Morning Wink 5-19-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-19-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Bob Braun: Cami Will Lay Off 500, including 200 TeachersThe election for Mayor of Newark is over, but state-appointed superintendent Cam Anderson reminds everyone she is still in charge of the schools. Bob Braun reports that Cami will cut 500 Newark public schools employees, “including 200 teaching positions, 200 central office emp

by mike simpson / 0min 

The Language of School “Reform” Distracts Us from the Needs of Children and Their Schools | janresseger

The Language of School “Reform” Distracts Us from the Needs of Children and Their Schools | janresseger: The Language of School “Reform” Distracts Us from the Needs of Children and Their SchoolsPosted on May 19, 2014 by janressegerDespite its name, if you drive along Lakeview Road between St. Clair and Superior  in Cleveland, Ohio, you cannot see Lake Erie.  Today your view will be of boarded up h

by mike simpson / 3min 

5-19-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet: Haverford commencement speaker calls some students ‘immature’ and arrogant’The commencement address at Haverford College in Pennsylvania wasn’t your typical commencement address on Sunday. One of the speeches at the event was delivered by William G. Bowen, the former president of Princeton University, who was chosen after the first choice for speaker, Robert J. Birgeneau, became

by mike simpson / 6min 

5-19-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Stats on People Who Pushing Making Money Off Public SchoolsFrom Diane Ravitch:  The trade journal Alpha recently reported that the hedge fund industry’s top 25 earners collected $21.15 billion, a whopping 50 percent over their total the year before.A hedge fund manager in 2013 needed to take in $300 million just to make the top 25. Ten years ago, in 2004, an aspiri

by mike simpson / 8min 

5-19-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: Madeloni Beats TURNcoat Paul Toner for MTA PresidentAmazing and wonderful!  From CPS: Congratulations to Barbara Madeloni, president-elect, and Janet Anderson, vice president-elect of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Madeloni, the former director of the Secondary Teacher Education Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was elected at the MTA's annual meeting of

by mike simpson / 11min 

5-19-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Learn About Synonyms & The World Cup In My Latest NY Times Post For ELLsLearn about synonyms and the World Cup in my latest New York Times post for English Language Learners. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil. You can see all my previous 40 NY Times posts here.by Larry Ferla

by mike simpson / 14min 

5-19-14 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.: Drugs in the war on poor kids.“For now, we’re left with one of the ironies of income inequality: a rare instance of poor children getting more of something than they need.” More than 10,000 American children ages 2 and 3 are being medicated for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). They are

by mike simpson / 16min 

5-19-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: UFT Contract - What's Missing - How About Discipline?The amount of short-sighted "trust" the UFT/Unity crowd is giving this administration is astounding. We have learned from almost 50 years in the UFT - if it's not in the contract, there are no guarantees -- even if it's in the contract, many have learned that the loose language and loopholes allows the DOE to drive tru

by mike simpson / 18min 

5-19-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: An Open Letter to TFAers Tempted to Diagnose ADHD, Among Other IssuesDear Teach for America (TFA) Corps Member: In 1985, I graduated from high school. So did TFA founder, Wendy Kopp. She and I happen to be only five weeks apart in age. In April 2014, I published a book. Kopp has her own chapter. She attended college at Princeton from 1985-89. I also attended college, at […]5 by d

by mike simpson / 22min 

5-19-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs

With A Brooklyn Accent: Should Labor Historians Encourage A Boycott of Teach for America?In the last few years, Teach for America has gone out of its way to send its Corps members into cities which have fired large numbers of veteran union teachers- among them Chicago, Newark and Washington DC. Basically, the organization has become a source of replacement labor for cities seeking to close schools

by mike simpson / 25min 

empathyeducates – School Closures: A New Version of Separate and Unequal

empathyeducates – School Closures: A New Version of Separate and Unequal: School Closures: A New Version of Separate and UnequalPhotograph; Students walk through the Loop March 25, 2013, to protest plan to close 50 Chicago elementary schools. | Scott Olson/Getty ImagesYour Take: Sixty years after Brown v. Board of Education, black communities are fighting a new threat that is destroying educationa

