Photos Courtesy Denver Post: http://photos.denverpost.com/2012/09/30/photos-broncos-vs-raiders/#14
Photographer: AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Monthly Archives: September 2012
Test Security or Sabotage?
It's now official, at least according to Pennsylvania's premier education specialist and Secretary of Education (no degree in education) Ronald Tomalis and his highly credentialed (no degree in education) press secretary Tim Ellis.
Increased test security caused test scores in Pennsylvania to drop (Even though the committee that did the investigation said they were not able to draw that conclusion from the data).
@IUSchoolofed considering letter grades for teacher education
In many states, the influence of Federal and state departments of education is considerable. In contrast to how universities are "supposed" to work, it seems as if a lot of state DOE's want colleges to work for them. Additionally, there is this assumption that since surrounding school systems hire former teacher candidates, then schools of education owe them something, namely producing exactly the kinds of teachers they and administrators want.
Paul Tough Is Way Off-Base. And Stop Saying "Grit".
Over the past few weeks author and journalist Paul Tough and his new book How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character have been making a splash in the world of education reform. The book has been highlighted in the New York Times, on NPR, and on various other news outlets.
And then there was Education Nation.
Education Radio on "Won't Back Down" and the Parent Trigger
Highly recommended.
On this program you will hear from real parents who are active in education.
"Won't Back Down": Corporate Education Reform and the Rhetoric of Fiction
In the past weeks, we have watched with renewed energy and hope as the teachers, parents, students and community members of Chicago have shown us the power of solidarity. Their resistance to the privatization of public education and their demand to reclaim the classroom from hedge fund managers, real estate tycoons, venture philanthropists and their political stooges, is shifting the narrative from one of blaming teachers, students, parents and unions to naming the lies behind corporate ‘reform’ efforts.
Cartoons on Common Core Standards
For this monthly* post of cartoons, I have selected images about the impending Common Core curriculum standards in math and English for K-12 students. While many countries have a national curriculum, the U.S. does not. Since the Common Core standards have been adopted by 46 states and the District of Columbia, the U.S. will soon have a national--not federally mandated--one.
A teacher's million dollar lesson plan
A small town kindergarten teacher becomes a millionaire and says other teachers can become just as rich too. She shares her IDEA with CNN's Martin Savidge.
Honoring the Implementation Dip
Leaders exploring or operating within a Collaborative Response Model (or any PLC framework for staff collaboration) need to have a solid understanding of Change Theory. What can we expect to be on the horizon for our schools and teams engaging in meaningful change, change that ultimately shifts the culture of how we approach our work of ensuring student success?
One aspect of Change Theory that often can be the death knell for establishing a new model for how we work collaboratively in a school in the phenomenon of the Implementation Dip.
Terry Moore: Why is 'x' the unknown?
Why is 'x' the symbol for an unknown? In this short and funny talk, Terry Moore gives the surprising answer. Terry Moore is the director of the Radius Foundation, a forum for exploring and gaining insight from different worldviews
The hard bigotry of povery: Why ignoring it will doom school reform
The hard bigotry of povery: Why ignoring it will doom school reform
Here is a fantastic opinion piece written by a seasoned educator. She articulates a LOT of what I tried to in my master's thesis.
Living Without...NCLB
I just started the last quarter of the school year here in Costa Rica. It has been an adjustment getting on the year-round schedule and I still don't have a verdict about its supposed superiority to the United States school year. I've found it to be really tiring in a different way than my former schedule. I feel it has been more taxing mentally without a month and a half of straight time off (although I was always still working during those summer breaks in the States!).
Students: Teacher segregated black kids
Gary Tuchman reports on a sixth grade teacher in Minnesota who is accused of putting black and special needs students in the back of his classroom. Timothy Olmsted was placed on leave this past January, and then resigned two months later. But, he's still getting paid.
"He separated me from the white kids and sent me to the other side of the room where all the black kids were," a 12-year-old girl said.
Mr. Barnz, Please Read the New York Times Review
Daniel Barnz, the director of "Won't Back Down," continues to insist in various forums, most recently in an article he wrote for Huffington Post, that the movie is not anti-union. It's just a good story. It has no political agenda. It has nothing to do with the rightwing sponsored "parent trigger" law that it celebrates. It is not a vehicle for union-bashing and privatization of public education.
More Bad Reviews for Anti-Union Movie
I will see "Won't Back Down" soon, I promise.
I don't want to, but I will do it because I have to.
Meanwhile, movie reviewers are rendering their judgment.
They say it is a lousy movie.
The best lines so far are in the review in the Los Angeles Times:
That's because unions turn out to be the most pernicious of all the obstacles to healthy schools, worse even than the stick-in-the-mud school board.
