LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-26-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Peter Goodman Watches as David Coleman Shows Off

David Coleman, as everyone knows, is the architect of the Common Core. He is hot stuff. Peter Goodman, observer of Néw York politics, saw Coleman strutting and preening. He says he wanted to be a high school teacher, but went to McKinsey instead. Then he became an eduentrepreneur and started the Grow Network, which was a way to track student performance data. The word on the street is that he sol

1 by dianeravitch / 43min 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Someone, Please Tell US DOE about 10th Amendment

Missouri Education Watchdog is a wonderful blog that I discovered only recently.   In this post, these questions are raised: why doesn’t the U.S. Department of Education know about the tenth amendment to the Constitution? Why, under Arne Duncan, is the DOE unaware of federalism? Why is the DOE constantly overstepping its bounds, trying to impose its ideas not only on states but on districts? Don’t

by dianeravitch / 9min 

EduShyster: When Do Parents. Have No Choice But Choice?

EduShyster asks the curious but important question: What happens when parents are told that they must have school choice, whether they want it or not? What happens if they want a neighborhood public school but authorities tell them they are not allowed to have that choice? What if the elites decide that other people’s children must choose a “no excuses” charter school even if they don’t choose it?

1 by dianeravitch / 18min 

Story of the Day: Education Entrepreneurs Set to Disrupt Our Schools for Their Profit

This is the most important article you will read this week, this month, maybe this year. Lee Fang, a brilliant investigative reporter at the Nation Institute, documents the rise and growth of the new for-profit education industry. They seek out ways to make money by selling products to the schools, developing new technologies for the Common Core, writing lucrative leasing deals for charter school

17 by dianeravitch / 36min hide  //  save

My Choice for Governor and Lt. Governor of New York: Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones

I am casting a protest vote for the first time in my life. I am voting for the candidates of the Green Party, Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones. I voted for Zephyr Teachout in the Democratic primary for three reasons: her position on education, on public integrity, and on the environment. And these are the reasons I will cast my ballot in November for the Green Party. I like their platform on the issu

7 by dianeravitch / 1h

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-25-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Ladd and Fiske: NC Legislators Quietly Alter Public School FundingProfessor Helen Ladd of Duke University, internationally renowned economist of education, and her husband Edward Fiske, former education editor of the New York Times, recently wrote about a sneaky move by the North Carolina legislature to undermine the funding of chi

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

9-26-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

The Secret to Eva Moskowitz’s ‘Success’

Another curious fact about Success Academy is the attrition of both students and teachers. For schools that are widely acclaimed, this is surprising indeed. Why do so many students and teachers leave?... What we can learn from Success Academy is that it is possible to winnow out the most intractable students and be left with the best and most compliant ones by selective attrition. But that is no m

1 by ed notes online / 2h hide  //  save

NYC Teacher Steve Ryan's Play - A Beautiful Mourning - At Manhattan Rep Theatre Oct. 16, 17

The boy can act, sing dance - and now we learn Steve Ryan, a teacher at Leon Goldstein HS in Brooklyn, a colleague and pal of Kit Wainer and Mike Schirtzer (and a MORE supporter) can also write. His play will be featured at Manhattan Rep for 2 days next month. Steve is also appearing this weekend (tonight, tomorrow and Sunday matinee) in Godspell at the RTC. One of the fun things is when Steve's s

4 by ed notes online / 2h 

YESTERDAY

Kathleen Elvin and AP Emily Crevling Use Terror Tactics to Intimidate

This comment on our earlier post (John Dewey Principal Kathleen Elvin Discontinues Iraq War Vet and Mother) provides some more detail on the reasons behind the discontinued Iraq war vet and mom. Are Elvin and Crevling the local version of ISIS, using this teacher as a hostage in retaliation for actions taken by the union - beheading the teacher, economically, by taking her job.The actions of Princ

3 by ed notes online / 9h 

9-25-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: John Dewey Principal Kathleen Elvin Discontinues Iraq War Vet and Mother “We’re sorry you won’t have health insurance for your child and thank you for serving your country. You’re fired!” • Single Mother• Iraq War Veteran • Teaching for Only Four MonthsThis is who Elvin and the AP of English wanted to terminate this past June. Termination would have meant that she could no longer

1 by mike simpson / 18min 

9-26-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

September’s Best Posts From This Blog

I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see older Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month (more recent lists can be found here). Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this pas

7 by Larry Ferlazzo / 45min 

Infographic On Storytelling

I’m adding this infographic to The Best Digital (& Non-Digital) Storytelling Resources: Please include attribution to http://www.anecdote.com/ with this graphic.

8 by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

PBS NewsHour Video: “Backlog of children’s immigration cases challenges judges, lawyers and schools”

The PBS NewsHour had an episode tonight on the effect the children’s refugee crisis is having on American schools — focusing in on Miami. You can read the transcript here, and I’ve embedded the video below. I’m adding this info to The Best Resources For Learning About The Children Refugee Crisis At The U.S. Southern Border.

8 by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

September’s (2014) Best Tweets — Part Four

Every month I make a few short lists highlighting my choices of the best resources I through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. I’ve already shared in earlier posts several new resources I found on Twitter — and where I gave credit to those from whom I learned about them. Those are not included again in post. If you don’t use Twitter, you can

8 by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

9-25-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: September’s Infographics & Interactives Galore – Part FourThere are just so many good infographics and interactives out there that I’ve begun a new semi-regular feature called “Infographics & Interactives Galore.” You can see others at A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Infographics and by searching “infographics”

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

9-26-14 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.:

Pot.

