salon.com - nolabels.org The anti-partisanship nonprofit political organization No Labels kicked off its nationwide campaign for civility yesterday with panel discussions featuring MSNBC pundit Joe Scarborough...
schoolsmatter.info - There's an old quote that comes out the early labor movement: "First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you." F...
preaprez.wordpress.com - The intense pressure teachers and other Illinois state employees put on members of the General Assembly was made apparent to me Friday night at 10:30. Anne and I had just gone to bed when the phone...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - DNC official will go to Rhee group - Ben Smith - POLITICO.comDNC official will go to Rhee groupDemocratic National Committee national spokesman Hari Sevugan will move to a top post at the former Wa...
businessweek.com - With K12, the largest U.S. operator of taxpayer-funded online schools, the former junk-bond king has figured out how to make money in education. Is that a good thing?By John HechingerTen-year-old A...
nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com - The observations below are from Douglas Massey, professor at Princeton and president of the American Academy of Political & Social Sciences (photo at left). On Thursday night, the Academy present...
failingschools.wordpress.com - Earlier today, Jonathan Alter posted an odd and misguided attack on Diane Ravitch’s recent piece in the New York Times. Resorting to some of my ‘favorite’ school reform tropes, Alter grossly mischa...
voices.washingtonpost.com - In a paean to Bill Gates, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter calls Diane Ravitch the Microsoft founder's "chief adversary."It's the world's richest (or second richest) man vs. an education historian and New...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - learn more at http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/ This is the third in our series trumpeting the values teachers, students and parents want to see reflected in the nation's education policy. We wil...
vivirlaeducacion.com - Publicado el 5 Junio 2011Archivado en Josep | Únase a mí para una entrevista con Sir Ken Robinson, autor de el elemento directo e interactiva: cómo encontrar su pasión cambia todo.Fecha: martes, 30...
nbcwashington.com - Last week, five men got cuffed at the Jefferson Memorial for doing a silent dance at the Jefferson Memorial. The men said they were exercising their rights as citizens to free speech. The Park Pol...
kimbleforcongress.blogspot.com - I am very pleased to announce that after a very exhaustive search that took us to over two dozen states and 40 orphanages, we have adopted a new daughter. Seven year old Ayn Reagan Kimble is just...
blogs.forbes.com - Jun. 4 2011 - 5:28 pm | 0 views | 0 recommendations | By E.D. KAIN The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere Various Sarah Palin defenders have come out of the woodwork to defend her mangling of that most A...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - School Tech Connect: Forever Is EnoughForever Is Enoughby effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)I'm still officially on shore leave, but I thought I'd chime in for a moment to post some of the letter I re...
salon.com - Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Michael Bloomberg New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, benevolent tyrant and media mogul, is giving his financial news organization an opinion section. He's hired away the forme...
emptywheel.firedoglake.com - I had been predicting for weeks before Obama went to Poland that the Poles would move to quash their investigation into the black site at which KSM and others were tortured. And sure enough, that a...
blogs.forbes.com - EducationJun. 4 2011 - 1:13 pm | 0 views | 0 recommendations |By E.D. KAIN Image via WikipediaSarah Palin joined a number of other GOP hopefuls in New Hampshire last week making the typical pre-cam...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Red Sox Announce “It Gets Better” Video Against Anti-Gay Bullying, Joining Giants and Cubs | Change.org NewsRed Sox Announce “It Gets Better” Video Against Anti-Gay Bullying, Joining Giants and Cub...
hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - Published at 5:07 pm, June 4, 2011 Photo Credits: Nebraska Redistricting Data 2010 At the beginning of the year there was much speculation as to how the rapid growth of the U.S. Latino population i...
theatlanticwire.com - A poll released by Gallup yesterday confirmed what a deeply religious America continues to be. 92 percent of Americans still say "yes" when asked the basic question "Do you believe in God?" In 1947...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Schools Matter: The invention of lying and educational policyThe invention of lying and educational policyby skrashenPosted as a comment on "The invention of lying" – an interview with Naomi Oreske...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Schools Matter: The invention of lying and educational policyThe invention of lying and educational policyby skrashenPosted as a comment on "The invention of lying" – an interview with Naomi Oreske...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - learn more at http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/ This is the third in our series trumpeting the values teachers, students and parents want to see reflected in the nation's education policy. We wil...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Red Sox Announce “It Gets Better” Video Against Anti-Gay Bullying, Joining Giants and Cubs | Change.org NewsRed Sox Announce “It Gets Better” Video Against Anti-Gay Bullying, Joining Giants and Cub...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Last Week's Best Posts on Big Education Ape » PostRankHide10.0The 10 Poorest School Districts in America | Ecology of Education2011-Jun-3The 10 Poorest School Districts in America | Ecology of Educ...
I missed this statement by Dick Ingram, the head of TRS. Of all the people charged with advising lawmakers about the state retirement system, Dick Ingram has the legal responsibility to provide truthful, accurate assessments. Read the whole thing.
Note a couple things:
1) The funding mechanism proposed in SB512 is novel idea-- untested anywhere else-- and causes the TRS actuarial people to be unable to make any predictions whatsoever. In short, it's a risky scheme. He even calls it a scheme. When Dick Ingram calls your funding plan a scheme, you should be embarrassed.
