Charter schools hold promise, but they're no magic bullet LA Times
Charter schools are on the cusp of national stardom. Less clear, though, is
whether charter schools offer real, long-term solutions to fixing
public education in America, [...]
Charter schools hold promise, but they're no magic bullet LA Times
Charter schools are on the cusp of national stardom. Less clear, though, is
whether charter schools offer real, long-term solutions to fixing
public education in America, [...]
Here's Arne Duncan's upcoming schedule of media events and photo ops -- though I can't manage to get excited about any of it.
Be assured there will be the usual mix of fear-mongering, repetition of talking points, and exhortation.
PUBLIC SCHEDULE OF U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY ARNE DUNCAN THE WEEK' [...]
Education Sector’s November 24 report, Growing Pains: Scaling Up the Nation’s Best Charter Schools examines the problems CMOs face trying to replicate their various philosophies of teaching and learning in new public schools. Considering the source, the content and conclusion are predictable and deserve little attention: While each CMO faces [...]
Joblessness adds to burden on D.C. area schools Washington Post
As the lunchroom poverty barometer rises, schools are solidifying their role as centers for social services.
To Pay for Longer School Days, Some Parents Try Raising Money NYT
Parents of students [...]
After Newt Gingrich misstated the facts regarding Mastery Charter Schools in Philadelphia, the media could have checked into the true story of the schools’ outstanding accomplishments without distorting the challenges faced by the toughest neighborhood schools.
So it was doubly dismaying when Secretary Duncan was [...]
The Secretary went to Chicago for the Michael Scott funeral but he gets a break this week, with a relatively light schedule (besides a bothersome trip to San Antonio - who the hell let that get in?).
Following his lead, I'll be doing' [...]
Retired Los Angeles teacher keeps at it, for free
LA Times
Five mornings a week, Bruce Kravets, 66, puts on a coat and tie, straps
on his helmet and bikes to work at Palms Middle School on L.A.'s
Westside, where he teaches math. For free.
Good news. Starting this week, longtime education industry insider Marc Dean Millot (pictured) is going to be posting a weekly piece on the education industry on this site. I've been a fan of Millot's for a long time, though we come from different ends of the political spectrum and don't' [...]
I am convincing few if any of the innovationistas at the National Journal's education blog that, perhaps, we're asking too much of so-called "inovation." After all, the question put forth to start the conversation ([...]
The first 13 contributors to the National Journal’s discussion on innovation largely echoed the heroic infatuation of theorists with "disruptive innovation," arguing that education needs "radically new approaches," "federal leverage" to destroy local policies and "antiquated" contracts, and the adoption of Frederick Hayek’s The Road to [...]
"She's into education and rehabilitation and thinks Obama is all about welfare and handouts." (UsMagazine)
[...]NY dad pleads guilty to kidnapping superintendent AP
A former New York City police officer has admitted
he held a suburban school superintendent at gunpoint in June....
Thanks to a couple of eagle-eyed readers (including MDM) for pointing out that the much-delayed Education Sector report on charter management organizations lacks the name -- and apparently much of the content provided by -- its original author, writer and EdSector co-founder Tom Toch.
Asked about the situation, Toch said, [...]An education love triangle joins forces to invade Washington Post Gotham Schools Good
will and holiday cheer all around as Michelle Rhee’s current fiance
endorses her ex-husband in his quest to get a column in the newspaper
Rhee spurns.
Tween Protests Anomie of Modern Urban Life Gawker[...]
“Performance management” is one of those buzz phrases that I usually like to make fun of, but I did my best to withhold judgment last week when I had the chance to talk with Lori Fey from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, which is all over the concept [...]
Stephen Sawchuck remembers when Dianne Piche' "likened permitting teachers' scoring of their students' tests to allowing 16-year-olds to score their own driver's-license exams." Being a former adult, I see such arrogance as the only way to reconcile the values of the Citizens Commission on Civil [...]
In the decade since disparities in suspensions and expulsions were first highlighted following a football game brawl in Decatur Illinois, things have only gotten worse -- and it's not just an inner-city problem, according to an AP report on the topic. [...]
“In this world in which we are so centered on metrics, those things that are not measured get left off the agenda, you need a metric to fight a metric.” (Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz)
Lawmakers in high-minority areas send few to academies
USA Today
As
the nation's military academies try to recruit more minorities, they
aren't getting much help from members of Congress from big-city
districts ...
Stimulus Rules on 'Turnarounds' Shift EdWeek
The
guidelines for addressing low-performing schools' [...]
In
the corner, a wiry man with tattooed knuckles is playing the piano.
It's Flea, the bass guitarist from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He
founded the nonprofit music school in 2001 with his childhood friend,
Tree, aka Keith Barry, who teaches and serves as the Conservatory's
dean ([...]
The Times Magazine ( Magazine">On Language) notes that adding "-er" is the cool new way of belittling or insulting your opponents. (Think teabagger, birther.)
That got me thinking: Reformer. NCLBer. Charterer. RTTTer. Innovationer. Think Tanker. TFAer. Reporter. Blogger.
Obviously I need help with this. Any" [...]
The Innovation Administration American Prospect
The
Obamas' infatuation with social entrepreneurship and venture
philanthropy serves as a reminder of their aversion to a more robust,
liberal, government-focused rhetoric. [read of the day]
Everyone's got a breaking point and I reached mine this morning listening to this four-minute NPR segment on Teach For America (Teachers Learn On The Job) during which I (and I'm guessing most listeners) learned very very little that we didn't already know. It attracts [...]
