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Sunday, February 5, 2012

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Afternoon Posts 2-5 #ows #edreform


The privatization trap - The 99 Percent Plan - Salon.com

The privatization trap - The 99 Percent Plan - Salon.com:The privatization trapFrom schools to prisons, outsourcing government's works typically ends with cronyism, waste and unaccountabilityBY MIKE KONCZALAn employee of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga., waiting for the front gate to be opened. The detention center is operated on contract by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America. (Credit: AP)TOPICS:THE 99 PERCENT PLAN, AMERICAN SPRING, U.S. ECONOMYThe 99 Percent Plan is a joint Roosevelt Institute-Salon series that explores ...more »

4LAKids - HOMEOWNERS CONSIDER SUING LAUSD OVER WALGROVE LAND LEASE AGREEMENT

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: HOMEOWNERS CONSIDER SUING LAUSD OVER WALGROVE LAND LEASE AGREEMENT:HOMEOWNERS CONSIDER SUING LAUSD OVER WALGROVE LAND LEASE AGREEMENTBY GARY WALKER, THE ARGONAUT |HTTP://BIT.LY/XND0QSWednesday, February 1, 2012 5:19 PM PST :: A group of Mar Vista residents are mulling over the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District to stop the construction of a charter school.On Jan. 20, the LAUSD Facilities Management Division awarded Ocean Charter School a ... more »

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky:Sunday links.by Fred KlonskyThey’re still talking about Rahm’s paid protesters on Ken Davis’ Chicago Newsroom. This is a story that seems to have legs. It starts at 22:30 on the video.The cops break up one of the last Occupy encampments. This one in DC.In an address to the Hitler Youth, Hitler said, ”In our eyes, the German boy of the future must be slim and slender, as fast as a greyhound, tough as leather and hard ...more »

Jersey Jazzman: Full Disclosure From This Professional Blogger

Jersey Jazzman: Full Disclosure From This Professional Blogger:Full Disclosure From This Professional Bloggerby DukeIn the past, I've said I haven't made "one damn dime" off of this blog. Well, I started putting up the ads a while ago, and now I'm making just about that.So, every few months, I'll be taking Mrs. Jazzman out to dinner as a penance for making her listen to my rants while I type this tuff at the kitchen table. This is thanks to all ... more »

Khan Academy: It’s Different This Time « Mathalicious

Khan Academy: It’s Different This Time « Mathalicious:Khan Academy: It’s Different This TimeFebruary 4, 2012 14 commentsOver the past year, it’s become difficult to have a conversation about education and education reform without mentioning the words “Khan Academy.” For those who aren’t familiar, Khan Academy is a website that offers free instructional videos on everything from basic arithmetic to multi-variable calculus. Its founder, Sal Khan, originally started the site to help tutor his cousins in math. Today, millions of students ... more »

Schools Matter: Wild Dreams about Anonymous and Testing

Schools Matter: Wild Dreams about Anonymous and Testing:Wild Dreams about Anonymous and Testingby Jim HornLast night I was re-reading a terrific little book from 1976 by Don Martin, George Overholt, and Wayne Urban: Accountability in American Education: A Critique. The book brings so many elements of the current edu-mess into focus, while giving a long view of history. What is evident in re-reading this book is that the threats to democracy that the authors feared in 1976 from the encroaching ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: The Tenure Boogeyman!

Jersey Jazzman: The Tenure Boogeyman!:The Tenure Boogeyman!by DukeOne of our recurring cast of characters here at the Jazzman has been the Merit Pay Fairy:Yo, whassup?The Merit Pay Fairy lives in the minds of corporate reformers, who believe the Fairy can magically wipe away the "achievement gap" with a mere wave of her wand. Don't bother trying to explain to these corporate reformers thatthe Merit Pay Fairy doesn't exist; like Linus in the pumpkin patch, they fervently wait for the Fairy ... more »

Finite Pie - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - A Professional Networking Community for Educators

Finite Pie - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - A Professional Networking Community for Educators:Looking AheadFinite PieWe grew up in an age of finite pie. There was only one pie and it could e divided into only so many slices. Even our pie graphs represent the totality of the resources we have to work with. There’s only so much pie to go around. And the implications play out in how we think, act and define success. If ... more »

Hyping classroom technology helps tech firms, not students - latimes.com

Hyping classroom technology helps tech firms, not students - latimes.com:Who really benefits from putting high-tech gadgets in classrooms?How much genuine value is there in fancy educational electronics? Don't let companies or politicians fool you.Comments42Share0U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, left, and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski speak at a Digital Learning Day event sponsored in part by Google, Comcast, ATT and Intel. (Mark Wilson, Getty Images / February 5, 2012)By Michael HiltzikFebruary 4, 2012Something sounded familiar last week when I heard U.S. ... more »

IT IS NOT SOMETHING NEW | Connected Principals

IT IS NOT SOMETHING NEW | Connected Principals:IT IS NOT SOMETHING NEWby Akevy GreenblattPicture Courtesy of :reading.pppst.comOne of my pet peeves is when people think that Differentiation Instruction and 21st Century Skills are something new and that now teachers need to do something different. I think if would ask most teachers if it is important that they meet the needs of their students or that their students can communicate, think critically, and be creative, I would think most teachers would ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 2-4 #edreform #ows

