Group items tagged

A lovely look at teaching the whole child....and thusly, the whole community.

During a 2009 speech, President Obama promised $12 billion for community colleges. But they never saw any of that money because the president couldn't sell his plan to Congress.

So the school boards and their constituents know that consolidation would reduce costs and the people don't want to pay higher taxes... yet there is reluctance to consolidate small districts (those with approx 500 students) because of unique needs (hmmm is this "code" for something?) and because the constituencies don't like the idea of a state mandate. So, let's see... whose interests are they protecting?

Deals with the struggle of public service professionals that resist changing the occupational norms that would decrease their power even though it would benefit their clients. To examine the relationship between professionalism and change, data were collected from elementary school principals, local school board members, and lay members of community health planning. Principals were slightly less inclined than school board members to accept change. The least professional of the three groups, community health members, were the most negative about change. The mixed findings may result partially from the spurious relationship between professionalism and change. Two additional variables were introduced to test this hypothesis: amount of "turbulence" or dissatisfaction among clients and diversity of viewpoints within groups. Controlling for the former variable yielded little difference; however, there was a strong positive relationship between diversity of viewpoints and change. Consequently, group consensus is seen as a major variable in predicting acceptance of change.

A very positive view of Teach for America and the ability of that organization to improve educational outcomes. George Will makes some bold claims and doesn't substantiate them. "Until recently...it seemed that we simply did not know how to teach children handicapped by poverty and its accompaniments - family disintegration and destructive community cultures. Now we know exactly what to do."

As a follow up to Steph et al's blog about school board communication with parents....here is a webinar next wee (3/2 at 2 pm) .

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is inviting school divisions, nonprofits, local government agencies, faith-based organizations, colleges and universities, and for-profit corporations to apply for 21st Century Community Learning Centers grants

What we can learn from England - Findings of a longitudinal study that explored the impact of recent educational reforms in England on the nature of the relationship between headteachers and lay school governors. Recent legislation has increased governors' and consumers' power and reduced the power of the "producers" of education. Governors are members of school governing bodies who have volunteered to work with headteachers in school administration. Findings indicate that the governor/headteacher relationship is not a consensual one. Factors inhibiting the development of a partnership include the micropolitical nature of school governance; the emerging organizational cultures of governing bodies; the loose coupling of governing bodies to schools; the differences between heads and governors about power; the complex and ambiguous nature of reform legislation; and cultural factors, such as race, gender, and ethnicity. The question is raised whether community involvement should extend to nonprofessionals taking a key role in educational decision making and policy formation.

Article on the frustration of a lack of real data and the real repercussions of it....and protests...gotta love the protests.

A concerned parent joined the local school board in hopes of improving the academics. After 6 frustrating months he resigned from the board believing that "the school board was not where the biggest battles would be won or lost."

Many whites are taking advantage of the Michigan School Choice programs to move their children from more diverse schools to ones with fewer black students, The Detroit News reports. According to the most recent US census data, released on March 22, more than 184,000 African-Americans have moved out of Detroit in the past decade, most moving to the predominantly white suburban communities and the percentage of black students in those schools has jumped.

History on the role of superintendents and perspectives of currrent superintendents on their roles. Emphasis on relational mentoring as an important factor for new superintendents.

In the light of the difficulties and tensions, we end with recommendations for anti-oppression teacher education. These focus on how (a) to make deliberative and transformative inquiry central and focused on social justice; (b) to invitereflection about the implications of social locations for teaching; (c) to createand sustain communities of inquiry and action among social justice educators;and (d) to articulate warrants for anti-oppressive teaching.

Schwartz makes a very VALUED POINT! When will stop debating and really address the issue at HAND. The future of our children are at STAKE here!! He makes 5 points: 1. Stop talking and writing 2. Read and listen to opposing and alternative viewpoints from diverse groups of stakeholders including teachers, students, parents, communities other than your own, union leaders, business leaders, administrators, superintendents, et. al. 3. Process it all in continued silence. This is not about writing comments to a blog post or releasing a study to counter what that other study you read found or even a quick retort with your rehearsed line. Really take it in and think about where it fits within your framework for what it's going to take to help our teachers help our students. 4. Think about how your experiences as a student and perhaps your experiences as a parent of a student have shaped and even biased your views on what our schools need. 5. Resume your writing and speaking being mindful to take time-outs to listen and think.

This fits into our Week 11 --- really thinking. This opinion piece states exactly how I feel right now....and I bet a bunch of others, as well.