Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, June 28, 2012

NYC Educator: Mayor4Life Must Be Kept Cool

NYC Educator: Mayor4Life Must Be Kept Cool:


Mayor4Life Must Be Kept Cool

While more than a million kids get swelter in hundred-year-old buildings and tin-coated trailers, New York City is investing in innovative ways to keep billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg cool. Mayor4Life travels in SUVs, and they must be equipped withhome air conditioners, because regular auto AC simply does not meet his discerning standards.

Mayor4Life is a regular guy, of course, and wants to conserve energy.  That's why he takes the subway to work after two SUVs drive him there. I mean, you don't expect Mayor Bloomberg to simply take the subway near his home, do you? Don't most New Yorkers take two SUVs to the subway stop? For goodness sake, how else would you get there?

This is the mayor who made a no-bid deal with Alvarez and Marsal 

Spreading the word about United Opt-Out | The Classroom Sooth

Spreading the word about United Opt-Out | The Classroom Sooth:


Spreading the word about United Opt-Out

As I passed through Eaton, OH, I met Mary who runs a health foods store just outside of town.  She let me fill my water from her tap, and I got to chatting with her over a luna bar and sweet tea.  When she found out I was a teacher and headed to DC for NEA, she felt compelled to tell me how testing is just the worst thing in education right now.
I told her about the United Opt-Out campaign, and she was very excited to spread the word among her friends and family.  So I gave her a CORE button for her teacher friends, and a Parents4Teachers button for herself.
That’s all it takes to organize people.  See you in DC tomorrow.  And if you’re headed to Eaton, OH, please support Mary’s business.

We Need To End This Liberal Enabling of Bad Behavior in Our Schools www.southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com:


We Need To End This Liberal Enabling of Bad Behavior in Our Schools

My son turned 11 years old today. Time sure does fly. Part of me wishes that he would have stayed 5 years old forever, the other half of me can't wait to see what kind of man he grows up to be.

I remember when my wife was pregnant we were discussing how we would be as parents. Basically it came down to that our household will not be a democracy, but rather a benign authoritative junta. What we say goes. Wait, before you think I am a crazy person, hear me out. Firstly, we pick and choose our battles. Not everything has to have a fly swatter used. We have done everything we could to teach him to question, think, and have the right amount 

Hebrew Language Charter Schools: Who Knew? | Re:education in Baltimore

Hebrew Language Charter Schools: Who Knew? | Re:education in Baltimore:


Hebrew Language Charter Schools: Who Knew?

The language spread of Hebrew in the United States according to U. S. Census 2000 and other resources interpreted by research of U. S. ENGLISH Foundation, percentage of home speakers, via Wikimedia Commons
A Hebrew language charter school won approval last week to open in Harlem. In April, Washington, D.C., approved its first Hebrew language charter school. In March, San Diego approved one for a September 2012 opening. There is a Hebrew language charter school movement afoot. When I wrote my last post, on teaching 

Rick Ayers: It's the Curriculum, Stupid!

Rick Ayers: It's the Curriculum, Stupid!:


It's the Curriculum, Stupid!




While many educators believe the development of a just, multicultural society is central to our values, very powerful forces have been fighting against such a vision for decades.
Here's the kind of thinking that drives the education standards writers: "The costs of multiculturalism -- in terms of disunity, the clash of classes, and declining trust -- are likely to be huge in the long run. All cultures are not equal when it comes to promoting progress, and very few can match Anglo-Protestantism in this respect. We should be promoting acculturation to the national mainstream, not a mythical, utopian multiculturalism." (Emphasis added.) That is Lawrence Harrison of the Cultural Change Institute at Tufts University, who openly opposes diversity in our global culture. WASP is the best, he believes, and we must all bow down to it. This attack on multicultural curriculum comes also from Matthew Spalding in Insider, Heritage Foundation magazine. He 

Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-28-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2



