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Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Nite Cap 9-3-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT



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



4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 9-3-14
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: DEASY: “Dear LAUSD Family, I would like to speak to you personally…” but instead here are two links to the same memo I sent to the Board of Ed yesterdayan email blast sent to all LAUSD employees From: Superintendent John Deasy [superintendent_john@LAUSD.NET]Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 2:39 PMTo: LAUSD_EMPLOYEES@LIST.LAUSD.NETSubject: Ed-Blast: C
9-3-14 @ The Chalk Face
@ THE CHALK FACE: Education Post: A Sorry Attempt to Repackage Privatization as “Conversation”There is a test-score-driven, privatizing war on public schools and on the teaching profession. It is no secret that those chiefly financing the war stand above the chaos they create via their “philanthropy.” In short, they use their billions in order to promote their own ideal of American education priva
It Isn’t Over in Lee County or Elsewhere! And About Common Core…
It Isn’t Over in Lee County or Elsewhere! And About Common Core…: It Isn’t Over in Lee County or Elsewhere! And About Common Core…SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 BY NANCY BAILEY LEAVE A COMMENTThe Lee County School Board has backed out and students will get tests and tests and more tests. But I know parents will not give up. I’m hoping they will hold their Superintendent accountable for stating that she wanted
9-3-14 Wait What? - Foley and Malloy are just plain wrong on taxes
Wait What?: Foley and Malloy are just plain wrong on taxes[A special note of thanks to all of you who have posted comments and sent emails of support urging me to continue writing posts Wait, What?  While I will continue to mull over the various issues and opportunities, the following is an attempt to gingerly re-enter the fray by using this blog to raise what […] The post Foley and Malloy are jus
Ms. Katie's Ramblings: Why Teach For America’s Push for “Diversity” Should Not Be Celebrated
Ms. Katie's Ramblings: Why Teach For America’s Push for “Diversity” Should Not Be Celebrated: Why Teach For America’s Push for “Diversity” Should Not Be CelebratedYesterday, I was disappointed to see Teaching Tolerance-a social justice education resource which I have personally used many times-publish a blog post entitled Teach For (a Diverse) America.  It was difficult to see a TFA alum spout thi
Ms. Katie's Ramblings: Why Teach For America’s Push for “Diversity” Should Not Be Celebrated
Ms. Katie's Ramblings: Why Teach For America’s Push for “Diversity” Should Not Be Celebrated: Why Teach For America’s Push for “Diversity” Should Not Be CelebratedYesterday, I was disappointed to see Teaching Tolerance-a social justice education resource which I have personally used many times-publish a blog post entitled Teach For (a Diverse) America.  It was difficult to see a TFA alum spout thi
9-3-14 Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Welcome back to your school, now under AUSL
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Col. Tyrell as GreshamWelcome back to your school, now under AUSL management.Col. Tyrell as GreshamDAY ONE -- LEVEL ZERO Ex-Marine Col. Tom Tyrell was there to oversee the first day of school at Gresham. Before Coming to CPS to supervise school closings, Tyrell coordinated "prisoner-exchange" work in Kosovo. He then went on to work as Chief Operating Office
9-3-14 Jersey Jazzman - Is "One Newark" Racist?
