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Friday, January 28, 2011

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now, Education

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now, Education
Education
californiawatch.org - CDCRMule Creek state prison. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation quietly transferred millions of dollars out of beleaguered rehabilitation programs last year to cover shortf...

coopmike48
blogs.chron.com - « Magnets and money |MainJanuary 27, 2011HISD board to kumbaya this weekend The board won't exactly be roughing it at the Magnolia Hotel in downtown Houston. The Houston ISD school board is holding...

coopmike48
dailynews.com - There are elections under way this week in many neighborhoods of Los Angeles. And while the campaigns are sophisticated and well-financed, using expensive glossy campaign mailers - even a billboard...

DianeRavitch
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Margaret Fortune, who was the main pitch person and superintendent forKevin Johnson’s St. Hope schools back in the day, wants to open 10 charter schools—with nearly 5,000 students—in Sacramento Cou...

coopmike48
huffingtonpost.com - Ohio mother of two Kelley Williams-Bolar was released from jail on Wednesday after serving nine days for falsifying records so that her two daughters could attend a better school.Williams-Bolar was...

mikeklonsky
wctrib.com - WILLMAR — The annual adequate yearly progress reports could be a thing of the past for U.S. public schools.Interventions for struggling schools are expected to be less punitive and more flexible th...

coopmike48
blogs.edweek.org - Dear Diane,It's interesting to imagine what world view drives my enemies. Reading your piece about economists provided an insight! Maybe. Most of the current members of the billionaire's club make ...

mikeklonsky
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - by Celeste LavinWhen the young teacher attending a panel discussion about men of color and education stood up to tell Superintendent Arlene Ackerman that the School District’s constant bureaucratic...

coopmike48
californiaprogressreport.com - Printer-friendly versionSend to friendBy Gabe TrevesTenants Together The foreclosure crisis continues to devastate tenants and their communities. Earlier today, Tenants Together, California's stat...

coopmike48
theacorn.com - By Donald Zimring Las Virgenes superintendentThe Acorn has traditionally been on target and in support of our local public schools. They share the community’s belief that good schools mean good com...

coopmike48
dyn.politico.com - Michelle Rhee turned up at work last Sept. 15 utterly stunned. “I really did think he was going to win,” she told the staff of her boss, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty. “Yes, we know you did,” came the re...

mikeklonsky
eiaonline.com - The Department of Health and Human Services released its latest list of companies and organizations that received a one-year waiver of the Affordable Care Act’s ban on annual dollar limits on benef...

coopmike48
dailykos.com - Thu Jan 27, 2011 at 08:43:07 AM PST One young future teacher explains: "...while I plan to devote myself to teaching in the same communities TFA targets, I will never Teach For America."By now most...

tbfurman
boston.com - INDIANAPOLIS—A Republican-controlled Senate committee advanced a contentious proposal Wednesday that critics contend would strip Indiana teachers of their collective bargaining rights.The Senate la...

coopmike48
washingtonpost.com - Interim D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced Wednesday that she has reassigned the new principal of Hardy Middle School, acknowledging that poor decisions by the District had contribute...

coopmike48
sacramentopa.blogspot.com - Jerry Brown argued again today that severe budget cuts were necessary because the money for police, fire, teachers, etc. is not there. here.http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/01/jerry...

coopmike48
huffingtonpost.com - On Tuesday President Obama made clear that while there are many challenges facing America's future, improving education is as the top of the list.I believe we will only truly improve education in A...

coopmike48
huffingtonpost.com - I did not see the Presidential State of the Union speech on Tuesday night.I did not hear how we are in a Sputnik moment. I did not hear from the president that the Chinese are out-developing us, ou...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Education reform is about to return to the headlines, if not the floor of Congress, if President Obama’s State of the Union is any indication. Obama built his feel-good speech Tuesday night around ...

coopmike48
blogs.edweek.org - Across the country we're seeing efforts by lawmakers to challenge traditional notions of how state money should flow to students and schools. In some cases, newly emboldened Republican lawmakers ar...

coopmike48
ed.gov - Event Date 1: January 28, 2011 12:00 pm - January 28, 2011 02:00 pmAssistant Secretary Alexa Posny will discuss the need for coordinated teacher recruitment, preparation and evaluation across gener...

coopmike48
ed.gov - Event Date 1: January 28, 2011 08:00 pm - 12:00 amFrank Chong, deputy assistant secretary for community colleges in the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, will discuss technological advances...