James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

A Big Education Ape Nite Cap



SCOTUS Decision Could Help Students Do Better In School

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 5 minutes ago
SCOTUS Decision Could Help Students Do Better In School: SCOTUS Decision Could Help Students Do Better In School by Joy Resmovits [image: Supreme Court decision on health reform] When Althea, a student in Mauldin, S.C., started taking Yvonne Mason's senior English class, the pregnant teen only wanted one thing: to graduate. She had an 85 average, and had just transferred to Mauldin High School. "She was lively and she answered questions," Mason recalls. "She didn't always get everything, but she got a lot of it, and I was real proud." Then, she began to miss class and didn't make... more »

STS Public Hearing Announcement, June 2012 - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 minutes ago
STS Public Hearing Announcement, June 2012 - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education): ANNOUNCEMENT OF THREE REGIONAL PUBLIC HEARINGSCalifornia State Board of Education [image: save image] *Proposed Performance Level Cut Scores for the Standards-based Tests in Spanish: Reading Language Arts in Grades Eight, Nine, Ten, and Eleven and for Mathematics in Algebra I and Geometry* To be used in reporting the results of the Standards-based Tests in Spanish (STS) for Reading Language Arts (RLA) in grades eight, nine, ten, and eleven and Mathematics Algebra I and Geometry administer... more »

Teaneck students pitch fair trade initiative to school district - NorthJersey.com

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 18 minutes ago
Teaneck students pitch fair trade initiative to school district - NorthJersey.com: Who Has More Secrets: CIA or NJDOE? by Duke Oh, my: The Education Law Center is *suing the state to obtain documents about two private educational reform foundations* and their funding of the Department of Education and some of its employees. The suit, citing the state’s Open Public Records Act, comes after the ELC was either being denied access to records or strung along with repeated requests for extensions that remain unfulfilled more than two months after the original request. State law requ... more »

Homeless Students Top 1 Million, U.S. Says, Leaving Advocates 'Horrified'

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Homeless Students Top 1 Million, U.S. Says, Leaving Advocates 'Horrified': Homeless Students Top 1 Million, U.S. Says, Leaving Advocates 'Horrified' by Joy Resmovits Back in November of 2005, Diane Nilan had what she now concedes may have struck some people as a â�Å“crazy notion.â� Sheâ�™d been working as advocate for homeless families in Illinois, getting frustrated by the glacial pace of political and bureaucratic change, when she decided to sell her town house, buy a Gulfstream motor home, and set out on the road to talk to homeless families living around the country. She drove ... more »

Interview With Paul Thomas | educarenow

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Interview With Paul Thomas | educarenow: Interview With Paul Thomas Posted on May 22, 2012 | 1 Comment Paul Thomas is a professor of teacher education at Furman University in South Carolina. I just heard a fantastic interview with Paul by Bob Maxfield and Linda Tyson of Leaderful Schools. Leaderful Schools does a wonderful job of interviewing a variety of people who are doing excellent work in education. (And, as a self-serving plug, you can hear their interview with yours truly in Episode 4.) In this interview, Paul touches on a number of concerns he has with the effects of ... more »

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE ANGRY by Senator Bernie Saunders - Perdaily.com

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE ANGRY by Senator Bernie Saunders - Perdaily.com: THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE ANGRY by Senator Bernie Saunders by Leonard Isenberg [image: Bernie Saunders.jpg] If you have 25 minutes to spare, Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Franks lays it out for you in a speech before the U.S. Senate as to what is going on in this country. And as he mentions in the speech, one of the key elements of social equity and the maintenance of the United States as anything that even remotely resembles a democracy is a well funded and high quality public education system, which is of ... more »

Is collective bargaining dead? 21 Idaho districts impose teacher contracts unilaterally | Dailycensored.com

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Is collective bargaining dead? 21 Idaho districts impose teacher contracts unilaterally | Dailycensored.com: Is collective bargaining dead? 21 Idaho districts impose teacher contracts unilaterally by Danny Weil The Idaho school districts’ ability to impose contracts without negotiating with unions comes under Idaho’s new but not well-known school reform laws; they rolled back most collective bargaining rights for teachers and limited contracts to one-year terms bringing teachers closer and closer to ‘independant contract status’ or ‘at will workers’. They also limited contract ... more »

Geaux Teacher!: LOUSIANA SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION CHALLENGES GOVERNOR JINDAL AND LEGISLATORS

