Superintendent of Berwyn South School District 100, Stan Fields accepts the Apple Distinguished Program award on December 19, 2012.
Another NBC Reporter Refuses to Report Chicago Teachers Union’s Socialist Ties
January 2, 2013 By
At a Chicago Teachers Union protest in November, NBC Chicago’s Charlie Wojciechowski refused to coverChicago Teachers Union members’ connection to the International Socialist Organization and told me Breitbart News was “full of s**t,” after I asked him if he would do so. Tuesday night, NBC Chicago’s Christian Farr followed suit by also refusing to cover those same ties displayed at a CTU protest he was covering.
Chicago Teachers Union organizers teamed up once again with Action Now for a protest directed at Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his so-called “fat cat” friends ahead of Wednesday’s vote to close underutilized Chicago schools. The protest was staged outside of the Chicago Public School headquarters.
The Truth About Teacher Pay
December 28, 2012 By
Compensation to public school teachers overcharges the American public by more than $120 billion a year, according to a joint study by two of the country’s largest public policy research institutes.
One of the two big teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), defensively says the implication that teachers are overpaid “defies common sense.” AFT even derisively asks, “If teachers are so overpaid then why aren’t more ‘1 percenters’ banging down the doors to enter the teaching profession?”
The large and complex study of compensation of public school teachers said, “No one doubts the significance of high-quality teachers in the school system and to the economy in general, but even the most important public workers should be paid at a level commensurate with their skills—no more, no less.”
Educational reform adopted, in Missouri, in violation of the state constitution
December 23, 2012 By
There is another point of view. Some educational watchdogs from the St. Louis area, who have been following the issues closely, have something else to say about the proposed reforms that are being sold by legislators and Missouri DESE.
Gretchen Logue and Anne Gassel, bloggers at Missouri Education Watchdog, have launched a new website, Missouri Coalition Against Common Core, to help inform the public about the implicit realities of the so-called education reform happening in Missouri and outside of the edict of the Missouri Constitution.
“Common Core is a thinly veiled initiative, funded by special interests and the federal government, designed to circumvent the prohibition against the development of national education standards. Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), by signing on to the SBAC assessment consortia, which is developing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), has already signed away local control of education to outside entities. The adoption of CCSS without legislative approval is a violation of the Missouri Constitution which requires changes to the state’s education curriculum be approved by the legislature.”
Continue reading at Examiner.com…
The impact of homeschooling on the adjustment of college students.
December 23, 2012 By
Homeschooling is an option for education that has increased considerably since the 1970s. Stereotypes of homeschooled children often include labels such as “backward” or “on the fringe” of society. This study seeks to determine whether these stereotypes have any lasting effect on homeschooled students’ adjustment to college. An online survey resulted in a sample of 185 students from a variety of colleges and universities, both public and private. The results show that as compared to traditionally educated students, college students who were homeschooled do not exhibit any significant differences in self-esteem, and they experience significantly lower levels of depression than those with no homeschooling in their educational background. This research also reveals that homeschooled students report that they achieve higher academic success in college and view their entire college experience more positively than traditionally educated students.
Continue reading at BioMedSearch.com…
Old school: Teach word roots, math facts and …
December 21, 2012 By
After years and years of whole language, whole math and the like, it turns out writing cursive, memorizing math facts and learning root words are effective teaching methods. Yep using the old school techniques allows students to think at higher levels than before.
Kids Should Learn Cursive (and Math Facts, and Word Roots), writes Annie Murphy Paul in Time. New researchsupports the effectiveness of “old school” methods such as “memorizing math facts, reading aloud, practicing handwriting, and teaching argumentation,” she writes.
Suzanne Kail, an English teacher at an Ohio high school was required to teach Latin and Greek word roots, she writes in English Journal, though she abhorred “rote memorization.”
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Handwriting. Research shows that forming letters by hand, as opposed to typing them into a computer, not only helps young children develop their fine motor skills but also improves their ability to recognize letters — a capacity that, in turn, predicts reading ability at age five. . . .
D.C. schools union wants charter teachers to be required to join
December 21, 2012 By
The head of the union that represents teachers in DC Public Schools wants to change city laws to force teachers at the District’s public charter schools to become union members.
Nathan Saunders, president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, or WTU, said Wednesday that his members are concerned they will lose their union-negotiated contracts when DCPS closes some of its campuses next fall and teachers look to charter schools for jobs. The school system recommended Tuesday that 20 schools close at least temporarily and consolidate with other traditional neighborhood schools.
But the city’s charter school chief says requiring these teachers to pay union dues and negotiate contracts outlining their hours and salaries would undermine the point of charter schools: flexibility to innovate in areas where the traditional schools have failed.
Teacher Strikes An Open Book
December 20, 2012 By
Well, well, what can we learn from the teacher strikes? The first thing that is evident is that, even though teachers have come to be hated by so many, they had better be feared as well. Why are they hated? Why must they be feared? I suppose both are for the very same reason. Teachers get paid with taxpayer money – federal, state, and local – and then give a hunk of that taxpayer money to the union in dues. The union then takes this money and gives the bulk of it to our politicians in the form of campaign contributions, election support, and who knows what else. The politicians, in turn, legislate in favor of teachers to enable them to take more and more money from the taxpayers that gave them the money to begin with.
By John Sullivan
This, I guess, is why so many people have come to hate those who take money from their own communities and use it to screw their own communities. Furthermore, since so much of these benefits are unfunded, they screw their children and grandchildren as well. Even worse, since teacher unions are “one-issue” bribers, they don’t care who they support as long as they give the teacher unions what they want.
Lawsuit filed by Chicago Teachers Union, others seeks to overturn pension law
December 19, 2012 By
Pension reform in Illinois got a rare legislative victory when the General Assembly moved to close loopholes that allowed labor leaders to land six-figure public pensions based on their much higher union salaries.
The measure, which deals with abuses exposed by the Tribune and WGN-TV, affects a small number of city workers on leaves of absence to work for their unions, and it passed with little dissent.
Homeschool Graduate Elected to State Board of Education
December 19, 2012 By
Homeschoolers have often shown their passion for education. Now, one homeschooler is taking that passion from the classroom to the capital of Ohio.
Sarah Fowler, a 24-year-old homeschool graduate from Rock Creek, in what is believed to be an historic first—perhaps in the nation—was elected to the Ohio State Board of Education. The state board reviews candidates for state superintendent, recommends policy reforms to the legislature, and sets administrative policy regulations. Every five years, the board reviews the state’s homeschool laws—a review that is next scheduled to come up this summer.
Eleven board members are elected from districts, and eight at-large members appointed by the governor. When the redistricting process left Ohio’s 7th District without a board member, Fowler, encouraged by friends, decided to run for the vacant seat. Fowler filed as a candidate just two days before the filing deadline and 92 days before the election. Few expected her to do well, let alone win.
Continue reading at Home School Legal Defense…
