The Educated Reporter: Guest Post: Will Online Khan Academy 'Educate the World"?

The Educated Reporter: Guest Post: Will Online Khan Academy 'Educate the World"?:

Guest Post: Will Online Khan Academy 'Educate the World"?

by Emily Richmond

EWA's 66th National Seminar, held at Stanford University, took place earlier this month. We asked some of the journalists attending to contribute posts from the sessions. The majority of the content will soon be available at EdMedia Commons. Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing a few of the posts, including the ones from our keynote sessions. Justin Pope, higher education reporter for the Associated Press, is today's guest blogger.

Is Sal Khan the Messiah? No, seriously. At EWA’s 2013 National Seminar, veteran PBS reporter John Merrowintroduced Khan—the charismatic former hedge fund adviser who turned the math Wtutorial videos he made for his cousins into an education website with thousands of videos watched by millions around the world—by recalling meeting a group of five Hasidic rabbis who had come to hear Khan speak recently in New York. They mentioned the Torah’s prediction of a man in the fifth millennium who “will come to educate the world.” They didn’t seem to be joking - more like scoping out a candidate.

Khan’s talk at EWA’s conference was an engaging hit, and a perhaps heartening reminder that people still 

Chicago. Day#2. Englewood. | Fred Klonsky

Chicago. Day#2. Englewood. | Fred Klonsky:

Chicago. Day#2. Englewood.

by Fred Klonsky

Photo: Chicago Teachers Union.

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

Just as K-12 online learning hits tipping point, evaluation program threatened

 Driven in part by the coming implementation of common core curriculum standards, California schools have never been more engaged in online learning programs – especially at the high school level – according to draft results of a new statewide survey.

But in a move rife with paradox, Gov. Jerry Brown last week reaffirmed his plan to eliminate funding for a key statewide program dedicated to the intersection of both common core and online learning.

His revised May budget would give schools $1 billion to help implement the common core curriculum – some of which would have to be spent evaluating how well commercial online courses fit the new standards in math and English language arts, the very function of the California Learning Resource Network whose funding is threatened.

The network, established under the auspices of the state department of education in 1999, would lose its dedicated funding and perhaps its mission, too, under Brown’s school finance restructuring plan.

Charged with providing schools, teachers and parents objective analysis of the academic rigor of commercial online 

Brown ignores LAO warning, stands pat with distributing $1b in Prop. 39 funds

Three months ago the typically reserved nonpartisan Legislative Analyst used especially robust language in calling into question a plan from Gov. Jerry Brown to use new corporate tax revenue to improve energy efficiency at K-12 schools and community colleges.

Corporate Education Reform Industry spends nearly $4.7 million on Connecticut lobbying, little of it telling the truth. - Wait, What?

Corporate Education Reform Industry spends nearly $4.7 million on Connecticut lobbying, little of it telling the truth. - Wait, What?:

Corporate Education Reform Industry spends nearly $4.7 million on Connecticut lobbying, little of it telling the truth.

by jonpelto

Moore tells Maher: ‘The real problem with the IRS is that they let General Electric not pay any taxes’ | The Raw Story http://bit.ly/10G8Y6m

Pro-public education commentator Wendy Lecker has written another “must read” piece, this time pointing out the fact that corporate education reformers are either unwilling or unable to tell the truth as the spin their political stories to try and convince elected officials and the public to support their “education reform” agenda.

Lecker, like many of us, has heard the latest round of ads that side-step the truth in a politically self-righteous attempt to convince us that we can improve out public education system by handing it over to private corporations and charter schools.

This new $1.5 million advertising campaign by a front organization called, ironically enough, A Better Connecticut, is just one more step in the most expensive lobbying effort in Connecticut history.

Here are the latest numbers;

To date, since Governor Malloy took office, the corporate education reform industry has spent at least $4,650,721.54 on 

NYC Public School Parents: My twitter interchange with Murdoch about Amplify's losses, and a NYC parent responds to Amplify's sales pitch

NYC Public School Parents: My twitter interchange with Murdoch about Amplify's losses, and a NYC parent responds to Amplify's sales pitch:

My twitter interchange with Murdoch about Amplify's losses, and a NYC parent responds to Amplify's sales pitch

by Leonie Haimson

There is bad news from Amplify, the NewsCorp subsidiary owned by Rupert Murdoch and run by Joel Klein. NPR ran a good story about the company earlier in the year.  It appears that Klein is running the business into the ground, just as he did our schools when he was Chancellor at the Department of Education. 

