"First Person" Students Document Their Own Lives

"Six students in the Philadelphia public school system were each given a video camera as part of an independent film project. That simple premise expanded radically over the next two years resulting in this profound and vital documentary covering the difficulties these applicants faced preparing for college while dealing with the daily trials and tribulations inherent in being a student in schools with a 50% or worse drop-out rate. While conditions may be difficult, the film does offer signs of hope. The unobtrusive style of the film lends itself to the students’ unguarded honesty when talking about their lives, their aspirations and their hopes. With pressures mounting from the nearing of their respective graduations, the grind of working jobs and the all too real threat of street violence, can these students achieve their goals? Just as important are the questions raised about the public education system by this deeply-moving film. First-time director Benjamin Herold has created a moving and illuminating portrait that also demonstrates that we can each make a major difference in changing and saving lives." -- Scott Johnston

A Website Dedicated To Shuttered Schools

When I was a kid, I remember when Cooley High the movie came out and probably went and saw it.  (It was a comedy about a large Chicago high school located in Cabrini Green.)

Of course, as many of you know, there was a real Cooley High, and it and hundreds of other shuttered Illinois schools are detailed on a website.  You can read about it here:  Site ensures closed schools more than just memories Chicago Tribune.

I wonder if anyone else is out there tracking the fate of shuttered high schools?

[Cross-posted from D299.]

Middle School Students Eviscerate City Council Member Over Her Behavior

Video from Wonkette showing middle schoolers blocking and parrying every evasion attempted by city councilwoman Conyers.: If only real journalists were so persistent and verbally agile. The council member is John Conyers' wife, who recently called the city council president "Shrek."

Student Asks For Help Writing Kotlowitz Paper -- On Facebook

So you don't want to (or have time to) read the assigned book and write a paper.  What to do?  Put out a request for someone else to do it for you -- on Facebook.  That's what this guy did -- before he got caught.

Extra special tidbit:  the assignment was for a well-known education text, Alex Kotlowitz's There Are No Children Here.  Read more here.

You have to believe that high school kids are doing this too. 

What Next After Online Bullying? Naked Pics.

Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) isn't the only teen who's posting risque pictures of herself online, and getting in trouble over it. 

School and law enforcement officials are having to warn parents and teens that posting risque pics isn't smart and can be prosecuted as a crime (Extra Credit Birmingham News).

"R Wez Still Nashun At Risk?" -- A Nation At Risk, The LOLCAT Version

LOLCAT is the imaginary language of pets, first popularized by a picture of a cat with the caption "I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?" (Can I have a cheeseburger?"). 

This is what the LOLCAT translator has to say about "Are we still a nation at risk?":  R Wez Still Nashun At Risk?

Other things to translate might include:

"I love Obama but my union says no."
"Eight more weeks and I'm out of here."

Really Mean Girls (& Two Guys)

Eight Teenagers Charged in Internet Beating Have Their Day on the Web NYT

Stand And Deliver Parody: "Teaching The White Man Method"

Don't tell Edward James Olmos (or Uncle Jay).  Mixed into a typically offensive and NSFW episode of a recent episode of South Park is a parody of Stand And Deliver in which the lessons aren't about doing calculus but rather about how to cheat on tests and deal with unwanted pregnancies. 

Again, very offensive and not for the squeamish or politically correct.  It might not even be funny. 

What Your Students Are Talking About: Cheerleader Beating Video

As you may have heard, a group of cheerleaders videotaped their beating of a classmate and are now being investigated for a variety of charges:

From the Associated Press

Teen Violence & March Madness

Teen violence in Chicago found its way into the final week of March Madness, according to the NYT's teacher blogger Will Okun.

On Monday, Okun posted that former Simeon basketball star Derrick Rose gave a shout out to his old neighborhood last week during a nationally televised interview: "Stand up, Englewood," said Rose -- apparently in reference to the shooting death of a high school friend earlier in the week.   

