10-30-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

Ps 196 Wins

Co-loco tonight off PEP agenda. Keep up the fight everyone. Cheers, Norm Scott Twitter: normscott1 Education Notes ednotesonline.blogspot.com Grassroots Education Movement gemnyc.org Education columnist, The Wave www.rockawave.com nycfirst robotics normsrobotics.blogspot.com Sent from my BlackBerry

3 by ed notes online / 9min 

Video: PS 196K Rallies Against Co-Loco

Another unreported rally at a public school with an overflow crowd at the hearing following the rally - schools that can't close for half a day to march over a bridge to demonstrate their opposition to fundamental Bloomberg ed policies. Go add up all the people at all the local school-based rallies and see if that doesn't top the charter rally where parents were told they had to attend while their

1 by ed notes online / 9min 

MORE Weekly Update #73: Protest Colocations at the PEP on October 30th!

Protest Colocations at the PEP on October 30th!  View this email in your browser Weekly Update #73 October 30, 2013Join MORE Today Facebook Twitter Email Please help out with this action. Click here for quarter sheet flyers to distribute to your colleagues. The campaign for a moratorium

1 by ed notes online / 9min 

Not 'till the fat lady sings

Six of us piled into a van today to go down to Philadelphia to say goodbye to a dear friend and political pal of over 40 years. Our friend had decided to enter hospice care just 2 days ago at his daughter's home after months in the hospital. I expected the worst but got the best. Our friend though weak, was as eloquent and lucid as he always has been at political events, often dominating the room.

2 by ed notes online / 9min 

Fred Smith On the Empress Tisch

What clear and astute observations... Loretta PriscoFred, thanks for this scathing and brilliant portrait. Helps me make sense of my visceral reaction of horror at her presentation. So much feigned reasonableness and caring. So little capacity for hearing the truth.... Jeff NYes, Fred- so right on! Let's not forget that the "flawed accountability system" she is replacing is one SHE is re

1 by ed notes online / 17min mark as read  //  save

The Daily Howler on Frank Bruni Piece on Colorado Ed Law, Supported by Sell-Out AFT and NEA

Can we talk? In our post-journalistic culture, everyone is an expert on schools! Everyone except the people who get assigned to be education reporters..... Columnists sometimes like to pretend that they know about public schools, though it rarely seems that they do. More horribly, education reporters often seem caught in the grip of the same affliction.... The Daily Howler on Frank Bruni ed piece

2 by ed notes online / 17min 

10-29-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Speakers to testify release for NYC's Senate hearing on school issuesI was going to go to the Portelos hearing today but I'm in a car heading to Philly - don't worry, I'm not driving. My alternate was to go to the Flanagan hearings today where many of our allies from Change the Stakes and Class Size Matters are testifying today.The unholy trio - Tisch, Mulgrew and Walcott, all pus

by mike simpson / 5h 

10-30-13 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE:

On #edreform celebrity.

I can name more persons affiliated with education and the reform movement than I care to. Authors are our rock stars it seems. I found myself on whatever path I am on because of some unique circumstances, but above all that I’m an educator. I speak out because I’m oftentimes a stubborn person with a […]

3 by Shaun Johnson / 44min 

#optout in Wisconsin

It’s official.  We are now Wisconsin opt outers! Dear Principal: Michelle and I are requesting that Lacey not participate in state standardized testing during the current school year. Furthermore, we ask that no record of this testing be part of Lacey’s permanent file, as we do not wish for Lacey to participate in standardized achievement […]

8 by Timothy D. Slekar / 30min 

Want a Trustworthy Word on Teach for America (TFA)? Listen to Former TFAer Gary Rubinstein

Below I have posted two youtube videos by Gary Rubinstein, who joined Teach for America (TFA) in 1991 and who made the decision to become a career teacher. Gary now writes extensively about the problems associated with the temporary teaching TFA promotes as the “solution” to the complex issues faced in contemporary America public education. (If […]

2 by deutsch29 / 33min 

This Is the Problem

This Is the Problem. via This Is the Problem.