File this under: what the $%^& is wrong with people? #netDE
From yahoo!: http://news.yahoo.com/north-carolina-teacher-allegedly-cuts-disabled-students-hair-183657279–abc-news-topstories.html
The North Carolina mom of a 7-year-old girl with Down Syndrome is accusing a teacher of cutting off several inches of her daughter’s beloved hair without her consent.
“Most of the time, she’s always brushing her hair, always doing something with her hair,” Jesslyn’s mother, Jessica Stirewalp, told ABC News’ Charlotte affiliate, WSOC-TV.
Stirewalp claims that a Millbridge Elementary School teacher in Rowan County, N.C., cut Jesslyn’s hair in class on Friday.
“Her assistant teacher calls me and says, ‘I hope you don’t mind, but I cut your daughter’s hair because she got food in it,’” Stirewalp said. “Of course, I got mad, but I asked her how much, and she said four inches.”
Stirewalp says that she was shocked when Jesslyn got home from school.
“Instead of four inches, it was more [like] eight inches. And when she walked in the house, you could tell that she thought she was in trouble,” Stirewalp told WSOC. “I mean, it hurts my feelings, and I know it hurts her feelings.”
The mom said that she has heard conflicting explanations for why Jesslyn’s hair was cut. She said the teacher initially told her on the phone that it was because of food in Jesslyn’s hair. But a letter from the teacher said that Jesslyn wouldn’t stop taking her hair down, so the teacher trimmed it, Stirewalp said.
Truthout: Rahm lost.
h/t Nancy Willing: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11790-subliminal-message-rahm-lost
Mayor Emanuel “knows he lost” in the recent showdown with the teachers union “and finds it necessary to rehabilitate himself,” political analyst Don Rose told Newstips last week.
That’s his take on the TV ad blitz by an arm of Democrats for Education Reform – which has cost “an astronomical amount of money,” according to a campaign finance analyst.
With only 19 percent thinking he handled the situation well – “the first time the mayor has been upside down in any polling” – Emanuel “believes he needs damage control,” Rose writes in a letter to the Sun-Times on Tuesday.
Rahm's attempt to split teachers from our union fails. But not all union leaders are the same.
Educator and EdWeek blogger Anthony Cody writes about Rahm's billionaire buddy Bruce Rauner's attempt to split teachers from their unions.
Cody quotes Rauner,
The critical issue is to separate the union from the teachers. They're not the same thing. ... The union basically is a bunch of politicians elected to do certain things--get more pay, get more benefits, less work hours, more job security.
I Was a Replacement Ref: Inside the NFL's 7 Weirdest Weeks
TIME’s Sean Gregory spoke this morning with Jerry Frump, a longtime college-football referee who served as a replacement ref during the recent NFL labor dispute. A complete transcript is now live at Keeping Score.
For now, here’s a brief excerpt from the interview, focusing on Frump’s training and his colleagues:
Sean Gregory: Where were you the night before your first preseason game, and how did that go?
Michael Feinberg's selling of KIPP in New Zealand: FAIL
As I mentioned in a previous post, A look at KIPP, Michael Feinberg, NCTQ and Bill Gates, Michael Feinberg is in New Zealand trying to sell his wares. Fortunately, folks in New Zealand are not buying this snake oil.
Check out what New Zealand thinks of KIPP:
What this portrays is a hideous caricature of education which would be anathema to most New Zealand parents.
Bebe Coker embarassingly plays the race card in inserting herself into school governance vote. #netDE
Christina School District Board of Education has again denied membership to longtime school advocate and former board member, attorney George Evans. Placement of his name for membership resulted in an embarrassing tie vote.
With all due respect to the current membership, attorney Evans is undeniably more qualified for membership than any persons currently seated. His verified history of educational advocacy is apparent in more than 29 years of service to the CSDB. He has years of service to regional and national boards of education and expertise with initial and continuing legal matters relative to desegregation and Delaware’s Neighborhood Schools Act.
Mr. Evans has worked with the National Boards Association’ Policy and Resolutions Committee and held offices with the National Caucus of Black School Board Members. Christina is home to the largest number of urban African-American children in Delaware, yet its new board has no member reflective of this demographic. The one black member lives in Bear. And yet the board gives no reason for its denial of Mr. Evans membership, making it “appear” that something other than legitimate qualifications is in force.
Additionally Christina has the largest numbers of African-American children of all the four city districts. It would appear that logic and common sense would welcome such skilled, volunteer, urban minority board representation. As a community advocate for education and parent, who successfully navigated her children through Delaware’s public schools system with constant vigilance and involvement, I caution young parents to do the same: Be vigilant, aware, visible, and by any means necessary – involved.
Bebe Ross Coker
Wilmington
Apparently, memories are short in Wilmington (I’ll translate for Ms. Coker: It “appears” Mr. Evans was defeated by a margin greater than 4-1 in his failed 2010 electoral rebuke at the hands of CSD voters):