Most of Will's post is about whether to pass or fail high school students who lack skills, and how to give struggling students more individualized attention.  Scroll to the bottom to see the reference to youth violence.

Technology Good And Bad

New Microphones Are Bringing Crystal-Clear Changes Washington Post
The little black devices, the shape and size of small cellphones, have begun to appear in hundreds of Washington area classrooms.

Districts Weigh Benefits and Drawbacks of Setting Up Student E-Mail Accounts EdWeek
Districts hope the plan will improve communication and student engagement in learning, but many educators are wary. PLUS:  Judge Says Teacher E-mails are Open Records

Teens' nude-pics trading a growing trend, concern Salt Lake Tribune
The perception among teens is that sending nude photos is cute or funny, said Ronald Dunn, a deputy county attorney who prosecutes cases in Davis County's juvenile court.

Exam cheating goes high tech, but its causes are nothing new LA Times
When six Harvard Westlake students were expelled last month for stealing midterm exams at the academically rigorous school, the incident highlighted an old problem facing educators: cheating.

Computer glitch wipes out grades MSNBC
A computer malfunction wiped out a month's worth of grades at three high schools and one middle school in Evansville, Ind., giving struggling students a second chance but dismaying others.

 After Facebook Scandal, Horace Mann Forced To Ask What Values It Should Teach New York
Is a Facebook page private, like a diary? Is big money distorting private-school education? And what values is a school supposed to teach?

LoGerfo & Vincent: Hot Education Power Couple

They're hot.  They're both in education.  And they're a couple.  They're Vincent Pickett (aide to Ray Simon) and Laura LoGerfo (Assoc. Research Scientist at IES). They're a hot education power couple.

I met them at the Spencer reception last week through my  talent wrangler colleague Greg Toppo from USA Today.  I didn't have a chance to ask, but I'm guessing they text each other about new waivers and confidence intervals during the day, and catch up on state audit results and the latest NAS report over dinner.  Or maybe not. 

While we're on the topic of power couples, I also hear that NPR hotshot Steve Drummond is married to Lori Meyer, a NASBE project director.  That counts.

Previous mentions have included Heather Podesta and hubby Tony, Nina Rees and husband Matt, Sara Mead and Matt Yglesias, Wendy Kopp and Richard Barth (KIPP), and several others.  But I'm always looking for more.  Any education power couples that should be included?

Play That Funky Music, White Boy

If you've never read Jonathan Lethem's 2003 novel Fortress of Solitude, it's not too late. The novel is about a white boy sent to school in a rough part of Brooklyn in the 1970s at the insistence of his hippy artist parents. "Second grade was first grade with math," observes the little boy, named Dylan.  "Fifth grade was fourth grade with something wrong."

Not surprisingly, his parents' half-baked notions of integration don't work out so well for their son. It's a book about race, and growing up, the perils of friendship among boys, and -- especially -- about being bullied.  (New York Times reviewer AO Scott describes the bullying ritual as "a disconcerting amalgam of mugging, con artistry and mock affection.")  Here's an excerpt from later in the novel, when a second white boy appears at the school.  Here's another one, even better:  View From a Headlock.

When Spelling Words Make You Laugh

First it's funny, then you start to think that the kid might actually biff the spelling, and then....

Via Matt Yglesias

Bullying In School: Not Just A Kids' Problem

Bullying isn't just the domain of children and playgrounds, though you'd hardly know it from mainstream newspapers or even trade magazines. It happens to adults, too -- at least some of them teachers and administrators.  So it was great to see this recent New York Times article about adult bullying (When The Bully Sits In the Next Cubicle). That's not to take anything away from the persistent problem of students bullying each other.  The Times' previous story on the same topic, A Boy the Bullies Like to Beat Up, Repeatedly, is equally important.  But we shouldn't forget that adults are equally able to bully and intimidate other adults.  Or, for that matter, that some adults are bullied and cowed by their students.

