Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Another teacher turned crusader « Failing Schools

Another teacher turned crusader

JANUARY 12, 2011

by Sabrina

A few months ago, I began corresponding with (now former) Los Angeles teacher, Leonard Isenberg. An experienced and accomplished educator, he was nevertheless pushed out of the profession for reporting and resisting the practice of passing and graduating high school students who didn’t have the skills implied by their diploma. Though LAUSD has joined the many districts across the nation that claim to be increasingly “data-driven,” Leonard was retaliated against for using data to demonstrate that Central High School was

Every Waking Moment I’m Haitian, Too — The Jose Vilson

Every Waking Moment I’m Haitian, Too

by Jose

The New Year marked the 207th year of Haitian independence from French rule, a big footnote in time rubbed away into the crevices of Anglo history books. What many should consider a moment of celebration and exaltation gets shrouded in the dire situation that Haiti’s lived in since. Corrupt leaders, disintegrated economies, and disruptive occupants have ravaged a still proud country to its current state. Thus, I find it only appropriate

Schools Matter: Parents Demand and Get More Play Time at PS 101

Parents Demand and Get More Play Time at PS 101

by Jim Horn

In an era when kindergarten nap time is history, play time is on the skids, entrance exams are commonplace, and kindergartners must do idiot worksheets that clueless principals demand, it is heartening to see parents stepping in to see that the developmental needs of their children are met. From the New York Times:

Some kindergarten parents at Public School 101, a graceful brick castle in Forest Hills, Queens, wanted more free play time for their children; so they decided to do something about it.

Gone were the play kitchens, sand and water tables, and dress-up areas; half-days were now full

Schedule a Screening of RTN in Your Neighborhood
by Jim Horn

IEA, Race to the Top and the Illinois budget crisis. « Fred Klonsky's blog

IEA, Race to the Top and the Illinois budget crisis.

by Fred Klonsky

Both Arne Duncan and the IEA leadership have some responsibility for the current budget crisis in Illinois and its impact on school funding. The increase in the state income tax doesn’t really address this part of the problem.

When Illinois was preparing its application for Duncan’s Race to the Top grant, a committee that was chaired by IEA Executive Director Audrey Soglin, the grant included a number of programs that came with a cost. In addition, the proposal made statewide changes in the way teachers would be evaluated, linking our evaluation to test scores.

While the state did not receive the Race to the Top grant, the programs were adopted by the legislature and the bill has come due.

Any money that might have gone to other education programs must now compete with the ones Arne Duncan demanded and the Illinois committee led by the IEA proposed and got adopted.

Jim Broadway addresses this in his State School News.

Education “reforms” with high fiscal impact were enacted last spring to bolster

Education Board Investigating Bobb Complaints - Education News Story - WDIV Detroit

Education Board Investigating Bobb Complaints

POSTED: Wednesday, January 12, 2011

UPDATED: 5:36 pm EST January 12, 2011

Robert Bobb

DETROIT -- The Michigan Department of Education says it is investigating complaints from parents that Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb is mishandling the needs of some special education students.

"Initially, we have 1,160 complaints," said Chris White, a parent of an autistic son and member of the Coalition to Restore Hope to DPS.

He said he and 50 others recently dropped off bus attendant requests directly to the Education Board in Lansing after Bobb announced that 88 attendants had been terminated district-wide because of budget needs.

White said not having attendants on buses with special needs children violates the Individualized

Schools Matter: Review of U.S. Math Performance in Global Perspective: How Well Does Each State Do at Producing High-Achieving Students?

Review of U.S. Math Performance in Global Perspective: How Well Does Each State Do at Producing High-Achieving Students?

by Kenneth Libby

Jeremy Kilpatrick of the University of Georgia recently reviewed U.S. Math Performance in Global Perspective: How Well Does Each State Do at Producing High-Achieving Students? by Eric Hanushek, Paul Peterson, and Ludger Woessmann. Their original piece was covered quite extensively by media outlets. Below is a summary of the review. You can read the full review here.

A report from Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance and the journal Education Next finds that only 6% of U.S. students in the high school graduating class of 2009 achieved at an advanced level in mathematics compared with 28% of Taiwanese students and more than 20% of students in Hong Kong, Korea, and Finland. Overall, the United States ranked behind most of its industrialized competitors. The report compares the mathematics performance of high achievers not only across countries but also across