Sunday, December 23, 2012

Big Education Ape - Morning Wink 12-23-12 AM Posts #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2


BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS




Why Do Smart People Do Dumb Things? Thinking about School Reform | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 4 minutes ago
Why Do Smart People Do Dumb Things? Thinking about School Reform | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Why Do Smart People Do Dumb Things? Thinking about School Reform by larrycuban Examples are legion. Recall President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Or Director of the Central Intelligence Agency David Petraeus resigning over extra-marital affair. Or shrewd investors in Bernard Madoff’s company losing their financial shirts. Switch to education and consider El Paso (TX) Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia who went to jail for inflating student test scores and giving a no-... more »

Infamous for Hosting Adult Parties After Hours – Miami Charter School Foreclosed | Scathing Purple Musings

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 32 minutes ago
Infamous for Hosting Adult Parties After Hours – Miami Charter School Foreclosed | Scathing Purple Musings: Infamous for Hosting Adult Parties After Hours – Miami Charter School Foreclosed by Bob Sikes [image: School Parties] Reports* South Florida Business Journal *reporter Brian Bandel: The former home of a shuttered charter school is set for auction after Great Florida Bank won a $2.24 million foreclosure judgment. The Miami-Dade County School Board voted in April to shut down the Balere Language Academy after parents complained of house parties with alcohol and distasteful pr... more »

Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes Exclusive: NRA Solves Fiscal Cliff Problem

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes Exclusive: NRA Solves Fiscal Cliff Problem: Ed Notes Exclusive: NRA Solves Fiscal Cliff Problem by ed notes online *The only thing that stops a bad Democrat from heading us over the cliff is a good Republican with a gun. There is only way to avoid going over the fiscal cliff. Give every good tea party member of Congress an assault rifle. "---Wayne LaPierre* LaPierre called for the federal program implementing the NRA's solution to the fiscal cliff issue to be headed by Dick Cheney. He also called for armed guards in every row of every movie complex, the... more »

Schools advocate TJ Mertz talks about Madison Prep, teachers and school ‘reform’

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Schools advocate TJ Mertz talks about Madison Prep, teachers and school ‘reform’: *Schools advocate TJ Mertz talks about Madison Prep, teachers and school ‘reform’* If you’ve kept up on the local debate on educational achievement in the Madison Metropolitan School District, you’ve probably heard of Thomas J. “TJ” Mertz. If you haven’t heard of him, you probably will soon, since he announced a run for the School Board last week. A vocal critic of the controversial Madison Preparatory Academy proposal last year that brought the achievement gap back to the top of the schools agen... more »

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-23-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Do Conservatives Care about the Constitution? by dianerav A stunning editorial in the Statesman, a Louisiana publication, raises an important question about Governor Jindal’s voucher program: Why do conservatives remind everyone about the importance of adhering faithfully to the literal meaning of the state constitution except when they choose not to? The Jindal voucher plan is funded by the Minimum Foundation Funding dedicated specifically in the state constitution to “public elementary and secondary s... more »

Daily Kos: Protecting Guns, Sacrificing (Some) Children

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Daily Kos: Protecting Guns, Sacrificing (Some) Children: Protecting Guns, Sacrificing (Some) Children byplthomasEdDFollow [image: SIGN the Sandy Hook Elementary School National Sympathy Card | causes.com] "In 2008, 2,947 children and teens died from guns in the United States and 2,793 died in 2009 for a total of 5,740," details *Protect Children Not Guns 2012* (Children's Defense Fund), "—one child or teen every three hours, eight every day, 55 every week for two years" (p. 2). *Tragedy* is often reserved for single catastrophic events, but cumulative... more »

Ed Notes Online: Sunday Funnies

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Ed Notes Online: Sunday Funnies: Sunday Funnies by ed notes online ------------ Have a Very Rephormy Christmas! Posted on December 22, 2012 1 *And an excellent and innovative new year…* Still looking for the purrfect gift for that extra excellent and innovative someone in your life? Not to worry. EduShyster has assembled an assembly of offerings guaranteed to send test scores soaring all through the holidays and into 2013. So from my rephorm family to yours: ¡feliz navidad and a very prospero año! Continue reading → http://edushyster.com/?p=1627

The Innovative Educator: Teacher dropouts

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
The Innovative Educator: Teacher dropouts: Teacher dropouts by noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) More than 20 years ago John Taylor Gatto wrote a letter announcing his departure from the teaching profession, titled *I Quit, I Think. *The letter was published in the op-ed pages of the *Wall Street Journal *where he said he no longer wished to "hurt kids to make a living." He gave this advice: "We don’t need a national curriculum or national testing either. Both initiatives arise from ignorance of how people learn or deliberate indifference to it. I can’t teach this way any longe... more »

solidaridad: Photos from the campaign trail: Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD Schoolboard