by mike simpson / 27min 

5-18-13 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION: Rigorizing Eight Year OldsOne of the most odious policies to emerge from the Reformster swamp is the mandatory retention of all third graders who don't pass the Big Test in reading. And now Mary Laura Bragg, the director of Florida's program, has popped up to help us all understand just how anti-child this policy is.She has popped up in North Carolina (motto: Strapping schools to a

by mike simpson / 28min 

5-19-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: John Liu To Run Against Tony Avella In PrimaryFrom Ken Lovett at the Daily News: Former City Controller John Liu has decided to run for state Senate, a source close to him told the Daily News. Liu, 47, will primary Queens Democrat incumbent Tony Avella, who angered party leaders earlier this year by joining a faction of breakaway Dems who jointly control the Senate with the

by mike simpson / 30min 

Is DR Alison Coviello; Principal and Ed.D Stalling Complying With Discovery? southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com: Is DR Alison Coviello; Principal and Ed.D Stalling Complying With Discovery?Discovery is;A category of procedural devices employed by a party to a civil or criminal action, prior to trial, to require the adverse party to disclose information that is essential for the preparation of the requesting party's case and that the other party alone knows or possesses.Simple

by mike simpson / 33min 

New Phrase Emerges to Describe Anti-Common Coreites: “Barbarians at the Gate” | Missouri Education Watchdog

New Phrase Emerges to Describe Anti-Common Coreites: “Barbarians at the Gate” | Missouri Education Watchdog: New Phrase Emerges to Describe Anti-Common Coreites: “Barbarians at the Gate”inShareDefinition of Barbarians at the Gate: deal makers and publicity flaks….industrial powerhouse…savage fight for the control of RJT Nabisco, the largest takeover in Wall Street History.THAT’S how Arizona Superi

by mike simpson / 36min 

An Open Letter to TFAers Tempted to Diagnose ADHD, Among Other Issues | deutsch29

An Open Letter to TFAers Tempted to Diagnose ADHD, Among Other Issues | deutsch29: An Open Letter to TFAers Tempted to Diagnose ADHD, Among Other IssuesMay 18, 2014Dear Teach for America (TFA) Corps Member:In 1985, I graduated from high school. So did TFA founder, Wendy Kopp. She and I happen to be only five weeks apart in age.In April 2014, I published a book. Kopp has her own chapter.She attende

by mike simpson / 46min 

Reclaim the Promise of Brown v. Board | Randi Weingarten

Reclaim the Promise of Brown v. Board | Randi Weingarten: Reclaim the Promise of Brown v. BoardHow is it that, 60 years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision that ended the legal basis for separate but equal schooling, some public schools in the United States have gleaming labs, libraries and laptops while others lack textbooks, toilet paper and teachers certified in their subjects? What

by mike simpson / 56min 

NYC Educator: Will the New Contract Divide and Conquer?

NYC Educator: Will the New Contract Divide and Conquer?: Will the New Contract Divide and Conquer?Is the name of U.F.T.'s Unity an oxymoron?  Does Unity fail to see how the new contract will divide and conquer its own constituency or has it intentionally planned it this way?   A.T.R.s will be separated from the rest of the rank and file by a seemingly second-class system of due process.  They seem

by mike simpson / 1h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES 60 years after Brown

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES 60 years after Brown: WEEKEND QUOTABLES 60 years after BrownGrandparent Ollie Clements at Gresham sit-inDonna Brazile "Sixty years later, 'separate and unequal' is still alive...privatizing our school systems results in increased segregation, not improved opportunities." -- CNNGary YoungeRacism is far more than old white men using the N-wo

by mike simpson / 1h 

Opposing visions for education on view in state superintendent race - Los Angeles Times