"The Manatee Has Become The Mento"

For administrators, teachers, and reformers alike, the relationship between mentor and mentee can be a deep and profound one, as highlighted in this clip from "30 Rock" that will brighten your day:

White Teachers, Black and Brown Kids

There's been lots of talk about the Obama race speech earlier this week -- most of it about how well he did and what the speech means for America as a whole.  But what about the day-to-day reality of -- in many places -- schools full of mostly white adults teaching the children of mostly black and brown parents?  If, as Obama says, we need to acknowledge that whites and minorities have deep-seated resentments towards each other in order to move past that standoff, what does that mean for the adults -- parents, administrators, teachers -- who share responsibility for educating children?

STDs & Childhood Obesity: Flaming Hots For Breakfast

The latest post from Will Okun is up  (Fifty Percent), focusing on the spread of STDs among high schoolers despite sex ed and -- Flaming Hots! -- the popularity of junk food among his students despite the spread of obesity. 

Here, an example. Yummm!

"Students! Pay no attention to the apostrophes on the side of your school bus."

Students! Pay no attention to the apostrophes on the side of your school bus
Change of Subject (Chicago Tribune)

Stuff White People Like (About Kids & School Reform)

From the blog, Stuff White People Like: 

Gifted Children:  "White people love “gifted” children, do you know why? Because an astounding 100% of their kids are gifted!  Isn’t that amazing?"

Foreign Languages: "Generally, white people prefer their children to speak French. Languages such as German, Spanish, Swedish, or Italian are also acceptable, but are considered to be poor substitutes (especially Spanish)."

Non-Profit Organizations: "They like working there for a number of reasons, the most important of which is that it gives them a sense of self importance."

Knowing What’s Best for Poor People: "It is a poorly guarded secret that, deep down, white people believe if given money and education that all poor people would be EXACTLY like them."

Previous politically incorrect posts: Only Gringos Call Gringos 'Gringos' -- Gabacho!, Pesky Civil Rights Laws Blocking My Plans For All-Black Boys Schools, [White] Kids Too Cool For Coats, ¡Ask a Mexican! and -- everyone's favorite --  "Nice White Lady".

Pesky Civil Rights Laws Blocking My Plans For All-Black Boys Schools

I wish that the ACLU sued governmental agencies for providing an inadequate and inequitable public education instead of focusing on segregation and discrimination protections that don't, alas, seem to have gotten schools where they need to go in the past 40 years or so.  But I'm told the Constitution doesn't work that way.  My plans for a chain of all-black boys schools will have to wait, I guess. 

Meanwhile, the folks at Learning Matters first reported on an accidental experiment single-sex education in 2003 on the PBS NewsHour, and then updated the story a couple of years ago -- with a surprise ending:

Part 2 is here.  Now you know how education decisions really get made. 

Former Education Commissioner Bill Smith Passes

From Fritz Edelstein:  "It is with deep sadness that I have to inform you of the passing of William L. “Bill” Smith on Friday morning, February 29, 2009.  Many of you knew him as just Bill.  He was the first African-American and last U.S. Commissioner of Education.  Bill was an institution at the Department for close to 40 years.  Bill touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people during his many years at the U.S. Office and U.S. Department of Education.  He will always be remembered for his wit and wisdom, and his unwavering commitment to human and civil rights, equity and adequacy, access, improved teaching and learning, and a quality education for EVERY Child.  Bill was a mentor and leader to many people and breaker of barriers for many others...There will be a memorial service for him in March.  The date, time and place will be announced soon and will be included in a future email."

Who's Who In Education Update: Heather McGhee

Last week, I misidentified a picture in Hot For Education -- turns out it was Heather McGhee, not Heather Higginbottom. Thanks to a reader for helping set me straight.  Here's all about Heather M if you're curious. Pretty interesting background and accomplishments - Demos, Campus Progress, etc. 

Steve Barr: Is He Real, Or Animatronic?