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Geaux Teacher!: LOUSIANA SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION CHALLENGES GOVERNOR JINDAL AND LEGISLATORS: LOUSIANA SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION CHALLENGES GOVERNOR JINDAL AND LEGISLATORS by noreply@blogger.com (Lee Barrios, M.Ed., NBCT) The Louisiana School Boards Association, Louisiana Association of Educators and Louisiana Federation of Teachers have filed lawsuits to challenge Governor Jindal and the legislature for their allegedly illegal and destructive actions with the sole purpose of privatizing public education in the state of Louisiana. The petitioners and supporters of the recalls fo... more »

1 Million People Show Support for Student Loan Forgiveness Act - US News and World Report

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
1 Million People Show Support for Student Loan Forgiveness Act - US News and World Report: *1 Million People Show Support for Student Loan Forgiveness Act*The act could mean major changes for college graduates with loan burdens. By KATY HOPKINS June 28, 2012 RSS Feed Print [image: Rep. Hansen Clarke stands with 1 million signatures supporting the Student Loan Forgiveness Act.] Rep. Hansen Clarke stands with 1 million signatures supporting his act. Though the Student Loan Forgiveness Act has not yet been passed, it's already proven popular with constituents. One million people commit... more »

Education Trust Report Emphasizes Need For Culture, Policy Changes In High-Poverty, Low-Performing Public Schools

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Education Trust Report Emphasizes Need For Culture, Policy Changes In High-Poverty, Low-Performing Public Schools: Education Trust Report Emphasizes Need For Culture, Policy Changes In High-Poverty, Low-Performing Public Schools [image: Teacher Collaboration] A new report released by The Education Trust emphasizes the need for policy and culture changes in the public education sector, and not just updated teacher evaluation systems. “Making evaluations more meaningful is a critical step toward improving our schools. But being able to determine who our strongest teachers and princip... more »

Shoe’s On The Other Foot | Taking Note

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Shoe’s On The Other Foot | Taking Note: Shoe’s On The Other Foot Shoe’s On The Other Foot by JOHN MERROW on 28. JUN, 2012 in 2012 BLOGS After 38 years of asking other people questions, I find the the tables (occasionally) being turned. Some people want me to answer questions. Truth is, it’s actually kind of fun, because it forces me to think more deeply than I am perhaps inclined to. It’s already happened four times this week. On Wednesday a policy person asked me what I thought about the push for *“College and Career *

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SOS WEBINAR WITH JONATHAN KOZOL

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SOS WEBINAR WITH JONATHAN KOZOL: SOS WEBINAR WITH JONATHAN KOZOL by Mike Klonsky "Fire In The Ashes: Keeping Hope Alive" *with Jonathan Kozol* Guest Moderator Anthony Cody Friday, June 29th 8 PM Eastern Daylight Time [EDT] Please Join Us! ** * * * We are thrilled that this SOS Webinar will be a "virtual" first stop on the book tour for Jonathon's brand new work, Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-five Years Among the Poorest Children in America. Read what education leaders are saying about Fire In the Ashes: "Despite the steep odds stacked against these childr... more »

RheeFirst! » Veteran WaPo reporter sees cover-up in Rhee’s DC cheating scandal

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
RheeFirst! » Veteran WaPo reporter sees cover-up in Rhee’s DC cheating scandal: Veteran WaPo reporter sees cover-up in Rhee’s DC cheating scandal by admin Written by Jay Mathews for the Washington Post. Read the entire article here. “*The biggest cheating scandal in the D.C. schools began March 28, 2011, with this headline in USA Today: “When test scores soared in D.C., were the gains real?” The newspaper revealed that over three years, more than 103 D.C. schools had unusual wrong-to-right erasure rates on annual tests, a possible sign of tampering. Administrators and teachers ... more »

Use This Calculator To Find Out Your Insurance Costs Under The New Healthcare Law - Forbes