1 by plthomasedd / 6min 

AFT and ATF Respond to Locals: A Follow-Up

Recently, I posted an article about a story in the Albuquerque Journal about the New Mexico NEA and AFT putting pressure on the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED).  I called the suggestions from the two state union groups an “appeasement.” Also included in my article was a statement from the Albuquerque Teachers Federation (ATF), […]

4 by Kris Nielsen / 5h

  

10-29-13 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: Bullying by Numbers: Value-Added MeasuresIf you’ve been paying attention, you know that the evaluation focus for public education has moved quickly away from students and rapidly towards teachers and schools.  The propaganda is everywhere, and too many people are convinced by the mantra, “the greatest factor of student success is the teacher in the classroom.”  I don’t know who [

by mike simpson / 7h

Teachers: Never Forget How Much You Matter | Ward 8 DC Teacher

Teachers: Never Forget How Much You Matter | Ward 8 DC Teacher:

Teachers: Never Forget How Much You Matter

by ACINTRONJR • OCTOBER 30, 2013

Whether you teach at an elementary school, a middle school, a high school, or an alternative school, this message is for you. This message is for ALL teachers, regardless of zip code or socio-economic status. This message is for ALL teachers, albeit your first year or one year removed from retirement. This message is for ALL teachers: Never forget how much you matter. Never forget that you’re making a difference.

Some students may respect your authority; others may challenge it. Some students may sit up straight, and listen to directions the first time; others may slouch, and need constant redirections. Some students may participate in every activity; others may never participate at all. Regardless of student engagement, never forget how much you matter. Never forget that you’re making a difference.

Some students may respond well to positive reinforcements; others may need a stern talking to in the hallway. Some students may complete every single assignment; others may complete a single assignment. Some students may create a thank you card for you to keep; others may never say or write those words for you to hear or read. Regardless of student behavior, never forget how much you matter. Never forget that you’re making a difference.

Some colleagues may devote as much time to planning and prepping as you do; others may devote the bare minimum. Some colleagues may be rock star teachers; others may be struggling to maintain order in their classrooms. Some colleagues may have a wealth of experience and 

10-30-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

NYSED Commissioner John King Finally Announces Common Core Meetings For NYC

From Jessica Bakeman at Capital NY:ALBANY—The state Education Department plans to announce three New York City public hearings on the state's adoption of the more difficult Common Core curriculum standards, two weeks after scheduling 16 forums in upstate New York and on Long Island. There will likely be at least five meetings in New York City, and the state expects to hold them by the end of the y

by reality-based edu... / 50min 

Education Reform In Trouble

Anthony Cody at Gates Foundation Week:From coast to coast, the billionaire-backed education reform project is back-pedaling, and there are signs of desperation showing up all over. At Education Nation there was little attention paid to the fractured fairytale that corporate reform has become, but the cracks are appearing everywhere now.At a recent conference of mayors, few would even utter the wor

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

Mulgrew: I Support Common Core

From Schoolbook:At Tuesday's hearing before the state Senate's Standing Committee on Education, city teachers union president Michael Mulgrew said he supports the goals of the Common Core, which emphasize more critical thinking and writing."But the roll-out has been horrible," he said, referring to what he called a lack of curriculum materials and teacher preparation. Mulgrew said the st

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

Here's A DOE Policy Change I'm On Board With

From the NY Post:Styrofoam companies are about to lose their lunch over a city plan to replace the foam trays in school cafeterias with an eco-friendly compostable version. The Department of Education said it tested the new trays in a small pilot program last spring, and is currently trying them again at four schools. The department plans to increase the program to 32 schools next month, and is as

by reality-based edu... / 2h mark as read  //  save

Not One Speaker Supported The Common Core Rollout

Another great article about the John King Common Core forum held in Port Chester on Monday, this one from the Pearl River Patch:Dozens of angry Westchester and Rockland County parents and educators Monday vented their frustrations over the rollout of New York’s Common Core Curriculum, and urged state Education Commissioner John King, Jr. to delay the program until it is improved.In one of several

by reality-based edu... / 4h 

10-29-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: The UFT Evaluation Team Sends An Email To UFT MembersDunno if you got this in your email box from Mikey Mulgrew and the "UFT Evaluation Team," but it arrived in my in-box this morning:Teachers across the city are facing significant challenges caused by the Department of Education's poor implementation of the new evaluation and development system. To resolve these p

by mike simpson / 7h 

How Poverty Molds the Brain | toteachornototeach

How Poverty Molds the Brain | toteachornototeach:

How Poverty Molds the Brain

Groundbreaking research nearly two decades ago linking a mother’s educational background to her children’s literacy and cognitive abilities stands out among decades of social science studies demonstrating the adverse effects of poverty.