Via Eduwonk

Valentine's Day Drawing Gets Student Paper Pulled

"The drawing in question ran under the hot-pink headline "Have a happy Vagina Day!" The paper's editor-in-chief, 15-year-old Richard Edmond, said he was trying to raise awareness of violence against women with a lead story about playwright Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues."  (School newspaper drops a V-bomb)

Knowing that some of you are squeamish, and considering the time of day, I'm putting the picture of the front page in question below. Click at your own discretion.

Watch Out For Teachers (& Student Profiles). Not Internet Pervs

Here are a couple of articles that support my notion that it's teachers and other real-world adults not strangers on the internet that most parents should be worrying about.  (Plus, what their kids put on their own profiles.):

Internet-Predator Concerns Overblown, Researchers Say The Seattle Times
A lot of parental worries about Internet sex predators are unjustified, according to new research by a leading center that studies crimes against children.  

Schools Let Sex Abuse Cases Slide (first in a series) The (Portland) Oregonian
While school administrators were aware of his inappropriate behavior with students, years passed before Joseph Billera, a charismatic middle school band teacher, was arrested and convicted for raping two students and molesting two others.

Former teacher sentenced in sex case MSNBC
A former middle school teacher was sent to prison for six years Tuesday for having sexual encounters with five teenage boys. Authorities said Allenna Ward, 24, met 14- and 15-year-old boys at the school where she taught as well as at a motel, a park and behind a restaurant.  

 

Hot...For Education (2008)

It's not concern for the kids that energizes school reform efforts.  It's the good teeth, the charm, and the outfits that bring in the foundation dollars and get the negotiations done.

With that in mind, the third annual "Hot...For Education" issue is finally out.

No, there are no painted-on bikinis or six-pack abs. (Maybe next year?) As you will see, "hot" is defined broadly here -- think "multiple measures." Among the selected include those who are good looking, those who have had a great year, those who are particularly passionate about school reform, or some mixture of the above.For example, one of the "honorees" is no longer with us, in the traditional sense.  Another of the honorees doesn't exist, in the traditional sense.

As always, your suggestions and comments are welcome -- pictures, too.  Who did I miss?  What did I get wrong?  Remember, previous honorees aren't eligible.  Neither are folks who don't have a picture I can find on Google images.   

"Good Ideas" Not Enough, Political Panel Says

Highlights from the morning panel on politics included a Paul Tough sighting (the NYT magazine editors' book on the Harlem Children's Zone is coming out in September), Joe Williams from DFER talking about what an interesting time it is now that Obama is talking charters and other labor unions besides the NEA and AFT are getting active on education issues, and Steve Barr and Marc Lampkin from EDINO8 highlighting the need to make reform a visceral middle-class issue, not an altruistic theoretical one.

What else?  Barr and Hess went out for steaks and cigars without me last night, those bums.  There's a guy talking at us while we eat lunch saying that low-cost inferior products (this blog, for example), often come in and disrupt higher-cost, higher-quality products (a newspaper, say).  Oh, and everyone here is hot for education. 

What You're Missing At Yale

I've passed in and out of consciousness during Rick Hess's opening talk at the Yale thing today -- the guy talks so fast and I'm still catching up on coffee.  Favorite lines so far include one about how he's not going to talk about how much he loves kids.  That's not the point, says Dr. Hess.  Hear hear.  I often think about renaming this blog "It's Not About The Kids."  Hess also slammed the current turnaround craze, pointing out that even in business most turnarounds fall on their faces.  That may be, says I, but new school creation isn't going to get us there, either.  Spotted so far:  Andy Newman (Eduventures), Steve Barr (Green Dot), Jonathan Gyurko (UFT), Jenny Medina (NYT), Joe Williams (mentioned on Slate!), Eva Moskowitz (NYC).  Pics and updates to follow. 