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago
Use This Calculator To Find Out Your Insurance Costs Under The New Healthcare Law - Forbes: Use This Calculator To Find Out Your Insurance Costs Under The New Healthcare Law + Comment now Find out what you'll pay for insurance under the new healthcare law. In 2014, the new healthcare law will go into effect thanks to the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision today upholding the law. Unless Romney and the GOP win in November, the law will be in full-swing in less than two years. While many Americans approve of certain bits and pieces of the law – especially the end of pre-existing conditions ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: Who Is the Real "Special Interest" in the Voucher Debate?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago
Jersey Jazzman: Who Is the Real "Special Interest" in the Voucher Debate?: Who Is the Real "Special Interest" in the Voucher Debate? by Duke Well, another year has come and gone, and New Jersey school vouchers, like Generalissimo Francisco Franco*,are still seriously dead: In the roller coaster life of the Opportunity Scholarship Act, Gov. Chris Christie yesterday conceded the controversial school voucher bill is likely dead for the rest of the year. Where the bill is headed next is less certain. [,,,] “Bottom line, it is not going to happen this year,” Christie told a young man f... more »

Schools Matter: Memphis District to Lose $212 Million to Charter Schools by 2016

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago
Schools Matter: Memphis District to Lose $212 Million to Charter Schools by 2016: Memphis District to Lose $212 Million to Charter Schools by 2016 by Jim Horn The story unfolding in Memphis around the consolidation of Memphis and Shelby County Schools gets more and more interesting. Today one of the Gates front men, Gary Shorb, published a plea in the Commercial-Appeal for all sides to come together to embrace what is essentially a resegregation merger plan written by the Gates Foundation and their political arm-twisting outfit, Stand On For Children (SFC). SFC has successfully... more »

STRIKE AUTHORIZATION HAVING AN EFFECT « Teachers Fight Back

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago
STRIKE AUTHORIZATION HAVING AN EFFECT « Teachers Fight Back: STRIKE AUTHORIZATION HAVING AN EFFECT by alkleen The Chicago School Board and the Chicago Teachers Union met Wednesday and progress was made in the bargaining talks. Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey said the pace of contract talks has picked up since an overwhelming number of teachers voted this month to authorize a strike. “The tone of the negotiations has changed for the better since that vote,” Sharkey said. WELL, IMAGINE THAT ! The threat of a strike is the only real effective weapon teacher unions ... more »

NEA & AFT Statement on the Supreme Court Landmark Decision Affordable Care Act

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago
NEA - Supreme Court says Affordable Care Act Constitutional: Supreme Court says Affordable Care Act Constitutional NEA president: Children are big winners in this important decision WASHINGTON - June 28, 2012 - Millions of Americans can breathe a sigh of relief now that President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) has survived a Supreme Court challenge. The landmark decision green-lights plans to expand coverage to 32 million Americans and ends the worst insurance company abuses, including discrimination against children with pre-existing conditions. Under the law, insurance companie... more »

Doug Martin |Gates-funded CEE-Trust in Indianapolis and 14 Other Cities | NUVO News | Indianapolis, IN

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 8 hours ago
Perspectives in Education: Doug Martin | Opinion | NUVO News | Indianapolis, IN: Gates-funded CEE-Trust in Indianapolis and 14 Other Cities [image: Courtesy of delphaber via Flickr Creative Commons] - Courtesy of delphaber via Flickr Creative Commons Bart Peterson's The Mind Trust likes hyping its Public Impact-outsourced "Opportunity Schools" plan as written specifically to benefit Indianapolis school kids, but it is a corporate school blueprint being promoted and put in place all over America, for the sake of private profit. In fact, when the "Opportunity Schools" brief wa... more »

Anti-Seizure Medication Administration - Health Services & School Nursing (CA Dept of Education)

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 8 hours ago
Anti-Seizure Medication Administration - Health Services & School Nursing (CA Dept of Education): Anti-Seizure Medication Administration [image: Nurse Pass][image: Girl using inhaler] As authorized by California *Education Code* 49414.7, California public schools may train designated school personnel in the administration of specified anti-seizure medication to students with epilepsy who are experiencing a severe seizure. ------------------------------ Senate Bill (SB) 161 pertaining to the administration of emergency anti-seizure medication by trained volunteer nonmedical school ... more »

