7-22-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

Our lawyers to Judge Belz. The Supremes have ruled. Can we speed this pension thing up?

The Springfield State Journal Register: Lawyers challenging last year’s pension reform law said they will make another attempt to get an expedited ruling in the case in the wake of the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision in the retiree health insurance case. Lawyers said they believe the ruling in the health insurance case — called the Kanerva decision after one of the plaintiffs — effectively null

by Fred Klonsky / 1h

Rahm. Meet meet Newark’s new Mayor Ras Baraka. Money wasn’t enough to beat him.

NBC’s Mark Anderson of the Ward Room explains why Rahm’s money advantage may not be enough to save him. Rahm Emanuel, meet Ras Baraka. For those not following New Jersey politics, Baraka is the political progressive who won the 2014 mayoral election in Newark, the state’s largest city. To win, Baraka beat Shavar Jeffries, who many political observers in Jersey saw as the candidate of the state’s

by Fred Klonsky / 1min 

Timothy P. Carter. “Oh, Fred. It only gets better.” Or worse.

Linda writes, “Oh Fred it gets even better.” New London — Before the Board of Education meets Thursday night to vote on a contract for Terrence P. Carter, its unanimous selection as the city’s next superintendent of schools, it will hold a closed-door conference call to question him further about his academic record. On Monday, the Board of Education canceled its scheduled meeting to vote on Carte

by Fred Klonsky / 15min 

The phony CPS doctor, Timothy P. Carter has some explaining to do.

Today’s editorial in the Hartford, Connecticut Courant. Terrence P. Carter has some explaining to do. Mr. Carter, a Chicago educator hired to be New London’s new superintendent of schools, has been referring to himself as “doctor” for more than five years, years in which he has not held a doctorate from an accredited university, The Courant reported Friday. He is scheduled to receive a doctorate

by Fred Klonsky / 2min hide  //  save

NEA and AFSE need to settle this thing.

I left the NEA Representative Assembly in Denver with good feelings. We passed a strong statement on the misuse of testing. We called for the firing of Education Secretary Arne Duncan. We caused heartburn for union-hating centrist Democrats and public school-hating Republicans. We elected three strong women of color to head our union. So, it is more than a little troubling that members of the NEA

by Fred Klonsky / 12min 

NBC’s Erin Carlson: “Karen Lewis for Eva Peron.” No. Madonna for Eva Peron. Lewis for mayor.

“Lewis has been an Eva Peron-style champion for teachers facing layoffs, school closures and the loss of their pensions (along with police and fire unions).” NBC’s Erin Carlson. Ah. Chicago journalism. Here’s the headline this morning at NBC’s Ward Room: “Seeking Re-Election, Emanuel Gets More Love From Labor Unions.” When Rahm Emanuel held a press conference to herald the ground-breaking of Wolf

by Fred Klonsky / 11min hide  //  save

Ten minute drawing. I’m so Chicago… #RKR

by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

7-21-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Chicago politics. Magical thinking, perfect storms and bean bag.All weekend I have been asked the same question. “Is Karen going to run?” I consider Karen a friend. But let us be clear. I am not on her exploratory committee, an insider or political confidant. I don’t like sitting in on strategy meetin

by mike simpson / 7h 

7-22-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:

“Open Curriculum” Has Math Lessons & An Easy Lesson Plan Builder

Open Curriculum is a new free site that right now shares lots of math lessons, and plans to expand to English and Science lessons soon. I looked at a couple of the math lessons, and they seemed relatively decent, but I’m definitely no judge of math lesson plans. Because of that, I’m not ready to consider adding it to The Best Places To Find Free (And Good) Lesson Plans On The Internet. However, t

by Larry Ferlazzo / 31min 

“Has Race To The Top Been A Success, A Fiasco, Or Something In Between?”