Jersey Jazzman: Is "One Newark" Racist?Is One Newark, the school reorganization plan for New Jersey largest city, racist? Well...- Under One Newark, "Schools assigned the consequential classifications have substantively and statistically significantly greater shares of low income and black students." That's racist.- Under One Newark, "NPS’s black teachers are far more like
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-3-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: FairTest: Resistance to Over-Testing Grows NationwideHere is FairTest’s weekly roundup of resistance to test mania: This week’s biggest assessment reform news was the vote to “opt out” of state-mandated standardized exams by the Lee County, Florida School Board. Though that was the most dramatic action so far this school year, we a
Education Post: A Sorry Attempt to Repackage Privatization as “Conversation” | deutsch29
Education Post: A Sorry Attempt to Repackage Privatization as “Conversation” | deutsch29: Education Post: A Sorry Attempt to Repackage Privatization as “Conversation”September 3, 2014There is a test-score-driven, privatizing war on public schools and on the teaching profession.It is no secret that those chiefly financing the war stand above the chaos they create via their “philanthropy.” In short,
Louisiana Educator: New Revelations About LEAP and NAEP
Louisiana Educator: New Revelations About LEAP and NAEP: New Revelations About LEAP and NAEPThe LA State Dept. of Education yesterday attempted to explain the setting of cut scores on LEAP. There is a section of theSeptember 2 LDOE newsletter addressing the testing issue. Readers may remember that this blog demonstrated that the percentage of correct answers needed for a rating of basic in 2014 dr
9-3-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Video: Iceland VolcanoI’m adding this video to The Best Sites For Learning About Volcanoes:7 by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h hide  //  saveAll My Ed Week Posts On “Relationships” From The Past 3 Years — In One Place!My latest Ed Week Teacher column brings together all my posts there from the past three years on the topic of “relati
The Book That Got Teaching Right (Samuel Freedman) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
The Book That Got Teaching Right (Samuel Freedman) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: The Book That Got Teaching Right (Samuel Freedman)Samuel G. Freedman has authored seven books one of which is Small Victories: The Real World of a Teacher, Her Students, and Their High School. He is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker.  This piece was published September 1, 2014.In the co
9-3-14 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): Deasy on his critics: Constant attacks are ‘politically motived’Deasy on his critics: Constant attacks are ‘politically motived’ Superintendent John Deasy Under withering criticism over the iPad program, a new student-tracking computer system and discordant relations with the teachers union, LA Unified Su
State awards Common Core test contract | EdSource
State awards Common Core test contract | EdSource: State awards Common Core test contractSeptember 3, 2014 | By John Fensterwald | No Comments SHARE THIS ARTICLEWith the State Board of Education’s approval, California became the ninth state Wednesday to award a contract to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium for the standardized tests in the Common Core State Standards that students will t
9-3-14 Answer Sheet
Answer Sheet: A pledge school reformers should takeEducation historian Larry Cuban notes that no matter what part of the political spectrum school reform originates, reformers keep making the same mistakes, decade in and decade out. What mistakes? Cuban explains in this post. Cuban was a high school social studies teacher for 14 years, a district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA), and
Something’s Coming (Something Good) | Taking Note
Something’s Coming (Something Good) | Taking Note: Something’s Coming (Something Good)by AMANDA on 03. SEP, 2014 in 2014 BLOGS, ARNE DUNCAN, TEACHING“Something there is that doesn’t love more bubble testsAnd students bubbling and learning how to bubbleWhen they might be making robots or reading Frost….”When I adapted Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” earlier this year, I was aware of the growing resen
9-3-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Title IX UpdateAs you may know, Seattle Public Schools wasn't quite up to snuff on Title IX compliance. The person responsible for Title IX compliance didn't know his responsibilities and, consequently, failed to perform his required duties. When this dreadful situation came to light (with tragic consequences), the District... well, the District didn't do anything
