Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, May 28, 2010

How you see things depends on where you sit. � Fred Klonsky's blog

How you see things depends on where you sit. � Fred Klonsky's blog

How you see things depends on where you sit.


My superintendent is retiring in two weeks. She has had the job for eight years. She has spent eighteen years in the district including as assistant superintendent for curriculum and as principal.
She sent out an e-note to the staff today saying nice things about her time as an administrator and telling what her personal and professional plans were.
But there was this:
I am particularly proud of the work we have done to keep our focus the “whole child”. At a time when many districts across the country were only concerned with standardized test scores, we took a bold step and said that test scores alone would not define who we were.
Apprently there are two different realities. From the point of view of the classroom, never has their been as much

“Home, Preschool and School Coordination Boosts Achievement” | Engaging Parents In School...

“Home, Preschool and School Coordination Boosts Achievement” | Engaging Parents In School...

Race to the Top bill passes Senate, lifting charter cap to 460 | GothamSchools

Race to the Top bill passes Senate, lifting charter cap to 460 | GothamSchools

Remainders: Students similar, not the same at PS 194, Success

Five questions the new charter school law leaves unanswered

New York State Capitol, photo via Flickr.
New York State Capitol, photo via Flickr.
One consequence of the charter cap legislation passed in Albany today is clear: it’s now possible for 114 new charter schools to open in New York City over the next four years, more than doubling the number of charters

Race to the Top bill passes Senate, lifting charter cap to 460

It’s over folks. The State Senate voted this afternoon to allow 260 more charter schools to open in New York State in the next four years, improving the state’s likelihood of winning Race to the Top.
The vote was 45 to 14, with a handful of senators who had been vocal opponents of charter schools swinging to the pro-charter side. Among them was Senator Bill Perkins, whose Harlem district is home to one in five of the

Walmart funds aid health screenings in Portland Public Schools | OregonLive.com

Walmart funds aid health screenings in Portland Public Schools | OregonLive.com

Forest Grove School District to consider cutting two days off current school year

By Wendy Owen, The Oregonian

May 28, 2010, 4:59PM
Forest Grove School Board will decide next week whether to cut two days off the current school year after learning of state's latest shortfall. Full story »

Boston College grad from Tigard wins Fulbright

By The Oregonian

May 28, 2010, 2:51PM
Laura Yount, of Tigard, is a 2006 graduate of Grant High School and will travel to Bulgaria to teach English and study the development of Bulgarian dialects Full story »

Party poppers at Washington school leads to 12-year-old's suspension

By The Associated Press

May 28, 2010, 12:58PM
Party poppers are sold as toys. They have a small explosive charge that makes a popping noise and sprays confetti when you pull a string. Full story »

Walmart funds aid health screenings in Portland Public Schools

By Susan Green, The Oregonian

May 28, 2010, 11:45AM
Portland Public Schools' Visual, Dental and Audiometric program got a boost last week when Superintendent Carole Smith received a check for $60,000 from Walmart to expand the program's free health screenings. Full story »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago's Little Red K-12 Schoolhouse

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago's Little Red K-12 Schoolhouse

Chicago's Little Red K-12 Schoolhouse


"Small, rural schools have been doing this ever since things began"

Chicago Public School officials hope the Little Village structure will help them address a quandary they have long struggled with: how to transition students from their familiar elementary schools to often larger, less controlled high schools. At the same time, officials hope to decrease the

Newsom seeks college accounts for kindergarteners

Newsom seeks college accounts for kindergarteners

Newsom seeks college accounts for kindergarteners

Newsom seeks college accounts for kindergarteners
Some say everyone should go to college. Mayor Gavin Newsom is trying to ensure that's the case in San...

    California jump-ropers set the record

    California jump-ropers set the record
    All those kids who skipped rope around California in February are learning this week that they...

    Freeing nonviolent lifers drives Stanford group

    The first time I met Mark, I did not know what to expect. In 1997, a judge decided Mark would never change and sentenced him to life...
    Chronicle 5.27.10 4:00 AM

    Emergency Federal Education Jobs Bill - Year 2010 (CA Dept of Education)

    Emergency Federal Education Jobs Bill - Year 2010 (CA Dept of Education)

    This Week In Education Thompson: Which Dominated, Accountability -- Or Hiring?

    This Week In Education

    Thompson: Which Dominated, Accountability -- Or Hiring?