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm lures Hitler's favorite company to ChicagoBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-1 minute agoMike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm lures Hitler's favorite company to Chicago:Rahm lures Hitler's favorite company to Chicagoby Mike KlonskyHere's what they brought with them I heard the mayor boasting the other day about how he had lured the German-based company, ThyssenKrupp to Chicago to set up it's regional headquarters. Rahm claims the move will add about 100 employees to it's payroll. Big ... more »

Corporate Education Reformers Plot Next Steps at Secretive Meeting | Common Dreams

Corporate Education Reformers Plot Next Steps at Secretive Meeting | Common Dreams:Corporate Education Reformers Plot Next Steps at Secretive MeetingALEC Education "Academy" Launches on Island Resortby Dustin BeilkeToday, hundreds of state legislators from across the nation will head out to an "island" resort on the coast of Florida to a unique "education academy" sponsored by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). There will be no students or teachers. Instead, legislators, representatives from right-wing think tanks and for-profit education corporations will ... more »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm lures Hitler's favorite company to Chicago

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm lures Hitler's favorite company to Chicago:Rahm lures Hitler's favorite company to Chicagoby Mike KlonskyHere's what they brought with them I heard the mayor boasting the other day about how he had lured the German-based company, ThyssenKrupp to Chicago to set up it's regional headquarters. Rahm claims the move will add about 100 employees to it's payroll. Big wup!“ThyssenKrupp’s decision to locate their North American headquarters in Chicago is a testament to the world-class business environment ...more »

Marvin Gaye - When A Man Loves A Woman

When a man loves a woman, can't keep his mind on nothing elseHe'll change the world, for the good thing he's foundIf she is bad he can't see it, she can do no wrongTurn his back on his bestfriend, if he put her downWhen a man loves a woman, he'll spend his very last dimeTrying to hold on, to what he needsHe give up all his conforts, sleep out in the rainIf she says it's the way, it ought to ... more »

Protesters gathered Saturday outside Dallas ISD board president's house | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com

Protesters gathered Saturday outside Dallas ISD board president's house | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com:Protesters gathered Saturday outside Dallas ISD board president's houseby Matthew Haag/ReporterUpset about recent decisions by the Dallas ISD school board, protesters chanted and marched Saturday morning outside one of board president Lew Blackburn's houses. The six demonstrators, led by community activist Joyce Foreman, expressed their displeasure with the board's controversial decision last month to close 11 DISD campuses. But the main purpose of Saturday's protest was ... more »

Schools Matter: Occupy the Unions #ows

Schools Matter: Occupy the Unions:Occupy the Unionsby Judy RabinLois Weiner, a professor at New Jersey City University, has an excellent article in the Winter issue ofNewPolitics titled Teacher Unionism Reborn, Weiner makes a case for occupying the unions.If teachers unions are to continue to exist as a meaningful form of workers’ representation, members need to transform them — and fast. The future of the movement depends on activists realizing that they, not staff or officers on the state and national ... more »

Grumpy Educators: 2012: States Where Parents Oppose Excessive Standardized Testing

Grumpy Educators: 2012: States Where Parents Oppose Excessive Standardized Testing:2012: States Where Parents Oppose Excessive Standardized Testingby Sandra2012: States Where Parents Oppose Excessive Standardized TestingTexas in the news. Parent opposition to excessive testing and teaching to the test continues to grow, and they are not the only ones it seems.The New York Times quotes Robert Scott, the commissioner of the Texas

Student Assessments Facing Stiff Backlash in Texas - NYTimes.com

Student Assessments Facing Stiff Backlash in Texas - NYTimes.com:In Texas, a Backlash Against Student TestingBy MORGAN SMITHPublished: February 4, 2012RECOMMENDTWITTERLINKEDINE-MAILPRINTSINGLE PAGEREPRINTSSHAREWhen Christopher Chamness entered the third grade last year, he began to get stomach aches before school. His mother, Edy, said the fire had gone out of a child who she said had previously gone joyfully to his classes.Expanded coverage of Texas is produced by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news organization. To join the conversation about this article, go ...more »

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Week 19: New Horizons

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Week 19: New Horizons:Week 18: What happens with the sub, stays with the sub…byalicemercerI’m coming back after some time off for a conferences. That combined with time off for an illness earlier in the month, and my kids have had more sub time than I would have liked. I’ve been fortunate to have some really good subs in the classroom (2 regulars), so I’m following the rule of letting them do what they ... more »

Bradenton Herald: Unsavory Prison Politics | Scathing Purple Musings

Bradenton Herald: Unsavory Prison Politics | Scathing Purple Musings:Bradenton Herald: Unsavory Prison Politicsby Bob SikesThe privatization lines have blurred in Florida. Few any longer even bother to dispute the fact that Florida’s republican-dominated legislature is engaged in attempted to privatize the state’s education apparatus via any means possible. The privatization template is currently placed over the state’s prison system. Like on education, republicans don’t seem to mind that their efforts are easily labeled as not being above-board. The editors of ... more »