Now new research conducted at Northwestern University has taken that finding in a neuroscientific direction: linking poor processing of auditory information in the adolescent brain to a lower maternal educational background.

“These adolescents had noisier neural activity than their classmates, even when no sound was presented,” said Nina Kraus, the Hugh Knowles Professor of Neurobiology, 

UPDATE: An unlikely clash between a superintendent and a community

An unlikely clash between a superintendent and a community:

An unlikely clash between a superintendent and a community

• BY VALERIE STRAUSS

• October 30 at 6:00 am

Suburban school districts are not usually the place where clashes develop over standardized test-based school reform policies, but that’s just what is happening in Montclair, N.J. Here’s a post on what’s going on by LynNell Hancock, the mother of two Montclair High School graduates, grandmother of a Montclair fifth grader, and professor of journalism at Columbia University.

By LynNell Hancock

When my family moved to Montclair from the Bronx more than two decades ago, the contentious issue involved a high school course–World Literature and Global Studies—that aspired to integrate culture, race, fiction and history in all-inclusive classrooms. Some ugly arguments erupted, over politics, content, and tracking. It was democracy in action, wrangling with core values and learning — the heart of the matter.

What a difference two decades make. Today’s disputes have little to do with enriching life and learning in the classroom. Instead, the discussions are about management

How school districts are affected by Supreme Court’s DOMA ruling

The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, has implications for U.S. school systems, which collectively employ more than 6 million people.  A new report was released on Wednesday providing advice to school districts about how they are affected by the decision. It was issued by the […]    

1 by Valerie Strauss / 3min 

Strauss: China’s 10 new school reform rules: Reduce standardized testing, homework

Earlier this year China began a major education reform initiative designed to increase student engagement and end student boredom and anxiety. Curbing standardized testing was one aim. Scholar Yong Zhao wrote about it first in this post, and, now, below, gives us the latest developments. Yong Zhao is the presidential chair and associate dean for global education at the University of Oregon’s Coll

1 by Valerie Strauss / 6min 

A dozen basic guidelines for educators

Do we really need education policies and practices to cover everything that goes on in the classroom? Author Alfie Kohn says “no” and, below, offers basic guidelines that can really help teachers. Kohn is the author of 12 books about education and human behavior, including “The Schools Our Children Deserve,” “The Homework Myth,” and “Feel-Bad […]    

2 by Valerie Strauss / 27min 

‘Forgetting would be a terrible mistake’

The largely poor and rural state of Mississippi suffers from the highest rate of childhood poverty in the country, along with some of the lowest scores on standardized tests. A legacy of racism and segregation are among the roadblocks that keep the children of Mississippi from reaching their full potential. The Hechinger Report, an independently […]    

by Valerie Strauss / 4h 

The Tomato Harvester, the Smart Gun, and The Age-Graded School: Reframing the Problem | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Tomato Harvester, the Smart Gun, and The Age-Graded School: Reframing the Problem | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

The Tomato Harvester, the Smart Gun, and The Age-Graded School: Reframing the Problem

Machines picking thick-rind tomatoes, a gun that won’t fire in the hands of someone who doesn’t own it, and schools where six year-olds work with eight year-olds, where 14 and 16 year-olds, regardless of grade, engage in academic lessons–all are instances where historic problems have been reframed in creative ways.

Take the tomato harvester. Mechanizing agricultural work reduces labor costs and produces larger profit margins. But there was a problem with machines picking tomatoes. Early versions of the harvester would crush too many of the tomatoes as they scooped up the entire plant, shook the tomatoes free of