LinkEd Blog
Unionizing Charter Schools: Helpful or Hurtful?
Posted by Beardy
July 27, 2009, 5:06 pm
The hot topic continues: Unionizing Charter Schools - helpful or hurtful?
The statement “Charter schools have been too successful for the unions to ignore” from the NYTimes article today: As Charters Unionize, Many Debate Effect, is an odd statement. If charter schools are so successful, why start adding some of the same structures used in a broken system?
New York Could Miss Out on 4.35 Billion in Stimulus Funds
Posted by annamarkowitz
July 24, 2009, 12:13 pm
Obama is announcing the guidelines for education stimulus funding today. Arne Duncan and Obama have hinted that states who do not base teacher salaries on test performances will not be eligible to apply. That would mean that New York, California and Wisconsin would be out of the race for 4.35 Billion in funds. Ouch.
Read the whole article here.
Free event for NYC educators, with FREE FOOD! August 3rd
Posted by Rachel
July 24, 2009, 1:46 am
Are you a teacher in the New York City area or are you going to be in NYC this summer?
New York's Touro School of Education Launches Online Program
Posted by Beardy
July 23, 2009, 3:30 pm
New York's own Touro School of Education takes their education program online. The program uses Teacher Tube to have students post films of themselves practicing lessons. The course still requires in person meetings and of course field experience.
Read more about it on Touro's website here.
School of One Brings Technology into the Classroom
Posted by annamarkowitz
July 23, 2009, 11:13 am
There have been a few catch phrases that most people say our school system needs:
Smaller class sizes
Technology to get us into the 21st Century
Thanks to a new initiative "School of One" funded 90% by corporate donors such as Microsoft and Cisco, we are experimenting with a new way to accomplish both of these goals.
More Teachers Get an Unsatisfactory Rating
Posted by annamarkowitz
July 21, 2009, 11:13 am
Check out the recent post from Gotham Schools that talks about the increase in U ratings. In 2005 there were only 981 U ratings given to teachers and this year there are 1,554. That is a pretty big jump!
We need a new mindset...
Posted by Beardy
July 17, 2009, 3:24 pm
Everyone, Obama is right. We need to keep working on our new mindset...set high expectations, take no excuses, and most importantly, make no excuses.
In Obama's speech to the NAACP, he reiterated some points that we need to remember.
The words of Obama:
"We have to say to our children, 'Yes, if you're African-American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher,' 'Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that someone in a wealthy suburb does not.'
Still No Decision on Mayoral Control
Posted by annamarkowitz
July 17, 2009, 2:13 pm
So Senate just took a break for the summer and still there is no word on the act that Bloomberg proposed for Mayoral control. Bloomberg wants his act passed without any changes and the Democrats want some extra line items added before they agree with his bill. But alas, no one could agree and now we will be waiting till September to get something passed. Check out an article about this in the NY Times.
Tour d'Admissions
Posted by Beardy
July 16, 2009, 7:31 am
A handful of college counselors from various high schools around the country have devised a unique way to travel from college to college: on bike.
The group of counselors now has an annual "Tour d'Admissions" to help their students get a leg up on the admissions process. They ride from college to college over a span of five, fast pedaling days. I didn't see any New York City counselors mentioned, but maybe someone will join the route next year?
The Widget Effect of Teachers
Posted by Beardy
July 09, 2009, 4:29 pm
The New Teacher Project recently released a study called the The Widget Effect which highlights the problems inherent in our culture of viewing teachers as "movable" or widgets that can easily be swapped around schools.
Some members of the LinkEd team attended a panel discussion about the report last night and left wonder what actions will come next. The study proposes four steps to reversing the widget effect:
Youth Guide to Summer Fun!
Posted by Beardy
July 02, 2009, 1:35 pm
Not sure what to do with the kids this summer?
Mayoral Control Expired! Now What?
Posted by Rachel
July 01, 2009, 5:32 pm
Mayoral Control of New York City's public school system expired at 12:01am this morning, leaving everyone to wonder: what happens now?
Striking a Happy Medium Between the Intern and the Internship
Posted by JSmithBryant
June 30, 2009, 5:10 pm
"When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."
-- Author Audre Lorde
The world is ever changing and often times in these tough economic times we find ourselves feeling unbalanced, fearful and uncomfortable about our footing. We begin questioning everything, complaining about everyone, and yet nothing changes until you put in the work to make a change.
Come to the Summer Break Blowout today!
Posted by annamarkowitz
June 26, 2009, 1:55 pm
Join us today at the Summer Break Blowout happy hour! RSVP here
Charters vs. Public
Posted by annamarkowitz
June 25, 2009, 1:13 pm
There has been a heated debate about charter schools in NYC. Are they helping or hurting our school system? Are they challenging our public schools to raise their standards or are they cramping their buildings and making it harder for the public schools to succeed. Read this great article on WNYC to find out more about the great debate.
Education News Roundup
Posted by Rachel
June 23, 2009, 2:16 pm
NYC High School Graduation Rate Rises Nearly 4% [NY1]
Mayor Bloomberg uses higher graduation rates to bolster case for mayoral control [Daily News]
Rethinking Student Assessment: Part 2
Posted by SusanHorowitz
June 18, 2009, 12:36 pm
Before we investigate how teachers and schools can use assessment data to track student progress, we must first define assessment. Assessment is any form of diagnostic, formative, or summative evaluation of a student’s knowledge, performance, and learning. Testing, the most common form of assessment, is only one in a broad spectrum of acceptable assessments (Stephens et al., 1995)1. Any form of oral interaction, documented classroom observation, student work sample, student interview, quiz, classroom test, criterion-referenced test, or standardized test is valuable assessment.
Small School Success and Large School Regress
Posted by annamarkowitz
June 17, 2009, 12:13 pm
A report came out today published by the New School showing that the smaller schools that were replacing the larger failing high schools over the past 7 years had a higher graduation rate. However, they say that this good news comes with a price. The existing larger high schools are now suffering more than before the creation of these small schools. The report insinuates that there is a link between the success of these small schools and the decline of the larger schools.
Charlotte NC. Fires Teachers but Keeps TFA Corp Members
Posted by annamarkowitz
June 12, 2009, 2:13 pm
So there are two things going on in Charlotte N.C
1) They are firing teachers based on low performance on evaluations.
2) They are exempting TFA corp members from being fired.
In my opinion this is sad that they are linking these two things together. I think that it is great to base firing on performance instead of seniority (which is what we currently do in NYC), but I don't think that anyone should be exempt from the process. I would hope that a TFA teacher who didn't pass the evaluations would loose their job just like a veteran teacher.
The best 1,500 high schools
Posted by annamarkowitz
June 11, 2009, 3:13 pm
Newsweek came out with a list of the top 1,500 public high schools in the US. Check out who made the grade
