Textbooks By Course | New & Used Books, eBooks, Rent Books | SwoopThat

Textbooks By Course | New & Used Books, eBooks, Rent Books | SwoopThat:

Find Textbooks by Course

Save up to 75% in 10 minutes with SwoopThat's course search.

See how it works

LA JOLLA, Calif.– SwoopThat.com, a free service built by students for students that integrates textbook price comparison shopping with course schedules, announced today that they have expanded their course-search technology to support students at over 2,350 universities, colleges, and private high schools. By using SwoopThat, over ten million students will have the ability to quickly look up the required books for their enrolled courses and see every online retailer selling those books, all in one location. The result is that students save up to 75 percent on textbooks in roughly ten minutes.
SwoopThat’s goal is to cut long lines, outrageous prices, uncertainty over which books are required for courses, and wasted time shopping for a deal on the Internet; SwoopThat does all of the hard work for students, and shows them every option available for their books, including new, used, rental, and digital versions.
While SwoopThat collects course data independently from the schools themselves, it is also working with numerous college student governments to launch free textbook exchange platforms at their schools. Textbook exchanges allow students to easily exchange and sell books with other students in their school, resulting in higher savings.
On average, students spend $900 per year on textbooks, and textbook prices have been rising at twice the rate of inflation over the last two decades. The Government Accountability Office recently found that textbooks can represent up to 25 percent of the tuition and fees at four-year public institutions, and as much as 75 percent of the tuition and fees at two-year community colleges.
“Our proprietary algorithms help students find the cheapest places to buy their books collectively, rather than one at a time,” said Jonathan Simkin, SwoopThat’s co-founder and CEO. “Most students can’t afford to spend endless hours bargain hunting for cheaper textbooks. Our goal is to increase price transparency for students through a time-efficient process – showing them every available option for their books, including free digital textbooks, and letting them decide where to go from there.”
About SwoopThat.com
SwoopThat is a service built by students for students with one goal in mind: save current students both time and money when purchasing textbooks. Recent findings show the average student spends approximately $900 and several hours per year purchasing textbooks and these costs can represent up to 25 percent of the tuition cost at a four-year public university.
To solve this problem, SwoopThat has built a proprietary course search technology; students select their courses and SwoopThat finds every book they need to buy as well as every online merchant that sells those books. The site’s proprietary algorithms help students identify the cheapest places to buy all their books collectively, rather than one at a time.
For more information, please visit: www.swoopthat.com.

Blue Jersey:: Ed Reform 101: Testing

Blue Jersey:: Ed Reform 101: Testing:

Ed Reform 101: Testing by: Jersey Jazzman Tue Aug 30, 2011 at 09:15:00 AM EDT

Blue Jersey's Ed Reform 101 Part 1 - Standardized Testing Myths In the world of the corporate reformer, standardized testing drives everything. Judging teachers, principals, schools, and students; merit pay, tenure, and layoffs; allocating money; granting charters... it all starts with standardized testing. And it's an article of faith among the corporate "reform" set that standardized tests are fair, accurate, inexpensive, and good for students. The people who actually study this issue and work with children, however, know that nothing could be further from the truth. There is a place for standardized testing in New Jersey, but it is inappropriate to use standardized tests in high-stakes decisions that affect teachers and students. We can't measure a child's learning or a teacher's effectiveness when we put

Fla.'s Race to Top Ambitions Tangled in Health Care Opposition - State EdWatch - Education Week

Fla.'s Race to Top Ambitions Tangled in Health Care Opposition - State EdWatch - Education Week:

Fla.'s Race to Top Ambitions Tangled in Health Care Opposition

by Sean Cavanagh

Florida Gov. Rick Scott wants to have his state apply for up to $100 million through the latest edition of the Obama administration's Race to the Top competition. But he will have to figure out a way around his state's previous opposition to the president's healthcare overhaul to do it.

The latest Race to the Top competition offers a total of $500 million to states to support improvements in early-childhood education. Thirty-six states, plus the District of Columbia, have told the U.S. Department of Education they intend to apply for the Early Learning Challenge grants.

The new competition is funded through the fiscal 2011 budget deal approved by Congress in April. (The previous,

New Berlin and Greenfield Teachers now like store clerks and hired help.

Democurmudgeon: New Berlin and Greenfield Teachers now like store clerks and hired help. Bashers Sacrifice Kids to Trash Teachers.:

New Berlin and Greenfield Teachers now like store clerks and hired help. Bashers Sacrifice Kids to Trash Teachers.

by Democurmudgeon

Education is on its way out, make room for the private sector. Teacher handbooks have replaced union contracts. The handbooks are now austere political statements by GOP board members that supposedly will save taxpayers money. I say supposedly, because no amount of savings will be enough for anti-union, anti-teacher conservative voters.