Down the Austerity Rabbit Hole | NEA Today

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 8 hours ago
Down the Austerity Rabbit Hole | NEA Today: Down the Austerity Rabbit Hole June 27, 2012 by twalker Filed under Featured News, Top Stories 1 Comment [image: Email][image: Share] *By Tim Walker* Over the past two years, European leaders have been zealously implementing deep public spending cuts in a quixotic attempt to stabilize and grow their economies. The results have been disastrous. Not only are the cuts harming the most vulnerable citizens and striking at the heart of the education and health systems, but the promised debt reduction – let alone economic stability – hasn’t mat... more »

Shanker Blog » The Busy Intersection Of Test-Based Accountability And Public Perception

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 8 hours ago
Shanker Blog » The Busy Intersection Of Test-Based Accountability And Public Perception: The Busy Intersection Of Test-Based Accountability And Public Perception by Matthew Di Carlo Last year, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) rolled out its annual testing results for the city’s students in a rather misleading manner. The press release touted the “significant progress” between 2010 and 2011 among city students, while, at a press conference, Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the results “dramatic.” In reality, however, the increase in proficiency rates (1-3 percentage... more »

Supreme Court Upholds Key Provisions of Affordable Care Act | NAACP

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 8 hours ago
Supreme Court Upholds Key Provisions of Affordable Care Act | NAACP: *Supreme Court Upholds Key Provisions of Affordable Care Act * The NAACP has released the following statement from NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock regarding the United States Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the individual mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. “The Supreme Court made a crucial decision today to uphold the core provisions of the Affordable Care Act,” stated NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock. “The NAACP has long supported the full and complete implementation of this law. Access t... more »

Maybe Dennis is just not into her. « Fred Klonsky

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago
Maybe Dennis is just not into her. « Fred Klonsky: Maybe Dennis is just not into her. by Fred Klonsky

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Thursday, June 28, 2012

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago
FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team: Education Headlines *Thursday, June 28, 2012* Education roundup: McFarland school bond measure headed to votersThe McFarland Unified School District intends to place a general obligation bond for up to $25 million on the November ballot to build a new elementary school, upgrade and repair classrooms and buy computers, among other things. More students graduating high schoolMore Ventura County students are graduating from high school, according to a report issued Wednesday by the California Department of Education. The county graduat... more »

School Tech Connect: It's Crowded Under The Bus

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago
School Tech Connect: It's Crowded Under The Bus: It's Crowded Under The Bus by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman) *Two things:* *First,* I love this animated gif that HuffPo was running today with the health care ruling: I'm going to use this gif every time I have something new to say now. *Second, *I was following the blogroll links over at the mothership, when I noticed that IEA Region 28 has postedthis rather cryptic note. I couldn't find any more info on this particular post, so I'm putting it out there to the universe. Perhaps Dennis is concerned that with the number of pub... more »

The in box. Pride, not prejudice. « Fred Klonsky

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago
The in box. Pride, not prejudice. « Fred Klonsky: The in box. Pride, not prejudice. by Fred Klonsky From a reader: *Great* *Expectations* *of the Human Race.* *We have done so much* *for so long with so little.* *We are now qualified* *to achieve the impossible* *With absolutely* *Nothing.* -Marcus L. Greene *Marcus is an older gentleman who marched in the Pride Parade on Sunday. He sold me ten illustrated poems, photocopied and stapled together. His poetry is indicative of the gorgeous, *

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: More on Clemente firings

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: More on Clemente firings: More on Clemente firings by Mike Klonsky Thanks to some of the many anonymous commentators on the Clemente story for the factual corrections; i.e., the number of principals at Clemente since Irene Damota's departure. The best accounting I have been able to come up with is this, starting with Kenebrew in June 2010: Kenebrew, Gilligan, Dr. Heiu, Soli, Rodriguez, Soli, Sorensen. While open to further corrections on this, I think the point I made about instability and lack of community cohesiveness stands. I have stopped posti... more »

Chicago Needs Democracy in Education CODE Chicago

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
CODE Chicago: [image: Logo]CODE Chicago Search this site - Chicago Needs Democracy in Education - En Español - CODE Member Organizations - Our Mission - CODE News - Calendar and Events - Contact Us Chicago Needs Democracy in Education The CPS Board—appointed by the mayor— is not accountable to the people it serves. *The Board is failing our children. * *Help Win an Elected Representative School Board * - CPS’s privatization policies—school closings, turnarounds and charters—do NOT improve education. They have been devastating to all children,... more »

