Latest News and Comment from Education

Show All

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Big Education Ape: 5-22-11 AM Bill Gates Buying Grass-Roots School Advocacy Edition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Published by Coopmike48 – 5 contributors today

Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates

nytimes.com - INDIANAPOLIS — A handful of outspoken teachers helped persuade state lawmakers this spring to eliminate seniority-based layoff policies. They testified before the legislature, wrote briefing papers...

DianeRavitch

Modern School: Impoverishing Teachers in Ohio

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Modern School: Impoverishing Teachers in OhioImpoverishing Teachers in Ohioby Michael DunnWhile charter schools in Ohio outsource their teaching responsibilities to low wage immigrants, traditional...

coopmike48

The problematic growth of AP testing

news.harvard.edu - A new book co-edited by a Harvard researcher pulls together a wide range of research on the successes and limitations of the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) program. The studies, said Phili...

DianeRavitch

The questions that Emanuel's press secretary won't answer

dailyherald.com - Once Rahm Emanuel takes the oath and becomes Chicago' s mayor today, you will be hearing and seeing a lot more of a young woman named Tarrah Cooper. She is beginning the job of a lifetime, even tho...

mikeklonsky

Archives

Live Twitter stream on

@coopmike48/big-edu-ape-news-11

coopmike48 profile

coopmike48 Schooling in the Ownership Society: Wealthy powerful forces driving expansion of vouchers and "choice"http://bit.ly/jKf2wQ #Edu5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

coopmike48 profile

coopmike48 Third of N.J. districts in area top state average in per-pupil spending - Philly.com - http://goo.gl/xWT3R4 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

coopmike48 profile

coopmike48 A fashion app, designed by teenagers | The Education Report -http://goo.gl/AABQL2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

coopmike48 profile

coopmike48 ESL/EFL Storytelling | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...http://bit.ly/lOpK3B #Edu11 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates - NYTimes.com

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates - NYTimes.comBehind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill GatesBy SAM DILLONPublished: May 21, 2011RECOMMENDTWITTERE-MAILPRINTSINGLE PAGEREPRINTSSHAREINDI...

coopmike48

Saturday coffee.+ Old school « Fred Klonsky's blog

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky's blogSaturday coffee.by Fred KlonskyI’m putting this picture here in a shameless attempt to get sympathy for our fight to save our pensions. If you’re not willing t...

coopmike48

Five myths about America’s schools

washingtonpost.com - The end of the school year and the layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers are bringing more attention to reformers’ calls to remake public schools. Today’s school reform movement conflates the mo...

fklonsky

Art & EntertainmentSee all

Rapture 2011 - Fox News - Harold Camping May 21

mediaite.com - video While we’ve got less than an hour to go before the official End of the World begins, but Fox News is already calling this Rapture prediction a dud. Weekend news anchor Gregg Jarrett instructe...

coopmike48

LivingSee all

PoliticsSee all

New US rules promise legal Cuba travel for many

democraticunderground.com - Source: Associated PressMay 21, 12:15 PM EDTNew US rules promise legal Cuba travel for many By PETER ORSI Associated Press HAVANA (AP) -- The forbidden fruit of American travel is once again within...

coopmike48

LeisureSee all

Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action

saveourschoolsmarch.org - MAY 21, 2011 Davis, California – Bicycle Capital of the United States – A city where you feel out of place if you are not on a bicycle. We fit right in. I didn’t even have to steer once we got wit...

coopmike48

Joe Arpaio Re-created in Bacon, immigration news

hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - Published at 8:12 am, May 21, 2011 Photo Credits: Sheriff Joe: The bacon inspiration Chow Bella did a great job creating their own meat candy concoction of a Phoenix figurehead: Maricopa County She...

coopmike48

BusinessSee all

Walker Train debacle claims more victims…

democurmudgeon.blogspot.com - The whole high speed rail debate started before Scott Walker even started his run for governor, but Republican opposition was so energized, that it was a no brainer for Walker to ride that train to...

coopmike48

David Morris: And the Winner Is ... the Public Sector

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - David Morris: And the Winner Is ... the Public SectorDavid Morris: And the Winner Is ... the Public Sectorby David MorrisUnlike the public sector, the private sector is bred for efficiency. Left to...

coopmike48

#eduRead this paperSee all

Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates - NYTimes.com

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates - NYTimes.comBehind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill GatesBy SAM DILLONPublished: May 21, 2011RECOMMENDTWITTERE-MAILPRINTSINGLE PAGEREPRINTSSHAREINDI...

coopmike48

Saturday coffee.+ Old school « Fred Klonsky's blog

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky's blogSaturday coffee.by Fred KlonskyI’m putting this picture here in a shameless attempt to get sympathy for our fight to save our pensions. If you’re not willing t...

coopmike48

#stateofemergencyRead this paperSee all

Media1

  • coopmike48coopmike48

Photos1

  • tbfurmantbfurman

Posted by at

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Wealthy powerful forces driving expansion of vouchers and "choice"

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Wealthy powerful forces driving expansion of vouchers and "choice"

Wealthy powerful forces driving expansion of vouchers and "choice"

by Mike Klonsky
Betsy Devos
Two weeks ago, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) marked “a new era for education in Indiana” when he signed into law one of the most expansive school voucher laws in the country, opening up a huge fund of tax dollars for private schools. Daniels' school reform plan even received a blessing from none other than Arne Duncan.