Has Race To The Top Been A Success, A Fiasco, Or Something In Between? is a special question of the week at my Education Week Teacher blog. This week is the fifth anniversary of the Obama Administration announcing the program. Feel free to leave comments here or there…

by Larry Ferlazzo / 14min 

Liberio Says It Lets You Create eBooks From Google Drive

/> Liberio is a new tool that says it will let you turn any Google Drive document into an eBook. It also says it lets you upload and use a document from your computer. That could be a very useful. However, I was not able to successfully upload any document. That may have been because of their being overwhelmed by new users after being written-up in TechCrunch, or it might be a technical problem w

by Larry Ferlazzo / 37min hide  //  save

Wash. Post Unveils New “Storyline” Site — Great Content, Confusing Lay-Out

I’ve previously posted about The Washington Post’s announcement that they were joining the data-journalism party with a new site called Storyline (See The Washington Post Joins The Party Of Data-Journalism With “Storyline”). Today, Storyline opened up for business. The content looks great, and will be very accessible to students — unlike Vox (which I like a lot), Storyline’s pieces look like they

by Larry Ferlazzo / 37min 

Seven Good “Reads” On Ed Tech

© 2010 Brad Flickinger, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are several recent good pieces related to educational technology: 10 Things Every Teacher Should Know How To Do With Google Docs is from Edudemic. Will Computers Ever Replace Teachers? appeared in The New Yorker. 3 Reasons Why Chromebook Beats iPad in 1:1 Programs is from edSurge. My Flipped Classroom Experience is by Kenneth Headley. I’m add

by Larry Ferlazzo / 7h hide  //  save

Good Overviews Of Israel-Gaza Crisis

© 2009 Amir Farshad Ebrahimi, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio Vox has created two useful resources for understanding the present Israel-Gaza crisis. I’m adding them both to The “Best” Resources For Learning About The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: 11 crucial facts to understand the Israel-Gaza crisis is from Vox. And Vox has created this two minute video explainer:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 9h 

7-21-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Latest Resources On The Child Refugee Crisis© 2011 Takver, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio Here are the latest additions to The Best Resources For Learning About The Children Refugee Crisis At The U.S. Southern Border: A Central America expert explains the root causes of the migrant crisis is from Vox. The Myth of the Disease

by mike simpson / 8h 

7-22-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?:

Wait What? 

New London Superintendent candidate Terrence Carter’s Financial Problems

The Day of New London has posted a breaking story highlighting financial problems that have plagued Terrence Carter, the “education reform expert” that Special Master Steven Adamowski and the Malloy administration have been pushing for the job of superintendent of schools in New London. The Day of New London newspaper is reporting, …according to court […] The post New London Superintendent candida

by jonpelto / 14min 

The Beginning of the end for the Charter School Industry in Connecticut

Governor Dannel “Dan” Malloy ushered in the Charter School Industry to Connecticut as part of his corporate education reform initiative in 2012.  As part of his “education reforms,”  Malloy become the only Democratic governor in the nation to propose doing away with teacher tenure and repealing collective bargaining for teachers in so-called “turnaround schools.” Malloy […] The post The Beginning

3 by jonpelto / 2h 

7-21-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?: Wait What? Malloy Administration looks to stick it to public education yet again…Proving that there is apparently no bounds to the arrogance and sense of entitlement displayed by Governor Dannel “Dan” Malloy and his administration, the Day newspaper of New London is reporting that, “The [New London] Board of Education will go forward with its scheduled vote tonight on the contract for

by mike simpson / 8h 

7-22-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

‘Say this, not that’: A slick PR guide to selling charter schools by key charter group

It appears as if the charter school sector believes that it needs to better hone its public messaging. At its recent annual convention, the National Alliance for Public Charter School handed out an 18-page “Charter School Messaging Notebook” that actually has sections that include, “Say This, Not That,” and “Who Are ‘Our People?’ ” (See […]

by Valerie Strauss / 0min hide  //  save

New state rankings on how America’s children are faring

A new report on how America’s children are faring, just released by the  nonprofit Annie E. Casey Foundation, found that Massachusetts is doing the best job and Mississippi the worst in four areas: economic well-being, education, health and family/community indicators. The KidsCount 2014 Data Book finds that in 2012,  23 percent of U.S. children were living […]

1 by Valerie Strauss / 1h 

Educator: The many reasons ‘I am ashamed to be part of the system’

Back in May I published a post by a veteran elementary school teacher named Ralph Ratto with this headline: ‘Today was the first day I was ever ashamed to be a teacher.’ What prompted him to write it was his experience administering controversial new Common Core-aligned standardized tests to his students in New York. I […]