coopmike48
californiaprogressreport.com - Printer-friendly versionSend to friendBy Lisa Schiff President Obama’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night promised a continuation of flawed education strategies while ignoring the need for tru...

coopmike48
huffingtonpost.com - Everybody agrees that small business is good for an economy, that it promotes jobs, and so on. But what does anybody want the government to do about it? And what can governments really do about it,...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - AP Exclusive: Teach For America gets $100M(AP) – 3 hours agoATLANTA (AP) — Teach For America, the education organization that has placed recent college graduates in low-income public schools, is ge...

coopmike48
baycitizen.org - A small but powerful group of politicians, union officials and civic leaders arrived at City Hall this morning for a planned 9am meeting with newly appointed Mayor Ed Lee. Their agenda: Find a solu...

coopmike48
ascd.typepad.com - What supports can schools provide to help maintain a healthy, safe environment for learning? How can schools encourage parents—including parents from minority and immigrant cultures—to take on mean...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - I became an education writer, in large part, because I attended the public schools in Ossining, New York. Due to a unique integration/busing program that has been maintained throughout the decades,...

coopmike48
scholasticadministrator.typepad.com - Here's some more about Edmund Randolph, the school success story highlighted in the State of the union: NPR's Larry Abramson reports that the school graduated 97% of its 75 seniors, but the school...

coopmike48
dailynews.com - Students leave El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011 after a brief lockdown following a report of someone carrying a gun. (John McCoy/Staff Photographer) As she s...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - So, yesterday I tried to articulate what I think might be a new story to tell around education, one that acknowledges that schools will soon no longer be seen as the only path to learning though th...

coopmike48
thenotebook.org - West Philadelphia High School is set to experience another dramatic shakeup, but there will be no repeat of last year’s tumultuous Renaissance match process. On Tuesday, District officials announce...

coopmike48
washingtonpost.com - North Chevy Chase Elementary School, with a demanding curriculum, strong faculty and high student test scores, meets nobody's definition of a failure. Nobody's, that is, except the federal governme...

mikeklonsky
usnews.com - Once again, social science research is refuting the often-cited myth that U.S. News's Best Colleges rankings are the main reason that the average student chooses one school over another. That concl...

coopmike48
ednewscolorado.org - Updated 9:30 a.m. – The Senate Finance Committee this morning unanimously passed House Joint Resolution 11-1007, the controversial measure that suggests a state spending target for 2011-12. Panel c...

coopmike48
northjersey.com - WANTAGE — Ashley Craig recalls a turning point in her life. As an eighth-grade student at Sussex Middle School, a classmate and close companion sat her down at a desk. He said, "I'm going to end it...

coopmike48
eyeonearlyeducation.org - January 27, 2011 by Irene Sege Gov. Patrick Yesterday Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick released a $30.5 billion state budget for fiscal 2012 (House 1). The governor’s FY12 budget proposes $570 ...

coopmike48
washingtonexaminer.com - Forty percent of D.C. Public Schools teachers rejected the thousands of dollars in bonuses offered to them for being "highly effective" educators under the evaluation system introduced last year. I...

DianeRavitch
ednewsparent.org - Parenting can be one of our greatest challenges. Many say it is our most difficult job with the least amount of training. Learning effective parenting strategies can dramatically improve our childr...

coopmike4
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School “Reform” Group 99% Funded By Fat Cats

School “Reform” Group 99% Funded By Fat Cats

School “Reform” Group 99% Funded By Fat Cats

by DOUG PORTER on JANUARY 28, 2011

in: CIVIL RIGHTS, ECONOMY, EDUCATION, SAN DIEGO, THE CHRONICLES OF EDUMACATION

San Diego Unified School District headquarters.

According to documents filed with the City of San Diego this week, the secretive group behind the campaign for appointed school board officials is 99.75% funded by just two individuals: Chicago financier Ron Dammeyer ($300,000 via CAC Advisory Services LLC) and billionaire Irwin Jacobs ($150,000).

