Comprehensive Education > Reading, Math, and Science — Whole Child Education

Comprehensive Education > Reading, Math, and Science — Whole Child Education:

Comprehensive Education > Reading, Math, and Science

June 25, 2012 by ASCD Whole Child Bloggers

ASCD and more than 25 other major education organizations (including several whole child partners), representing a wide array of subject areas, are promoting consensus recommendations for how federal education policy can better support subject disciplines beyond reading, math, and science. The recommendations are a response to proposals that could threaten schools' and districts' ability to provide students with a comprehensive education that prepares them to graduate from high school ready for success in college, careers, and citizenship, and that narrows the definition of such readiness to only the Common Core State Standards.

The Obama administration has suggested collapsing programs that support arts, history, civics, foreign languages, geography, and economics into one initiative, requiring these subjects to compete against one another for resources. The administration has also proposed a similar consolidation that would pit programs for school counseling, physical education, and safe and drug-free schools against one another; while recent 

NEA - Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly (RA)

NEA - Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly (RA):

2012 NEA Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly (RA)

2012 Annual Meeting Agenda

View the tentative schedule of events.

NEA: We Educate America

WASHINGTON, DC, JUNE 27 - JULY 5, 2012

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#Occupied: Reports From the Front Lines - Occupy Together | Journal

#Occupied: Reports From the Front Lines - Occupy Together | Journal:

#Occupied: Reports From the Front Lines

Grim at Occupy Together | Journal - 41 minutes ago

YOUR WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF OCCUPY MOVEMENT NEWS FROM THE OCCUPIED WALL STREET JOURNAL This week in Occupy, the Cruz family was rebuffed by PNC Bank, Rio + 20 was mic-checked and #occupied, Egyptians took to the streets to demand an election and occupiers nationwide saw convictions and dismissals stemming from last Fall’s raids and evictions. [...]

Direct Action Highlight: #MicCheckWallSt Money Drop

Ella at Occupy Together | Journal - 41 minutes ago

This Fourth of July #MicCheckWallSt, a Seattle based think tank, will declare independence from Citizens United—the Supreme Court ruling which declared money as speech, corporations as people, and effectively paved the way for unlimited corporate political influence through monetary contributions. How will #MicCheckWallSt make their message heard? By using the very tool that is silencing us all: money. On [...]

#Occupied: Reports From the Front Lines

Grim at Occupy Together | Journal - 41 minutes ago

YOUR WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF OCCUPY MOVEMENT NEWS FROM THE OCCUPIED WALL STREET JOURNAL This week in Occupy, Egypt and Greece held watershed elections, Jamie Dimon was mic-checked at a Senate hearing, thousands marched in New York against stop and frisk, some key occupations had no choice but to close up shop and the Occupy National [...]

How To Organize A Protest

Sam at Occupy Together | Journal - 41 minutes ago

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post submitted to us by Alyssa Vincent. As Occupy Together is rebuilding to help people plug into the movement and give them the tools and resources they need to become engaged, we thought this would be a great guest feature to highlight. The Occupy Wall Street movement is back [...]

Direct Action Highlight: Summer Disobedience School

Ella at Occupy Together | Journal - 41 minutes ago

I pledge disobedience to the power of Wall Street and the government of the 1 % one No, many Yeses Another World is Possible With Liberty and Justice for all! Summer Disobedience School kicked off in NYC on May 26 and classes will be in session until Graduation Day—also known as Black Monday—September 17, the anniversary of [...]

#Occupied: Reports from the Front Lines

Grim at Occupy Together | Journal - 41 minutes ago

YOUR WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF OCCUPY MOVEMENT NEWS FROM THE OCCUPIED WALL STREET JOURNAL This week in Occupy, Scott Walker is sadly still Wisconsin’s governor, a judge ruled the indefinite detention provision of the NDAA to be unconstitutional, Occupy won major victories in New York and Seattle, Occupy Fresno became the longest-running encampment in the country [...]

May Have Missed It: RadiOWS

Ella at Occupy Together | Journal - 41 minutes ago

With all of the talent and ideas surrounding #occupy, there are new projects and collaborations emerging daily. These pop up so quickly it’s hard to keep up. In an effort to spread the word, make connections, and spark inspiration for others, Occupy Together will be highlighting a few of these projects in this new blog series. If [...]

