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Friday, June 17, 2011

Big Education Ape: 6-17-11 AM Privatize Christie Edition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Published by Coopmike48 – 6 contributors today



Rahm does his best Ronald Reagan

michaelklonsky.blogspot.com - "Not to quote Ronald Reagan, but I will: 'The facts are a stubborn thing,' " Emanuel said.If there was any doubt that the mayor is itching for a union-busting showdown with Chicago teachers, he's m...
mikeklonsky

The Nation's Report Card: An F in History: Forum

kqed.org - Wed, Jun 15, 2011 -- 9:00 AMAudio currently not available for this program.The National Assessment of Educational Progress has released a report showing that the vast majority of students scored be...
DianeRavitch

National-Academies.org | Newsroom

nationalacademies.org - Date: May 26, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Current Test-Based Incentive Programs Have Not Consistently Raised Student Achievement in U.S.; Improved Approaches Should Be Developed and EvaluatedWA...
mikeklonsky

What Weiner Walks Away With

smartmoney.com - Anthony Weiner just resigned from the House of Representatives, his 12-year political career ended by Twitter indiscretion. In doing so, Weiner walks away with retirement benefits that are far more...
mikeklonsky

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coopmike48 The Fordham Foundation Yet Again Pretends to Lean Right to Attack Rick Perry From the Left | RedState -http://goo.gl/hkDmo3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Hoping for the BEST | EdNewsColorado - http://goo.gl/BWgI32 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Arne Duncan Does the Bidding of Teachers Unions and Congressional Republicans | - http://goo.gl/HzIO8about 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 NJ Spotlight | Pilot Project to Launch Christie's Teacher Evaluation System - http://goo.gl/2c8dd5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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Insideschools.org : Blogs

insideschools.org - Students at the STEM citywide G&T program at PS 85 in Queens. Children in poor and low-performing districts continue to qualify at much lower rates for the city’s gifted and talented programs than ...
leoniehaimson

PoliticsSee all


Jersey Jazzman: Inept Labor Leaders Must Go

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Jersey Jazzman: Inept Labor Leaders Must GoInept Labor Leaders Must Goby DukeDear lord, how incredibly stupid:In an explosive tirade that fired up some demonstrators and embarrassed others, a natio...
coopmike48

Benefits bill advances in NJ over labor objections

boston.com - TRENTON, N.J.—New Jersey legislation requiring a half-million public workers to shoulder a larger portion of their pension and health benefits costs and restricting collective bargaining over healt...
coopmike48

Art & EntertainmentSee all


Home - Inside Higher Ed

insidehighered.com - February 24, 2011 The return of ROTC to some campuses -- seemingly assured by the end of the military's policy against gay service members -- may be hitting a few bumps.More February 24, 2011 City ...
coopmike48

Here Are Some Excellent Infographics

larryferlazzo.edublogs.org - Jun 17 2011 Larry Ferlazzo Infographics are visual representation of information, and can be interactive or just a static image. I have quite a few “The Best…” lists related to them, and you can fi...
coopmike48

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Mass. immigrant advocates applaud Conn. tuition law

boston.com - As neighboring Connecticut embraces a plan to allow certain illegal immigrants to pay lower in-state tuition rates at the state’s public universities, advocates for Massachusetts immigrants are rea...
coopmike48

StoriesSee all


So, You Want To Write A Book? Here’s The Best Advice…

larryferlazzo.edublogs.org - Jun 17 2011 Larry Ferlazzo I’ve written three books (my latest one is Helping Students Motivate Themselves), and have two more on the way. I’ll probably eventually write a post sharing my own advic...
coopmike48

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      Duncan Says Discriminating Against LGBT Clubs Violates Law - High School Notes (usnews.com)

      Duncan Says Discriminating Against LGBT Clubs Violates Law - High School Notes (usnews.com)

      Duncan Says Discriminating Against LGBT Clubs Violates Law

      By JASON KOEBLER

      Posted: June 17, 2011

      Print

      Secretary of Education Arne Duncan warned school districts Tuesday against attempting to shut down lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clubs and gay-straight alliances.

      In the open "Dear Colleagues" letter, Duncan stressed that LGBT students are often the target of bullying and verbal harassment, and that after-school clubs can help students cope with the bullying.