Opposing visions for education on view in state superintendent race - Los Angeles Times: Opposing visions for education on view in state superintendent raceState superintendent candidate Marshall Tuck shakes hands with opponent Lydia Gutierrez and incumbent Tom Torlakson following a candidates forum in Los Angeles. Each of the candidates represents vastly different views on how to improve student

by mike simpson / 1h 

YESTERDAY

Nite Cap 5-18-14 #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 CAP5-18-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacherFred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Sunday reads.Pension theft is now called “pension smoothing.” You never would

by mike simpson / 15h 

5-18-14 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.: Sunday reads.Pension theft is now called “pension smoothing.” You never would have thought I would have good words to say about principals. But I’m never too old to change. The gathering resistance to standardized tests. Danny Glover on Freedom Summer. Rahm’s fundraising loop-hole is very lucrative. I

by mike simpson / 16h 

empathyeducates – When Racism Slips Into Everyday Speech

empathyeducates – When Racism Slips Into Everyday Speech: When Racism Slips Into Everyday SpeechGeneric image | THINKSTOCKBy The Root Staff | Originally Published at ,/em>The Root. May 15 2014 3:00 AMUsing these common words and phrases with questionable histories just might make you sound like an accidental racist.A recent NPR story revealed the disturbing and shockingly racist origins of the cat

by mike simpson / 16h 

Rally atThe Gates foundationJune 26, 2014Meet at Westlake Center at 5:00 PMSponsored by the Washington BATS - Home

Rally atThe Gates foundationJune 26, 2014Meet at Westlake Center at 5:00 PMSponsored by the Washington BATS - Home: Our vision:Is to include the voices of students, parents, teachers and  our communities in the process of ensuring public schools are centered on this vision:Students deserve the universal right to learn in a manner that allows them to find and develop their highest potential as func

by mike simpson / 18h 

5-18-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum: School Road Safety Public Input WorkshopsFrom the City of Seattle:Simply THE most important road safety meetings you can attend this year @SeattleDOT School Road Safety. Why? Starting in 2015, the School Road Safety Plan will prioritize millions in safety improvements every year around our schools. **Tuesday, May 20 at 6 PM to 7:30 PM SW Southwest Branch Seattle Pu

by mike simpson / 19h 

5-18-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida ALL Week

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: The End to Step Up for Students Lobbying and Political Activity With Taxpayer Money: Not ExactlyJournalist turned Step Up for Students  (SUFS) executive Ron Matus is touting that they already have “started” applications for over 100,000 students for Florida’s tax credit

by mike simpson / 19h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 5-18-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Op-Ed: HOW AN ECONOMICS PROFESSOR TAUGHT ME A LIFE-CHANGING LESSON – IN LITERATUREby MILES CORWIN, Op-Ed in the LA Times | http://lat.ms/1gWAdis Sean Kelly / For The Times May 18, 2014  ::  Every spring, during college graduation season, I think about a former professor who uttered two astonishing sentences that changed the course of my life. I was a di

by mike simpson / 19h 

EVAAS’s SAS Inc.: “The Frackers of the Educational World” |

EVAAS’s SAS Inc.: “The Frackers of the Educational World” |: EVAAS’s SAS Inc.: “The Frackers of the Educational World” David Patten, a former history teacher, college instructor, and author, recently wrote an exceelent article for the History News Network about VAMs in his state of Ohio (another state that uses the Education Value-Added Assessment System [EVAAS] statewide). He writes about what th

by mike simpson / 19h 

5-18-14 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman: Chris Christie: Lying Liar, or Completely Clueless?Give The Auditor, the Star-Ledger's weekly political insider column, credit for catching Chris Christie's latest lie - although, in my opinion, this merits much stronger language:Gov. Chris Christie joined an exclusive club last week — governors who get shellacked with six downgrades of their state’s credit rating. The only other m

1 by mike simpson / 22h 

5-18-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet: The famous Steve Jobs commencement speech: ‘Stay hungry. Stay foolish.’During commencement season, it’s fun to look back at some of the great speeches. If you are interested in reading what I have declared to be the greatest commencement speech ever, click here. And below is one of the most famous, the address delivered by Steve Jobs at Stanford University on June 12, 2005. The v

