Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, December 27, 2010

Teachers ban use of “utilize” and “implement” | theteachingwhore

Teachers ban use of “utilize” and “implement” | theteachingwhore

Teachers ban use of “utilize” and “implement”

In a faculty meeting at Deerborn High School, teachers voted to ban the use of certain verbs that appear repeatedly in documents from the state education department and the school’s own administration.

Faculty president Rhonda Ledbetter said, “We’re tired of being told to “utilize the available resources that the state has provided” when what they mean is ‘use the textbooks.”

Ledbetter said the issue wasn’t with what the teachers were being told to do. “We ignore that all the time anyway,” she said. “We’ve tried to explain how policies for change must start at the student/teacher/classroom


This Week In Education: Video: Cell Phone Videos Challenge School Police Account

This Week In Education: Video: Cell Phone Videos Challenge School Police Account

College starts in 11th grade — Joanne Jacobs

College starts in 11th grade — Joanne Jacobs

Klein's Private Farewell to NYC Principals :: Frederick M. Hess

Klein's Private Farewell to NYC Principals :: Frederick M. Hess

W'Only school uniforms, patriotism and parents can rescue our violent teens'- EducationNews.org        

Web's #1 Source for K12 and Higher Education News and Commentary - EducationNews.org

'Only school uniforms, patriotism and parents can rescue our violent teens'
One of the Government's top psychological advisers has called for a return to traditional values to stem the rising tide of domestic abuse by children against their parents and other adults.

With tight budget on horizon, universities studying options
Colleges also vexed by problem of how to meet demand for graduates - Two years after Texas legislators poured unprecedented amounts of money into higher education, colleges and universities are braced for an about-face during the 2011 legislative session that begins next month. ...

Program extends student teaching to 1 year
About 40 Arizona State University education majors are taking part in a pilot program that will soon become the standard for teacher training. The students are training for a full year in three school districts that joined the pilot: Scottsdale, Dysart and Kyrene. ...

Who in education says 'oops'?
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and top policymakers have promoted and funded small urban high schools for nearly a decade. Then Bill Gates said in his 2009 Annual Letter that while these small urban high schools had accomplished much for students they had largely failed to improve academic achievement.

Commentaries

Important Mathematics Deficiencies in United States Grade School Teaching Practices
Richard Pan - In the present pedagogical note, a list of six (6) important examples of deficiencies common in U.S. grade school mathematics teaching practices are described, which may contribute to a significant barrier to modern mathematics thinking.


An Interview with Jason Ross: The Bill of Rights
Michael F. Shaughnessy - Bill of Rights Day became a federal observance in 1941 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 1941 marked the It was the 150th anniversary of the ratification of those first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, amendments that spelled out our freedoms as well as our rights.

An Interview with Maud van Thiel and Noks Nauta: Gifted and Talented Adult Foundation
Michael F. Shaughnessy - Our mission is to improve the climate of life of gifted and talented adults with the aim to get their talents flourish optimally and be as happy as possible. The IHBV wants - in a sparkling and colourful way - to put giftedness positively on the map, to take away prejudices and to collect and share knowledge on gifted adults

Small Ball: Small Teaching
Robert McNergney - He asked excitedly after class if I had read Michael Lewis's baseball classic Moneyball-the story of the Oakland A's, their manager Billy Beane, and the dawn of "small ball." The curious doctoral student was convinced that what I had said about teaching and learning could best be understood by Lewis's view of baseball

Queens Teacher: Standards for Teachers Lowered; Hiding Truth from Minorities

Queens Teacher: Standards for Teachers Lowered; Hiding Truth from Minorities

Standards for Teachers Lowered; Hiding Truth from Minorities

Congress Lowering Standards for Teachers; Hiding Truth from Poor, Minority Parents

John Affeldt
Managing Attorney at Public Advocates,
a non-profit civil rights law firm


As I reported on this blog last Thursday and updated since, Congress seems ready to lower the standard of teacher owed every child in the country -- particularly impacting children in poor and minority communities -- and to hide that fact while they're at it.

Slipped at the 11th hour into the Continuing Resolution to fund the government, the provision at issue proposes to call novice teachers still learning how to teach in alternative preparation programs on nights and weekends "highly qualified" under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). That designation relieves districts of having to tell parents of

Damn Good Education Daily

Damn Good Education Daily
Damn Good Education Daily
jeffthomastech.com - It’s certainly been a busy week! The holidays are always a great time of year for me and my family. Although I achieved my goal of “disconnecting” yesterday for Christmas, I did find time during ...

tomwhitby



huffingtonpost.com - A whopping 46.3 percent of federal loans distributed to students at for-profit colleges in 2008 would go into default, according to new Education Department data.This figure is significantly larger...

EDPressSec
failingschools.wordpress.com - An insightful group of students from Jamaica High School and Queens Collegiate recently wrote a play about school reform in New York City, inspired by the Greek tragedy “Antigone.” The students wer...

TeacherSabrina





tomwhitby.wordpress.com - Shelly Terrell and Ken Royal are two friends who encouraged me to blog. Both are bloggers and saw something in me and my ability to communicate that I didn’t recognize. Through their encouragement,...

tomwhitby






epaa.asu.edu - Bruce Baker, Kevin G. Welner Abstract Two interlocking claims are being increasing made around school finance: that states have largely met their obligations to resolve disparities between local pu...

SchlFinance101

Musings of a teacher and school board member - Rocklin

Musings of a teacher and school board member - Rocklin
Musings of a teacher and school board member

I have a question. Why does California have both a State Superintendent elected by the voters, AND a Secretary of Education appointed by the Governor? It seems simple, but I have asked a lot of very smart people this very question, and not one had a good answer.

Governor-elect Brown hinted that Education cuts will make up a major part of his plan to fix the state’s budget shortfall.

I would like to add some perspective to this. I see our Education budget from many angles- as a parent of 2 school age kids (9th and 5th grade) as a teacher, (16 years teaching middle school mathematics) and from the perspective of a School Board Member.

As much as the California Teacher’s Association might not want to hear this, I do understand that Prop. 98 has not necessarily been a good thing for our state. In good times, California is required to spend a minimum percentage of the money it takes in on Public Education. Don’t get me wrong; I would love to see schools have

L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa on school-reform fallout: 'No one buys that turncoat stuff' | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa on school-reform fallout: 'No one buys that turncoat stuff' | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa on school-reform fallout: 'No one buys that turncoat stuff'

December 26, 2010 | 7:07 pm

A mayor with deep roots in the labor movement now finds himself denounced in some quarters as a turncoat — a description he calls absurd. "No one buys that turncoat stuff," Los Angeles MayorAntonio Villaraigosa said at a recent union-sponsored event in Watts. "But I am challenging orthodoxies in a way that we have to."

The mayor's recent branding of United Teachers Los Angeles, the L.A. teachers union, as "one

NYC Educator: Caution--Principals at Work

NYC Educator: Caution--Principals at Work

Caution--Principals at Work

Kids can be annoyingly perceptive. This can often be disturbing, forcing us to confront issues we'd rather avoid. Some pedantic sorts cannot deal with such things at all. Thus, kids are reprimanded, disciplined, shut up, put off and made to express themselves in different ways. Potentially worse for said pedants, though, is when others find out what's been done to the kids and act on their behalf.

At Jamaica High School a group of students representing not only Jamaica but also Queens Collegiate, one of the push-in schools designed to help kill one of New York City's most historic and impressive institutions, got together and wrote a play, a take-off on Antigone that criticized Bloomberg's corporate agenda, and the separate and unequal treatment resulting from it. Their principals, being very smart fellas, forbade the play's performance. As a result, the play