2) As pointed out in this very space, the authors of this bill didn't even do the fundamental homework that any responsible person would do before proposing such sweeping legislation:
Posted as a comment on "The invention of lying" – an interview with Naomi Oreskes, by Robert Eshelman,
The first two paragraphs of the interview:
Despite this spring's ferocious weather, which scientists warn could become more commonplace as the planet warms, climate change denial is en vogue, particularly among congressional Republicans. They claim the science is unsettled, and seek deep cuts in programs that would research and prepare for climate-change.
The GOP's current attacks on climate science, though, are part of a decades-long narrative that questions scientific authority. In Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes, a professor of history and science studies at the University of California, San Diego, and her co-author Erik M. Conway detail the right-wing's history of
learn more at http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/ This is the third in our series trumpeting the values teachers, students and parents want to see reflected in the nation's education policy. We will elaborate much more during activities in Washington DC and around the country July 25-31. education film festival: July 25-28, workshops: July 28-31 march: July 30. credits: photos: Joel Howe, Phyllis Bretholtz, Renee Scott, Amanda Deburro films: "Speaking in Tongues" by Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider, "August to June" by Tom and Amy Valens "World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Ahievements" by Chris Farina
Democratic National Committee national spokesman Hari Sevugan will move to a top post at the former Washington, D.C., school chief Michelle Rhee's new advocacy group, Students First, a move aimed at strengthening its hand in the complex and high-stakes politics of education policy.
Sevugan, 36, a lawyer and veteran politico who also taught for two years in a public middle school in Upper Manhattan, will serve as vice president of communications, a source familiar with the plan said.
But while Sevugan's role includes setting up a rapid response operation and press shop for a group that didn't have a full-fledged communications operation, the move also sends a political signal: Michelle Rhee's push to weaken the hold of teachers unions has won her enemies in the labor movement and among some Democrats, and allies on the Republican right, and Sevugan will aim to clarify her attempt to establish a bipartisan profile, the source said; he has already begun to reach out to some of the group's progressive critics.
The move is intended to bring "the reputation of the group back to a non-partisan place after being seen, undeservedly, as overly friendly with Republicans," the source said. "Students First has strong relationships with many Democratic
The Boston Red Sox announced today that they will produce an “It Gets Better” video, becoming the third team in professional sports in a week to join the campaign in taking a stand against anti-gay bullying and homophobia. More than 9,000 people -- mostly Red Sox fans in New England -- signed12-year-old Sam Maden’s Change,org petition to the Red Sox, which he started in honor of his Uncle Chris, who died unexpectedly in January at the age of 43.
"We are proud of dedicated Red Sox fans like 12-year-old Sam Maden who have taken the courageous step of publicly standing up against bullying of LGBT youth," said Susan Goodenow, Senior Vice President/Public Affairs and Marketing for the Red Sox, in a statement. "The Red Sox have frequently done PSA videos, or public service announcement videos, on important social issues. We are currently producing an “It Gets Better” video to support the It Gets Better campaign to stop bullying of LGBT youth and teen suicides. We hope that when it is released it will both reflect our continued commitment to be active participants in the community and help advance the efforts of Sam and others to stop bullying. Our team stands for
A roundup of some of the best stuff I didn't get to during the end of the week. What'd I miss? As Gates Foundation Grows, Critics Question Methods NPR: In an independent survey last year, many partners said the foundation didn't understand their goals, was inconsistent in its communications and often unresponsive... Ohio Unions Fight to Roll Back Labor Law WSJ: Organized labor is bringing 10,000 volunteers and a $25 million budget to the latest round of the union-rights fight in Ohio, pushing an effort to repeal a new state law reining in public-employee unions... Don’t Believe Critics, Education Reform Works Joanathan Alter: In truth, as Jon Schnur, the original architect of Obama’s Race to the Top initiative puts it, “No serious reformer says accountability should just be based on test
Douglas Massey on Diane Ravitch and Jonathan Alter's attack
The observations below are from Douglas Massey, professor at Princeton and president of the American Academy of Political & Social Sciences (photo at left). On Thursday night, the Academy presented the Moynihan award to Diane Ravitch, given annually to outstanding civic leaders who "champion the use of evidence and informed judgment in the policy process. "
Yet on Friday Jonathan Alter let loose a vicious attack on Diane, and enlisted Arne Duncan in an attempt to undermine her credibility, claiming that she uses "phony empiricism." Yesterday I posted some responses from parents, educators and advocates. Alter, (photo to the right) a former Newsweek columnist, now works for a new branch of Bloomberg LP, run out of the Mayor's personal offices next to his home, and "intended to channel his personal philosophy and worldview," according to the NY Times.
For the potential conflicts of interest involved in Alter's attack on Diane, a prominent Bloomberg critic, see Salon. Another good takedown showing how Alter has consistently spread anti-teacher propaganda in the service of Bill Gates and the rest of the Billionaire Boy's Club, and how the US Dept. of Education has been promoting his attack on Diane is at School Matters. As Jim Horn writes, for the "Billionaire Boys Club... an inability to buy the truth has reached a crisis point that demands that the truth tellers, now, be burned at the stake."
Massey points out that the corporate reformers now dominating education policy in this nation, whose deceptive rhetoric, use of distorted data, and irresponsible and damaging policies Diane has critiqued, have been peddling "snake oil," and the fact that Alter and Duncan have launched this coordinated attack is a sign of her effectiveness.
Dear Diane:
Getting pilloried in public and attacked by people in power means you are living up to the Moynihan legacy! When it
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