Conservative talk show flunkies are now organizing counter protesters at teacher/board/public meetings to jazz up their ratings and vilify our educators, like the example below in New Berlin, to make it look like there's . I

Woodcutting: Changing the Ritual « Outside the Cave

Woodcutting: Changing the Ritual « Outside the Cave:

Woodcutting: Changing the Ritual

BY STEPHEN LAZAR, ON AUGUST 30TH, 2011

After getting my Enduring Understandings finished last week, I next sought out to write Essential Questions. I’ve never felt before like I’ve been successful writing EQ’s the first time I plan a unit; I frequently only realized the real EQ as I taught.

This shouldn’t have surprised me. In the past, I’ve always written EQ’s before creating my assessments and lesson outlines, which is explicitly what UbD suggests you’re not supposed to do. UbD insists that though there are three stages of planning, the first of which involves crafting understandings and essential questions, these stages of planning do not happen linearly. Stage 1 is a good place to start, but it’s not the only place to start. The key is ensuring that all three stages work together in the end. As commenters both online and off have pointed out when seeing my understandings, they don’t mean much without the assessments that go with them; it’s only natural that they go hand in hand.

(The next two paragraphs are really technical and jargonny. Feel free to skip if you have no idea or interest in what I’m writing about.)

Unfortunately, there is a practice that is increasingly common in NYC schools that does not allow for this natural unit planning to occur: the

New Berlin: Right Wing Fanatics Berate New Berlin Teachers and Embarrass Parents as School Board Acts Cowardly « Larry Miller's Blog

New Berlin: Right Wing Fanatics Berate New Berlin Teachers and Embarrass Parents as School Board Acts Cowardly « Larry Miller's Blog:

New Berlin: Right Wing Fanatics Berate New Berlin Teachers and Embarrass Parents as School Board Acts Cowardly

by millerlf

On August 29 the New Berlin School Board adopted an employee handbook, in a unanimous vote, but not before teachers spoke about their lack of input in the new document and how the new rules could negatively affect their work and the district’s reputation.

While teachers and their supporters were respectful, school board supporters were raucous and offensive.

Examples of non-residents attending and harassing New Berlin teachers were (You might want to give them a call to express your disgust at their behavior):

• Dennis Barthenheier owner of Barthenheier Construction. He is a well known right wing business

Shanker Blog » Quality Control, When You Don't Know The Product

Shanker Blog » Quality Control, When You Don't Know The Product:

Quality Control, When You Don’t Know The Product

by Matthew Di Carlo

Last week, New York State’s Supreme Court issued an important ruling on the state’s teacher evaluations. The aspect of the ruling that got the most attention was the proportion of evaluations – or “weight” – that could be assigned to measures based on state assessments (in the form of estimates from value-added models). Specifically, the Court ruled that these measures can only comprise 20 percent of a teacher’s evaluation, compared with the option of up to 40 percent for which Governor Cuomo and others were pushing. Under the decision, the other 20 percent must consist entirely of alternative test-based measures (e.g., local assessments).

Joe Williams, head of Democrats for Education Reform, one of the flagship organizations of the market-based reform movement, called the ruling “a slap in the face” and “a huge win for the teachers unions.” He characterized

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Today’s School Board Meeting: LAUSD, SOUTH L.A. ON COLLISION COURSE

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Today’s School Board Meeting: LAUSD, SOUTH L.A. ON COLLISION COURSE:

Today’s School Board Meeting: LAUSD, SOUTH L.A. ON COLLISION COURSE

JANET DENISE KELLY | L.A. CITYWATCH | HTTP://BIT.LY/PN28HY

8.29.2011 - URBAN PERSPECTIVE - South Los Angeles parents, teachers, students, and community members are preparing for a showdown with the Los Angeles Unified School District over its education reform policy at the Board Meeting on Tuesday, August 30.

Tuesday’s demonstration and advocacy efforts will be sending a message to the 7 seated School Board representatives that the South Los Angeles community is not taking a marginal role in decisions that will affect their schools.

It is rumored that some elected officials may be present, including U.S. Representative Maxine Waters.

“We want to be in the center of LAUSD’s education reform. We want the District to provide a space for us and all the necessary resources for all our students to succeed,” says Kahllid A. Al-Alim, a parent representative for the Coalition For Educational Justice. “We have tried to be part of the academic success formula for years, only to be

The Trouble with Steven Brill's Black-and-White Worldview :: Frederick M. Hess

The Trouble with Steven Brill's Black-and-White Worldview :: Frederick M. Hess:

The Trouble with Steven Brill's Black-and-White Worldview

by Frederick M. Hess • Aug 30, 2011 at 9:30 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

Print

Send

RSS

Share

Steven Brill's Class Warfare is a highly readable, fairly reliable, if incomplete history of contemporary efforts to "reform" American schooling. Kudos on the readability--there's way too little of that. The guy's a terrific writer and really captures the flavor of the debates. I don't think his small-bore errors are a big deal (it's tough to write 437 pages without making a few mistakes). And, while he omits much of consequence, every journalist or historian ultimately is forced to do that in shaping any tale.

