8-14-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):

Another Johnson (Daymond) lining up for LAUSD District 1

Another Johnson (Daymond) lining up for LAUSD District 1 Days before Marguerite LaMotte died last December at the age of 80, Daymond Johnson, a school safety officer and consultant, filed papers with the City Ethics Commission to run for her LA Unified District 1 board seat when her term expired in 2015. Whether she intended to seek reelection or not, his rationale was to infuse the board with som

by Michael Janofsky / 1min 

Kayser, FixLA campaign for funds for more crossing guards

Kayser, FixLA campaign for funds for more crossing guards Officials from FixLA and LA Unified at a press conference, calling for more school crossing guards. As the new school year gets underway, so does a campaign to increase student safety at LA Unified elementary schools. District officials, including board member Bennett Kayser, and members of the  FixLA coalition gathered at City Hall this we

by Yana Gracile / 11min 

LAUSD opens arms to Central American immigrant children

LAUSD opens arms to Central American immigrant children Via Los Angeles Times | By Howard Blume At the low-slung bungalow west of downtown, a youngster screams from a vaccination and a nurse records the height and weight of an older boy. Academic counselors stand by, because it is here that many children who recently crossed the southern border enroll in the Los Angeles Unified School District. As

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Morning Read: McKenna’s friends beat Johnson’s money

Morning Read: McKenna’s friends beat Johnson’s money Outspent by rival, McKenna drew on connections in school board victory In this week’s election for a seat on the Los Angeles Board of Education, one side had deep pockets and extensive political connections; the other side had people such as Orley Frost Jr. LA Times Judge: State must help all English learners A judge has ruled that the state is

31min 

8-13-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Breaking News: McKenna wins election to LAUSD boardBreaking News: McKenna wins election to LAUSD board George McKenna George McKenna, a lifelong educator as a teacher, principal, superintendent and administrator, won the runoff election tonight, defeating Alex Johnson to claim the District 1 seat on the L

by mike simpson / 17min 

8-14-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

Thursday Night Tweets About #Ferguson #MichaelBrown

[View the story "Thursday Night Tweets About #Ferguson #MichaelBrown" on Storify]

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1min 

Great Post: “Inventing Differentiation”

Carol Ann Tomlinson has written a great post over at Peter DeWitt’s Education Week blog. It’s called Inventing Differentiation. Here’s an excerpt: I’m adding it to The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 24min 

Very Nice Infographics From “Weather Underground”

The popular website Weather Underground has a collection of very useful infographics. I’m embedding a couple of examples below, and adding them to The Best Websites For Learning About Natural Disasters: by wunderground. by wunderground.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11min 

Infographic “Global Second Languages”

This is an intriguing infographic:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 51min 

“Rootbook” May Be The Easiest Tool For Creating Online Choose Your Own Adventure Stories

As regular readers know, I’m a big fan of having students both read and write Choose Their Own Adventure stories (see The Best Places To Read & Write “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories). One big problem I’ve found, though, is that there hasn’t really been a super-easy way for students to create their own. Thanks to reader “Grubie,” though, I think I might have found one. It’s called Rootbook

by Larry Ferlazzo / 25min 

All My Ed Week Posts On Education Policy Issues — In One Place!

My latest Education Week piece shares all my posts from the past three years on education policy issues — in one place! Here’s an excerpt:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 39min 

8-13-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: “My Best Posts On ‘Conditional Cash Transfers’”© 2012 Philip Taylor, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio I’ve just published My Best Posts On “Conditional Cash Transfers” over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School. Conditional Cash Transfers are payments made to families to encourage them to do things like go to doctor appoin

by mike simpson / 21h 

Michelle Rhee drops out of school group Getting into Politics?- Stephanie Simon - POLITICO.com

Michelle Rhee drops out of school group - Stephanie Simon - POLITICO.com:

Michelle Rhee drops out of school group

 By STEPHANIE SIMON | 8/13/14 8:05 PM EDT Updated: 8/13/14 11:44 PM EDT

Michelle Rhee had big ambitions when she went on Oprah four years ago to launch her new advocacy group, StudentsFirst, with a promise to raise $1 billion to transform education policy nationwide.