#Occupied: Reports From the Front Lines

Grim at Occupy Together | Journal - 41 minutes ago

YOUR WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF OCCUPY MOVEMENT NEWS From The Occupied Wall Street Journal Occupy Denver staged a Canadian student solidarity march on June 1. Photo: lthnmsrtk This week in Occupy, the Cruz home at 4044 Cedar Avenue in South Minneapolis became a national flashpoint for the Movement, overthrown Egyptian former dictator Hosni Mubarak was sentenced [...]

Direct Action Highlight: Occupy National Gathering

Ella at Occupy Together | Journal - 41 minutes ago

The Occupy National Gathering is a nationally coordinated event which will take place from June 30th to July 4th in Philadelphia. The Occupy movement will convene the Occupy National Gathering in the vicinity of Philadelphia’s Independence Mall for a week of direct actions, movement building and the creation of a vision for a democratic future. The National [...]

Virtual Volunteers Needed!

Ella at Occupy Together | Journal - 41 minutes ago

Have you been looking for a way to get involved in the movement but you don’t live near an organizing city or are unable to physically join a general assembly? Volunteering your time online is a great way to contribute to the movement. There are many different groups that need your virtual help for a [...]

Why Kids Can’t Do Math Without a Calculator and the Common Core Isn’t Helping | Truth in American Education

Why Kids Can’t Do Math Without a Calculator and the Common Core Isn’t Helping | Truth in American Education:

Why Kids Can’t Do Math Without a Calculator and the Common Core Isn’t Helping

by Shane Vander Hart

Konstantin Kakaes wrote an interesting article in Slate entitled, “Why Johnny Can’t Add Without a Calculator” about how technology is hurting, not helping kids really learn math.

I went to see (Vern) Williams because he was famous when I was in middle school 20 years ago, at a different school in the same county. Longfellow’s teams have been state champions for 24 of the last 29 years in MathCounts, a competition for middle schoolers. Williams was the only actual teacher on a 17-member National Mathematics Advisory Panel that reported to President Bush in 2008.

Williams doesn’t just prefer his old chalkboard to the high-tech version. His kids learn from textbooks that are decades old—not because they can’t afford new ones, but because Williams and a handful of his like-minded colleagues know the old ones are better. The school’s parent-teacher association buys 

CTU Strike Humor: What About Those Greedy Teachers? « Diane Ravitch's blog

CTU Strike Humor: What About Those Greedy Teachers? « Diane Ravitch's blog:

CTU Strike Humor: What About Those Greedy Teachers?

by dianerav

Last Stand for Children First is a very funny Twitter site. The person who created it does a great job of impersonating trust-fund babies who know everything about how to fix public schools without ever setting foot into one.
Popout

Initiative I-1240: The money and the lies | Seattle Education

Initiative I-1240: The money and the lies | Seattle Education:

Initiative I-1240: The money and the lies

by seattleducation2011

Bill Gates is cranking it up a notch with his enablers, the League of Education Voters and Stand for Children. He and some other donors have put money into the pot to put a charter school initiative on the ballot this fall,Initiative 1240.
The money so far has been contributed by:
Mike and Jackie Bezos: $250,000
Bill Gates: $200,000
Paul Allen: $100,000 (can someone give this guy a clue?)
Katherine Binder: $100,000 (who also contributed to Senator Patty Murray)
Nick Hanauer: $25,000
Gates provided $53,000 in in-kind contributions for surveys, etc. Other in-kind donations came

TOUGHER STANDARDS FOR POTENTIAL EDUCATORS « Teachers Fight Back

TOUGHER STANDARDS FOR POTENTIAL EDUCATORS « Teachers Fight Back:

TOUGHER STANDARDS FOR POTENTIAL EDUCATORS

by alkleen

The State Board of Education in Illinois is poised to raise the standards for any college student wanting to have a career in teaching. It will be more difficult to get into a college teaching program and more difficult to stay in one if a student’s test scores don’t achieve the required level.
I have no problem with the raised academic standards. Let’s get only the “best and the brightest” in the teaching profession. Unfortunately, there are about a hundred other factors as important as general knowledge when it comes to determine who will make a great teacher.
I would suggest that the current teacher-bashing forces in the State of Illinois need to tone down their rhetoric before any college bound students start to question the wisdom of attempting to have a career in teaching. I hope the “best and the brightest” aren’t scared off by the fact that teacher salary, benefits and pensions are under constant attack. I hope the “best and the brightest” don’t take their talents on another career path after 

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Monday, June 25, 2012

Altamont Pass Wind Farm

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Education Headlines

Monday, June 25, 2012

Test scores drop after state rule change

The Lake Elsinore Unified School District’s standardized test scores, recently lauded as some of the most improved in Riverside County, have dropped significantly because of a change in state rules.