2 by Fred Klonsky / 19min

A pension crisis since 1917? Eric Madiar, chief counsel to the Senate Democrats.

The World Champion 1917 Chicago White Sox. They wouldn’t win a world series again until 2005. - From Glen Brown’s Teacher/Musician/Poet. Attorney Eric Madiar is the chief counsel to Illinois Senate President John Cullerton. In this article he explains the long history of Illinois pension injustice, and why the current situation is not a sudden crisis. “Anyone following the pension-reform debate k

by Fred Klonsky / 0min 

Comments on the IEA Retired/IRTA letter.

The discussion is on-going regarding the IEA Retired letter sent to members that directed sharp criticism of the IRTA. IEA – Retired Chair Janet Kilgus did respond to me. The email expressed her principled disagreement with me. It was friendly, but I was not sure it was meant for posting, so out of respect to Janet, I have not shared it. Here are other comments:   Fred, I too am concerned with the

by Fred Klonsky / 4min 

A letter to IEA Retired. No circular firing squads.

Dear Janet, I am writing this to you in your position of IEA Retired Chair. Yesterday, as chapter president of the Skokie Organization of Retired Educators IEA Retired I was asked to send out a letter to our members signed by you, vice chair Jim Duffy and Bob Haisman. To my knowledge, Bob Haisman holds no elected position in our organization. The letter attacks the Illinois Retired Teachers Associ

3 by Fred Klonsky / 2h 

9-25-14 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.: Petcoke, the Koch brothers and the 10th Ward.Susan Sadlowski Garza talks to her neighbors at last night’s meet-and-greet in the 10th Ward. I took a drive to the 10th Ward last night. I could have taken the Dan Ryan to the Skyway and gotten off just before Indiana. But I took my old route. South Lakesh

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

9-26-14 Wait What? - Tom Foley’s bizarre move on Education Policy and its potential impact on the CEA endorsement

Wait What?:

Tom Foley’s bizarre move on Education Policy and its potential impact on the CEA endorsement

In what appears to be an ongoing effort to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory, Tom Foley, the Republican candidate for governor, has proposed an education policy that looks eerily similar to Governor Dannel “Dan” Malloy’s corporate education reform initiatives. Over the past four years Governor Malloy has earned the reputation as the […] The post Tom Foley’s bizarre move on Education Policy

12 by jonpelto / 1h 

9-25-14 Wait What? - Malloy to Teachers – The story behind the story about UConn’s decision to spend $1 million to fix a roof

Wait What?: The story behind the story about UConn’s decision to spend $1 million to fix a roof19 years after the passage of UConn 2000, the initiatives that included the funds to renovate the Torrey Life Sciences Building, The University of Connecticut plans to spend $1 million on a new roof for the building which will then be torn down in next five to seven years after a new science building is

1 by mike simpson / 12min 

9-26-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

Why we can’t reform literacy and math all at once

School “reform” is hardly a new phenomenon in the public school system, with decades of efforts to improve reading and math scores. Why haven’t all these efforts met expectations? Here’s one explanation, from Andy Hargreaves, the Brennan Chair in Education in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College and an adviser to the  premier […]

1 by Valerie Strauss / 23min 

Banned Books Week: the 10 most challenged books every year since 2000

You might not think a best-selling book for kids called “Captain Underpants” would be terribly objectionable, but, as it turns out, it tops the 2013 list of books most challenged in schools and libraries in 2013. Why? Reasons cited by challengers: Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence. It’s Banned Books Week, an annual event […]

200+ by Valerie Strauss / 5h 

9-25-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: Chicago mayor admits naming elite new school after Obama, his former boss, was a mistakeChicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who once served as chief of staff in the White House for President Obama, just acknowledged that his plans to name a new $60 million high school located in a wealthy mostly white area of the city were a mistake. Here’s how the Chicago Sun-Times described the apparently

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

9-26-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:

The Unbearable Lightness of Neo-Liberal Historical Revisionism in Education

Dana Goldstein studied intellectual history at Brown before she became a reporter, then a grad student at Columbia, and now another author among the growing tribe of young, privileged white folks with new books intended to make the world safe for corporate education reform. Goldstein joins Cornellian Amanda Ripley, Yalie Anya Kamenetz, and fellow Columbia alum, Elizabeth Green, in offering their n

2 by Jim Horn / 33min 

On Rhonda of the Hamptons

A nice piece from Perdido Street School:Lyndsey Layton reports the Center for Union Facts is attacking AFT President Randi Weingarten again:The 11-page mailing, on expensive paper stock, was sent first class to 125,000 households across the country this week. “I’m writing to you about Randi,” the letter began. “You probably don’t know who Randi is. Most people don’t. The terrible impact Randi has

2 by Jim Horn / 1h 

9-25-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter: Aspire Charter Schools: Busing to Maintain SegregationWhen parents showed up last week to enroll their children at the Aspire (Coleman) charter school in Memphis, they were told there were no more seats, due to plans to expand next year to take in 6th grade.  Even if there were no expansion plans, you can't have too many children of parents who weren't there months ago to squeal wi

1 by mike simpson / 7h