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
solidaridad: Photos from the campaign trail: Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD Schoolboard: Photos from the campaign trail: Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD Schoolboard by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD Schoolboard 2013 [image: Robert D. Skeels, a Social Justice Schoolboard Candidate]

Schools Matter: A Life of Indentured Servitude for a Chance at a College Diploma: When the American Dream Goes Nightmare

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Schools Matter: A Life of Indentured Servitude for a Chance at a College Diploma: When the American Dream Goes Nightmare: A Life of Indentured Servitude for a Chance at a College Diploma: When the American Dream Goes Nightmare by Jim Horn Recently the NYTimes shows signs of coming out of its corporate cocoon to do real investigative reporting again. The recent story on WalMart corruption was terrific, and in this story, the Times looks at the deepening of the categorical inequality as it plays out in the higher education arena. The story is based in Galveston, TX, and the cha... more »

Steering Committee Election 2013 - 2015 Save Our Schools: A National Call to Action

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Steering Committee Election 2013 - 2015: Steering Committee Election 2013 – 2015 by Server *Save Our Schools: A National Call to Action* www.saveourschoolsmarch.org Steering Committee Election 2013 – 2015 *Dear Save Our Schools Supporters…* *Save Our Schools* is moving forward in developing strategies that ensure grassroots voices are heard in the education conversation. Issues such as testing, privatization, and school funding are our primary concerns. To facilitate this process the *SOS* membership will nominate and elect a new National Steering Committee. The process consisted of ... more »

Schools Matter: Sanity Comes to Charlotte-Mecklenburg

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 12 hours ago
Schools Matter: Sanity Comes to Charlotte-Mecklenburg: Sanity Comes to Charlotte-Mecklenburg by Jim Horn [image: and Charlotte-Mecklenburg] When Charlotte's former superintendent, Peter Gorman, was run out of town, he found work as another edu-henchman for Rupert Murdoch. Since then, Charlotte has hired someone who is willing to challenge the status quo of more high stakes testing. From the Charlotte Observer: Posted: Friday, Dec. 21, 2012 By Ann Doss Helms ahelms@charlotteobserver.com The barrage of new state tests being rolled out this year is “an egregious waste of taxpayer ... more »

New Orleans schools ban creationist curriculum, shun Texas revisionist textbooks | toteachornototeach

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 13 hours ago
New Orleans schools ban creationist curriculum, shun Texas revisionist textbooks | toteachornototeach: New Orleans schools ban creationist curriculum, shun Texas revisionist textbooks by aristotlethewise *New Orleans schools ban creationist curriculum, shun Texas revisionist textbooks* [image: original] by Robert T. Gonzalez Sanity wins this round — at least for six schools in New Orleans. By a *unanimous vote*, N.O.’s Orleans Parish School Board voted on Tuesday to keep creationism out of its classrooms. Hallelujah. “No teacher of any discipline of science shall teach any aspect of ... more »

Despite Exemptions, Police and Firefighters Show Labor Solidarity in Michigan Right-to-Work Battle | MyFDL

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 14 hours ago
Despite Exemptions, Police and Firefighters Show Labor Solidarity in Michigan Right-to-Work Battle | MyFDL: [image: User Picture]Despite Exemptions, Police and Firefighters Show Labor Solidarity in Michigan Right-to-Work BattleBy: Michelle Chen Thursday December 20, 2012 10:47 pm [image: Tweet]Tweet5 [image: digg] [image: stumbleupon] Jamee Urrea via Twitter: http://t.co/kkFAJ8DK *Originally posted from In These Times* Michigan’s new right-to-work law has has struck a savage blow to America’s labor movement in its heartland. Unions across the state have thronged to Lansing to op... more »

Schools often first line of defense in identifying, treating kids with mental illness - LA Daily News

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 15 hours ago
Schools often first line of defense in identifying, treating kids with mental illness - LA Daily News: Schools often first line of defense in identifying, treating kids with mental illness By Barbara Jones Staff Writer Posted: 12/22/2012 02:17:07 PM PST Updated: 12/22/2012 03:44:22 PM PST They teach kids to read, write and solve math problems, and to work and play well with others. And along with those lessons, educators are increasingly being trained to spot depression, anxiety and other troubling behaviors in their students, with administrators and teachers forming the first ... more »

Poor Students Struggle as Class Plays a Greater Role in Success - NYTimes.com

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 15 hours ago
Poor Students Struggle as Class Plays a Greater Role in Success - NYTimes.com: Poor Students Struggle as Class Plays a Greater Role in Success by By JASON DePARLE For Poor Strivers, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall Michael Stravato for The New York Times Angelica Gonzales, admitted to Emory, hoped to be the first college graduate in her family. By JASON DePARLEPublished: December 22, 2012 - FACEBOOK - TWITTER - GOOGLE+ - SAVE - E-MAIL - SHARE - PRINT - SINGLE PAGE - REPRINTS - GALVESTON, Tex. — Angelica Gonzales marched through high school in ... more »