      "By encouraging dialogue and providing supportive resources, these groups can help make schools safe and affirming environments for everyone," Duncan wrote. Duncan claims that some school districts around the country have attempted to block gay-straight alliances from forming, and that barring their formation or shutting down LGBT clubs is illegal according to

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      Christie's proposal would give private companies unprecedented control of failing N.J. public schools | NJ.com

      Christie's proposal would give private companies unprecedented control of failing N.J. public schools | NJ.com

      Christie's proposal would give private companies unprecedented control of failing N.J. public schools

      Published: Friday, June 17, 2011, 7:45 AM

      christie.JPGEd Murray/The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie speaks at a press conference in this May file photo.
      TRENTON — Private companies may soon gain unprecedented control of five failing New Jersey public schools if a proposal unveiled last week by Gov. Chris Christie is approved by the Legislature.
      Fewer than 70 public schools across the country are managed privately and many struggle because of restrictive local regulations and feuds between the companies and the communities they serve, education experts said.
      "The track record of public school takeover is ambiguous. Really, none of the companies has had remarkable success," said Rick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank.
      Christie’s proposal would invite non-profit and for-profit companies to participate in the five-year pilot program. Local school boards selected through an application process would have two options — ask the private company to manage a failed school or authorize the company to launch a new
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      Plan for Oakland schools up for approval Saturday | The Education Report

      Plan for Oakland schools up for approval Saturday | The Education Report

      Plan for Oakland schools up for approval Saturday

      By Katy Murphy
      Thursday, June 16th, 2011 at 9:24 pm in School board news, Tony Smith,achievement gap, families, health, initiatives.

      On Saturday, the Oakland school board is scheduled to vote on the superintendent’s five-year strategic plan — the product of 14 task forces and, according to the document, some 350 task force and community meetings.

      The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the board room at 1025 Second Ave. It’s supposed to run about two hours.

      How did you take part in the process? Does this document reflect your ideas for improving OUSD? What will it take for this plan to materialize?

      In case you missed it:


      OUSD’s strategic plan –

      The Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network sent out a news release

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      Mean girls: A common breed of bully | Being Latino Online Magazine

      Mean girls: A common breed of bully | Being Latino Online Magazine

      Mean girls: A common breed of bully

      by beinglatino

      by Alex Levine

      When I watch TV and read the news, I hear about countless tragic bully stories. The large majority of the ones I’ve come across recently are boys bullying boys because of sexuality, gender identity, or because they’re overweight. There is another big pool of bullying that happens that rarely gets touched upon aside from the one Hollywood movie that labeled this phenomenon Mean Girls.

      I need to preface this by saying that not all girls bully one another nor is the following true of every group of girlfriends. However, we all likely went to school with at least one group of girls like this but it often goes under the radar.

      Way back in 2004 Tiny Fey and crew made a comedy about a clique of girls that had a lot of in-fighting. Given the tone of the movie and the creators, many wrote it off as comedy. The dynamics portrayed

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      Teachers Union Facing Crucial Decisions - Chicago News Cooperative

      Teachers Union Facing Crucial Decisions - Chicago News Cooperative

      Teachers Union Facing Crucial Decisions

      Teachers Union Facing Crucial Decisions
      Jose More
      Hundreds of teachers, union employees and community organizations marched in protest of big business.

      by REBECCA VEVEA | Jun 17, 2011

      The newly seated Chicago Board of Education may have won the first battle with Chicago teachers this week when it rescinded a 4 percent pay raise, but it may also have ended a relatively peaceful era in labor relations and created a more pugnacious adversary.

      The Chicago Teachers Union has absorbed a number of recent setbacks. On Monday, a sweeping education bill that reformed teacher tenure and limited teachers’ ability to strike was signed into law. And on Wednesday, the board unanimously nullified raises that would have cost nearly $100 million.

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      The Prop 98 disappearing act | Thoughts on Public Education

      The Prop 98 disappearing act | Thoughts on Public Education

      The Prop 98 disappearing act - by Kathryn Baron

      by Kathryn Baron
      When Gov. Brown vetoed the budget yesterday, he also halted one of the “legally questionable maneuvers” referred to in his veto message, in which legislators attempted to ignore the constitutional funding requirements of Proposition 98. Analysts at the education consulting firm School Services of California said they were reviewing the numbers in the budget bill [...]
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      The 12 qualities great teachers share - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

      The 12 qualities great teachers share - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

      The 12 qualities great teachers share

      by Valerie Strauss

      It’s the question of the year: What makes a great teacher?