23 by Valerie Strauss / 5h 

7-21-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: Why college remediation needs to be overhauledAward-winning Principal Carol Burris of South Side High School in New York has written here and here about how college remediation rates are often hyped. In in the following post she expands her examination by looking at the purpose and efficacy of the remedial model. Burris has been exposing the problems with New York’s disastrous […]1 b

by mike simpson / 8h

7-21-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

Why the push to make students "Career Ready"?

by skrashen / 12min 

Opt Out: Stop the Education Genocide

by Ira Shor Opt-Out: The REAL Parent RevolutionWe parents can stop the destruction of our public schools. We can stop the looting of school budgets by private charters and testing vendors. We can stop the abuse of our children by the relentless hours of testing. We can stop the closings, the co-locations, the mass firings, the replacement of veteran teachers with short-term Teach for America newbi

by Jim Horn / 1h 

Uninformed

To the editor: Antonio Villaraigosa asks"Why are teachers unions so opposed to change?"(July 21). I would like to know why Mr. Villaraigosa is so opposed to learning the facts about American schools and the Common Core. Villaraigosa claims that American students do poorly compared to students in other countries on international tests and that the Common Core will help us do better.  Is h

by skrashen / 9h 

7-21-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: TURNcoats Meet in Rosemont, IL to Promote Common Coreby Jim Horn / 2h  7-20-14 Schools Matter All WeekSchools Matter: NEA, SEIU, and Eli BroadAt the recent AFT and NEA coronations, there was news about new linkages with SEIU, whose former president, Andy Stern, had close ties with Broad, Gates, and Obama (Stern had a choice seat in the Obama box at the Inauguration Parade). Below i

by mike simpson / 8h 

7-22-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Four Reasons Why I Am Pumped Up About the BATS March on Washington

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Four Reasons Why I Am Pumped Up About the BATS March on Washington

1. It is a celebration of the creativity of public school teachers, parents and students as well as a protest with songs, plays, flash mobs, banners, poems and chants. What it is NOT, is a litany of boring speeches.2. It is a multiracial event which show cases our movement's growing strength in the inner city, with speakers highlighting protests against corporate school reform in Chicago, Newark,

by Mark Naison / 6h 

7-20-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Love Letters to the BATS

With A Brooklyn Accent: New York Now Leads the Way in the Movement Against Common Core- At The Polls  Something truly extraordinary has happened in the New York State Gubernatorial race-something with broad national implications.  A big money Democratic Governor, Andrew Cuomo, who thought he was going to make himself a front runner in the 2016 Presidential Race by ramming through legislation requi

by mike simpson / 36min

7-22-14 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION:

NY Poll Delivers Bad News For CCSS

Sienna College Research Institute conducted a poll of 774 likely registered NY voters regarding the upcoming elections. Most of the results are predictably unremarkable. Actually, all of them are unremarkable if you've been paying attention. But if, like David Weigel at Slate, you'd bought the storyline of Common Core opposition as a "fringe" position, then there is news for you in this

by Peter Greene / 7min 

How To Win Hearts and Minds for Charterdom

My esteemed colleague at Edushyster has scored an awesome little handbook straight from the world of charter school marketing-- the Charter School Messaging Notebook. Prepared by the Glover Group for the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools, this handy guide tells you everything you need to know about launching your successful foray into the lucrative world of pretending to run schools. So

by Peter Greene / 8min 

The Hole in the Bucket of Teachers

Many news outlets reported on a study from the Alliance for Excellent Education, which as you might guess from the buzzy name, is a DC based advocacy group that thinks CCSS is swell and aspires to have all students graduate with 21st century skills. Also, rigor.What does the study say? The study focuses on the attrition rate for teachers, and didn't provide much new information about those figures

6 by Peter Greene / 1h 

7-21-14 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION: CCSS and EsperantoWhy don't we speak Esperanto?You know Esperanto. It's a constructed language created in the late 19th century by a young man who was very interested in languages and who thought he might come up with a neutral language that transcended all the biases and baggage of previous languages. Ludwik Lazarus Zamenhof became an opthamologist, so he wasn't technically a lang

by mike simpson / 8h