Daniels told the WSJ he talks more with Education Secretary Arne Duncan than he did with any Bush Administration cabinet secretary during his 2001-2003 tenure at the White House. Vouchers have been unpopular with the American public. Between 1966 and 2000, vouchers were put up for a vote in states 25 times, andvoters rejected the program 24 of those times. But powerful ownership society forces are driving successful voucher initiatives in several states despite their unpopularity with the voters.
"What I want in education is almost completely aligned with what President
Posted by at

ESL/EFL Storytelling | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

ESL/EFL Storytelling | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
ESL/EFL Storytelling The last #ELT Chat on Twitter was focused on storytelling, and its written summary is filled with great ideas and links. I’m adding it to The Best Digital Storytelling Resources.
This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t” I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post about in this blog but, just because of time constraints, have not gotten around to doing. Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a few and list them here with ...
Posted by at

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: JOHN DEASY’S PRESSURE CHAMBER: LAUSD's new leader needs to make things happen fast

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: JOHN DEASY’S PRESSURE CHAMBER: LAUSD's new leader needs to make things happen fast
ON EQUAL TERMS Themes in the News for the week of May 16-20, 2011 by UCLA IDEA | http://bit.ly/mgEncK 05-20-2011 - Fifty-seven years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that separate education was not equal. Further, the court said ...
JOHN DEASY’S PRESSURE CHAMBER: LAUSD's new leader needs to make things happen fast By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | http://bit.ly/l8TlYk Posted on 5/19/11 • Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy was asked to talk about a career failure during a breakout session Wednesday at NewSchools Venture Fund’s annual Summit in ...
BEHIND GRASS-ROOTS SCHOOL ADVOCACY, BILL GATES By SAM DILLON New York Times | http://nyti.ms/ko6FBZ Published: May 21, 2011 — INDIANAPOLIS — A handful of outspoken teachers helped persuade state lawmakers this spring to eliminate seniority-based layoff policies. They testified before the legislature, ...
BEHIND STUDENT SUCCESS, AN LAUSD LIBRARIAN Rosemarie Bernier, an LAUSD teacher-librarian facing layoff, teaches students to go beyond textbooks and "learn to stand on the shoulders of the great scientists, philosophers and mathematicians." Just days after asking Hamilton High ...
Posted by at

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: A look in the Mind of Your Toughest Student

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: A look in the Mind of Your Toughest Student

A look in the Mind of Your Toughest Student

by coolcatteacher@gmail.com (Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher)
Jo McLeay shared a touching letter in her comments on a post I wrote this past week about 5 Stories to Inspire Teachers to Never Let Anyone Steal Your Joy where I commented about a "secret student" who is stealing things off my desk in my room this year.

So many veteran teachers have reached out on the blog, Twitter and via email to say, YES! You have tough times as a teacher. Jo is one of those veteran teachers and a personal encouragement to me on this blog from day one.

I think this look inside the mind of a difficult student will give you hope. May we all be so fortunate as to get a letter one day like this.

A Letter From a Difficult Student
Hi Vicki, I know that what you have said is true; a few weeks ago I got this message from an ex

Daily Education & Technology News for Schools 05/22/2011

by coolcatteacher@gmail.com (Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher)
Posted by at

Daily Kos: The United Gates of America

Daily Kos: The United Gates of America

The United Gates of America

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

The title is not a mistake. In the New York Times, we finally see coverage of a phenomenon some of us have been writing about for year. The piece begins by telling about a small committed group of apparently grass roots organized teachers who testified before the Indiana legislature and wrote an op ed asking to eliminate seniority-based layoff policies.

They described themselves simply as local teachers who favored school reform — one sympathetic state representative, Mary Ann Sullivan, said, “They seemed like genuine, real people versus the teachers’ union lobbyists.” They were, but they were also recruits in a national organization, Teach Plus, financed significantly by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

To see how pervasive the influence of the money of Bill Gates is, I strongly urge you to read Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates

And remember this:

In some cases, Mr. Gates is creating entirely new advocacy groups. The foundation is also paying
Posted by at

Schools Matter: Think NCLB is Inflexible and Testing-Heavy? Wait Until You See the New Plan

Schools Matter: Think NCLB is Inflexible and Testing-Heavy? Wait Until You See the New Plan

Think NCLB is Inflexible and Testing-Heavy? Wait Until You See the New Plan

by skrashen

Sent to the Washington Post, May 21.

The Post characterizes the current education law (NCLB, or No Child Left Behind) as "inflexible" and "testing-heavy," and notes that there is "bipartisan agreement" that the law should be changed ("In weekly address, Obama pushes for overhaul of nation’s education laws," May 21).

I wonder how many people are aware of the US Department of Education's new plans, described in their Blueprint for Reform.