Political group wants charter schools out of segregation case (Not a Public School?) | The Tennessean | tennessean.com

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Political group wants charter schools out of segregation case | The Tennessean | tennessean.com: Political group wants charter schools out of segregation case A pro-charter schools political action group filed an amicus brief Tuesday asking a federal judge to leave charter schools out of an ongoing racial segregation case against Metro Nashville Public Schools. The brief, filed the same day that the Metro School Board approved two new charters — KIPP Academy and Purpose Prep — says that because charter schools are separate and independent entities apart from Metro Schools, they s... more »

Chicago students reflect on 13 years of segregated schools | WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Chicago students reflect on 13 years of segregated schools | WBEZ 91.5 Chicago: A segregated education, K-12Students offer reflections on 13 years of segregated schooling June 27, 2012 Linda Lutton 00:00 07:09 Download Story (WBEZ/Bill Healy) Jakeeda Bester There’s no legal school segregation in this country. But in Chicago and the suburbs, a quarter of a million black and Latino children still face extreme racial isolation every day in class. They go to schools where more than 90 percent of students come from their same race. WBEZ has found that in the last 20 years, the number of... more »

Bill Gates Turns His Attention to Higher Education « Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Bill Gates Turns His Attention to Higher Education « Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Bill Gates Turns His Attention to Higher Education by dianerav [image: Bill Gates Smoking Money] American higher education is generally acknowledged to be the best in the world. It offers elite colleges and universities where great thinkers and researchers have freedom to teach and study and where young people can learn from them and even work with them. It offers great state universities where students can learn what they need or want to know about alm... more »

Schools Matter: 1,400 Principals and 1,100 Scholars in New York Alone Press State to End High Stakes Testing Madness

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Schools Matter: 1,400 Principals and 1,100 Scholars in New York Alone Press State to End High Stakes Testing Madness: 1,400 Principals and 1,100 Scholars in New York Alone Press State to End High Stakes Testing Madness by Jim Horn *HT to Stan Karp*: *The movement against the misuse and overuse of standardized testing continues to grow. Yesterday in NY, 1100 scholars joined 1400 principals in urging the state to replace high stakes testing policies with “multiple pathways” for students and accountability purposes. The NY City Council will consider a national resolution on high st... more »

Education Research Report: When School-Based Nutrition Programs Involve Teachers, Staff, & Parents Kids Eat Healthier

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Education Research Report: When School-Based Nutrition Programs Involve Teachers, Staff, & Parents Kids Eat Healthier: When School-Based Nutrition Programs Involve Teachers, Staff, & Parents Kids Eat Healthier by Jonathan Kantrowitz Programs to promote healthy eating can substantially reduce the amount of unhealthy foods and beverages on school grounds if the programs focus on a school's specific needs and involve teachers, parents, staff, and administrators, according to a Kaiser Permanente Southern California study published in BioMed Central's open access journal International... more »

Wait, What? - It’s so easy…I could do it on my head!

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago
Wait, What? - Working to educate, persuade and mobilize through "perceptive and acerbic" observations about Connecticut Government and Politics: It’s so easy…I could do it on my head! by jonpelto Can you believe we used to think that a superintendent’s job was really time-consuming and difficult I certainly did. Superintendents were responsible for overseeing the district’s schools, administrators and teachers, while managing the local board of education and serving as the champion for public education. Certainly no reason to begrudge them their big salaries… But now I realize I wa... more »

Abdul-Jabbar: More Opportunities to Turn Pro in Science Than in the NBA - High School Notes (usnews.com)

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago
Abdul-Jabbar: More Opportunities to Turn Pro in Science Than in the NBA - High School Notes (usnews.com): Abdul-Jabbar: More Opportunities to Turn Pro in Science Than in the NBA By KELSEY SHEEHY June 28, 2012 RSS Feed Print American students lack the skills needed to compete globally in science, technology, engineering, and math. But the cause of that skills gap isn't our education system; it's our culture, inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen said Tuesday at the U.S. News 2012 STEM Summit. "To think that it's a supply problem or that it's an education problem is ridiculous," Kame... more »