According to one press account, Amplify lost $80 million this year alone, despite the substantial funding  (at least $44 million) it received from the Gates Foundation to build the data mining operation called inBloom Inc.   Actually, according to a presentation Joel Klein gave in December about NewsCorp's bid to capture a largershare of what he described as the $673 billion US education market, through online learning, Amplify's tablets and the new Common Core standards, Klein predicted a loss of $180 million in FY 2013, which he called"disciplined investment."

On a recent earnings call, NewsCorp COO Chase Carey discussed the split that will happen this summer between the profitable parts of the company, like the cable channels and the movie studio, and the weaker

A Thin Line Beyond Silence and Voice | Cooperative Catalyst

A Thin Line Beyond Silence and Voice | Cooperative Catalyst:

A Thin Line Beyond Silence and Voice

by charles kouns

A few days ago, David Loitz, Imagining Learning’s Seed Steward, posted a rough cut of a new film he is making about the Voices of the young people (and some of the adults) who have been involved in Listening Sessions.  In watching it, in listening to those familiar faces and voices that I met just once during the 3 hours that we were together, I was moved to tears. Since then, I have been asking myself what those tears were about and then tonight, an answer came.

My intuitive voice within said, “For most of our young people, there is a very thin space between their inner light and the dimming of it.”

Perhaps more than ever – in watching that wonderful film – I realized that today the greatest gift we can give our young people is to create a larger space between their inner light and the dimming of it. Not just a larger space, but the largest space our hearts can possibly conceive.

This, to me, is why the transformation of education is so important. There is no greater gift we can give our future generations, than to co-create – with our young people today, a learning journey that turns their light into a bonfire.  As I watched that film and saw the glowing light in their eyes, as they spoke about their visions for changing education and about the empowerment they felt, I got, at an even deeper level, the power of listening as a way to begin.

Asking young people to step into a circle of trust and authenticity and share their inner wisdom, a wisdom they often don’t know they actually have sometimes, is a 

Teachers, parents, activists march on to save Chicago schools on chopping block - Chicago Sun-Times

Teachers, parents, activists march on to save Chicago schools on chopping block - Chicago Sun-Times:

Teachers, parents, activists march on to save Chicago schools on chopping block

BY MATT MCKINNEY SUN-TIMES MEDIA May 19, 2013 5:01PM

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Walking against all Chicago Public School closings, marchers walk down South Union Street to Dewey Elementary School, Sunday May 19, 2013. | Jessica Koscielniak ~ Sun-Times

Updated: May 19, 2013 7:21PM

 

Dozens of Chicago teachers, parents and students marched for the second consecutive day Sunday on the South and West Sides as they protested the proposed closing of 54 local public chools.

At Dewey Elementary School, 5415 S. Union, a group of students played basketball as the crowd approached with a megaphone.

“Whose schools? Our schools,” the crowd chanted from across the playground.

Though not facing closure, Dewey is on the list of “turnaround schools,” which means its teachers and administrators could be replaced if approved by the Chicago Board of Education.

The board will decide the fate of 54 schools on Wednesday.

Matthew Johnson, 40, of Englewood, has two sons who attend Dewey.

“We need to get our teachers standing up and staying engaged with our students,” he said. “That’s the only way to [fix this.]”

