5-23-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

Marelli and Bruhn Publish Story of PS 241 in Harlem, a School Undermined by Bloomberg's Ed Deform

In 2001, the year Michael Bloomberg took control of New York City's Public Schools, P.S. 241 had millions of dollars in private donations, a waiting list and enrollment of 900 students. Today, P.S. 241 has an enrollment of only 100 students and is struggling to survive.... American Classroom: Portraits from a Public School in Harlem by Darren Marelli and Mollie BruhnAmerican Classroom is a must-re

by ed notes online / 31min 

Elfank-Dana: Video Formal Observations - Admins YES, Teachers No - Calls for UFT to Fix This

...my AP said today, “No video… It’s my call not yours and I don’t want this lesson videoed" .... the video is a saving grace for the strong teacher that happens to be a “trouble maker” for the principal ....it is clear from the informal observations the APs look for the glass half-empty. You’d think I was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of a teacher comparing my formal with informal observation re

by ed notes online / 1h hide  //  save

MORE UPdate - VOTE NO Then Attend a MORE Happy Hour Today

I'll be at Freddy's in Park Slope for the happy hour from 4-6 - just one of the many MORE happy hours around the city today -- see below.Reasons to VOTE NO: PDFs you can print and distribute for your colleagues:Tentative Agreement Fact Sheet Vote No Flyer Retro delayed is retro denied (Eterno) Why the wait is not over (Cavanagh) What happens if we vote it down? (Lamphere)Inform yourself about the

by ed notes online / 2h 

Newark Update: NEW Caucus report on Student Takeover and Baraka Goes After Ed Deform

Talk of taking back the city’s schools is the rhetoric that won Ras Baraka the election.... With Baraka’s win, Bill de Blasio’s November victory in New York, and former Washington, D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty’s stinging loss in 2010, due in large part to school chancellor Michelle Rhee’s unpopularity, the local control movement is having a moment.... Dana Goldstein, SlateThis is an interesting story (

by ed notes online / 2h 

5-22-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: UFT Contract: Roseanne McCosh, PS 8X, Urges Colleagues to Vote NOFormer Unity Caucus member slams UFT leadership and Unity.Norm---I wrote the below and it will go into teacher mailboxes. The majority in my school are voting NO and many of them will not attend the union meetings with UFT officials to hear bullshit.  The NO campaign at PS 8 was taken up by many teachers in my school

by mike simpson / 9h 

5-23-14 The Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

Firestorm erupts over teacher’s angry e-mail to legislators about low pay

An angry e-mail written by a teacher to North Carolina legislators with a subject line that said, “I am embarrassed to confess: I am a teacher,”  might have been seen only by recipients if it were not for state Sen. David Curtis. The Republican legislator fired back an inflammatory e-mail, giving her advice on what […]

by Valerie Strauss / 5min 

Egyptian teen attending science fair in U.S. defects, seeks asylum

A 17-year-old Egyptian science prodigy attending the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles this month decided to use the opportunity to defect and seek asylum in the United States out of fear that he would be arrested by authorities back home. The Los Angeles Times reported that Abdullah Assem was supposed to […]

by Valerie Strauss / 9min 

Texas superintendent tells parents: Your children’s standardized test scores don’t mean much

Paul Jones, superintendent of the Paris Independent School District in Texas, posted a  rather unusual letter  to parents on the district’s website. Jones informed parents that they would soon receive their children’s scores on state-mandated standardized tests and that they shouldn’t put very much stock into them. In fact, he told them they were part […]

by Valerie Strauss / 9min 

What ‘trigger warning’ would the Bible get?

 A ”trigger warning” is a short statement on a written piece of work or even a television show ( think Law and Order: Special Victims Unit)  noting that the material may be sexually graphic, violent or in some other way upsetting. This month The New York Times ran a story by Jennifer Medina  about the warnings that has sparked a […]

by Valerie Strauss / 6h

5-22-14 The Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: Guess how many memos USDA sent to schools about healthy school lunches?Federally funded school lunches have been in the news because Republicans in the U.S. House just voted to allow some schools to get a waiver from a law that requires lunches served to students to meet new health standards. Why? Apparently some schools can’t make enough money serving healthy foods because kids don’

by mike simpson / 6h 

5-23-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

“Putting the 2-Step Over the ISTEP," Doug Martin, Otter Creek Democrat Club, Terre Haute, IN., May 21, 2014

Here is the link to the video of my talk in Terre Haute, which is just over 16 minutes in length:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QlCX-I_m0o Hoosier School Heist author Doug Martin discusses his book and possible strategies Democrats in Vigo County can use to win the 2014 election.  A special thanks to Bob and Becky Salmon who run the Otter Creek Democrat Club. Topics:  Nancy Sauer School of The