Have a Very Rephormy Christmas | EduShyster

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 17 hours ago
Have a Very Rephormy Christmas | EduShyster: Have a Very Rephormy Christmas by edushyster2012 *And an excellent and innovative new year…* Still looking for the purrfect gift for that extra excellent and innovative someone in your life? Not to worry. EduShyster has assembled an assembly of offerings guaranteed to sent test scores soaring all through the holidays and into 2013. So from my rephorm family to yours: ¡feliz navidad and a very prospero año! Nothing says “you’re proficient” like a Galvanic bracelet from the Gates collection of great ideas. *Just for her, a Galvanic Gates-le... more »

NYC Public School Parents: Carol Burris on the Regents proposal for three different kinds of diplomas

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 17 hours ago
NYC Public School Parents: Carol Burris on the Regents proposal for three different kinds of diplomas: Carol Burris on the Regents proposal for three different kinds of diplomas by Leonie Haimson Congratulations to Carol Burris, co-author of the principal lettercritiquing the APPR, the new NY state teacher evaluation system. Her school, South Side HS in Rockville Center, was just named the second best high school in the state, according to US News and World Report, and it is one of few non-selective relatively diverse schools on the list. Here is her explanation: "*We do great thi... more »

Diane in the Evening 12-22-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: Uses and Abuses of Online Learning by dianerav The school district in Manchester, New Hampshire, is considering online classes–not blended learning–as Acosta-saving device. The idea is to put kids online and lay off teachers. Anyone who deals with children and adolescents knows that face-to-face contact, human-to-human relationships are very important. Something’s, Do We Care About Children? by dianerav This teacher asks, how can we show that we really care about children? Why Armed Guards Change Nothing by dianerav A reader explains why armed guards will ... more »

Stop Special Needs Vouchers in Wisconsin! : blue cheddar

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Stop Special Needs Vouchers in Wisconsin! : blue cheddar: Stop Special Needs Vouchers in Wisconsin! by AnnieJo If there’s one thing we’ve learned in Wisconsin since February 2011, and in Michigan just this month, it’s that what gets passed in the statehouse after the election can be devastatingly different than what was promised or campaigned upon or even hinted at before. We’ve also been hit with the following corollary: these things can happen with blinding speed. Since the Nov. 6, 2012 election, the Walker administration has made no secret of their priority-plans to expand sch... more »

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky: Saturday coffee. by Fred Klonsky [image: hrtln_5291_magnum] *Katy Hogan and Mike James of the Heartland Cafe.* When I saw my old friend Mike James last Sunday it was after Representative Kelly Cassidy had appeared on*Live from the Heartland*, the radio show (WLUW 88.7 FM) that he and Katy Hogan do each Saturday morning at the venerable Heartland Cafe in Rogers Park. Cassidy is a co-sponsor of HB6258, Democrat Elaine Nekritz’s bill that would cut teacher pension cost of living increases and eventually turn our defined benefit system into the equiv... more »

Common Core Toolkit for Principals: Part 1 | Connected Principals

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Common Core Toolkit for Principals: Part 1 | Connected Principals: Common Core Toolkit for Principals: Part 1 by Gerald Aungst As part of my district’s plan to realign our curriculum with the Common Core State Standards (which we are calling the *C4 Project*, for Cheltenham Common Core Curriculum), I will be developing a Toolkit for Principals. Each month, I will prepare a four-part package of resources and activities they can use both for their own professional development and as part of faculty meetings with their staff members. The four parts each month will be [image: c4-pro... more »

uwec hmong students respond to racist "problems" sign

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
uwec hmong students respond to racist "problems" sign: *uwec hmong students respond to racist "problems" sign* A couple of weeks ago, I shared this *note* that was posted in a dorm bathrooom stall by someone who obviously had some "problems" with her Hmong floor-mates at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. I recently heard from Mai Neng Vang, the resident assistant on the floor where the sign was posted. After waiting a month to see whether and how school officials would react, she and her peers decided to write a public statement to the university administration and the gre... more »

Conflicting State and Federal Standards for Educational Performance

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Conflicting State and Federal Standards for Educational Performance: Conflicting State and Federal Standards for Educational Performance*By Michael Higham | 12/22/2012 | Education, Headline, Issues, Role of Government Read Time: 2 - 4 minutes * [image: 1x1.trans Conflicting State and Federal Standards for Educational Performance] Credit: businessweek.com Student achievement is a priority for educators and the government that oversees its schools. Within the conversation of education standards is the discussion of state and federal roles in evaluating school performance. California... more »

Campbell Brown's Despicable Newtown Rant

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Campbell Brown's Despicable Newtown Rant: Campbell Brown's Despicable Newtown Rant By Peter Hart 11 Comments digg [image: newtown]Former *CNN/NBC* anchor Campbell Brown demonstrates that "both sides do it" false balance is not just a problem with campaign journalism. In a new post at the *Daily Beast*(12/21/12), she explained that most reactions to the Newtown massacre have been touching and inspiring. But, she writes, ** *there have also been very unfortunate, even callous and disgusting, statements made by individuals who cannot help but use a slaughter of more than two dozen p...more »