9-3-14 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: Kevin Carey, Logically AdriftKevin Carey and the billionaire patrons of CorpEd who pay him to record his thought disorders in the New York Times are moving on from K-12 to more fertile education grounds to make money and to impose their idiocy.  Watch out, higher ed. With more and more young adults graduating from college with fewer good jobs available to them and the next generati
9-3-14 With A Brooklyn Accent:Where Are You From? A Guest Post by Malaya Velasquez Saldana
With A Brooklyn Accent: Where Are You From? A Guest Post by Malaya Velasquez Saldana“Whereare you from?” the ubiquitous question posed to me since I learned to formulate my first English sentence, has overtime accrued the weight of a multitude of implied questions, and exclamations. Now by 22 years old the weight of that question is so heavy with implications, and assumptive self-erasing experienc
9-3-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher
Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: The Napa Wine Club is worth two years of my pension. Rauner and Quinn think I get too much.11 by Fred Klonsky / 3h Retired teachers are not just about pensions. We had a lively charter discussion.This blogger, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky and S.O.R.E. organizer, Harriet Sheeley. We often discuss polit
9-3-14 Ed Notes Online
Ed Notes Online: Samuel Freedman, on Bel Kaufman, Goes After Teacher Bashing, With Ties to the 68 StrikeAround the same time that “Up the Down Staircase” was published, New York City was convulsed by a battle over community control of public schools. The struggle reached its apogee between 1967 and 1968, with the installation of a black governing board in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville section of Broo
9-3-14 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): The Conversation UK: Keeping children back a year doesn’t help them read betterKeeping children back a year doesn’t help them read better2 by plthomasedd / 14h 9-2-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindnessthe becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy o
9-3-14 Hemlock on the Rocks
Hemlock on the Rocks: NPR Whitewashes Charter Schools and Disaster Capitalism in New Orleans | the becoming radicalNPR WHITEWASHES CHARTER SCHOOLS AND DISASTER CAPITALISM IN NEW ORLEANS It was bad enough when NPR whitewashed the "grit" narrative, but now NPR is whitewashing charter schools and disaster capitalism in New Orleans. Framed as "remarkable changes," erasing public sc
9-3-14empathyeducates - Keeping Children Back a Year Doesn’t Help Them Read Better
empathyeducates: Keeping Children Back a Year Doesn’t Help Them Read BetterVery high stakes. Holtsman, CC BY-NC By Paul Thomas, Ed.D., Furman University | Originally Published at the The Conversation. September 3, 2014 If you’re an eight-year-old living in Charleston, South Carolina, you’re soon going to need to study extra hard at reading. The US state has joined […]20 by empathy / 2h hide  //  s
9-3-14 Curmudgucation
CURMUDGUCATION: Can We Renew "The Conversation"?  There has been a renewal of calls lately to refresh, renew, restart, and otherwise rehabilitate the conversation about Common Core.It has taken a variety of forms. In the Washington Times, Mike Petrilli and Neal McClusky put out a call to retire some of the standard talking points, admitting that the Core is after all kind of curriculummy
9-3-14 Perdido Street School Week
Perdido Street School: Cuomo: Debates Are Bad For DemocracyYou just can't make this stuff up:Mr. Cuomo’s primary challengers include Zephyr Teachout, a law professor, whose candidacy has attracted attention of late partly because of the governor’s simultaneous concern about it (he tried to get her removed from the ballot) and refusal to acknowledge it exists (he avoids uttering Ms. Teachout’s name
SKrashen: My response to Bill Nye (The Science Guy"): Standards OK but not the Common Core Standards
SKrashen: My response to Bill Nye (The Science Guy"): Standards OK but not the Common Core Standards: My response to Bill Nye (The Science Guy"): Standards OK but not the Common Core StandardsResponse to Bill Nye (“Science Guy”), Posted Sept 2 at: Could Common Core be the antidote for Creationist teachers?Bill Nye: If I were king of the forest we would have math in the core curriculum. S
Russ on Reading: Keeping Your Balance in Literacy Instruction
Russ on Reading: Keeping Your Balance in Literacy Instruction: Keeping Your Balance in Literacy InstructionBy now veteran teachers are accustomed to the pendulum swing in literacy instruction that veers wildly from one new best practice to another, often recycling through a back to basics heavy emphasis on phonics and then swinging back to a more holistic comprehension strategies approach. With th
