May 2011
9 posts
4 tags
Robert Reich: The Truth About the American Economy →
robertreich:
The U.S. economy continues to stagnate. It’s growing at the rate of 1.8 percent, which is barely growing at all. Consumer spending is down.
It’s vital that we understand the truth about the American economy.
How did we go from the Great Depression to 30 years of Great Prosperity? And from there,…
Another piece of the puzzle as to why America is in its current...
4 tags
Do They All Have To Go To College?
I just finished reading the Testimony of Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs fame) before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Mr. Rowe was there to advocate for vocational education, which he feels has been neglected and removed from many schools in order to prepare all students for standardized tests and a college education.
Citing statistics, such as “200,000 vacant...
4 tags
The Lose/Lose of Value Added →
Judging teachers using value-added criteria in Houston. One teacher has had enough and is walking away to teach in a private school. Chalk up another blow against public education.
3 tags
A Call To Roar →
From Cooperative Catalyst, comes a call to educators to share and with their PLNs and with all educational stakeholders using the power of social media. Let a whisper become a roar, and tens of thousands of teachers sharing can become a voice that will be heard.
3 tags
New Teacher Evaluation Models for New Millennium... →
Article on teacher evaluation by Bill Ferriter at The Tempered Radical. These are actual teachers responding to the call for teacher evaluation reform. As Mr. Ferriter notes, at least we have people who know what they are talking about. Take a look and let me know what you think. What is good and what is, perhaps, not so good about these proposals?
2 tags
Scary Times for Public Education
Just finished reading an article on the super wealthy and the religious Right and their conspiracy to destroy public education in the USA. My colleagues and I have been discussing this for the last couple of years, and our fears seem to be coming to reality as the new Republican majorities in several states have passed legislation to limit collective bargaining rights for public employees, weaken...
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Really Unbelievable!
After reading My Employer Has Become My Enemy, I was smirking-in a sad way, about the incredible waste of taxpayer, and teacher’s union money as teachers fight mass layoff notices. Take a look at some of the lines of questioning by school district attorneys. Ludicrous, but sad.
3 tags
Arne Duncan Appreciates Teachers - Right! →
From the blog assortedstuff comes a great post that says what I’ve been thinking as I read letters, first from Arne Duncan, then from Michelle Rhee, supporting the teaching profession. Both of these people have visions for education that are destructive and anti-democratic.
First, there has been a call to reform education, to move it into the 21st century. I don’t have a problem with...
3 tags
An Administrative View Of Merit Pay →
Merit pay has been tried and it does not work. That is a very brief synopsis of a good article from the NASSP blog, The Principal Difference. Pay teachers a good salary, give them decent working conditions and make them feel like contributing professionals. That is the bottom line in this article. There are no references to skewed studies that show great teachers will flourish with class sizes of...