Editorial: Court right to hit lawmakers over education mandate | Editorials | The Seattle Times

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Editorial: Court right to hit lawmakers over education mandate | Editorials | The Seattle Times: Editorial: Court right to hit lawmakers over education mandate The state Supreme Court is underwhelmed with the Legislature’s efforts so far to make good on the McCleary funding mandate. Rightly so. STATE lawmakers must do more than bicker in task-force meetings to make progress on its court-ordered mandate to fully fund a 21st-century public-education system. That should mean a robust system from early learning to higher education. The state’s Joint Task Force on Education Funding has fi... more »

More than 2,000 attend candlelight vigil in Newtown

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
SIGN the Sandy Hook Elementary School Global Sympathy Card | causes.com: PETITION: SIGN the Sandy Hook Elementary School Global Sympathy Card 24 DAYS LEFT PEOPLE SIGNED THE PETITION 2,370,233 More than 2,000 attend candlelight vigil in Newtown [image: newtown] More than 2,000 Newtown residents met on a soccer field tonight to remember the victims - and bring comfort to one another. NEWTOWN, Conn. - Thousands of townspeople – many in tears – gathered together at a candlelight vigil on a local soccer field Friday night to honor and remember the 27 victims in last week's el... more »

Satire, Sarcasm and Swearing: My Journey | Mr. Teachbad

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Satire, Sarcasm and Swearing: My Journey | Mr. Teachbad: Satire, Sarcasm and Swearing: My Journey by teachbad [image: Logo Mr. Teachbad] To close out the year, give myself a lit­tle break, and cel­e­brate three * mag­i­cal* years of *Mr. Teachbad’s Blog of Teacher Dis­gruntle­ment*, I’ve decided to post a lit­tle retrospective. What fol­lows are the Top Ten most-read posts from each year of Teachbad’s glo­ri­ous his­tory. I tried pick­ing my per­sonal favorite Top Ten, but it soon became clear that would be even more self-indulgent and time-consuming than this was. Let me know if yo... more »

Jersey Jazzman: See? Tenure Cases CAN Be Easy!

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
Jersey Jazzman: See? Tenure Cases CAN Be Easy!: See? Tenure Cases CAN Be Easy! by Duke *What do you mean, I'm not scary anymore?!* That wasn't so very difficult, was it? A Vineland teacher caught running naked through an apartment complex on a dare is the first tenure case resolved under a new law designed to reduce the time it takes for such cases. In the past, tenure cases had dragged on for a year or more. Mark C. Bringhurst did lose his job, but representatives of both the state teacher’s union and the school boards association said the new procedure did protect his right o... more »

The National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
The National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest: The National Center for Fair & Open Testing [image: Home] The *National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) *works to end the misuses and flaws of standardized testing and to ensure that evaluation of students, teachers and schools is fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial. Learn more about us and our mission. Spotlight What a Year! Dear Friend: Thanks to your activism, 2012 has been a great year for the growing national assessment reform movement. Now, FairTest needs your continued help to* build greater moment... more »

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-22-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] No Guns in Schools! by dianerav The National Rifle Association wants an armed guard at every one of the nation’s 100,000 schools. Some legislators want teachers and principals to carry weapons. Why should policy be reactive? Better to limit all weaponry to officers of the law, except for single-shot rifles for hunters. Guns should be available only to those authorized to use lethal force. In this link, with tweets on the subject, someone points out that Columbine High School had armed security at Privatiza... more »

Daily Kos: Safety in schools is about more than guns

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Daily Kos: Safety in schools is about more than guns: Safety in schools is about more than guns by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken) [image: SIGN the Sandy Hook Elementary School National Sympathy Card | causes.com] Given the events 8 days ago we rightly have a concern for the issue of safety in schools, and certainly I have written my share of posts on the issue of guns and schools recently. Safety is about far more than guns, however. And for this week's Saturday meditation on teaching I would like to reflect about the broader issue I tell my students when I first meet them that I... more »

Jersey Jazzman: Closing Schools: NOT a White People Thing

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Jersey Jazzman: Closing Schools: NOT a White People Thing: Closing Schools: NOT a White People Thing by Duke It appears the racist, segregationist school policies we find here in Jersey aren't confined only to our state. Chicago, for example, looks to be a national leader in disenfranchising people of color: An internal Chicago Public Schools document obtained by the Tribune shows for the first time that the Emanuel administration has weighed how many elementary and high schools to close in which neighborhoods and how to manage the public fallout. Labeled a "working draft," the S... more »

