Discuss all issues related to education and education policy. http://www.democraticunderground.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Tue, 21 May 2013 08:40:15 Tue, 21 May 2013 08:40:15 At one point, California State Assemblyman Das Williams was homeless, living in a Volkswagen van and getting pretty good grades at Santa Barbara City College.

“I was definitely a non-traditional student,” said the 38-year-old Democrat who now represents the 37th District, including Santa Barbara ... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246498 Mon, 20 May 2013 19:49:45 http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/friendswood/opinion/afp-texas-ending-cscope-a-tremendous-victory-for-parents-and/article_26b7a12e-9953-579f-a073-47bf0de64e18.html

AUSTIN -- Senate Education Chairman Dan Patrick on Monday (May 20) announced an end to the controversial CSCOPE curriculum.
In a press... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246495 Mon, 20 May 2013 17:48:04 Parents in Michigan, like those across the country, want their children to have the tools they need to excel in school and beyond. The Common Core national curriculum standards were sold as the way to give students those tools. But with the standards now being implemented, a growing number of Michig... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246493 Mon, 20 May 2013 17:31:36 We like to view higher education as the "great equalizer" that leads to social mobility. But selective colleges have long been accused of perpetuating class divides, rather than blurring them.

A recent landmark study by Stanford's Caroline Hoxby and Harvard's Christopher Avery lent further empiri... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246490 Mon, 20 May 2013 13:52:50 http://socialistworker.org/2012/12/11/a-privatized-ged-fails-students

[div class="excerpt"]In 2011, Pearson Education, the world's largest for-profit testing company, entered into a "partnership" with the non-profit American Council on Education, the parent organization that created GED Testing S... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246488 Mon, 20 May 2013 12:56:56 http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-7402-testing-out.html


[div class="excerpt"]Hernandez, 29, who moved to the US from Mexico City a decade ago, is one of 39 million adults in the country without a high school diploma. Now, she’s getting one-on-one tutoring in math and science and rushing... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246487 Mon, 20 May 2013 12:53:02 As a classroom teacher, a real teacher– real in the sense of both my credentials and my experience– I am tired of those outside of the classroom catapulting themselves into positions of quick fame in order to comment on the state of the classroom– a place either completely unfamiliar to them firstha... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246486 Mon, 20 May 2013 00:46:20 http://www.alternet.org/education/handy-reference-guide-who-donating-corporate-style-education-reform?page=0%2C1

The way some of them throw around the green stuff, you'd think corporate style education reformers were made of money. Oh, wait. Some of them are. As Big Money plays a bigger and bigge... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246481 Fri, 17 May 2013 16:16:14 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-white/college-professor-salaries_b_3271404.html

[div class="excerpt"]

Melissa Bruninga-Matteau is a single mother who relies on food stamps and Medicaid to survive. Her take-home pay is $900 a month, of which $750 goes to rent and $40 goes to gas. Where does ... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246470 Thu, 16 May 2013 16:50:31 [b]This is purely a personal story and is never meant to be used anecdotally to construe as something more significant than the simple story itself.[/b]

A dear friend of mine is a college professor. She received a shocking notice of allegations against her by one of her students who received a le... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246468 Thu, 16 May 2013 14:51:54 By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 14th May 2013

In 1927 the French philosopher Julien Benda published a piercing attack on the intellectuals of his day. They should, he argued in La Trahison des Clercs (the treason of the scholars) act as a check on popular passions(1). Civilisation, h... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246461 Tue, 14 May 2013 13:25:50 My daughter wrote a persuasive essay for 9th grade English. One of the requirements was to have an adult review the essay, help make grammatical and other corrections, and fill out a sheet that looks like a rubric that a teacher would use. I was more than happy to do this for my daughter (I homes... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246448 Mon, 13 May 2013 03:53:44 >>>A Manhattan principal tried to get rid of one of his teachers by concocting — and misspelling — a letter from a “conserned” parent accusing the educator of pedophilia, according to a lawsuit.
The May 2012 missive, allegedly received by the principal and placed in teacher Jennifer Levy’s personne... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246440 Sun, 12 May 2013 16:16:47 Academic underperformance
The biggest sticking point in education reform in California is the push to link academic performance of the students to the evaluation of the teachers. Reformers, including Michelle Rhee and her Students First organization, have focused on the need for better teacher eval... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246413 Fri, 10 May 2013 09:57:11 WFAA Dallas/Ft. Worth:

A YouTube video of a Duncanville, Texas High School student giving his history teacher a lesson has gone viral, and has his district talking.