Workplace Rivalries Lower Productivity

Work related romances create a certain set of problems, according to this Time Magazine article, but even more destructive is the "collenemy" -- a friend-like colleague who is really a rival or underminer (Fear the collenemy).  It's the newest variant on the "frenemy" concept.  And it's not at all uncommon.  Something like 50 percent of workers in one survey reported losing time at work over a real or potential dispute with a colleague. 

Secret Admirers In The Education World

In the spirit of secret Valentine's Day crushes, here's one of the folks who's been suggested for this year's Hot For Education.

She's Pauline Vu, the education writer for Stateline.org, who found her calling via Medill and UCLA.  Forget those credentials, though.  With that smile and that hair, her sources don't stand a chance. 

Vu says she has no idea who suggested her and wishes I wouldn't be doing this.

 

Are you a secret admirer?  Keep those nominations coming in!

Crushing On A Colleague? Send It In.

It's almost time for the 2008 edition of "Hot For Education," an annual roundup of education hotties, male and female, famous and just well-known.

As you may recall, last year's list featured a shirtless Barack Obama (then new to the Senate education committee) and a kissable EdSec Spellings (aka, the "yummy mummy of NCLB"). 

The original group included Ted Kennedy, Nina Rees, Jon Schnur, Wendy Kopp, & Tim Knowles (pictured), as well as Pedro Noguera. 

Got any ideas about who should be in this year's edition?  The rules are simple.  Previous winners are not eligible. Nominees have to work in education or an education-related field (ie, education reporter).  They have to be hot, broadly defined.  There has to be an easily available picture.   Shout them out in the comments section, or whisper them secretly via email (thisweekineducation@gmail.com).

UPDATE:  So far, so good (see below).  Keep those nominations coming.

School Integration, Despite Kozol

I can't vouch for all of it, but this might be the best article about race and schools you read all Black History Month.  In the latest Atlantic magazine (Tales Out of School) a California parent and former Kozol fanatic realizes that she's over the progressive legend:  "Pfizer should develop a special antidepressant—“Zokol: for when you’ve read too much Kozol.”  But it's about much more than Kozol.  There's funny, harsh stuff about white parents and public schools:  "For these shrinking families, the aesthetics alone of public schools are horrifying—the chain-link fence, putty-colored bungalows, fluorescent lighting."  In the end, she finds Kozol negative and oblivious, and ends thusly:  "True integration, I think, does not result from a single grand dramatic gesture, like the march on Washington Kozol envisions. True integration evolves from daily, tiny, bridging human moments." via TQATE.

UPDATE: The Atlantic link seems to have gone bad, but you can read the article here.

An Even-Handed Look At Kids' Online Lives

There's a lot of hype and fear-mongering out there in the media about kids and technology, most of it I would argue a product of adults' fears about the quick pace of change that's taken place.  But give PBS's  Frontline credit for addressing the issue in an even-handed, calm way in this documentary program that first aired last week:  Growing Up Online.  You can watch it online, and there's a teaching guide and discussion forum.

What's Taking So Long?

Research and common sense shows that later starts are better for student achievement. And the latest to call for later starting times is the NY Times editorial page, which on Friday penned this piece (Are You Up Yet?).  The obstacles are tradition, and adult convenience, though parents, school boards, administrators all say they're serious about improving achievement and helping more kids learn .  Won't we all be sad and a little bit chagrined, if and when, years from now, grownups in charge of schools finally get around to starting high school later? The question then will be, what took so long? 

School Finds Porn Everywhere

First a cop who works at a FLA middle school sets up a MySpace page -- with school approval -- to better interact with the kids he's working with.  Then, people freak out when it turns out that one of the cop's many MySpace friends links to a porn site.  Then -- best of all -- it turns out that the school district itself has unintentionally linked to porn sites as well. (Cop Gets Investigated Because MySpace Friend Links To Porn).

School Administrator's Wife Gives Kid A Good Talking To

Student calls administrator -- at home -- to complain about snow days.  Leaves voicemail.  Administrator's wife calls back -- irate -- and leaves voicemail.  Student posts to YouTube.