Package for Dr. Jones | toteachornototeach

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Package for Dr. Jones | toteachornototeach: Package for Dr. Jones by aristotlethewise *Package for Dr. Jones [image: tumblr_maghgtN3r71qgmv4ao1_500]*The University of Chicago received this mysterious package last week with no clues as to how it arrived in the school’s mail bag. Like all good things, the mysterious journal addressed to Indiana Jones that arrived at the University of Chicago last week came from the internet – eBay to be exact. And how it found its way to the university is a tale that ought to be told with a cinema map and an animated moving read line. [image: Package1... more »

Feds deny state a No Child Left Behind waiver | EdSource Today

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Feds deny state a No Child Left Behind waiver | EdSource Today: Feds deny state a No Child Left Behind waiver ** December 21st, 2012 | Add a Comment | By John Fensterwald Share on twitterShare on facebookShare on emailShare on google_plusone More Sharing Services The formal letter from Washington hasn’t arrived, but the verdict has: The federal Department of Education has turned down California’s application for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law. [image: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson] State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson “It is d... more »

Ed Notes Online: What Were We Thinking? - Norm in The Wave

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Ed Notes Online: What Were We Thinking? - Norm in The Wave: What Were We Thinking? - Norm in The Wave by ed notes online [image: Norman Scott] Published in print edition Friday, December 21, 2012, www.rockawave.com By Norm Scott Here’s hoping everyone is recovering as best they can. I’m so glad The Wave has come through this. Seeing it out again is a clear sign we are moving towards the new normal. Monday morning, October 29, at 10:30, I posted a piece on my blog about the education evaluation negotiations and the January deadline imposed by Cuomo and how it might tie into a UFT ... more »

Weekly Address: The President and First Lady Extend a Holiday Greeting and Thank our Troops for their Service | The White House

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Weekly Address: The President and First Lady Extend a Holiday Greeting and Thank our Troops for their Service | The White House: Weekly Address: The President and First Lady Extend a Holiday Greeting and Thank our Troops for their ServiceIn this week’s address, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and thank our brave troops and their families for their service. The President and First Lady ask the American people to visit JoiningForces.gov to find ways to honor and support our veterans and military families, and say that we... more »

Charter Schools USA Got $6 Million More Than They Should Have During Tony Bennett’s Indiana Tenure | Scathing Purple Musings

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Charter Schools USA Got $6 Million More Than They Should Have During Tony Bennett’s Indiana Tenure | Scathing Purple Musings: Charter Schools USA Got $6 Million More Than They Should Have During Tony Bennett’s Indiana Tenure by Bob Sikes From reporter Dan Goldblatt of *Indiana Public News*: A Marion County judge has decided that the Indiana State Board of Education misappropriated several million dollars of funding to charter schools. The money was being withheld from Indianapolis Public Schools. When private companies took over four Indianapolis Public Schools to become charters... more »

Marchers take their case to SRC - Philly.com

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Marchers take their case to SRC - Philly.com: Marchers take their case to SRC [image: About 100 protesters found themselves temporarily locked out of the School District building after marching from City Hall. (CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer)]*About 100 protesters found themselves temporarily locked out of the School District… (CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer )* A shouting and chanting crowd of hundreds told officials Thursday night exactly what they thought of a Philadelphia School District plan to close 37 schools and change grades and shut programs at dozens more. "SOS! Sav... more »

Parents get CPS to put plans for military school in my neighborhood back on the shelf. « Fred Klonsky

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Parents get CPS to put plans for military school in my neighborhood back on the shelf. « Fred Klonsky: Parents get CPS to put plans for military school in my neighborhood back on the shelf. by Fred Klonsky [image: image640x480] Last week I posted the story of Ames Middle School and the community’s fight to keep it as a neighborhood school. Local political boss Alderman Roberto Maldonado wanted to turn it into a military school. Ames was created 15 years ago as a result of community pressure to relieve over-crowding in other Logan Square schools. And while the numbers of students a... more »







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Why Do Smart People Do Dumb Things? Thinking about School Reform | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Why Do Smart People Do Dumb Things? Thinking about School Reform | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:


Why Do Smart People Do Dumb Things? Thinking about School Reform

Examples are legion. Recall President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Or Director of the Central Intelligence Agency David Petraeus resigning over extra-marital affair. Or shrewd investors in Bernard Madoff’s company losing their financial shirts.
Switch to education and consider El Paso (TX) Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia who went to jail for inflating student test scores and giving a no-bid contract to his mistress.
OK, Larry, you made your point. People with smarts, power, and position caved in to their impulses. They did dumb things.
Actually, I want to go beyond that self-evident point made elsewhere and say that very smart educational 

Infamous for Hosting Adult Parties After Hours – Miami Charter School Foreclosed | Scathing Purple Musings

Infamous for Hosting Adult Parties After Hours – Miami Charter School Foreclosed | Scathing Purple Musings:


Infamous for Hosting Adult Parties After Hours – Miami Charter School Foreclosed

Reports South Florida Business Journal reporter Brian Bandel:
The former home of a shuttered charter school is set for auction after Great Florida Bank won a $2.24 million foreclosure judgment.
The Miami-Dade County School Board voted in April to shut down the Balere Language Academy after parents complained of house parties with alcohol and distasteful promotions.
The Miami Lakes-based bank (Pink Sheets: GFLB) won the judgment againstnonprofit Balere and loan guarantors Rocka Malik and Nagib Malik over a $1.5 million mortgage, plus interest and fees. It was also awarded judgment against Strategic Empowerment for Economic Development Corp., which provided a $1.2 million second mortgage.
The 19,304-square-foot school on six acres at 10875 Quail Roost Drive in southern Miami-Dade 

Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes Exclusive: NRA Solves Fiscal Cliff Problem

Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes Exclusive: NRA Solves Fiscal Cliff Problem:


Ed Notes Exclusive: NRA Solves Fiscal Cliff Problem

The only thing that stops a bad Democrat from heading us over the cliff is a good Republican with a gun. There is only way to avoid going over the fiscal cliff.  Give every good tea party member of Congress an assault rifle. "---Wayne LaPierre

LaPierre called for the federal program implementing the NRA's solution to the fiscal cliff issue to be headed by Dick Cheney. He also called for armed guards in every row of every movie complex, theater, sports stadium, supermarket (especially the meat aisles), deli, bodega, and ice cream parlor. "I love banana rocky road," LaPierre said.

Arms for Congress - as long as you're Republican

Schools advocate TJ Mertz talks about Madison Prep, teachers and school ‘reform’

Schools advocate TJ Mertz talks about Madison Prep, teachers and school ‘reform’:


Schools advocate TJ Mertz talks about Madison Prep, teachers and school ‘reform’




If you’ve kept up on the local debate on educational achievement in the Madison Metropolitan School District, you’ve probably heard of Thomas J. “TJ” Mertz. If you haven’t heard of him, you probably will soon, since he announced a run for the School Board last week.
A vocal critic of the controversial Madison Preparatory Academy proposal last year that brought the achievement gap back to the top of the schools agenda, Mertz has been involved for years in local school issues. He served on a school district equity task force, worked with the grassroots Communities and Schools Together referendum support group, and still is involved with the state-policy-focused Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools.
But Mertz perhaps is best known for his online presence. His blog, Advocating on Madison Public Schools, and frequent Facebook posts have an influential following. “It’s how you reach people today,” he says.
A well-read, sometimes loquacious student of education history and policy, Mertz is the father of two children attending Madison public schools. An instructor of U.S. history at Edgewood College, Mertz said he became actively involved in education issues in an effort to leave the kind of legacy for his children that his mother, who was involved in open housing campaigns in the Chicago area, gave him.
Capital Times: What’s the most important issue facing the Madison Metropolitan School District today?
TJ Mertz: Trust. There’s a lot of distrust in the community on all sides — between community and the school district, within the school district between administration and classroom staff, between


Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/pat_schneider/schools-advocate-tj-mertz-talks-about-madison-prep-teachers-and/article_44b6f51a-4c88-11e2-990d-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz2Ft2TLpLL

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-23-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch





A Substitute Teacher Dies as a Hero

A teacher sent me this link and urged me to post it.
This is a story about Lauren Rousseau, a substitute teacher who lost her life during the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School on one of the days that she was hired to teach.
Teaching was what she most wanted to do, but Newtown had a declining enrollment and was not hiring teachers. It has laid off 10% of its teachers in the past few years.
Lauren Rousseau worked for $75 a day with no benefits.
She was a barista at Starbucks when she wasn’t teaching.
Read it soon because the Wall Street Journal will have it behind a paywall in a few days.
The teacher who sent it to me suggested that it was remarkable because


Burris: NY Regents Plan Promotes Tracking

Carol Burris is the principal of an outstanding high school on Long Island in New York. She is a leader of the principals’ group opposing the new state evaluation system.
This post includes her recent letter to the Regents in opposition to a new diploma program that she fears will encourage tracking. Her own high school has no tracking and she explains why it is a bad idea.

Do Conservatives Care about the Constitution?

stunning editorial in the Statesman, a Louisiana publication, raises an important question about Governor Jindal’s voucher program: Why do conservatives remind everyone about the importance of adhering faithfully to the literal meaning of the state constitution except when they choose not to?
The Jindal voucher plan is funded by the Minimum Foundation Funding dedicated specifically in the state constitution to “public elementary and secondary schools.” Private and religious schools do not fit that definition. There is no loophole. They are not public.
A state judge (a Republican, by the way) struck down the funding for vouchers a few weeks ago, declaring that it 

Is This the NRA Plan for School Security?

