ADMS707

Michelle Rhee shares a personal opinion on collective bargaining.

Indeed, Republican pollsters have advised GOP candidates repeatedly in recent years to avoid calling for the end of the federal Department of Education, largely because it gives the appearance of hostility towards public education, which is thought to be an electoral loser for Republicans. And yet, here we are. Republicans aren't just criticizing public schools, they're overtly calling for the institution's complete elimination. This isn't something they're embarrassed about; these GOP voices are stating the goal plainly, as if there's a genuine appetite among voters to scrap the entirety of the American public education system. All of this, by the way, comes against the backdrop of Republican governors slashing funds for public schools, and even the reinvigoration of the school voucher movement, which has been largely dormant for years.

I am speechless...and that doesn't happen very often. Though I agree that schools have become a means for a lot of propaganda, I don't believe it is the same light as they do. Wow, so what would the American children do with themselves? Are they going to pay stay-at-home moms teacher salaries? Ha...

A quick view (not the whole book) of educational policy interest groups - tables of number of bills that the groups "testified" for, etc.... if I had extra money, I would totally buy this book.

The authors conduct a study to see how teachers actually implement teaching requirements when they are enacted through policy reform by federal, state and local leaders.

The vulnerability of education funding

These new guidelines from the Virginia Board of Education are a perfect example of passing the buck....when the board initially created these guidelines in January, they were very explicit and strict and there was a lot of backlash to it.(http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2011/01_jan/agenda_items/item_j.pdf) Now if you read the March guidelines, you can clearly see that the board is now asking local boards to define and create policies regarding social networking interactions between students and staff. Seems similar to feds asking states to define mandates, doesn't it?

Scary...

Green Dot, the schools group based in Los Angeles that challenged conventional practices by staffing its charter schools with unionized teachers, is going through a divorce with its founder, Steve Barr, who is leaving to build a new national charter group.

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.

Calls for shared curriculum for the common standards have triggered renewed debates about who decides what students learn, and even about varied meanings of the word "curriculum," adding layers of complexity to the job of translating the broad learning goals into classroom teaching.

Clearly, another first is called for if we are ever to regain our educational standing in the world: A first step toward finally taking teaching seriously in America. Will our leaders be willing to take that step? Or will we devolve into a third class power because we have neglected our most important resource for creating a first-class system of education?

Once deified, now demonized, teachers are under assault from union-busting Republicans on the right and wealthy liberals on the left. And leading the charge from all directions is a woman most famous for losing her job: the former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee.

An interesting article about the intersection of police work and school discipline. I like how they highlighted the administrator's line "do the right thing, because the truth always comes out in the end." I would be a liar if I said I have never used a variation of that.

Author detailed the challenges/advantages of having a different leadership style from the superintendent when he was assistant. More importantly, the author was chosen to be superintendent when the former superintendent resigned, and he described his belief that being a good superintendent is all about obtaining trust among the constituents.

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.

The Automatic Bibliography and Citation Maker Create a Works Cited instantly & take notes! 323,605,546 sources cited to date.

Discusses what attributes are held by strong leaders based on evidence based policy. Mentions that leadership is heavily influenced by "the principal's core personal values and by the development of a shared orgaizational values base".

KIPP is threatening to close schools in Baltimore unless they are able to resolve a dispute with the teachers' union regarding teacher pay for extended school days.

Another article on the same topic posted below. Micropolitics certainly plays a role in how people choose to define "seniority."