The story broke late Wednesday, Jan. 26th in the Voice of San Diego, which went on to report:

Last year, the group spent or owed more than $50,000 of that money for radio advertisements, more than $130,000 to pay petitioners and more than $115,000 in

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The Answer Sheet - Do tests really help students learn? Or was a new study misreported? -- Kohn

The Answer Sheet - Do tests really help students learn? Or was a new study misreported? -- Kohn

Do tests really help students learn? Or was a new study misreported? -- Kohn

By Valerie Strauss

This was written by Alfie Kohn, the author of 12 books about education and human behavior. His latest, the forthcoming "Feel-Bad Education . . . And Other Contrarian Essays on Children & Schooling," will be published this spring by Beacon Press. He lives (actually) in the Boston area and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn. He blogs at The Huffington Post.

By Alfie Kohn
The relationship between educational policies and educational research is both fascinating and disturbing. Sometimes policy makers, including those who piously invoke the idea of "data-driven" practice, pursue initiatives they favor regardless of the fact that no empirical support for them exists (e.g., high-stakes testing) or even when the research suggests the policy in question is counterproductive (e.g., forcing struggling students to repeat a grade).

Sometimes insufficient attention is paid to the limits of what a study has

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Chicago mayor race is a cash cow for Drama-Rahma and Chico. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Chicago mayor race is a cash cow for Drama-Rahma and Chico. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Chicago mayor race is a cash cow for Drama-Rahma and Chico.

JANUARY 28, 2011
by Fred Klonsky

Financial disclosure: Anne and I have donated $200 to Miguel Del Valle’s election campaign.

I felt pretty good about that until I read about the dollars flowing to Drama-Rahma and Gery Chico. Thousands of dollars literally every minute.

First came the millions. Those dollars had to be delivered to Drama-Rahma and Chico before

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Guest Blogger Alan Parker: The International Year of Chemistry’s Global Experiment

The International Year of Chemistry’s Global Experiment

In his State of the Union address a few days ago, President Barack Obama stated that “We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair.”  Yet it can be challenging to get students motivated about studying science.  Enter the International Year of Chemsitry (IYC), a yearlong, international celebration of chemistry organized by some of the leading international chemistry establishments in the world.  As Andrew Liveris (president of the International Council of Chemical Associations, one main sponsor of the event) notes, “95 percent of the things that touch our lives — such as food, water, shelter, transportation, and medicine — are made possible through chemistry,” and the purpose of the IYC is to help show people just how fundamental chemistry is in daily life.  
To get students involved in the celebration, the IYC designed a Global Experiment called “Water: A Chemical Solution,” which has the potential to be the biggest chemistry experiment ever.  Students from across the globe will participate in the water themed experiments by testing how chemistry can be used to purify water so it can be consumed. More specifically there are four activities that students will complete while taking part in the experiment: 1) acidity 2) salinity 3) filtration 4) solar still. Here is a more complete look into what students will be studying in each required activity.

Acidity- In the first activity students will use pH strips and learn about the pH scale in order to measure the pH of their local body of water. They finish by learning methods for testing the reliability of their results.

Salinity- The Salinity activity provides students the experience of making their own water meter and testing the conductivity and salt presence in their particular water sample.

Filtration- Students must work with household or classroom found materials to construct a functioning water filtration system. In addition, they must test out and rank the filtration abilities of different materials. Then they will end this activity by carrying out an actual water treatment and filtration and record their findings on the Global Experiment website.

Solar Still- The Solar Still activity provides students practice in alternative methods of purifying water, with specific attention to the distillation process.

The Global Experiment assumes that teachers will direct students when they are carrying out each experiment, but the experiment urges guidance and supervision from any adults willing to get involved. It does not matter if a parent or teacher has a background in chemistry; the experiment comes with detailed directions with regard to the methods and tools necessary for the successful completion of the modules.  According to the IYC, the experiments will cost very little, if anything at all, to get as many people participating as possible.  Finally, they created the experiments based on the level of education for those involved.  Elementary school students can follow simpler experiments while those in middle or high school have more challenging and complex tasks.

The International Year of Chemistry kicks off February 6th, and the Global Experiment runs all year, so if you think that your child or your class would enjoy participating in the experiment visit the website!  It is a simple yet terrific method to get students engaged with science, and it also gets students involved in assisting to solve the issue many countries have retrieving clean drinking water.  When Liveris was in grade school he says he became “hooked on the knowledge that chemistry would open the door to innovations that would make the world a better place.”  Hopefully, by getting involved with the Global Experiment, more and more students will start to feel this way!