      Here’s one effort to sort out the qualities that all great teachers have. I suspect that any effort to create a definitive list is doomed to fail because great teachers are as different as the students they teach.

      But here’s a list to start, and please write what you think is missing. This was written by Chris Lehmann, the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. A version of this appeared on his website, Practical Theory. He wrote this some years ago when he was teaching at Beacon School, a progressive public high school in Manhattan.

      Read full article >>
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      LA Unified asks parents, students to evaluate schools in report cards | California Watch

      LA Unified asks parents, students to evaluate schools in report cards | California Watch

      LA Unified asks parents, students to evaluate schools in report cards

      by Louis Freedberg

      Lunchtime at Marshall High in Los AngelesLouis Freedberg/California WatchStudents take break during lunchtime at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles.

      For the last three years, the Los Angeles Unified School District has been issuing multicolored, multilingual report cards on each of its hundreds of schools that is much easier to read than the often dense, multi-page School Accountability Report Cards mandated by the state.

      The most innovative feature of the report card, issued in an 11-by-22-inch format, is that it includes a survey of parents, students and staff to gauge their attitudes about the school – giving a more three-dimensional picture of a school than is possible with test scores alone.

      The report cards are easily accessed on this interactive web page. Check out, for example, the report card for

      Undocumented students could get financial aid under revived California DREAM Act

      by Joshua Emerson Smith

      Authorities warn school districts about mishandling construction bonds

      by Corey G. Johnson

      New online tool allows users to see climate change in California

      by Susanne Rust
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      Modern School: Lies of Our Times—LA Mayor Says Firing Teachers Improves Student Learning

      Modern School: Lies of Our Times—LA Mayor Says Firing Teachers Improves Student Learning

      Lies of Our Times—LA Mayor Says Firing Teachers Improves Student Learning

      by Michael Dunn

      In an Op Ed in the Los Angeles Times today, LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said that “the crisis in Los Angeles public schools — where only about half of the students graduate from high school and fewer than 30% of those who do are college-ready — can't be solved until we make excellent teaching a top priority.” His solution is to do away with seniority, weaken tenure protections, and tie teacher evaluations to student test scores.

      The first problem with Villaraigosa’s assessment is that there is no crisis. A crisis is a discreet event, whereas low graduation rates are the historical norm, a constant since the earliest days of the American education system. In the 19th century, only 2% of U.S. children graduated from high school, according to Education Week. While graduation rates steadily rose in the early to middle 20th century, they remained low for minority and especially lower income students. In the 1950s and 60s, for example, high school dropout rates for Latin Americans were a
      Posted by at

      Jersey Jazzman: Inept Labor Leaders Must Go

      Jersey Jazzman: Inept Labor Leaders Must Go

      Inept Labor Leaders Must Go

      by Duke
      Dear lord, how incredibly stupid:
      In an explosive tirade that fired up some demonstrators and embarrassed others, a national union leader went nuclear on Gov. Chris Christie, calling him a Nazi over and over.
      "Welcome to Nazi Germany," Christopher Shelton, a top official at the Communication Workers of America, told thousands of protesters today outside the Statehouse in Trenton. "The first thing that the Nazis and Adolf Hitler did was go after the unions."
      In an extreme example of disaffection with both parties, Shelton also went after
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      NYC Educator: From the Folks Who Brought You Green Dot Schools

      NYC Educator: From the Folks Who Brought You Green Dot Schools

      From the Folks Who Brought You Green Dot Schools

      by NYC Educator
      There's now a push for a parent trigger law in New York. This law was passed in California in an effort toturn an elementary school into a charter.

      The Parent Trigger was conceived by a group called Parent Revolution, formerly known as the Los Angeles Parents Union. It's no secret that the organization was founded by the Green Dot charter school chain, though occasionally there's a halfhearted effort to portray Parent Revolution as a “grassroots” parents' group.