On My Son’s First Day of Kindergarten: OurSchoolsAreNotFailing.org organizes communities to defend their schools from NCLB | I AM AN EDUCATOR
On My Son’s First Day of Kindergarten: OurSchoolsAreNotFailing.org organizes communities to defend their schools from NCLB | I AM AN EDUCATOR: On My Son’s First Day of Kindergarten: OurSchoolsAreNotFailing.org organizes communities to defend their schools from NCLBBy I AM AN EDUCATOR on September 3, 2014Today is the first day of school in Seattle. I have never been more excited and nervous for the
How Did Writing My Book Change My Own Opinions? | Dana Goldstein
How Did Writing My Book Change My Own Opinions? | Dana Goldstein: How Did Writing My Book Change My Own Opinions?Thanks to Nona Willis Aronowitz for a perceptive interview at NBC.com about The Teacher Wars:Did any of your opinions change over the course of your research?I started the project with the assumption that teachers are somewhat unfairly maligned and attacked in our public discourse. And
PowerPoint Doesn’t Suck; 10 Ideas To Make it Great | Connected Principals
PowerPoint Doesn’t Suck; 10 Ideas To Make it Great | Connected Principals: PowerPoint Doesn’t Suck; 10 Ideas To Make it Greatby George Couros • September 3, 2014 • 0 CommentsI have often heard of people saying, “we shouldn’t just keep teaching our kids PowerPoint anymore”‘ as if it is some terrible technology.  Presentation software (PowerPoint, HaikuDeck, Keynote, Prezi, etc.) is actually pretty
LA schools iPads: Superintendent Deasy explains Pearson, Apple meetings | 89.3 KPCC
LA schools iPads: Superintendent Deasy explains Pearson, Apple meetings | 89.3 KPCC: LA schools iPads: Superintendent Deasy explains Pearson, Apple meetings More than a week after new questions arose regarding the bidding process for the 1:1 technology program, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy sent a six-page memo to the school board Tuesday defending his actions and stating that neit
Big Education Ape Has Jury Duty
Big Education Ape Has Jury DutyIn the PM

YESTERDAY

BustED Pencils - Fully Leaded Education Talk - BustED Pencils
BustED Pencils - Fully Leaded Education Talk - BustED Pencils: BustED Pencils - Fully Leaded Education Talk - BustED Pencils:BustED Pencils: Fully Leaded Education Talk is a progressive talk radio show. The show is hosted by Dr. Tim Slekar and Dr. Jed Hopkins. BustED Pencils - Fully Leaded Education Talk - BustED Pencils:
VAMs in U.S. Healthcare: A Parody |
VAMs in U.S. Healthcare: A Parody |: VAMs in U.S. Healthcare: A Parody Remember the AZ teacher who has written some great posts for us at VAMboozled (seehere and here)? She’s at it again. Read this one for an (unfortunately) humorous parody on the topic of VAMs and how they might also be used to evaluate America’s doctors.We have a real problem in this country. People are dying. They are dying fro
Brazile: It's all about the children by Donna Brazile | The Herald-News
Brazile: It's all about the children | The Herald-News: Brazile: It's all about the childrenTime and again, we hear this refrain from everyone who ever talks about education, from every angle. It’s been the purported basis of speeches, documentaries and now lawsuits.But how can it be all about the children when you have some – under the guise of “education reform” – undermining America’s public sc
When (A)=(B), neither is the lesser of two evils. | Reclaim Reform
When (A)=(B), neither is the lesser of two evils. | Reclaim Reform: When (A)=(B), neither is the lesser of two evils.Posted on September 2, 2014by Ken PrevitiWhen (A)=(B), neither is the lesser of two evils.When (D)=(R), neither can claim to be a Democrat or a Republican.(Who ever said you would never find a use for algebra?)When one has damaged public education, ignored the state Constitution, or
L.A. school board member Ratliff pushes for release of iPad report - LA Times
L.A. school board member Ratliff pushes for release of iPad report - LA Times: L.A. school board member Ratliff pushes for release of iPad reportLos  Angeles school board member Monica Ratliff will seek the release of an internal probe into the decision to provide iPads to every student in the nation’s second-largest school system.Officials had classified the report, by the school district’s inspe
Nite Cap 9-2-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT
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 CAPempathyeducates – Why ‘Funny Kid Shaming’ Isn’t Really Funnyempathyeducates – Why ‘Funny Kid Shaming’ Isn’t Really Funny: Why ‘Funny Kid Shaming’ Isn’t Really FunnyPhotograph; Teenage girl (16-18) sitting by laptop, woman in background. A mother?