"If you would just get up and teach us instead of handing 'em a packet yo, there's kids in here that don't learn like that... the... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246384 Thu, 09 May 2013 16:45:20 By Nat Hentoff
This article appeared on Cato.org on April 17, 2013.

As clashes continue between teachers’ unions and local and state legislatures concerning evaluations of teachers to determine if they are to stay employed, I don’t hear either side reacting to what students feel about how they a... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246303 Tue, 07 May 2013 17:39:40 http://peoplesworld.org/oaxacan-teachers-challenge-the-test/

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Recently an American Federation of Teachers resolution declared that U.S. public schools are held hostage to a "testing fixation rooted in the No Child Left Behind Act," and condemned its "extreme misuse as a re... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246297 Mon, 06 May 2013 23:56:25 Hi, been busy.

http://www.southbronxschool.com/2013/05/breaking-news-princess-pal-misconduct.html

[div class="excerpt"]Sorry been away so long. Baseball season has started for my son and been busy. He is playing in the local Little League and practicing for his summer travel team as well. Been... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246292 Mon, 06 May 2013 23:28:54 GREAT PBS Newshour segment tonight!

Schools that institute real world applications into lesson plans and emphasize the importance of improvement over intelligence. The schools are less interested in testing but rather making sure students have the life skills they need once they leave the classro... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246287 Mon, 06 May 2013 20:12:05 http://north.aurorak12.org/files/2013/04/Teacher-appreciation-week-275x300.png

To all my fellow educators! Many :hug: :grouphug: :pals: :fistbump: for all you do!... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246284 Mon, 06 May 2013 12:59:12 Carol Burris, principal of South Side High School in Rockville Center, New York, explains her concerns about the Common Core. She previously wrote a book about how to implement the standards and now wishes she could retract it.

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/02/26/carol-burris-my-concerns-about-the... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246271 Mon, 06 May 2013 00:26:28 High performing suburban NYC school district.

Her girls are getting physically ill from the test-prep and the stress.

Not content to drive city schools into complete chaos w. this nonsense, the moral and ethical defectives in the NYS state legislature --- odds-on THE most corrupt state legisla... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246269 Sun, 05 May 2013 23:35:47 Diverse figures including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York and Bill Gates have coalesced around a new idea: why not increase class sizes for the best teachers and use the resulting budgetary savings to pay these best teachers more and to help train educators... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246256 Sun, 05 May 2013 01:41:35 From one of my favorite ed bloggers:


>>>Despite his every effort to keep the public from knowing the process of how a key public appointment affecting millions was made, the emails surrounding Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s ludicrous decision to appoint Cathie Black Chancellor of Education of the city ... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246253 Sat, 04 May 2013 09:43:42 San Jose State University has publicly committed to using online courses to bring in more students — and bring down costs — but its philosophy department is balking. Faculty members issued a blistering statement this week about why they will not use materials from an online course called Justice, t... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246249 Sat, 04 May 2013 01:56:14 I haven't seen this anywhere else ( exclusive of The Rubber Room Reporter) and one has to consider the source, but 39M is a lot of pesos for a teacher on maternity leave to be raking in. *From* the DOE. It will be interesting to see where , and how far, all this goes.