1 by mike simpson / 22h hide  //  save

Morning Wink 5-18-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTSLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-18-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for allDiane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: The Nation Investigates: Teacher Jail in Los AngelesAre classrooms overflowing with sexual predators? Some school leaders in Los Angeles think they are. The Nation reports on a special investiga

by mike simpson / 23h

2nd Banana 5-17-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

2nd Banana 5-10-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 5-3-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 4-26-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

2nd Banana 4-19-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

2nd Banana 4-12-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

2nd Banana 4-5-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

Nite Cap 5-18-14

Nite Cap 5-17-14

Nite Cap 5-16-14

Nite Cap 5-15-14

Nite Cap 5-14-14

Nite Cap 5-13-14

Nite Cap 5-12-14

Nite Cap 5-11-14

Nite Cap 5-10-14

Nite Cap 5-9-14

Nite Cap 5-8-14

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-19-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Weingarten and Darling-Hammond Call for a New Accoutability

Randi Weingarten and Linda Darling-Hammond have co-authored a major new statement on accountability. They write that: “If we assume that the goal of accountability should be better education, the test-and-punish approach must be replaced by a support-and-improve model. A new approach should ensure that students get what they really need: 1) curriculum, teaching, and assessment focused on meaning

3 by dianeravitch / 10min 

Strauss: What Does Arne Think of New VAM Studies?

Valerie Strauss notes the growing number of studies that debunk the value of judging teacher quality by the rise or fall of test scores, and naturally she wondered what Secretary Arne Duncan thought about them. There was the report of the American Statistical Association, which said: l “VAMs should be viewed within the context of quality improvement, which distinguishes aspects of quality that can

1 by dianeravitch / 1h 

Bob Braun: Cami Will Lay Off 500, including 200 Teachers

The election for Mayor of Newark is over, but state-appointed superintendent Cam Anderson reminds everyone she is still in charge of the schools. Bob Braun reports that Cami will cut 500 Newark public schools employees, “including 200 teaching positions, 200 central office employees, and nearly 100 non-instructional workers, including clerks and aides. The resulting layoffs will follow tenure and

3 by dianeravitch / 24min 

Peter Goodman: The Only Way Obama Can Avoid Defeat in November is to Fire Arne

Peter Goodman, a political analyst who is close to the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, concludes that the November elections are looking increasingly bleak for President Obama and the Democrats. It is beginning to look like Democrats could lose control of the Senate, which would leave Obama with little more than veto power. This could have serious consequences. Credit Obama with t

2 by dianeravitch / 24min 

Another Principal in Chicago Speaks Out Against Political Interference

A few days ago, I posted a letter by Troy LaRavalierre, a principal in a Chicago elementary school, protesting the administration’s indifference to the views of the system’s professionals. He wrote boldly about efforts to stifle criticism and enforce a compliant attitude. Happily he is not alone. Another principal Adam Parrott-Scheffer, principal of Peterson Elementary School, has joined in prote

2 by dianeravitch / 1h hide  //  save

Peter Greene: Why the U.S. DOE Will Soon Send an Ambassador to YOU

Peter Greene is convinced that Arne Duncan is about to launch a series of new Ambassador programs, to spread the good word about the GREAT job that he is doing. Why hide your light beneath a bushel or a barrel or a boxcar when the DOE has so many successful initiatives (especially if you work in its public relations department)? Greene says keep your eyes peeled for these great initiatives: “Am

4 by dianeravitch / 2h 

Katie Zahedi Explains Why Many Educators Reject PISA

Educator Katie Zahedi and Professor Heinz Dieter Meyer wrote a letter critical of PISA’s emphasis on high-stakes testing and global competition. The letter has been translated into several languages and has gathered more than 1,000 signatures. Andreas Schleicher, director of PISA, disagreed with their letter and denied their critique. Since it is impossible to draft a response by more than 1,000

7 by dianeravitch / 3h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-18-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: The Nation Investigates: Teacher Jail in Los AngelesAre classrooms overflowing with sexual predators? Some school leaders in Los Angeles think they are. The Nation reports on a special investigation where teachers are challenged to clear their names. It starts here with the question of how teachers can prove their innocence. “Iris

by mike simpson / 7h 

The Language of School “Reform” Distracts Us from the Needs of Children and Their Schools | janresseger