Texas business leaders accuse educators of ‘scaring mom’ about standardized tests - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago
Texas business leaders accuse educators of ‘scaring mom’ about standardized tests - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post: Texas business leaders accuse educators of ‘scaring mom’ about standardized tests by Valerie Strauss The backlash in Texas against excessive high-stakes standardized testing seems to be rattling business leaders, who have now blamed educators for panicking parents about the exams. Laboring under the delusion that standardized tests are the key to “holding schools accountable” for student achievement, leaders of the Texas Coalition for a Competitive Workforce... more »

To Improve School Nutrition, Involve Teachers and Parents - Hispanically Speaking News

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago
To Improve School Nutrition, Involve Teachers and Parents - Hispanically Speaking News: To Improve School Nutrition, Involve Teachers and Parents [image: To Improve School Nutrition, Involve Teachers and Parents] *Junk-food ‘interventions’ decreased consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages by 30 percent.* To improve school nutrition and get children to eat healthier, involve parents, teachers and school administrators, new research finds. Researchers from Kaiser Permanente Southern California looked at 400 students at eight elementary and middle schools who took part in a thr... more »

Mixed Messages from Teach For America- Is Teaching a Prestigious Profession?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago
Mixed Messages from Teach For America- Is Teaching a Prestigious Profession?: Mixed Messages from Teach For America- Is Teaching a Prestigious Profession? by guest blogger When I meet new people I like to do a small social experiment by either telling them, “I work with Teach For America” or leaving that out entirely and just telling them “I am a teacher.” The difference in how people respond is amazing. I must admit, at first as a kid right out of college I thought dropping the Teach-For-America line was great because girls would actually talk to me and even seemed impressed b... more »

NYC Educator: Happy Summer Vacation, Here Are Two Classes' Worth of New Kids

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago
NYC Educator: Happy Summer Vacation, Here Are Two Classes' Worth of New Kids: Happy Summer Vacation, Here Are Two Classes' Worth of New Kids by Miss Eyre On the second to last day of school, the principal at my school got a phone call from a parent. His daughter's charter school was being closed, and he'd received a letter in the mail saying that my school was to be his daughter's new school. Could he, the father asked, come by to see the school and meet the principal? My principal's response: Sure, come on down, we'll be happy to meet you. My principal's next response, after ha... more »

Missouri Education Watchdog: Is the Best Practice Educating Students on Body Image and Confidence from the UK or US Educational System?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago
Missouri Education Watchdog: Is the Best Practice Educating Students on Body Image and Confidence from the UK or US Educational System?: Is the Best Practice Educating Students on Body Image and Confidence from the UK or US Educational System? by stlgretchen The UK government is providing parents with packs with information to help their children's body image about themselves. From BBC News: *A pack to help parents educate children on how the media alters images and to inspire them to be confident in their bodies has had government backing.* *Developed for six to 11-year-olds by... more »

Gathering signatures for an elected school board. « Fred Klonsky

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago
Gathering signatures for an elected school board. « Fred Klonsky: Gathering signatures for an elected school board. by Fred Klonsky *Gathering at the Logan Square monument to collect signatures to put an elected school board on the ballot in November.* Chicago is the only city in the entire state of Illinois that doesn’t allow its citizens to elect their school board. We can vote for the guys who filter our water. Our ballot is often filled with dozens of names of people running for one kind of judge or another. When I go sit at the voting machine and the judge list comes up I can e... more »

Marion County School Board Passes Resolution on “Extensive” Testing | Scathing Purple Musings

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago
Marion County School Board Passes Resolution on “Extensive” Testing | Scathing Purple Musings: Marion County School Board Passes Resolution on “Extensive” Testing by Bob Sikes I hope Marion board member Ron Crawford wasn’t bowing to pressure and insisted on changing “high-stakes” to “extensive” in his board’s resolution on testing. It offers undeserved cover for Florida’s be-all, end-all test regime which prompted the state-wide movement. Moral justification for the “high-stakes” label exists in the fact that children’s test results affect adult’s jobs and school’s existence. Few... more »