But what drove me to distraction is the casual certainty with which he frames the whole question as being "pro-reform" or "anti-reform," and then labels individuals and views accordingly. It's especially problematic because Brill never actually explains what it means to be a "reformer." By page seven, he's talking about Race to the Top being "a call to the barricades for those [like Randi Weingarten] who had held back the reformers" without ever explaining what "reform" is.

I think RHSU readers know that the WaPo's Valerie Strauss and I disagree on much. But I still bristled when

Schools Matter: Rhee's Outfit, Students First, Scamming Unsuspecting Activists at Change.Org

Schools Matter: Rhee's Outfit, Students First, Scamming Unsuspecting Activists at Change.Org:

Rhee's Outfit, Students First, Scamming Unsuspecting Activists at Change.Org

by Jim Horn

This morning I got an email alert concerning a petition drive to stop McDonald's from using their torturous "gestation crates" for breeding the juicy pork product used in their not-so-happy Egg McMuffins. After I signed the petition, other petitions popped up for me to consider as a member of Change.Org. One of them was from nation's leading teacher foe, the venomous Michelle Rhee, under the name of her corporate reform schooler astroturf group called Students First.

Anyone not reading closely may be swayed to sign the innocuous-sounding petition, which reads as follows:

Pay Effective Teachers What They Deserve
America's most qualified teachers are grossly underpaid. Join StudentsFirst and fight for teachers

NYC Educator: I'm a Lucky Duckie, Dude

NYC Educator: I'm a Lucky Duckie, Dude:

I'm a Lucky Duckie, Dude

by NYC Educator

Like, dude, I used to be all, like, let's hold the teachers accountable? And everyone, like, was mean to me just because I never actually passed the tests I said they all needed to pass or get fired? But like now, dude, I'm, like, giving up all my principles? That's right, dude, I take no responsibility for any of the stuff I wrote before, and I'm getting a fresh start while I, like, study education and stuff.

So, like, I don't think anyone will be mad at me anymore now. This is kewl, dude, because now everyone will forget about how I demanded they be fired. And dude, the best is they will forget that, based on the stuff I supported, that I should've been fired too, dude. Because now I don't support that stuff, so I'm all, like, I shouldn't be fired.

Now that doesn't mean I don't have standards. After all, dude, as soon as I get out of this program, I'll have to find a gig where I fire other people. So, like, even though I've publicly renounced all the stuff I've ever

No Erasure Left Behind Is Key to Stopping Test Mischief: View - Bloomberg

No Erasure Left Behind Is Key to Stopping Test Mischief: View - Bloomberg:

No Erasure Left Behind Is Key to Stopping Test Mischief: View

Illustration by Bloomberg View

Aug 29, 2011 5:00 PM PT 3 Comments

Q

• inShare
• More
• Print
• Email

The plague started in Georgia, then made its way to Washington, Philadelphia and New Jersey. No, it’s not the trailer for “Contagion,” September’s big pandemic movie, but a distressing number of suspected cheating scandals in elementary and middle schools.

The No Child Left Behind Act, enacted in 2002, didn’t invent standardized tests, but it set national standards based on them. Meeting those standards now plays a huge role in determining school financing, teacher promotion and student advancement.

The theory of high-stakes testing and the wisdom of the legislation are subjects for another day. The question now, though, is this: If so much depends on the test, then shouldn’t it be better

Union ties to anti-Rhee site roil schools fight

Union ties to anti-Rhee site roil schools fight:

Union ties to anti-Rhee site roil schools fight

• Comments45

• 
• 
• 

By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

Updated 12h 11m ago

CAPTION

By Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP

The USA's school-reform conversation just got a bit nastier.

A student-advocacy group run by former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee said today that an anonymous website that for months has published sharp and sometimes personal criticisms of Rhee was created last February on a computer registered to the American Federation of Teachers, the nation's second-largest teachers union.

The union, Rhee's group says, later tried to "hide their connection to the site by laundering it through multiple

Community groups, businesses promote education reform | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

Community groups, businesses promote education reform | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com:

Community groups, businesses promote education reform

Coalition to raise awareness, sense of urgency to improve IPS

Companies ranging from law and accounting firms to construction and engineering corporations have decided it's time to make education their business.

Saying education in Indianapolis is in a state of emergency, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce said Monday it has formed a coalition with 40 businesses and community groups to raise awareness and promote education reform in an effort to improve Indianapolis Public Schools.

The coalition, called IndyEducation911, was announced on the same day the State Board of Education voted to turn over control of the four poorest-performing IPS schools to private companies.

The coalition cited the reverberations a poor education system can have on a city -- outside the classroom.