A reader comments on the National Rifle Association’s ideas for school security:
“Let’s pretend. 100,000 schools would need 100,000 guards, preferably active police officers, who would by a conservative estimate cost at least $100,000 per year apiece in salary and benefits. That’s $10,000,000,000 to start, plus who knows how much more for the added costs of liability insurance, training, equipment, etc. Is this making any sense? Even if it did, how could we afford it? But wait, it may just be another golden opportunity for 

The Language of “Reform”

Ron Isaac is a retired teacher of English in New York City. He writes:

What a shame that language is such a pliable substance!  It’s putty in the hands of folks who control public policy debates, especially about education. And it can be deadly to progress when it’s off the tongues of people who exercise authority unjustly, either enabled by their own title or position or else by their power to purchase the influence of others who are in such position to damage or enrich or simply make things happen.

These people do to phrases and sometimes to popular perceptions what whip-snapping “trainers” do to tigers in 

Diane in the Evening 12-22-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 5 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: Outrageous Treatment of Children with Special Needs by dianerav In Louisiana, this mother reports, her 17-year-old autistic son will be required to take the ACT and EOC (end-of-course exams). As she writes, “These children are also being forced to take the EOC. or “end of course” tests for high school courses that they have never taken. Allow me to reiterate. They are forced to take high-stakes, final exams for classes in which they have never been enrolled because they cannot meet the prerequisites.” What will this prove, she wonders? Will it prove that he... more »

Daily Kos: Protecting Guns, Sacrificing (Some) Children

Daily Kos: Protecting Guns, Sacrificing (Some) Children:


Ed Notes Online: Sunday Funnies

Ed Notes Online: Sunday Funnies:


Sunday Funnies



------------


Have a Very Rephormy Christmas!

And an excellent and innovative new year…
Still looking for the purrfect gift for that extra excellent and innovative someone in your life? Not to worry. EduShyster has assembled an assembly of offerings guaranteed to send test scores soaring all through the holidays and into 2013. So from my rephorm family to yours: ¡feliz navidad and a very prospero año! Continue reading →

http://edushyster.com/?p=1627

The Innovative Educator: Teacher dropouts

The Innovative Educator: Teacher dropouts:


Teacher dropouts

More than 20 years ago John Taylor Gatto wrote a letter announcing his departure from the teaching profession, titled I Quit, I ThinkThe letter was published in the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal where he said he no longer wished to "hurt kids to make a living." He gave this advice:
"We don’t need a national curriculum or national testing either. Both initiatives arise from ignorance of how people learn or deliberate indifference to it. I can’t teach this way any longer."
Fast forward 20 years and we have Kris Nielsen's letter published in the Washington Post in an article called, "Letter from disgusted teacher: I quit." From Nielsen we find that nothing much has changed since Gatto did the same thing in 1991.  He explained that he quit because:
 “I refuse to be led by a top-down hierarchy that is completely detached from the classrooms for which it is supposed to be responsible,” and “I will not spend another day 

solidaridad: Photos from the campaign trail: Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD Schoolboard

solidaridad: Photos from the campaign trail: Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD Schoolboard:


Photos from the campaign trail: Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD Schoolboard

Schools Matter: A Life of Indentured Servitude for a Chance at a College Diploma: When the American Dream Goes Nightmare

Schools Matter: A Life of Indentured Servitude for a Chance at a College Diploma: When the American Dream Goes Nightmare:


A Life of Indentured Servitude for a Chance at a College Diploma: When the American Dream Goes Nightmare

Recently the NYTimes shows signs of coming out of its corporate cocoon to do real investigative reporting again.  The recent story on WalMart corruption was terrific, and in this story, the Times looks at the deepening of the categorical inequality as it plays out in the higher education arena.  

The story is based in Galveston, TX, and the charts and graphs, alone, are worth the price of the Sunday paper.  If democracy is to have a chance in the U. S., and if the American dream is to be anything other than a worn-out pipe dream,  it will not be under the current crush of rapacious capitalism gone wild that holds sway in the U. S. today.  A clip:
Thirty years ago, there was a 31 percentage point difference between the share of prosperous and poor Americans who earned bachelor’s degrees, according to Martha J. Bailey and Susan M. 

Steering Committee Election 2013 - 2015 Save Our Schools: A National Call to Action

Steering Committee Election 2013 - 2015:


Steering Committee Election 2013 – 2015


Save Our Schools: A National Call to Action
www.saveourschoolsmarch.org

Steering Committee Election 2013 – 2015


Dear Save Our Schools Supporters…
Save Our Schools is moving forward in developing strategies that ensure grassroots voices are heard in the education conversation. Issues such as testing, privatization, and school funding are our primary concerns.
To facilitate this process the SOS membership will nominate and elect a new National Steering Committee. The process consisted of three phases. Voter Eligibility Confirmed. Nominations.
Then on or before Sunday, December 23, 2012 The Vote!
Ballots will be, or dependent on when you read this, were sent out on December 18, 2012 and voting will or did begin. From that date forward through Sunday, December 23, 2012 Eligible Voters can partake in the election process.
Please be an Informed Voter!
Read the Nominee Biographies and their answers to pertinent questions. Peruse the Aspirants Vision Statements! Also, watch and listen to the Candidates speak about who they are and what they think is our shared Mission.
The Steering Committee election results will be posted to the SOS website.