Perris school board approves budget

Perris Union High School District trustees approved a budget for 2012-13 at their meeting Wednesday. The spending plan calls for $69 million in revenue and $73 million in expenses.

State payment delays to schools seen as gimmick

Think of state payment delays as a paycheck that never arrives, a carrot hanging just out of reach. But local educators are giving an effort to stop the practice a wary welcome, applauding the intent but afraid an honest budget could spell disaster.

Modesto area schools will tap into reserves to make ends meet

Uncertainty was a given for schools. But an uneasy economy means state figures, too, are up in the air. Telling details will be in budget trailer bills yet to be printed, said education analysts.

Teacher, students arrested in alleged hazing at Fontana high school

Four students and a teacher were arrested Saturday in connection with an alleged in-classroom hazing incident at a Fontana high school, police said.

16 LAUSD schools to lose $60 million in student-achievement funds for failing to meet standards

Sixteen struggling Los Angeles Unified schools will lose nearly $60 million from a state program designed to boost student achievement after they fell short in raising scores on standardized tests, according to officials.

Solar panels at LAUSD schools convert Valley's blazing sun into energy

When triple-digit temperatures hit Woodland Hills this summer, Alma Aguirre isn't going to be thinking about her vehicle baking in the parking lot at Taft High, but the electricity generated by the solar panels covering the school's new carport.

First, keep the lights on

Given more control over how they could spend state money, school districts not surprisingly chose survival over experimentation.

Spending, governance questions still dog migrant worker ed program

For the first time in decades, a troubled parent advisory panel representing migrant farmworkers has completed its primary mission to provide a report to the state superintendent of schools on their community’s K-12 educational needs.

LAUSD will not close continuation schools

Thirteen continuation high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District - including two locally - will not be closed as initially proposed, schools officials said last week.

Debt-ridden ICEF spent nearly $1.4 million on harassment claims

A financially struggling charter school organization has paid nearly $1.4 million to settle three sexual-harassment claims against its highest-profile educator, Fernando Pullum, a widely honored musician and teacher, The Times has learned.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Rowland superintendent leaves legacy at district; Ott takes job at USC

Maria Ott's 41-year career as an educator has taken her from the classroom to the chief administrator's office. And it is the former that she says has shaped her.

Inspire charter school to get more space on Chico High campus

Inspire School of Arts and Sciences won't be getting a new home this year, but it will be getting more space, based on a decision made Wednesday.

Class sizes are likely to increase

Sonora Elementary School District’s Board of Trustees discussed a dour financial forecast at Wednesday’s meeting, confronting the possibility that the district will need to increase class size in coming years to survive.

Student faces charges for spitting from bus

A Chula Vista middle school student whose spit sailed out a school bus window and into a nearby sunroof says the landing was inadvertent. The recipient of the saliva was so incensed by the act that he chased down the bus and pressed criminal charges.

Examining San Diego Unified's tentative jobs pact

Schools Matter: Smear Campaign Against Teachers is Freakish, New Low

Schools Matter: Smear Campaign Against Teachers is Freakish, New Low:

Smear Campaign Against Teachers is Freakish, New Low

by Judy Rabin

Perhaps like an alcoholic or drug addict, our children, teachers, public schools and country will have to hit rock bottom before finding a way to recover from the last 30 years of destructive corporate driven ed reform policies that are gutting our nation's public schools. The dire fiscal circumstances of local and state government is yet providing another crisis to be conveniently used as a reason to dismantle democratically elected school boards and replaced with emergency measures such as private for-profit 

Children Become Risky Assets as Business Practices Come to Education - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Children Become Risky Assets as Business Practices Come to Education - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Children Become Risky Assets as Business Practices Come to Education

by Anthony Cody

A report from the El Paso Times revealed last week that school administrators in that city may have engaged in some questionable practices to make their all-important data appear better than it ought to have been. The key element in the District's data portfolio is the 10th grade standardized test. Administrators apparently went to great lengths to prevent students likely to score poorly from taking this test. These steps included:

• Placing students entering the country into the 9th grade, regardless of where their transcripts indicated they should be.
• Allowing schools to reclassify students to a higher grade, without requiring they take the test - essentially skipping them over the test.

Former El Paso schools superintendent Lorenzo Garcia recently pled guilty to cheating federal accountability 

Even in public education, the rich keep getting richer. - NY Daily News

Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Schools network rolling in money but still wants 50% increase in management fees from state - NY Daily News:

Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Schools network rolling in money but still wants 50% increase in management fees from state

One of New York City's wealthiest charter school operators is expected to be approved for a 50% increase in per-pupil management fees

Comments (7)

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Even in public education, the rich keep getting richer.