The Language of School “Reform” Distracts Us from the Needs of Children and Their Schools | janresseger:

The Language of School “Reform” Distracts Us from the Needs of Children and Their Schools

Posted on May 19, 2014 by janresseger

Despite its name, if you drive along Lakeview Road between St. Clair and Superior  in Cleveland, Ohio, you cannot see Lake Erie.  Today your view will be of boarded up houses.  About a third of the two-family  houses that line Lakeview and the sidestreets that cross it are boarded up. If you go to Zillow’s real estate map, you’ll find that most of these houses are listed as “foreclosed–auction.”   There are lots covered with weeds or grass where there used to be houses before the foreclosure crisis.  Sometimes enterprising neighbors have planted a garden in an empty lot next door.  There is a four block interval between the recently bulldozed lots that were once the sites of two different public elementary schools—boarded up for years before they were demolished.  The most viable institution is St. Aloysius Catholic Church at the corner of St. Clair Avenue, but the only other two institutions left on this mile-long stretch of Lakeview itself are a convenience store surrounded by cracked asphalt and gravel, and the Virtual School House, a charter school that advertises on the back of Regional Transit Authority buses.  The Virtual School House occupies an ancient, decrepit nursing home that was toured several years ago by a not-for-profit group considering it for rehab as permanent supportive housing for the homeless, but the building wasn’t really considered suitable.

I have driven along Lakeview Road twice in the past month.  Both times I have thought about the children living in this neighborhood.  I know that their standardized test scores are likely lower than we would wish at the public school that is much farther away than before Lakeview Road’s schools were demolished.  I am certain their school is considered a “failing” school.  Low-performing.  In need of turnaround.  Perhaps closure.  I have thought about the irony, on my trips down Lakeview Road, that these days we are likely to define the “education problem” in such neighborhoods as the teachers.  Our policies blame those who would choose to teach here.  Schools in our cities fail these days because of teachers’ seniority rights and the cost of any raises they have been able to negotiate. It is all set up to benefit the adults at the The Language of School “Reform” Distracts Us from the Needs of Children and Their Schools | janresseger:

5-19-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:

Text of Jill Abramson’s commencement speech: ‘get on with your knitting’

Here is the text of the commencement speech that Jill Abramson, former executive editor of The New York Times, delivered on Monday at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, from the Wake Forest website.     I think the only real news here today is your graduation from this great university. First of all, congratulations. […]

3 by Valerie Strauss / 1h 

Jeb Bush bashes traditional public schools (again)

You can say this about Jeb Bush: When it comes to promoting charter schools and vouchers at the expense of traditional public schools, the former Florida governor and possible 2016 presidential candidate has long been consistent. He just did it again. Let’s look at what he said — and didn’t say. As governor from 1999-2007, Bush […]

by Valerie Strauss / 1min 

Jill Abramson tells graduates: ‘I’m in exactly the same boat as many of you’

Of all the commencement speeches being given this year at high schools, colleges and universities across the country, this was the one that got all the attention. Jill Abramson, the ousted executive editor of the New York Times, delivered the commencement speech today at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., her first public appearance since […]

3 by Valerie Strauss / 2h 

Haverford commencement speaker calls some students ‘immature’ and arrogant’

The commencement address at Haverford College in Pennsylvania wasn’t your typical commencement address on Sunday. One of the speeches at the event was delivered by William G. Bowen, the former president of Princeton University, who was chosen after the first choice for speaker, Robert J. Birgeneau, became the target of protesters and withdrew. Bowen, speaking before […]

10 by Valerie Strauss / 14h 

5-18-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet: The famous Steve Jobs commencement speech: ‘Stay hungry. Stay foolish.’During commencement season, it’s fun to look back at some of the great speeches. If you are interested in reading what I have declared to be the greatest commencement speech ever, click here. And below is one of the most famous, the address delivered by Steve Jobs at Stanford University on June 12, 2005. The v

1 by mike simpson / 6h