New Content at SusanOhanian.Org!

[Susan Ohanian <susano@gmavt.net>]

Please think about sponsoring the Songs of Resistance CD. Tired of hearing this message? Then do it!

Susan

---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
Schools Issue Report Cards that Grade the Parents, Too

Philadelphia Inquirer
2003-12-20
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1534

Philadelphia School District report cards for students in kindergarten through eighth grade included a section called "home support" in which teachers gave check marks if students failed to show up with proper supplies and homework or lacked medical attention, or if a parent failed to respond to school communications.



---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
University Complicity in Harming Children
University of Texas News Release

2003-11-24
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1540

Arthur Koestler called academics who participated in this sort of thing call girls.

---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
Punching Up the Rhetoric Against Public Schools

New York Post
2003-12-22
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1541

Why would an article on a memo about school bulletin boards be accompanied by a picture of a New York City police officer pulling a hand gun out of a student back pack? Because the New York Post is trying to stir up the public, that's why.

---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
Senate HeadStart Bill Will Trigger Major Meltdown of Teachers

PR Newswire
2003-12-17
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1542

Nearly three out of four (72 percent) Head Start teachers say that they would start looking for other work if a bill pending before the U.S. Senate giving the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and state governors sweeping authority to shut down Head Start programs in five years becomes federal law, according to a national teacher survey released today by the National Head Start Association (NHSA).



---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
Ed Trust Says Washington Lax in Testing Quality of Teachers

Seattle Times
2003-12-22
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1543

The Seattle Times discusses how Washington rates in the newly-released Education Trust report on teacher quality.

---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
Charter Business as Usual in Florida

Orlando Sentinel
2003-12-22
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1544

In Florida, a charte schools foundation's activities are tangled up with the professional interests of the high-powered business partners. Alex Molnar calls it influence-buying.

---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
Three Cheers for the Teacher Willing to Speak Out

Contra Costa Times
2003-12-22
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1545

The sharp divide over reading instruction in Calfornia is detailed in this article. A teacher says she'll quit if she has to give up projects kids love, commenting that teachers are ordered to teach in a certain way with no leeway for what they know is right for their kids. And this brave teacher gives her name to the reporter. The district Superintendent insists that strict implementation is key to the success of the scripted program. 

 

---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
Here's Your Chance to Make a Difference

Wisonsing
2003-12-22
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1546

Relieve post-holiday stress: Make sure you have a copy of the Songs of Resistance CD. We need your help to produce it.

---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
3 Cheers for Iowa Governor!!

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
0000-00-00
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_news.html?id=249

Iowa Governor Thomas Vilsack rejects single assessment tool demanded by NCLB. He has a few other things to say about the law.

---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
Paige Announces Expert Panel to Review High School Dropout and Graduation Rates

U. S. Department of Education, press release
0000-00-00
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_news.html?id=250

U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced the awarding of a contract to the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) to convene a group of experts to review the methods for reporting high school dropouts and on-time graduates. The work will be supported by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the research arm of the department. Panelists are named in the release.


---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
Education Trust Report on Teacher Quality and Report on Graduation Rates

Education Trust Press Release
0000-00-00
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_news.html?id=251

Here's Education Trust's press release on two new reports on Teacher Quality and Graduation Rates. Ed Trust has the effrontery to declare which states are making good faith progress.

---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
School Choice, Limited Options

Washington Post
2003-12-22
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atrocities.html?id=289

The theory of one part of the most sweeping educational reforms adopted by Congress in more than a generation is that children  attending a school that fails to meet federal standards can transfer to another school. The practice, from the perspective of a poor, overwhelmingly African American school district in North Carolina, is rather different.


---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
NCLB: Gaming the System

News & Observer
2003-12-22
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atrocities.html?id=290

North Carolina is seeking some statistical changes, giving schools leeway in reaching the yearly performance targets required under No Child Left Behind, the sweeping federal law intended to raise scores and close achievement gaps. Other schools do this and James Popham calls it gaming the system.