LINDA ROSIER/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowtiz (right) pitches her charter schools at a Brooklyn meeting.

That's the message the trustees of the State University of New York will send Monday when they vote to approve a huge 50% increase in the per-pupil management fee of one of the city's wealthiest, biggest-spending and most controversial charter school operators.

The Success Academy Charter Schools Inc., run by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz, applied in April for an increase from $1,350 to $2,000 in the annual per student payment it receives from the state to run 10 of its charter schools.

SUNY postponed the vote following a public outcry over the agency's failure to disclose any details

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/eva-moskowitz-success-academy-charter-schools-disproportionate-share-state-education-money-article-1.1101668#ixzz1yov12xZR

What Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee Said to For-profit Colleges by Daniel Luzer | Washington Monthly

What Michelle Ree Said to For-profit Colleges by Daniel Luzer | Washington Monthly:

What Michelle Ree Said to For-profit Colleges

by Daniel Luzer

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In April I reported that Michelle Rhee, the controversial former superintendent of Washington, DC public schools, would be speaking at a meeting of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, the government relations umbrella group of for-profit colleges in the United States.

She promised to tell for-profit colleges “the hard truths they need to hear” at their annual conference this month at Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. It didn’t really work out like that.

That decision to speak at the conference was, of course, entirely Rhee’s prerogative. If she believes America’s for-profit colleges, which enroll only 12 percent of students but generate about 45 percent of student loan defaults, are a great trend in higher education, she has every right to say so. The fact 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Common Core: More Glimpses into the Consequences of National Common Core Standards and Assessments?

Missouri Education Watchdog: Common Core: More Glimpses into the Consequences of National Common Core Standards and Assessments?:

Common Core: More Glimpses into the Consequences of National Common Core Standards and Assessments?

by stlgretchen

Is education about accountability or learning?

 Reading about the high stakes testing in China for university admission, can we make an educated guess on what might be in store for American schools if Common Core standards are fully implemented?  We previously wrote how Chinese teachers marked zeros on college admission essays that criticized the government or strayed from the desired answers.  

 Is this an example of high stakes testing realities coming to university admission procedures in the United States?  What is America's current official party line or current educational theory students/teachers must use?

From ntdtv.com news:

At this year’s highly competitive college entrance examinations in China, students critical of authorities have been harshly dealt with. They were given a score of zero for straying from the official Party line—that 'all is well in 

Shanker Blog » Colorado's Questionable Use Of The Colorado Growth Model

Shanker Blog » Colorado's Questionable Use Of The Colorado Growth Model:

Colorado’s Questionable Use Of The Colorado Growth Model

by Matthew Di Carlo

I have been writing critically about states’ school rating systems (e.g., Ohio, Florida, Louisiana), and I thought I would find one that is, at least in my (admittedly value-laden) opinion, more defensibly designed. It didn’t quite turn out as I had hoped.
One big starting point in my assessment is how heavily the systems weight absolute performance (how highly students score) versus growth (how quickly students improve). As I’ve argued many times, the former (absolute level) is a poor measure of school performance in a high-stakes accountability system. It does not address the fact that some schools, particularly those in more affluent areas, serve  students who, on average, enter the system at a higher-performing level. This amounts to holding schools accountable for outcomes they largely cannot control (see Doug Harris’ excellent book for more on this in the teacher context). Thus, to whatever degree testing results can be used to judge actual school effectiveness, growth measures, while themselves highly imperfect, are to be preferred in a high-stakes context.
There are a few states that assign more weight to growth than absolute performance (see this prior post on New 

Life in Rahm’s Chicago. Another weekend of violence. « Fred Klonsky

Life in Rahm’s Chicago. Another weekend of violence. « Fred Klonsky:

Life in Rahm’s Chicago. Another weekend of violence.

by Fred Klonsky

Anthony Davis was 14. He was one of two teenagers shot and killed this weekend.
30 more people were shot in Chicago.
It was another weekend of growing violence in our city.
Rahm’s police superintendent Garry McCarthy says, “We have a lot of violence, but the fact is, we have to keep doing what we’re doing, because the trend is actually turning. You would never know it, but the trend is actually turning.”
Shortened library hours, no summer jobs for young folks and school closings.

The streets of Chicago are officially more dangerous than a war zone: Homicide