    160x120_2106_vlbywpfj_c Marguerite Roza and the Gates Foundation have a righteous cause (equity) and they will say anything to advance their agenda (of undermining collective bargaining). So, Roza said "adding adults... was the dominant reform model of the last decade." In fairness to her strange claim, Roza, described the hiring of adults as a result of NCLB. But that raises further questions as to why data-driven accountability, which was the dominant reform of the decade and which has failed so badly during times of supposed overstaffing, would actually improve teaching quality? If she is so

    Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Congrats to Perspectives Calumet students and teachers

    Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Congrats to Perspectives Calumet students and teachers

    Congrats to Perspectives Calumet students and teachers

    Through tears, valedictorian Sade Johnson congratulated her peers on surviving the past four years. “Through it all we stayed together and we grew to know each other,” she said. “Laughing, crying and having fun.”

    Perspectives was one of the first teacher-created and teacher-led small schools in Chicago. It became a charter school 13 years ago and opened a school in the old Calumet High School four years ago. This week, as

    Free Technology for Teachers: FedFlix - Movies from the US Government Archives

    Free Technology for Teachers: FedFlix - Movies from the US Government Archives

    FedFlix - Movies from the US Government Archives

    FedFlix, hosted by the Internet Archive, is a collection of nearly 2000 films produced by the US government during the 20th Century. The topics of these films range from presidential speeches to agricultural practices to public health and safety. Some films are instructional in nature, for example there is a film for police officers on how to arrest someone. Other films are more informative in nature and some films are flat-out propaganda films.

    All of the FedFlix films are in the public domain so feel free to reuse and remix them as you and your students desire. The films can be downloaded or viewed online. Films can also be embedded into your blog or website. Below I've embedded a 1970 film on etiquette and grooming for women in the military.

    Hechinger Report | Teacher effectiveness bill could start national movement, reformers say

    Hechinger Report | Teacher effectiveness bill could start national movement, reformers say

    Teacher effectiveness bill could start national movement, reformers say

    By Eliza Krigman
    A landmark Colorado law that ties teacher evaluations to the progress of their students on achievement tests could help build momentum for a national movement that seeks to overhaul how instructors’ tenure and pay is earned, education leaders say.

    Arnold Schwarzenegger
    Colorado’s law will hold teachers accountable for whether their students are learning, with 50% of a teacher’s evaluation based on students’ academic growth as measured partially by test scores. In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing legislation that will change the way teachers are evaluated, but its prospects are less certain; the state’s teachers union strongly opposes it.
    Colorado’s action comes amid a national debate over how to get the best teachers into the classroom and

    Assembly Votes to Double Number of Charter Schools - NYTimes.com

    Assembly Votes to Double Number of Charter Schools - NYTimes.com

    N.Y. Assembly Votes to Expand Charter Schools




    The New York Assembly voted on Friday to more than double the number of charter schools in the state, a move that officials hope will give the state a better chance at receiving $700 million in federal grant money.
    New York Test Scores
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    The measure would raise the number of charter schools permitted in the New York to 460, up from the current 200. The increase would be phased in over the next four years, with more than 60 expected to open each year.
    In New York City, the number of charter schools would be capped at 214; the city has almost 100 now.
    This morning’s vote came after all-night discussions between lawmakers in the State Senate and the Assembly and the governor’s office.
    And the vote appeared to end days of negotiations among charter school advocates and city officials on one side, and the teachers’ union and the Assembly on the other. Several members of the Assembly, including the speaker, Sheldon Silver, have been critical of the growth of charter schools, which are publicly financed

    Assembly lifts charter cap; Senate still divided over for-profits | GothamSchools

    Assembly lifts charter cap; Senate still divided over for-profits | GothamSchools

    Assembly lifts charter cap; Senate still divided over for-profits

    The State Assembly passed a bill this morning to more than double the number of charter schools allowed in New York State.
    The deal, hammered out in negotiations that lasted into the early morning, raises the cap on charters from 200 to 460. But charter operators hoping to open new schools will have to jump through a new hurdle, a new Request for Proposals process managed by the Regents and the State University of New York charter authorizers.
    The bill includes several measures dear to charter school critics. It bans for-profit charter operators from managing schools, allows the state controller to audit the schools, and creates new regulations around how the schools serve special education students and English language learners. And the bill sets up new rules that govern how New York City charters share building space with district schools.
    The bill includes one change from the version of the bill that was being circulated this morning. The Assembly