But as she prepares to step down as CEO, she leaves a trail of disappointment and disillusionment. Reform activists who shared her vision say she never built an effective national organization and never found a way to use her celebrity status to drive real change.

StudentsFirst was hobbled by a high staff turnover rate, embarrassing PR blunders and a lack of focus. But several leading education reformers say Rhee’s biggest weakness was her failure to build coalitions; instead, she alienated activists who should have been her natural allies with tactics they perceived as imperious, inflexible and often illogical. Several said her biggest contribution to the cause was drawing fire away from them as she positioned herself as the face of the national education reform movement.

(Also on POLITICO: Can paying kids to go to school help fight poverty?)

“There was a growing consensus in the education reform community that she didn’t play well in the sandbox,” one reform leader said.

A senior adviser to StudentsFirst rebuffed the criticism. “It’s safe to say that none of what’s been accomplished in the ed reform space over the past decade would have been possible without Michelle’s leadership in Washington, D.C., and with this organization,” the adviser said.

Rhee divulged few details about her decision to step aside as CEO in a memo she sent to her staff Wednesday afternoon. She said she remains “100 percent committed to the success of StudentsFirst” but that “it’s time for a shift in the day-to-day management” of the organization, which has 110 staff members.

“It’s also time,” Rhee wrote, “for my next step in life, which will be focused on my family and supporting my husband,” Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. “His focus and passion for underserved communities … will be central to whatever comes next for us,” she wrote. There has been speculation that Johnson, a former NBA star, might be laying the groundwork for a future run for governor or U.S. Senate.

(Also on POLITICO: FLOTUS gets backing in food fight)

Rhee’s decision to step down was first reported on Tuesday night by The Huffington Post.

Spokesman Francisco Castillo said StudentsFirst will soon name a new president. That position has been vacant for more than a year; the previous president, Kahlil Byrd, left last July after

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/michelle-rhee-drops-out-of-school-group-110002.html#ixzz3ANxsKKFU

8-14-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

About ___ @ the Chalk Face radio

___@ the Chalk Face returns August 3rd and will air LIVE on Sundays at 7PM EST on Blog Talk Radio.

Hosted by Shaun Johnson, PhD, ___@ the Chalk Face has always and will remain a forum dedicated to teachers, students, parents, and activists dedicated to public education. ___@ the Chalk Face is not a person, but a place to share thoughts and ideas on preserving a legacy of safe, creative, and equitable public schools. ___ @ the Chalk Face is the archive of the resistance.

Yours truly as Hermione Granger in, I think, 2003?

Fifth grade level teachers for Halloween, characters from Harry Potter. Myself as Hermione Granger. Let your eyes settle on that one for a bit. Why do I look like I’m in pain? And, why does my wig look like it was stolen from Bea Arthur, may she rest in peace.

1 by Shaun Johnson / 1min 

Phil Cantor and Zephyr Teachout @ the Chalk Face

Link to the full, double episode.

1 by Shaun Johnson / 6min 

Student activist and school board candidate Melissa Katz @ the Chalk Face #stuvoice

The link to the full episode. After you listen, words of encouragement would be nice. 

1 by Shaun Johnson / 7min 

8-13-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: About the radio showJoin Drs. Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar LIVE Sundays at 6PM EST and Wednesdays at 7PM EST on Blog Talk Radio for progressive, pro-public education talk radio. Call in to speak live with Tim and Shaun during the show, (805) 727-7111. You can also listen to our Monday "Sunday-Replay" at 7PM EST, and re-broadcasts of the archives every Tuesday and Thursd

by mike simpson / 20h 

Looking Back (Part 4) | Taking Note

Looking Back (Part 4) | Taking Note: "Looking Back (Part 4)"

Looking Back (Part 4)

(For the past couple of weeks I have been writing about my own experiences as an education reporter. Here’s another segment.)

