.
And yet the average school performance score in New Orleans has risen by 41 percent during that same period, according to areport released Wednesday by Tulane’s Cowen Institute, a research and policy arm focused on public education.
Louisiana saw a statewide increase in low-income students comparable to New Orleans’ but the city’s academic improvement was far greater. The statewide average score rose by 16 percent.
The report, which uses Feb. 1 state enrollment data, seemingly debunks the myth that poverty and high academic performance are mutually exclusive and highlights the success of New Orleans’ effort to upgrade its school system since Hurricane Katrina.
It also shows that the city’s impoverished students aren’t distributed equally among its schools. More than 90 percent of students in schools run directly by the Orleans Parish School Board come from low-income households as do students in the Recovery School District’s charter schools. But fewer than half the students at charters run by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education are low-income, and only about 66 percent of those attending OPSB charters fall into that category.
The report asserted that New Orleans’ free and reduced-lunch population is higher than that of eight other urban districts, though in some cases the data from other cities was not as current as the data from New Orleans.
Cowen Institute policy director Jonah Evans said Wednesday the data cited in the report were the most recent that researchers could find and that the report was being updated accordingly.
The new data do not undermine the report’s central observation — that New Orleans academic achievement is extraordinary given high rates of poverty.

The Myths of Technology Series – “Technology equals engagement” | Connected Principals

The Myths of Technology Series – “Technology equals engagement” | Connected Principals:



The Myths of Technology Series – “Technology equals engagement”

For ISTE 2014 in Atlanta, I will be presenting on the “Myths of Technology and Learning”. As I am really thinking about what I will be sharing at the conference, I wanted to write a series of blog posts that will help myself and others “rethink” some of these statements or arguments that you hear in relation to technology in school.  I will be writing a series of blog posts on different myths, and will be posting them on this page.  I hope to generate discussion on these topics to further my own learning in this area and appreciate any comments you have on each idea shared.
Myth One; Technology Equals Engagement
I saw the picture below shared online, and I will have to admit, it made me laugh.
Screen Shot 2014-01-30 at 12.44.03 PM
Often you hear statements from educators, such as “when the kids are on the computer, they are so engaged”.  Sometimes it is true in the initial stages of trying something for the first time.  I have even see students insanely excited their first few times on “typing” programs, yet that quickly wears off when the mindlessness of the task presents itself.  As educators, we have to be able to differentiate between “novelty” and “engagement”; they often look the same at the beginning, but one will quickly fade.
The other idea that we need to focus on is the notion of “engagement” in itself.  There is a strong difference between “engaging” a student and “empowering” them.  “Engagement” to me, seems like something that we often try to provide for our students, yet “empowerment” seems to be focusing on having students provide for themselves.  Yet the notion of “engagement” is so much better than the idea of “compliance.  Thinking about these three terms (compliance, engagement, and empowerment), the following ideas stick out to me on what each represents.
Compliance – Do this because I told you.
Engagement – Do this because you are excited.
Empowerment – Do this because you have the power to do something meaningful for yourself.
So if we want to get to this idea of “empowering” our students, we are not going to have to be The Myths of Technology Series – “Technology equals engagement” | Connected Principals:

The Pursuit Of The Magic Education Metric

The Pursuit Of The Magic Education Metric:



Education Opportunity Network -




 The Pursuit Of The Magic Education Metric

To address the nation’s struggling economy, the Obama administration has announced a bold proposal to require states to provide more useful data about the career success of business and financial executives who graduate from the nation’s colleges and universities with degrees in finance, accounting, and business administration. Armed with this data, the administration plans to use tens of millions

APR 23

4/23/2014 – Parental Advice To Education Policy Makers
April 23, 2014 Subscribe THIS WEEK: English Learning Neglected … Bullying Effects Last … Most Teachers Not “Engaged” … TFA Takes Teachers’ Jobs … Public Schools Out-Perform Voucher Schools TOP STORY Parental Advice To Education Policy Makers By Jeff Bryant “A recent spate of new research studies have revealed current education policies … as being dangerously misaligned with parenting and the mu
Parental Advice To Education Policy Makers
For most children, their first teacher is a parent or primary caregiver. And most teachers will tell you that parent behaviors in the home affect student learning in schools. So it would make sense to make sure education policy isn’t strongly at odds with what we know about good parenting. However a recent spate of new research studies have revealed current education policies – particularly high-s

APR 16

4/16/2014 – Education Reform’s Biggest Bust
April 16, 2014 Subscribe THIS WEEK: Reform Harms Civic Engagement … Public School Advantage … Digital Divide In Schools … Teens Can’t Find Work … More College Students Battle Hunger TOP STORY Are Teacher Evaluations Education ‘Reform’s’ Biggest Bust? By Jeff Bryant “Just this week, a key underpinning to the whole teacher evaluation program pushed by the Obama administration was cast into doubt
Are Teacher Evaluations Education ‘Reform’s’ Biggest Bust?
Would you like your job performance judged by a five-year-old? That’s a relevant question for public school teachers in Hawaii, where the state’s new teacher evaluation system attributes ten percent of their job performance rating on what children as young as 5 years old think. Although ten percent may not seem like a whole lot, in a metric based evaluation system where harsh judgments of “effecti

APR 10

4/10/2014 – America’s Biggest Failures
April 10, 2014 Subscribe THIS WEEK: Poverty Saps Instructional Time … Why Let Kids Make Rules … Chicago Charter Schools Are No Better … Do E-Books Harm Reading Comprehension … For-Profit College Capture Washington, DC TOP STORY Testing Season Reveals America’s Biggest Failures By Jeff Bryant “It’s testing season in America, and regardless of how the students do, it’s clear who is already flunki
Test Season Reveals America’s Biggest Failures
It’s testing season in America, and regardless of how the students do, it’s clear who is already flunking the exams. Last week in New York, new standardized tests began rolling out across the state, and tens of thousands of families said “no dice.” According to local news sources, over 33,000 students skipped the tests – a figure “that will probably rise.” At one Brooklyn school, so many parents o

Video: What Does RESPECT Mean?–Vote today for a new union leadership to defend public education | I AM AN EDUCATOR

Video: What Does RESPECT Mean?–Vote today for a new union leadership to defend public education | I AM AN EDUCATOR:



Video: What Does RESPECT Mean?–Vote today for a new union leadership to defend public education

Voting has begun!
I am running for president of the Seattle Education Association (SEA) with a dozen other educators on the RESPECT ticket.  We want to transform our union to become a powerful force to defend public education from corporate education reformers. Many of us were leaders in the MAP test boycott and we all believe that a union that builds partnerships with parents and community organizations can achieve the contract educators deserve, the schools our children deserve, and the city our families deserve. If you believe in our vision, please donate to support our campaign here. In this video we explain our vision for what RESPECT means and how to achieve it:



Please share this video widely and ask any educator you know in Seattle to consider voting for our slate of candidates.  Seattle educators can cast–or change–their vote unit voting closes on Wednesday, May 7th. Information on the candidates and instructions for SEA members on how to vote are here.
It is time to Elect RESPECT!