Zenitra Hodges, 23, of West Englewood, studies psychology at Kentucky State University

Cinda Klickna’s Response: 30 Pieces of Silver CHALLENGE | Reclaim Reform

Cinda Klickna’s Response: 30 Pieces of Silver CHALLENGE | Reclaim Reform:

Cinda Klickna’s Response: 30 Pieces of Silver CHALLENGE

by kenpreviti

I have been reading and rereading our IEA president’s email response to my last blog, “Betrayal. Deception, Investigation, Robocalls: SB2404.” The future of our Illinois pensions hinge on this. Perhaps George Orwell could decipher it for me, but he’s still dead.
Therefore, I personally offer a “30 Pieces of Silver CHALLENGE” to anyone in the world who can translate, decipher, or otherwise explicate Cinda’s words from the double-speak babble of Babel that attempts to make Senate President Cullerton’s Amendment 002 of SB2404 into a gift from the politico gods to the little people.
* Why 30 pieces of silver for Cinda’s re-explanation? Somehow, it seems appropriate.
* The 30 pieces of silver will be dimes for this particular challenge. Why? My pension is being reduced and diminished, and so is yours.
* The challenge ends whenever, and all decisions along with allocation of fiduciary awards will be top secret in the spirit of total non-disclosure.

Now, on to the serious, for us, stuff.
Cinda’s email is as follows.
There have been questions raised about language amended into SB 2404, the Cullerton-Coalition legislation.
This amendment was not a surprise to the members of the labor coalition. The coalition 

Daily Kos: Sometimes the sign are unmistakable

Daily Kos: Sometimes the sign are unmistakable:

Sometimes the sign are unmistakable

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Let's see
in the past few days two of my former students did very well at the Intel ISEF.
One of my former students today sang at the Morehouse graduation where the President gave the commencement address, and he proudly shared on Facebook the program which listed him as a junior Phi Beta Kappan.
Other of my students mark completion of high school or college or medical school on their Facebook pages and I find myself interacting with them.
Another of my former students shared with me the writing he sends to his friends, telling me

I will include you on my small distro list of the missives that I write while I am deployed. I appreciate everything that you have taught me and look foward to your insight.

Another emailed me to tell me about the new teaching job he expects to be doing.One who is briefly in town before returning to Cambridge to graduate from Harvard Law wants to get together to 

Online Forum: The Parent Trigger from California to Florida | Seattle Education

Online Forum: The Parent Trigger from California to Florida | Seattle Education:

Online Forum: The Parent Trigger from California to Florida

by seattleducation2011

The Parent Trigger from California to Florida

 Sunday, May 26, 2013 from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM Pacific Time

We will be hearing from Lori Yuan, a parent in Adelanto who fought the Parent Trigger at her school, and Parents Across America Founding Member Rita Solnet who, along with other organizations, defeated the Parent Trigger bill in the Florida State Senate on March 9, 2013.

To reserve your ticket, go to eventbrite.

This event is free.

For more on the Parent Trigger, listen to:

“Won’t Back Down”: Corporate Education Reform and the Rhetoric of Fiction

Recommended reading:

Why Parents Across America Opposes Florida’s Parent Empowerment Legislation

Parent trigger misfires by disrupting and dismantling local schools

Parent Trigger Hoax

Parents Across America hails defeat of Florida’s Parent Trigger bill:

A victory of parents over forces that would privatize and profit from our public schools

How Connecticut Diffused The Parent Trigger

Ben Austin and His Parent Trigger, Now in Seattle

The “school conversion” clause in Initiative 1240, the parent trigger and ALEC model legislation

By the way, the “school conversion” clause became law in November, 2012.

 

This event is organized by Parents Across America.

Parents Across America is a non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization that connects parents and activists from around the country to share ideas and work together to improve our nation’s public schools.

The Buck Starts Here | EduShyster

The Buck Starts Here | EduShyster:

The Buck Starts Here

by edushyster2012

A Utah charter school is growing the next generation of capitalists
Like you I was forced to learn many things at school that I have absolutely no use for in the 21st century—like speling for example. And I literaly cannot count the number of times that I have not had to use math. That’s why I was so excited to learn about a boldly innovative new school in Utah which is teaching kids to be makers, not takers. Students as young as kindergarten are learning vital 21st century capitalist tools like sales and marketing, and they can even prepare for the exciting world of work that awaits them by working at the school store.

All aboard the choice mobile
It’s time for another “free ride” in the choice mobile, dear reader. Today our destination is suburban Salt Lake City, home to the new Highmark Charter School, where the entrepreneurial spirit is being fostered even as I type. Unlike traditional union-stifled public schools which equip choiceless young consumers with nothing but excuses and mediocrity, Highmark is incubating the next generation of young learners to become tomorrow’s earners.