      And State Senator Gloria Romero, who sponsored the legislation in California, scored herself a nice gig with Democrats for Education Reform, after voters rejected
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      Thursday, June 16, 2011

      All Education Matters: Serious Fantasy: The Institute for the Indentured Educated Class

      All Education Matters: Serious Fantasy: The Institute for the Indentured Educated Class

      Serious Fantasy: The Institute for the Indentured Educated Class

      by C. Cryn Johannsen
      There is this big, somewhat ugly house next to where I am currently living. It has been stripped clean, and the owners have been gone for well over a year. It's a foreclosure. The bank tends to mow it at the last minute, so it's this hideous eye sore in a nice, tidy neighborhood. Every time I walk by it with my dogs, I get really pissed. I have thought about leaving my dogs' shit in the yard, but then I realize that that would be utterly rude to the poor guys who must mow the yard each month. So, I pick up my dogs' shit and curse the bank that owns it. Then I curse a bunch of other banks, as well as politicians . . . by the time I get back home, I am seething. So . . . here's something I'd like to do with that house.

      I'd like to buy it, fix it up, and turn it into . . . The Institute for the Indentured Educated Class. Wouldn't that
      Posted by at

      I Won’t Deny It [My Ambitionz As A Ridah] | The Jose Vilson

      I Won’t Deny It [My Ambitionz As A Ridah] | The Jose Vilson

      I Won’t Deny It [My Ambitionz As A Ridah]

      by Jose

      Tupac Amaru Shakur

      One of my NYC teacher friends posited that I was popular. I laughed. Hard. The one thing to keep in mind, my people, is that I have a hard time talking about myself in depth. On the web, I’ve gotten gracious amounts of praise (all of which I’m humbled by) but in my district, I think I’ve also maintained a fair share of notoriety. I tend to listen a lot more than I speak, and I nod a lot until I find the best place and time to say something. She asked me to write about why it is that I laughed so hard at her question, but before I accepted that offer, I replied with this: What’s the realistic difference between infamy and popularity.

      Simple. It’s about intention.

      Whenever I enter a conversation, my intentions depend highly on the audience, what I know beforehand about

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      I Feel So Cheap And Dirty, Part II | Mr. Teachbad's Blog of Teacher Disgruntlement

      I Feel So Cheap And Dirty, Part II | Mr. Teachbad's Blog of Teacher Disgruntlement

      I Feel So Cheap And Dirty, Part II

      by mrteachbad

      Before you go on, you may want to read I Feel So Cheap And Dirty, Part I. But I can’t make you.

      The four come into my room, and I know what’s going to happen. (By the way, Timmy has no IEP, 504 or anything like that. He’s just lazy.)

      The social worker introduces me to Timmy’s parents, who speak no English. And I don’t speak what they speak. It’s unclear whether the social worker speaks what they speak, but I think not.

      So with no communication happening on most fronts, the social worker just hits me up and lays it out there: “Is there anything Timmy can do to make something up or somehow pass the class? He has been working so hard in English and spending so much time on that research paper…you know.”

      Me: He already failed the class. I already put in grades.

      Her: Well, I know. But is

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      Jersey Jazzman: Do The Hustle

      Jersey Jazzman: Do The Hustle

      Do The Hustle

      by Duke
      Derrell "The Freman" Bradford cashes in:
      With education reform at center stage in New Jersey politics, a new political action organization is expected to launch today with a $1 million media campaign addressing teacher quality.
      Better Education for Kids (B4K) has posted a press release on its fledgling website, describing itself as a 501c(4) organization, a non-profit permitted to promote political causes. It is led by prominent school choice activist Derrell Bradford as executive director and funded through two wealthy financiers and philanthropists, David Tepper and Alan Fournier.
      When contacted last evening, Bradford confirmed the launch and said the group was
      Posted by at

      Jersey Jazzman: What A Day...

      Jersey Jazzman: What A Day...

      What A Day...

      by Duke
      Really, what is there left to say? NJ sinks lower than I ever thought possible.

      The following people are complete sell-outs to middle-class professionals working in the public sector:
      All four of you are dead to us. Goodbye.

      There are also some heroes:
      Assembly members Wayne DeAngelo, Daniel Benson, Patrick Diegnan, Reed Gusciora, Vincent Prieto and Connie Wagner, and state Sen. Ray Lesniak, blasted the
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