Two Good Pieces On The “Value-Added” System Of Teacher Assessment | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Two Good Pieces On The “Value-Added” System Of Teacher Assessment | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Two Good Pieces On The “Value-Added” System Of Teacher Assessment Here are two new additions to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Value-Added” Approach Towards Teacher Evaluation: Neither Fair Nor Accurate • Research-Based Reasons Why High-Stakes Tests Should Not Be Used to Evaluate Teachers comes from ...

“How Much is a College Degree Worth?” How Much is a College Degree Worth? is an infographic that shows various economic advantages of having a college degree. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Showing Students Why They Should Continue Their Academic Career.

The Best Sites For Learning About The Vote In Southern Sudan People in southern Sudan will begin voting Sunday on whether they want their independence, and are expected to vote yes on that question. I thought readers might find a short “The Best…” list useful. You might also be interested in The Best Web ...

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Short Takes on Impending Deasy Superintendency

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Short Takes on Impending Deasy Superintendency

Short Takes on Impending Deasy Superintendency Former Santa Monica-Malibu Schools Leader Expected to be Named LAUSD ... Santa Monica Mirror - Slav Kandyba - John E. Deasy, a former superintendent at the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, is expected to be named the new superintendent ...

L.A. SCHOOL BOARD EXPECTED TO APPOINT JOHN DEASY AS NEXT SUPERINTENDENT ON TUESDAYJohn Deasy, 50, would replace Ramon C. Cortines, 78, who has headed the nation's second-largest school system since 2008. Deasy joined the district in August as Cortines' top deputy. By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | LAUSD Deputy Superintendent John ...

LAUSD BOARD POISED TO APPOINT JOHN DEASY AS NEW SUPERINTENDENT By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | LA Daily News | 01/06/2011 08:16:35 PM PST/Updated: 01/07/2011 02:32:01 PM PST | The Los Angeles Unified school board is expected to officially appoint John Deasy – the district's current No. 2 – as superintendent on ...

IS MAYOR TONY PUSHING TO REPLACE SUPERINTENDENT CORTINES WITH JOHN DEASY? + CORTINES TO BE BOOTED WITHIN A WEEK, PRINCE JOHN DEASY TO BE CROWNED Is Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Pushing To Replace L.A. Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines With John Deasy? By Patrick Range McDonald | LA Weekly - http://bit.ly/igAGfU Fri., Jan. 7 2011 @ 7:00AM - The conventional wisdom in local public education ..

Corporate Charter Trigger Compton Chronicles | Dailycensored.com

Corporate Charter Trigger Compton Chronicles | Dailycensored.com

Corporate Charter Trigger Compton Chronicles

Written by Robert D. Skeels * rdatheneEducation, PoliticsJan 8, 2011

0digg

Share

“Everything we do from now moving forward, will be to expose all of Green Dot’s lies and everything they lied to us and to our parents.” — Animo Justice Student

Beginning of the false narrative

The corporate media has been all awash with Ben Austin’s apparent hostile take over of another public school. Using the so-called parent trigger, legislation cobbled together by Austin, outgoing State Senator Gloria Romero, and Arnold Schwartzenegger’s staff to make it easier for the CCSA to increase market share, Parent Revolution’s paid organizers ostensibly managed to obtain signatures to hand the school over to a private CMO.

I wrote a quick piece when I heard the terrible news.

Vielka McFarlane and Ben Austin orchestrate hostile takeover in Compton

“We don’t want to focus on how the history of the country has been checkered

Brown scuttles secretary of education | Thoughts on Public Education

Brown scuttles secretary of education | Thoughts on Public Education

Brown scuttles secretary of education

Share

Will Kirst be the go-to guy on school matters?

Posted on 1/07/11 • Categorized as Jerry Brown, Uncategorized

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

Gov. Schwarzenegger had a succession of six secretaries of education. Gov. Jerry Brown will have none. Brown made it official Friday: The office of the secretary, with its dozen employees, is toast.

Brown, who didn’t have a secretary of education the first time around, may have eliminated the office regardless of the budget crisis. There’s already confusion over authority among a State Board of Education, the governor and an independently elected superintendent of public instruction. The education secretary had no constitutional authority. Closing down the shop makes Brown’s point that he’ll scale back state government.