Or.... if it all simply di... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246246 Thu, 02 May 2013 23:30:27 By Ritchie King

It may seem crass to think of a bachelor’s degree simply as a financial investment. Yet, with the cost of US college tuition increasing rapidly—and interest rates on student loans following suit—it seems more and more sensible to consider the financial payback of a given school al... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246237 Thu, 02 May 2013 10:29:37 http://dailynightly.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/01/18005192-principal-fires-security-guards-to-hire-art-teachers-and-transforms-elementary-school

[div class="excerpt"] The community of Roxbury had high hopes for its newest public school back in 2003. There were art studios, a dance room, even a the... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246224 Wed, 01 May 2013 23:45:24 This morning I addressed a group called the Association for a Better New York and spoke about the Common Core State Standards for math and English language arts that have been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia. I predicted these standards will result in one of two outcomes: They will... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246212 Wed, 01 May 2013 03:03:31 This semester, thousands of college students around the country, including dozens at a Texas A&M University campus, won't be able to hide their studying habits from the prying eyes of their professors.

With the new platform CourseSmart Analytics, professors are able to see the students' level of ... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246205 Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:58:54 My neighbor is a teacher and not happy with her job. She was saying how she spends so much time developing lesson plans and curriculm. I asked her whether the text books provided a good framework for the lessons. "We don't use textbooks at our school"
This is at a regular public elementary. My... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246198 Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:14:43 John Nail teaches at St. Paul's Lutheran School in Sedalia, MO: http://www.sedaliastpauls.org/staff.php?staffID=25639&

[div class="excerpt"][b]Creationism certainly does undermine education![/b]
[i]Creationism, Kooks[/i]
by PZ Myers

Tina Dupuy had a good op-ed published in the Sedalia, Mis... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246193 Sat, 27 Apr 2013 10:56:11 (at my daughters' former primary school in DC)—most famous for The Very Hungry Caterpillar—Kindergarteners made their own paper in art class to create books that mirrored Carle's collage style. Check out this sample book cover.

https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?fbid=633791596635045&se... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246190 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:52:27 Mathew Yglesias wrote something like: Well, what do these test scandals actually *prove*? Matthew got this back for his trouble:

>>>>Like most pro-market types, these people are ignorant of the actual workings of capitalism. They see Apple’s glittering headquarters, Google’s quarterly revenue num... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246181 Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:17:07 Talk about corporate-based school reform. New high-stakes standardized tests aligned with the Common Core State Standards are featuring plugs for commercial products. And the companies didn’t have to pay a penny.

Yes, New York state students who this past week took Pearson-designed exams were jus... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246176 Mon, 22 Apr 2013 23:53:19 and local lawmakers go on a spending spree on arming schools with more guards, guns, and security paraphernalia.


"Effort to put more weaponry in schools are not only damaging to children, they are expensive.

As the recent post at the blog for the National School Board Association noted, “Pub... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246173 Thu, 18 Apr 2013 23:30:35 ...LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-democrats-20130415,0,2919125.story?track=rss


[div class="excerpt"]"People can call themselves Democrats for Education Reform — it's a free country — but if your agenda is to shut teachers and school employees out of the political process and... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246164 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:47:20 I just met two lovely little children in the laundry room..

Because I'd just met the youngest child with his Mother 30 min ago...It was OK for them to talk to me. (Visualize older woman)

The little boy said something quietly..and I realized he said the FCATS begin tomorrow...

And his sister... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246150 Sun, 14 Apr 2013 20:21:28 At Public School 10 on the edge of Park Slope, Brooklyn, parents begged the principal to postpone the lower school science fair, insisting it was going to add too much pressure while they were preparing their children for the coming state tests. . .

And at Public School 24 in the Riverdale neighb... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246143 Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:48:19 http://colorlines.com/assets_c/2013/04/michelle-rhee-cheating-scandal1-thumb-640xauto-8021.jpg

Michelle Rhee, the hard-charging and polarizing former Washington, D.C. school chief, knew much more than she’s let on about the possibility of teacher cheating on student high-stakes tests under her wa... http://www.democraticunderground.com/11246136 Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:00:28