Catherine Gewertz speculates that the "Graduation For All Act" will be a warmup for the renewal of the discredited NCLB ESEA. If so, the Act's school turnaround grants present a perfect opportunity to act on the President’s wisdom of building on the 70% of issues where we' [...]
Education">White House Plans Education Campaign NYT
The
plan will enlist companies and nonprofits, including “Sesame Street,”
to spend money and time to encourage students to pursue science,
technology, engineering and math.
D.C. Schools Chief Targets Tenure WSJ
Mr. Duncan said he wants to see the" [...]
Both the Daily Show and the Colbert Report riffed off the news that an elementary school boy was refusing to recite the pledge of allegiance in school. Just cuz I'm lazy, here's the Daily Show version (the segment starts about 90 seconds in):
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon -' [...]I don't know whether to laugh or cry about this. There's a new documentary out called The War On Kids which argues that the current culture of many schools is, in essence, a war on children. But from the trailer, at least, the' [...]
The last Bracey Report should be read and reread in its balanced, jewel-like entirety. Federal accountability schemes, despite their avowed purpose of helping the poor, make no sense unless you also believe that American education as a whole is dangerously in decline. Bracey's last report again debunked that myth along [...]
Congrats and condolences. Word is spreading that Alice Cain, longtime staffer for George Miller, is leaving the Hill and heading to the Hope Street Group. There she'll be focusing on teacher effectiveness and elevating the teaching profession to drive broader reform of our education' [...]
"Schools or districts that are administering more of these alternative assessments may look better than those who are using fewer, and it may not have anything to do with the quality of the program." NCREST director Joan Herman
[...]The major papers each add a bit of key information about the just-announced Gates teaching initiative:
Mini RTTT: Federal officials are pushing in much the same direction with a $4.35 billion school-reform grant competition that stresses teacher effectiveness, tied to student achievement. (Gates Foundation gives [...]
State will soon grade its education schools Orlando Sentinel
Florida already grades its public schools and rates its pre-kindergarten programs based on student test scores.
Its teacher-preparation programs look to be next.
Education">Learning to Teach to Bridge the Achievement Gap NYT
Via the Philly.com Notebook.
Thanks to BS for passing this along. A sure sign of the Apocalypse, indeed.
So a guy at work makes a stupid anonymous comment on a local paper's website -- twice. Then a guy at the paper (Ken Greenbaum, pictured) who used to cover education issues decides he's going to find out who made the comment, tracking him down at [...]
Alternate exams questioned as test scores rise in Virginia Washington Post
Lynbrook
Elementary School, which serves one of the poorest communities in
Fairfax County, seems to be a model for reform. Three years ago, the
Springfield school failed to meet state testing goals in English. .
The Duncan folks have been giving out NCLB waivers like my grandma used to hand out hard candy. No big surprise there. But not everyone's happy about it. Some of the ministers and community leaders in Chicago are protesting a pending SES tutoring waiver that the state [...]
The Flypaper worries that "New Haven’s contract [calling for peer review] will derail DC bargaining." Can’t "reformers" compete in the free market of ideas? And the TNTP’s Tim Daly complains that peer review is an incomplete approach ... of doing what districts have been trying [...]
The secretive folks at the Gates Foundation has been playing cat and mouse for months about which districts applied for -- and were finalists in -- the so-called "deep dive" teacher effectiveness initiative. But there's no hiding it when you're giving out big bucks after having put districts through the' [...]
Teachers, school advocates marshal forces against state cuts Denver Post
As lawmakers stand poised to cut $260 million in K-12 education
funding, the state's teachers union and other school advocates are
playing defense and keeping their options — including a [...]
"An
Iraqi soldier stands guard as school girls gather in the playground of
their school in Radwaniya west of Baghdad on November 16, 2009. Iraqi
soldiers paid a visit to the school handing out school bags, pens and
pencils. AFP PHOTO / ALI AL-SAADI (Photo credit should read ALI
AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images) via [...]
I couldn't help but thinking about Virginia Tech and Columbine when hearing about the Fort Hood massacre last week, though of course in those cases it was students not adults who were doing the killing. What resonated for me even more, however, was the sad narrative' [...]
"Don't let those tests defeat you. Don't let those tests define you." (Michelle Obama talk tests, mentoring to students AP)
[...]It would be so easy to revel in the extreme reactions of "reformers" condemning the newly released RttT regulations, such as Rick Hess’ statement that "states will promise a lot of half-hearted reforms that will then fail, giving ammunition to the unions." Andy Smarick [...]
I don't know about you, but the thrill is gone for me over the Sharpton / Gingrich partnership. Adding Duncan to the mix doesn't change that. What have they accomplished, really, besides serving as some sort of media freak show? And who's paying for them to do these events?
Villaraigosa, teacher groups vie for 4 schools
LA Times
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and groups of teachers backed
by the Los Angeles teachers union will compete for control of four
campuses, including Jefferson High School, as part of a groundbreaking
reform initiative.
Used to be that community colleges were easy to get into but hard to get out of (with a degree, that is). But the recession's changed all that, according to this post from Gawker (Community College Admission [...]