SOS is applying for 501c3 status so as to be eligible for grants and allow for fuller involvement in our mission.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Schools Matter: Sanity Comes to Charlotte-Mecklenburg

Schools Matter: Sanity Comes to Charlotte-Mecklenburg:


Sanity Comes to Charlotte-Mecklenburg

When Charlotte's former superintendent, Peter Gorman, was run out of town, he found work as another edu-henchman for Rupert Murdoch.  Since then, Charlotte has hired someone who is willing to challenge the status quo of more high stakes testing. From the Charlotte Observer:
Posted: Friday, Dec. 21, 2012
By Ann Doss Helms
ahelms@charlotteobserver.com 
The barrage of new state tests being rolled out this year is “an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars” that won’t help kids, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Superintendent Heath Morrison said Thursday.

He joins a band of superintendents across the country fighting the push to use student testing to rate teachers and schools. Earlier this month, the superintendent in Montgomery County, Md., called for a three-year moratorium on standardized testing and an end to “the insanity” of evaluating teachers on test scores, according to The Washington Post.

Morrison said he’s working with Montgomery County Superintendent Joshua Starr, as well as a network of district leaders inside and outside North Carolina, to try to counteract the national 

New Orleans schools ban creationist curriculum, shun Texas revisionist textbooks | toteachornototeach

New Orleans schools ban creationist curriculum, shun Texas revisionist textbooks | toteachornototeach:


New Orleans schools ban creationist curriculum, shun Texas revisionist textbooks

New Orleans schools ban creationist
curriculum, shun Texas revisionist textbooks

original
by Robert T. Gonzalez
Sanity wins this round — at least for six schools in New Orleans. By a unanimous vote, N.O.’s Orleans Parish School Board voted on Tuesday to keep creationism out of its classrooms. Hallelujah.
“No teacher of any discipline of science shall teach any aspect of religious faith as science or in a science class,” reads a measure released by the School Board earlier this week. “No teacher of any discipline of science shall teach creationism or intelligent design in classes designated as science classes.”
The new policy also takes a deliberate stand against Texas’s conservative revisionist curricula:
No history textbook shall be approved which has been adjusted in accordance with the state of 

Despite Exemptions, Police and Firefighters Show Labor Solidarity in Michigan Right-to-Work Battle | MyFDL

Despite Exemptions, Police and Firefighters Show Labor Solidarity in Michigan Right-to-Work Battle | MyFDL:

User Picture

Despite Exemptions, Police and Firefighters Show Labor Solidarity in Michigan Right-to-Work Battle

By: Michelle Chen Thursday December 20, 2012 10:47 pm

Jamee Urrea via Twitter: http://t.co/kkFAJ8DK
Originally posted from In These Times
Michigan’s new right-to-work law has has struck a savage blow to America’s labor movement in its heartland. Unions across the state have thronged to Lansing to oppose the attack, which makes union membership optional and thus reduces labor’s bargaining clout. But tucked into the legislation are subtle exemptions for particular workers—police and firefighters, who have historically played by a different set of rules, creating political divides in the labor movement.
But in this case, it seems that many members of Michigan’s police and firefighters unions—about 1,700 bargaining units altogether—are standing in solidarity with other public-sector unions to oppose the law.
Georgetown University labor historian Joseph McCartin, in an email to In These Times, points out the hypocrisy of lawmakers in exempting these honored civil servants from a supposedly “pro-worker” new law:
If these initiatives were pro-worker [as Governor Rick Snyder has claimed], why wouldn’t they also be good for public safety workers?… The exemption makes the intentions of the laws framers’ crystal clear: they intend to undermine organizations that ally with their political opponents.
Right-to-work proponents argue variously that the nature of police and firefighter work requires an 

Schools often first line of defense in identifying, treating kids with mental illness - LA Daily News

Schools often first line of defense in identifying, treating kids with mental illness - LA Daily News:


Schools often first line of defense in identifying, treating kids with mental illness

By Barbara Jones Staff Writer
Updated:   12/22/2012 03:44:22 PM PST

They teach kids to read, write and solve math problems, and to work and play well with others.
And along with those lessons, educators are increasingly being trained to spot depression, anxiety and other troubling behaviors in their students, with administrators and teachers forming the first line of defense against mental illness.
"We provide psychiatric first aid," said Ailleth Tom, who coordinates crisis counseling and mental health services for the Los Angeles Unified School District. "We really listen, protect and connect students with services.
"We don't ask, `What's wrong with you?"' she said. "We ask, `What's happened to you?"'
Speculation about the mental health of the 20-year-old gunman in the Connecticut school shootings has focused attention on the need for the early treatment of troubling behavior in the nation's adolescents and