But the elimination of the office raises the question of who will speak for the governor on education matters. It could be Michael Kirst, who will be elected president of the State Board

Daily Kos: Another Saturday morning reflection - on public employment and employees

Daily Kos: Another Saturday morning reflection - on public employment and employees

Another Saturday morning reflection - on public employment and employees

by teacherken

but one that is somewhat unusual for me. I have no papers or tests to correct, my plans for the next two weeks are done - 9 days with the holiday, and then the first Semester is completed. This morning I will head to one of our high schools to help with those working on becoming National Board Certified - the woman who runs the program for our system was kind enough to find some extra work for me, knowing about the difficult financial straits in which I find myself, about which I wrote yesterday.

I have not been the only one writing about teachers and other public employees. We have had front pages stories about how public employees are paid less than the private sector, diaries about how public employees are under attack.

I have worked in the private sector, consulted to both government and the private sector, been an employee of a professional services firm who was assigned to work full-time in a federal agency, and been a local government employee in data processing as well as a school teacher. This morning I want to use my experience to offer a reflection on employment and employees in the public sector. I invite you to keep reading.

Join the Carnival! | Reflections on Teaching

Join the Carnival! | Reflections on Teaching

Join the Carnival!

January 7th, 2011 · 1 Comment · blog carnival, practice/pedagogy, reflection, resources

A couple times a year, Larry Ferlazzo asks me to host his ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival, and I guess that I’m just a girl who can’t say no because I usually end up doing it.

What is a blog carnival? A chance to share a blog post or other online piece by you (or the work of someone else that you feel is worth sharing) on the subject of teaching English as a foreign or second language. You migh

Modern School: 2010: Rich Got Much Richer and Poor Got Much Poorer

Modern School: 2010: Rich Got Much Richer and Poor Got Much Poorer

2010: Rich Got Much Richer and Poor Got Much Poorer There are more than 4 million more Americans in living in poverty than previously reported and they make up 15.7% of the population, not 14.3%, as earlier estimated. The new figure takes into account actual costs of living that include medical ...

Ed Reform 2011: NCLB Out and Parental Rights In? Obama and Duncan want to increase federal influence over local schools, particularly around standards, teacher evaluation and pay. However, with Republicans now in the majority and strong anti-government momentum, they will face a tough battle. Some .

HIghly Qualified - It All Depends

HIghly Qualified - It All Depends:

"HIghly Qualified - It All Depends

A good article by a teacher showing how ridiculous it can become when states try to license teachers AND determine who is “highly-qualified.” This part really floored me:

“6th grade teachers with a degree in middle grades education who earn National Board Certification in North Carolina are automatically highly"

On another subject… « Fred Klonsky's blog

On another subject… « Fred Klonsky's blog

On another subject…

by Fred Klonsky

I’m taking a break from blogging about the crap going on in Springfield.

First they have the votes for a tax increase and a tax on cigarettes to pay for schools. Then they don’t.

We lose the vote to end the death penalty in Illinois. Then minutes later, we win it.

There might be an ed reform bill by January 11th. But maybe not. The two teacher unions will fight to defend our

School Tech Connect: Karen Lewis in Springfield

School Tech Connect: Karen Lewis in Springfield

Karen Lewis in Springfield

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

Here's more video of Ken Swanson's ear.

Actually, it's footage of the great Karen Lewis, speaking on January 3 before the Illinois Senate Special Hearing on Education. Unfortunately, from where my video team was stationed, the primary focus of the video is Ken's ear. Karen is sitting to the right of Dan Montgomery, the president of the IFT, so it's hard to see her except for a few moments.

Let's just watch Karen in action. Or listen, I guess.

Popout

I think she's at her best when she's talking about the idea that serving the members is somehow the opposite of serving the children. That little myth has always bothered me enormously. She also makes a great point about

Schools Matter: More Attention to Segregated Charter Schools Without Real Teachers

Schools Matter: More Attention to Segregated Charter Schools Without Real Teachers

More Attention to Segregated Charter Schools Without Real Teachers

by Jim Horn

From a piece for NPR by Natalie Hopkinson:

Natalie Hopkinson is a fellow of the Interactivity Foundation and the co-author of Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation. . . . .


. . . .Many D.C. parents are finding that, sure, there are plenty of choices — just not a lot of good, or even passable ones. When you mix corporate strategies with an ominous 2014 compliance deadline under the "No Child Left Behind" law, you often end up with scenes that look nothing like

solidaridad: Responding to questions of teacher evaluation and performance

solidaridad: Responding to questions of teacher evaluation and performance

Responding to questions of teacher evaluation and performance

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

"Our public schools need to be in the control of parents and the community, as opposed to businessmen who see the $23 billion budget as a means to giving no-bid contracts to their cronies." — Charles Barron (Brooklyn City Councilman)


Today a reader wrote me asking the following:

I am in a debate with a friend of improving teacher evaluations and teacher performance as a necessary political move for UTLA. She sent me these to pdfs from stanford [1]. Do you know this Stanford program at all? Or any of the folks, like the Milken institue or Stuart Foundation?