The Department of Education will require, as before, tests in reading and math but will also require testing

Posted by at

Losing January Regents – what the document says « JD2718

Losing January Regents – what the document says « JD2718

Losing January Regents – what the document says

by jd2718

There’s been a little storm launched this week: the Board of Regents of New York State has just eliminated January Regents (we have June, and in all but Trig and Chemistry we have August). Also, Foreign Language Regents were completely eliminated.

Wonder what the document actually says? Here it is.

TO:P-12 Education Committee

College and Career Readiness Working Group

FROM:John B. King, Jr.

Valerie Grey

SUBJECT:Options for Funding the Regents Examination System
DATE:May 10, 2011
AUTHORIZATION(S):
Posted by at

Saturday, May 21, 2011

“Failing” Parents | Engaging Parents In School...

“Failing” Parents | Engaging Parents In School...
“Failing” Parents The New York Times has just published an article on recent efforts by not-particularly-enlightened legislators to “help” students learn by punishing their parents. It’s titled Whose Failing Grade Is It? Here’s a Diane Ravitch quote from the article: ...
New York City Mayor Insults Parents — Again The NY Times reports that New York City Mayor Bloomberg today complained today about the predominantly minority parents who are fighting against his plan to close twenty-two schools: *“Unfortunately there are some parents who just come from — they ...
Posted by at

George Takei vs. Tennessee “Don’t Say Gay” Bill | FDL Action

George Takei vs. Tennessee “Don’t Say Gay” Bill | FDL Action

George Takei vs. Tennessee “Don’t Say Gay” Bill

By: Jane Hamsher Friday May 20, 2011 8:54 am

A pending law in the Tennessee legislature would prohibit teachers from discussing homosexuality in the classroom, the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

So George Takei is helpfully offering Tennesseans who might feel constricted by such a law to use his name instead.

“Any time you need to say the word ‘gay,’ you can just say the word ‘Takei,’” he says.

For example, you could just say “Takei marriage.” You can march in a “Takei pride parade.”

Posted by at

Resisting Test Prep is Tricky « JD2718

Resisting Test Prep is Tricky « JD2718

Resisting Test Prep is Tricky

MAY 21, 2011 PM31 9:17 PM
tags: ,
by jd2718

I’ve been asked to do a math talk or a math teaching talk for a bunch of math teachers. (I like this). The host suggested I consider tying into the common core standards, but even better would be a talk on organizing all math teachers for the revolution that is needed.

Clever me, I’m thinking about a talk on avoiding the common core, or teaching around it, or ignoring it.

But I don’t know if I can do that. First of all, I need to read the damned documents. Skimming is not enough. But second, if teachers are going to be rated on student test scores…

which offends me on so many levels I can hardly begin – the scores will not reflect teaching skill – the metrics to account for different circumstances are primitive and cannot advance appreciably, no matter how many tweaks – so m

Posted by at

Mayor Bloomberg Offends Some With Comment About New York Parents - DNAinfo.com

Mayor Bloomberg Offends Some With Comment About New York Parents - DNAinfo.com

Mayor Bloomberg Offends Some With Comment About New York Parents

May 21, 2011 3:18pmcommentprint

The mayor said parents from poor neighborhoods fighting his school-closure plan lack "formal education."

Mayor Bloomberg Offends Some With Comment About New York ParentsMayor Bloomberg offended some New Yorkers with comments about parents fighting his plan to shutter schools. (Jill Colvin/DNAinfo)

By Dave Goldiner

DNAinfo News Editor

MANHATTAN - Mayor Michael Bloomberg put his foot in his mouth Friday when he said that parents who oppose his plan to shut down poorly-performing schools lack "formal education."

On his weekly radio show, Bloomberg appeared to insult parents who are fighting to keep their children's schools, including several in Harlem, from being shut down.

"They never had a formal education and they don't understand the value of education," he said.

The billionaire mayor showed his tone-deaf side when he continued to discuss the opposition to closing the



Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20110521/manhattan/mayor-bloomberg-offends-some-with-comment-about-new-york-parents#ixzz1N2qrFBv3
Posted by at

Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates - NYTimes.com

Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates - NYTimes.com

Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates

By
Published: May 21, 2011

INDIANAPOLIS — A handful of outspoken teachers helped persuade state lawmakers this spring to eliminate seniority-based layoff policies. They testified before the legislature, wrote briefing papers and published an op-ed article in The Indianapolis Star.

Enlarge This Image
Rick Wilking/Reuters

Bill Gates's foundation spent $373 million on education efforts in 2009, the latest year for which its tax filings are available.

Multimedia
Document
Annotated Excerpts of the Gates Foundation 990 Form 2009

Related

They described themselves simply as local teachers who favored school reform — one sympathetic state representative, Mary Ann Sullivan, said, “They seemed like genuine, real people versus the teachers’ union lobbyists.” They were, but they were also recruits in a national organization, Teach Plus, financed significantly by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

For years, Bill Gates focused his education philanthropy on overhauling large schools and opening small ones. His new strategy is more ambitious: overhauling the nation’s education policies. To that end, the foundation is financing educators to pose alternatives to union orthodoxies on issues like the seniority system and the use of student tes

Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)