I left the warmth and security of NPR in 1982, but in early 1985 I was unemployed and, to put it mildly, nervous about my future.  The 7-part documentary series I had spent 2 ½ years working on, “Your Children, Our Children,” had not resulted in a flood of job offers for me, but it had won an Ohio State Award [1].  I went to Columbus for the ceremony, and, before that event was over, I had an invitation to try my hand at reporting on television.  It happened because of Doug Bodwell, then Director of Education at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the umbrella organization over both PBS and NPR.

Not only was Doug a big deal at CPB, but he was also a big guy, standing about 6’ 8”, which turned out to be just as important.

I was hanging out by the wall in a large room full of journalists when I saw Doug standing in the center of the room, towering over everyone. With one hand he was motioning to me to come over; with the other he was signalling someone else. I made my way through the crowd, and Doug introduced me to the other person he had been beckoning: Linda Winslow, then Deputy Executive Producer of the NewsHour.  “Linda, John should be reporting for you,” Doug said.  Linda asked me if I had some story ideas.  I didn’t, but of course I said that I did. She asked me to send them to her, which–once I came up with some–I did.  She hired me to report on two [2] of them, and before long I had a half-time job, which within a few months turned into a full-time job, and a great one at that. A big and influential audience, and lots of time to tell a story.

I have often wondered how my career would have turned out if Doug Bodwell [3] had been only 5’ 8”.

*****

Sometime late in 1989 I got a phone call from a person with close connections to the White House. The caller wanted to know if I had any interest in becoming George H.W. Bush’s Education Advisor?

Who, me?

There was a backstory to the offer, which I was familiar with.  The Administration’s first choice, John Chubb, had apparently told one person too many that he would soon be in the White House, riding herd on Lauro Cavazos, the elegant but supposedly ineffectual Secretary of Education. When that bit of gossip showed up in print somewhere, probably in the Washington Post, Secretary Cavazos made it clear to the White House that, if Chubb got the job, he would resign. Well, the Secretary had enough juice to get Looking Back (Part 4) | Taking Note: "Looking Back (Part 4)"

8-14-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

Revisiting Content and Direct Instruction

It is the 1890s, and educators are concerned that students are not receiving the quality education they deserve—especially if those students plan to attend college. What became known as The Report of the Committee of Ten has now been replicated at varying intervals in the U.S. for 120 years: Competing interests declaring what students learn (and how students learn) as inadequate, and then setting

by plthomasedd / 9min 

8-12-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): VAM Remedy Part of Inequity DiseaseBut their remedies do not cure the disease: they merely prolong it. Indeed, their remedies are part of the disease. Oscar Wilde, “The Soul of Man under Socialism” In Reliability and validity of inferences about teachers based on student

by mike simpson / 18h 

Help!, Vote for Next Post: Who Should be Responded to First!? | Cloaking Inequity

Help!, Vote for Next Post: Who Should be Responded to First!? | Cloaking Inequity:

Help!, Vote for Next Post: Who Should be Responded to First!?

It’s coming in from all directions this week. So I need your help to decide who should be responded to first on Cloaking Inequity. Here are the candidates:

There is an attack today from neoliberal RedefinED on vouchers insinuating that I am a union shill and lack peer-review in my work.

The pro-choice and charter folks are trumpeting that KIPP attrition doesn’t matter.

Andre Perry  is arguing that @TeachForAmerica has “learned a lesson.”

or the Texas Comptroller who misused my quote so that I sound like a charter school lover.

Please vote below. The post with the highest vote as of 9 pm tonight will be online by Friday August 15, 2014. The next highest vote getters will be addressed in order in the following days.

Vote for the post you want to see

Andre Perry (Teach For America)RedefinED (Union shill, Vouchers etc.)Texas Comptroller (charter lovin')KIPP (Attrition)

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