Alan Parker is a blogger based out of New York, NY who writes about alternative energy, green business, sustainability, and climate change.
Follow on Twitter @AGreenParker
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How Not to Close a School « EdVox

How Not to Close a School « EdVox

How Not to Close a School

by edvoxny

by Melissa Kissoon

Melissa Kissoon is an 18 year old graduate of Franklin K. Lane High School in Brooklyn & a youth leader with Future of Tomorrow and the Urban Youth Collaborative.

I was victim of high school phase out. My first two years of high school at Lane were great. There were clubs and extra credit activities to help students get ahead or to help struggling students pass. I had some teachers I really liked and there were many teachers who had been in the school for over 15 years. Overall it was a great school despite its reputation and as a student, I would say it was improving. Then one day the principal and deans got us together to tell us our school is phasing out, which meant that they would be putting another school into our building and would no longer accept any new students

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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: DOZENS OF GROUPS PROTEST LOWERING OF TEACHER STANDARDS

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: DOZENS OF GROUPS PROTEST LOWERING OF TEACHER STANDARDS

DOZENS OF GROUPS PROTEST LOWERING OF TEACHER STANDARDS

by Mike Klonsky
CONTACT: Tim Ebner, CommunicationWorks, 202-955-9450, x317

Wynn Hausser, Public Advocates, 415-431-7430 x304; 650-619-1032

See end of release for organizational contacts available for comment

DOZENS OF GROUPS PROTEST LOWERING OF TEACHER STANDARDS

Organizations Join Forces in Urging Obama Administration, Congress to Reverse Course

Washington, D.C. – In an urgent letter sent Thursday to President Obama and key Congressional leaders, more than fifty organizations from across the country -- including civil rights, disability, parent, student, community and education groups -- criticized a provision signed into law last month lowering teaching standards required under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The provision allows thousands of underprepared and inexperienced teachers to continue to be assigned disproportionately to low-income, minority, special education, and English language learner students and denies parents notification of the teachers’ underprepared status.

Intended to overturn a recent civil rights ruling won by low-income students and parents of color in the Ninth
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Protesting corporate takeover of public education is nationwide | DeFENSE

Protesting corporate takeover of public education is nationwide | DeFENSE

Protesting corporate takeover of public education is nationwide

Posted in DeFENSE, Reform on 28. Jan, 2011

You see, taking back our schools is not just something we do in Denver. It’s happening all over the country. Watch this video. Internalize what the protesters are pointing out about NYC schools.

Doesn’t it sound familiar?

Let’s take back our schools. Join us.

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Del Valle for Mayor | For All Chicago For Every Neighborhood: Del Valle Wins Debate--NBC5 Ward Room

Del Valle for Mayor | For All Chicago For Every Neighborhood: Del Valle Wins Debate--NBC5 Ward Room

Del Valle Wins Debate--NBC5 Ward Room

JANUARY 28, 2011
From NBC5 Ward Room, 1.28.2011

Miguel del Valle: A. Del Valle won the debate, in the sense that he gained more than any other candidate. Finally given the air time he can’t afford, del Valle passionately argued his case for neighborhood empowerment and good government. He was also the candidate who best understood the financial struggles of the average Chicagoan. “People have had it up to here with the city,” he said, sharing our exasperation with the red light cameras and parking meters that have been picking motorists’ pockets. Del Valle’s other big advantage: unlike his rivals, he had no skeletons to answer for. The worst the moderators could come up with was that he has no money, and he turned that around by saying, “If you’re looking for a candidate who’s beholden to the special interests, I’m not your guy.” Some voters have been waiting 50 years to hear his closing message that “Chicago is ready for reform.”
Gery Chico: B. Chico was trying to rabbit punch Rahm Emanuel from the moment the cameras went live. During the opening statements, he tried to attack Emanuel’s plan to tax hair cuts and pet grooming. “We’ll get to that,” the moderators told him. Finally given his chance, he said, “If you thought the Stroger Sales Tax was a killer, you will hate the Rahm Tax. This is the worst time to raise taxes and the last place a candidate should be looking for revenue.” Chico succeeded in his goal of looking like a competent bureaucrat, pointing out several times that he’d written 16 balanced budgets, and arguing that “we can’t cut our way out of this crisis,” but need to grow the city’s revenue base through job creation. Weirdly, during the debate, Chico was making snippy comments about his opponents on Twitter: “Breathe @DelValle4Mayor,” “@RahmEmanuelcan’t do math.” Was his account hacked?
Rahm Emanuel: C. Emanuel has refused to participate in any of the community forums, and his lack of
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