First off, it is entirely disingenuous of the corporate reform crowd to assert that UTLA (or any teachers' union for that matter) aren't interested in improving evaluations and performance. You

Queens Teacher: TC Writing Workshop

Queens Teacher: TC Writing Workshop

TC Writing Workshop

by Queens Teacher

Another comment from a Kindergarten teacher who says Teachers College Writing Workshop is not working in his/her classroom.


As a kindergarten teacher in the first year of implementing Lucy Calkins I back up the statement "we are far too worried about creating 'authors' then teaching basic writing skills." I am highly disappointed in this approach to teach four and five year olds writing! The program is too abstract for these concrete thinkers. I've seen more tears, frustration, and just plain goofing around in

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: “…our schoolchildren should not be mixed up in geopolitical games.”

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: “…our schoolchildren should not be mixed up in geopolitical games.”

“…our schoolchildren should not be mixed up in geopolitical games.”

by The Perimeter Primate

ISLAMIC GROUP IS CIA FRONT, EX-TURKISH INTEL CHIEF SAYS; January 5, 2011; Washington Post

A memoir by a top former Turkish intelligence official claims that a worldwide moderate Islamic movement based in Pennsylvania has been providing cover for the CIA since the mid-1990s.

The memoir, roughly rendered in English as “Witness to Revolution and Near Anarchy,” by retired Turkish intelligence official Osman Nuri Gundes, says the religious-tolerance movement, led by an influential former Turkish imam by the name of Fethullah Gulen, has 600 schools and 4 million followers around the world. [This would include a network of 122 U.S. charter schools.]

In the 1990s, Gundes alleges, the movement "sheltered 130 CIA agents" at its schools in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan alone, according to a report on his memoir Wednesday by the Paris-based Intelligence Online newsletter…

Former CIA operative Robert Baer, chief of the agency’s Central Asia and Caucasus operations

First Thoughts On Naomi Wolf’s BBC Interview « Student Activism

First Thoughts On Naomi Wolf’s BBC Interview « Student Activism

First Thoughts On Naomi Wolf’s BBC Interview

by Angus Johnston

Naomi Wolf just went on BBC Radio to defend her recent article calling for mandatory disclosure of the identities of people who bring rape complaints. The interview provoked a firestorm of criticism on Twitter as it was happening — it was the latest in a series of public statements by Wolf that have shocked and disappointed her former feminist allies.

Much of what Wolf said today repeated things she’s said in the past, but some of it was new, and worth examining. A few immediate thoughts:

She said on several occasions that the policy she’d advocating is a “Western” one, and wouldn’t necessarily be applicable to countries in the developing world where the stigma of rape is greater. But certainly the stigma of rape varies greatly within Western societies as well as non-Western ones. Her suggestion that her proposal

The Answer Sheet - What really helped Florida's test scores

The Answer Sheet - What really helped Florida's test scores

What really helped Florida's test scores

By Valerie Strauss

I've recently published a number of posts about school reform in Florida, which has been driven over the past decade by Jeb Bush, who was governor there from 1999 to 2007 and who still has a great deal of influence over education policy in the Sunshine State, and, increasingly beyond. Florida's reforms revolved around an expansion of standardized testing and choice (vouchers, charter schools, etc.), and it is these measures that are often given credit for a rise in scores on theNational Assessment of Educational Progress.

In this post, research analyst Michael Martin looks at what reforms really impacted the test scores. It is technical but then again, it's hard not to be when you are talking about test scores. Martin works for the Arizona School Boards Association; this post is his own work and not

Education Week: Full Standards System in States Several Years Away

Education Week: Full Standards System in States Several Years Away

Full Standards System in States Several Years Away

By Catherine Gewertz

Premium article access courtesy of Edweek.org.

Read more FREE content!

• Printer-Friendly
• Email Article
• Reprints
• Comments (3)
• 
• ARTICLE TOOLS SPONSORED BY:

Most states plan to revise professional development for teachers by next year to help them teach to the new common standards, but it will take two or more years to complete anticipated changes in curriculum, assessment, and other elements of the K-12 system to adapt to the new learning goals, according to a survey released today.

The survey is the first national snapshot of where states stand in their plans to implement the new standards. It shows that more than 30 states plan changes in the curriculum they teach, how they train and evaluate teachers, and how they size up students’