1 by Doug Martin / 3h 

5-22-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: A Prelude to TN Bonus Pay ReportFrom a clip in the Memphis Commercial Appeal:The retention bonusTennessee offered last year to keep strong teachers in low-performing schools likely was a factor for more than 70 teachers who signed on for another year in inner-city schools, most of them in Memphis.Of the 365 teachers that took the state up on the offer, 20 percent of them are more l

by mike simpson / 2h 

5-23-14 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:

How Vouchers Killed Education Accountability for Florida Taxpayers

Writes Scott Maxwell in the Orlando Sentinel: “The Return of the Living Dead” was a hoot. “Shaun of the Dead” and “Zombieland” perfected the concept of Zom-Coms. And “Warm Bodies” — with its love story between a brain-eater and non-brain-eater — gave us the first truly effective Rom-Zom-Com. Still, despite all the blood, gore and even zombie dogs I’ve seen in my life, one of the most disturbing zo

by Bob Sikes / 3h 

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 / 3h 

5-23-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

“Ways To Develop A Teacher – School Counselor Partnership”

Ways To Develop A Teacher – School Counselor Partnership is my latest post at Education Week Teacher. Today’s post features suggestions from three exceptional educators on how to solidify the teacher/counselor partnership: Dean Vogel, counselor, teacher and President of the California Teachers Association (I am a proud member of CTA); Leticia Gallardo, who works at the school where I teach and who

by Larry Ferlazzo / 27min 

Infographic: “What Are The Hardest Languages to Learn?”

Explore more visuals like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

This Is One Of The Best Pieces I’ve Read On Teacher Evaluation: “The Problem with Outcome-Oriented Evaluations”

Thanks to Jack Schneider, I learned about a post by Ben Spielberg titled The Problem with Outcome-Oriented Evaluations. It’s a great piece on teacher evaluation, and reflects important points that are seldom raised in discussions on the topic. He described the value of evaluating inputs, as opposed to outputs. In other words, most teacher evaluation discussion is focused on measuring student outco

by Larry Ferlazzo / 8h 

5-22-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Resources On Ending The Year StrongI’ve got a nice collection of resources called The Best Ideas On How To Finish The School Year Strong…. Readers might find it useful.by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h hide  //  saveInfographic: “Many Languages One America”I’m adding this infographic to The Best “Language Maps”: Please include attribu

by mike simpson / 9h 

5-23-14 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.:

Ten minute drawing. Rauner’s private life and privatization.

1 by Fred Klonsky / 35min 

Mike Klonsky. The use and misuse of data to beat up on neighborhood schools, principals and teachers.

- Brother Mike breaks a story. There is no shortage of examples of the use and misuse of data to beat up on neighborhood schools, principals and teachers. But this one is pretty slimy. A must read. Are Prosser teachers ‘gaming the system’? Or is this reporter gaming them? “If anyone out there has been in Prosser for more than a second, they would see that you can’t make a Prosser teacher do anyth

1 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

CTU. Teachers, staff at Rogers Park elementary school learns of $300,000 in budget cuts on one-year anniversary of school closings

CTUnet: CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) received information from members today who learned this morning about pending budget cuts at Gale Math and Science Academy in Rogers Park. After reports last week that more than $300,000 in funding will be cut from the school by Chicago Public Schools in 2014-2015, Gale will also lose its librarian, technology teacher and two classroom teachers ne

by Fred Klonsky / 9min hide  //  save

Did you know Rauner cheated on his first wife? Not if you rely on corporate media.

You know all those cute million dollar media buys with Bruce Rauner and his current wife, the alleged Democrat Diana? By the way, Democrat Diana is a major Tea Party contributor. Anyway. On May 5th Business Insider ran a story about Rauner’s first marriage. Turns out he was cheat. Back in the 90s they called this having a paramour. Apparently Rauner got that condo in the City for more reasons tha

3 by Fred Klonsky / 38min 

The Chicago Way.

With a gun or a pen. Chicago is still Chicago. County Board President Toni Preckwinkle went down to Springfield yesterday seeking support for her pension theft. And to nobody’s surprise, she got it from the mobsters in the General Assemby and from their capo di tutti capo, Mike Madigan. Preckwinkle said the legislators were “remarkably receptive” to her plan for cutting Cook County employee pensi

by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

5-22-14 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.: Jim Popham’s Tractable Teacher Evaluation.. Jim Popham at NEPC.by Fred Klonsky / 1h hide  //  saveChris Christie’s pension pay to play and how pension theft is a national scandal.I have been accused of making Illinois’ pension theft too big a deal. Some have suggested that Illinois’ pension theft is j

by mike simpson / 9h