Is Trust a Reasonable Default Position? - Bridging Differences - Education Week

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago
Is Trust a Reasonable Default Position? - Bridging Differences - Education Week: Is Trust a Reasonable Default Position? by Deborah Meier Dear Diane, "Unpopular Mandate: Why do politicians reverse their positions?" by Ezra Klein in the June 25th *New Yorker*intrigued me. First of all, he reminds us that even politicians do it a lot—Example No. 1 being their position on the healthcare mandate! But what he's tackling is that much of it is not simple opportunism, but sneaks up and soon becomes sincerely held. Not only by politicians, but the rest of us, too His central argument is th... more »

Parents also get a Head Start | Jerry Large | The Seattle Times

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 20 hours ago
Parents also get a Head Start | Jerry Large | The Seattle Times: Parents also get a Head Start Head Start serves children by helping their parents, too. Jerry Large Seattle Times staff columnist Head Start is a good place for parents to get an education. The always evolving program isn't just about kids. Children are at its center, but if you want to help children thrive, it's best to have engaged, knowledgeable parents. If you're one of those people whose response to school trouble or juvenile crime is to point to the parents, then you ought to champion early-education programs ... more »

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: A Simple Moment: Tremendous Impact! They Care That We Care!

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: A Simple Moment: Tremendous Impact! They Care That We Care!: A Simple Moment: Tremendous Impact! They Care That We Care! by Lisa M *I was cleaning out a folder in which I keep a lot of my "teacher stuff" from the last couple of years. In it, I found a short essay I had written a few years ago in response to a question from Project Wisdom . When I read it, I thought how well it goes along with Angela Maier's concept, "#You Matter." This is what I wrote:* * * Over the years, I am proud to have become one of "those" teachers. You know, the ones p... more »

Graduation and dropout rates for the Class of 2011 - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Graduation and dropout rates for the Class of 2011 - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools: Graduation and dropout rates for the Class of 2011 Wednesday, June 27th, 2012 at 11:33 am in No Comments The four-year graduation rate in Oakland Unified rose about four points in the latest estimate released today by the California Department of Education. About 59 percent of students who started high school in 2007 graduated with their classmates in 2011. About 28 percent dropped out, and 12 percent were still enrolled in school when the data were collected. Some Oa... more »

Jersey Jazzman: Cuomo's Reformy Commission: Watch Out, NY Teachers!

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Jersey Jazzman: Cuomo's Reformy Commission: Watch Out, NY Teachers!: Cuomo's Reformy Commission: Watch Out, NY Teachers! by Duke Via Randi Weingarten, it seems the "New" New York Education Reform Commission had its first meeting today.Teachers and principals were not invited. Because if you had a medical reform commission, you would obviously exclude doctors and nurses. And if you had an air travel reform commission, you'd exclude pilots. And if you had a baseball reform commission, you'd exclude baseball players. It just makes so much sense... Of course, Weingarten is there, su... more »

Yong Zhao: Standardized test scores do not reflect teacher ability, school quality or a student's future - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Yong Zhao: Standardized test scores do not reflect teacher ability, school quality or a student's future - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.: Yong Zhao: Standardized test scores do not reflect teacher ability, school quality or a student's future [image: Yong-zhao.jpg] *"American education is not getting worse, it's always been bad." * *-Dr.Yong Zhao making the point that it's LESS bad than Asian education even though Asian countries may have higher PISA test scores (because we don't totally destroy spirit and confidence which are necessary for . . . )* *VIDEO BEL... more »

Individuals, Not Corporations, Pick Up the Tax Tab for EITC Scholarships | The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Individuals, Not Corporations, Pick Up the Tax Tab for EITC Scholarships | The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: ** *H.B. 1307 DRAMATICALLY OUTSOURCES PUBLIC EDUCATION * *Funding Transferred Without Accountability of For-Profit Entities* (Harrisburg, PA) – House Bill 1307, which will soon return to the House floor for further consideration, opens up the dramatic funneling of public tax payer funds to charter schools, wholly tax payer funded entities that are not required to meet any minimum accountability, transparency or mandatory ethical practice standar... more »

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