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Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Ellen and Michelle Obama Give a D.C. Elementary School $100,000, But Valerie Strauss Asks Why the City Does Not Fund D.C. Schools’ Needs | Diane Ravitch's blog

Ellen and Michelle Obama Give a D.C. Elementary School $100,000, But Valerie Strauss Asks Why the City Does Not Fund D.C. Schools’ Needs | Diane Ravitch's blog

Ellen and Michelle Obama Give a D.C. Elementary School $100,000, But Valerie Strauss Asks Why the City Does Not Fund D.C. Schools’ Needs


Michelle Obama surprised the staff and children of Randle Highlands Elementary School in D.C. by bringing them a box filled with $100,000 cash to buy whatever they need for the schools.
What about the schools where Ellen doesn’t send a gift of $100,000?
It really is a wonderful gesture, but public schools should not have to depend on charity to meet their basic needs.
Watch the video if you can. It really is heartwarming, and almost makes you forget that the city is failing to fund its schools.
Strauss writes:

Former first lady Michelle Obama recently walked into an elementary school in the nation’s capital and delivered a box with a stunning gift: $100,000 in cash, courtesy of entertainer Ellen DeGeneres. Children and adults CONTINUE READING: Ellen and Michelle Obama Give a D.C. Elementary School $100,000, But Valerie Strauss Asks Why the City Does Not Fund D.C. Schools’ Needs | Diane Ravitch's blog

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NYC Educator: On Student Notes and Rubrics

NYC Educator: On Student Notes and Rubrics

On Student Notes and Rubrics



You go to meetings and someone tells you to group kids in a certain way, or present information in a certain way. Maybe if you do this, it will help maintain interest. Maybe it won't.

You never really know, since likely as not the person who came up with the idea isn't a classroom teacher and never tried it, let alone anything else you do in the classroom. There are a whole lot of people whose jobs entail knowing more than we do about what we do, except they don't do it.

We get these rating sheets where we are marked on a rubric. We're effective, highly effective, effectively high, or I want to take you higher. What does it really mean? Unless you get a bad rating, it means little or nothing. Do the people rating you really understand what's going on in the classroom? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe your supervisor only taught three years, only taught in one situation, only taught one kind of class, and has no idea of the variables going on in your classroom. Maybe your supervisor knows the Danielson rubric and truly believes it encompasses every possibility.

Sometimes kids step up, though, well beyond where the idiotic survey the city put out did, and draw outside the lines. A friend of mine who got a questionable rating recently posted a note from a student on Facebook that CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: On Student Notes and Rubrics


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#TeacherLife — the exhausting, amusing and touching lives of teachers right now - The Washington Post

#TeacherLife — the exhausting, amusing and touching lives of teachers right now - The Washington Post

#TeacherLife — the exhausting, amusing and touching lives of teachers right now

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CONTINUE READING: #TeacherLife — the exhausting, amusing and touching lives of teachers right now - The Washington Post
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NYC Public School Parents: Yaffed's press conference responding to the revelation of foot-dragging by the city and state

NYC Public School Parents: Yaffed's press conference responding to the revelation of foot-dragging by the city and state in taking action to ensure Yeshivas provide an adequate education to their students

Yaffed's press conference responding to the revelation of foot-dragging by the city and state in taking action to ensure Yeshivas provide an adequate education to their students

One day after a Department of Investigation inquiry revealed that in 2017, the Mayor had delayed the release of an interim report into the quality of the education received by Ultra-Orthodox Yeshivas students in exchange for the Legislature extending his control over the public schools, the NYC Department of Education finally released its letter to the State Education Department, summarizing the results of its long-awaited investigation into ultra-orthodox Yeshivas.

Even as the DOE letter reported that only two of 38 Yeshivas they visited provided anywhere near a substantially equivalent education compliant with state law, as found via pre-announced visits that ended last spring, they also soft-pedaled the results, with the Chancellor writing that, "The DOE recognizes and applauds the significant progress made as a result of the proactive steps many schools have taken. The DOE is committed to working collaboratively with the schools to assist them as they continue on the path of providing improved instruction."  More on the letter from the Forward, Gothamist and Politico.

In response, Yaffed held a well-attended press conference this morning.  Here is a story about today's presser from the Daily News.

Abbreviated excerpts of the points made are below in the form of  tweets; first from Naftuli Moster, Executive Director of Yaffed, who organized the formal complaint of Yeshiva CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: Yaffed's press conference responding to the revelation of foot-dragging by the city and state in taking action to ensure Yeshivas provide an adequate education to their students



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