Security Cameras Vs. "Behavioral Support" Programs

Check out this interesting City Limits article about the spread of school security cameras in cities big and samll, their new and sometimes questionable uses, and proposed alternatives -- including an Obama-Durbin proposal based on "behavioral support."

"In Demarest, N.J., video feeds from cameras in public schools are streamed live to the local police department. In Nashville, facial recognition software was installed on digital cameras in the city's public school system. Here [in New York], DOE says facial recognition software is not being used, but the capacity for future installation is there."

Link: City Limits: News for NYC's Nonprofit, Policy and Activist World.

Wireless Internet School Buses

First there were cameras and phones on school buses.  Now, wireless. 

A district is offering wireless Internet on some of its school buses, and online courses for kids taking the bus (This Bus Is Plugged In - US News and World Report).

Old school, meet new school. 

[White] Kids Too Cool For Coats

The Today show did a segment the other day about kids not wearing coats (Why are kids too cool for coats?).  Indeed, kids in the video clip are walking around with coats, and say they don't have or use them. 

What I wonder is whether this is happening everywhere or just in white Chicago suburbs. 

I have no idea, though I have to say that none of the kids in my somewhat mixed Brooklyn neighborhood are going for the no-coat look.  North Face parkas are all the rage. 

However, it's nothing new.  NPR did it two years ago (Why Kids Hate to Wear Coats)

Schools Upping The Ante With "No Trespassing" Signs

The creative folks in Joliet, Illinois figured out that they didn't need any new legislation to ramp up punishment for kids bringing pellet guns and other gun lookalikes to school (Simple sign helps concerned schools).  All they had to do was post special "no trespassing signs."  Doing so apparently turned pellet gun possession into a misdemeanor, as opposed to an internal school discipline issue.  Brilliant, or misguided?  You be the judge.  Either way, it's an interesting approach -- I'm surprised it isn't used more often or more widely. 

"In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. "

There's not been as much response as I'd imagined to Matthew Miller's proposal to get rid of school boards -- though this fellow wants to take it a step further:  First, Kill the Department of Education, THEN Kill all the School Boards).  The quote above is attributed to Mark Twain, of all people, which tells you (if it's accurate) just how long local control has been pissing people off. 

Student Crossing Guard

Remember them?

From here.

Will Smith's Classroom Of The Future

Readers of this blog know that actor Will Smith has some...interesting ideas about schools.  Lately, he's been talking about them (Will Smith Wants To Create Classroom Of The Future).  It's not quite Scientology, but...it's not really all that smart, either.

Contest Forces Little Girl & Mom To Lie

A little girl and her mother were forced to lie about having a dead dad in Iraq in order to win an essay contest whose reward was going to be seeing a Hannah Montana concert. 

"We did whatever we could do to win," said the mother in an interview Friday with KDFW-TV of Dallas.

Who's Who In Education Update

What top education reporter has just left the education beat to cover crime?  What well-known education lobbyist's racy art collection had to be censored during a recent Clinton fundraiser?  Check out the latest at the "This Week In Education Wiki" -- updates in italics -- and feel free to add or change anything that seems to warrant it. 

Looking Back At 2007

Greg Toppo's recap of 2007 (here) includes NCLB reform, Bong Hits for Jesus, and group hug bans. 

Perhaps limited for space, Toppo leaves out Rick Kahlenberg's "I'm Al Shanker" campaign, Jonathan Kozol's surprisingly effective partial fast against NCLB, and the appointment of a young Korean-American TFA alum (Michelle Rhee) to run the DC public schools.  Other possibilities include the Reading First scandal and the handover of Locke High School in LA to Green Dot charter school organizers. 

What else?  Let us know.

"The Wire" Produces A Real-Life Success Story

Looking for a way to reach a kid who's really struggling, or needing some inspiration yourself?  Maybe this new book from The Wire's little assassin, Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, will do the trick.  Discovered at a Baltimore nightclub by the actor who plays Omar Little on the show (read a long Washington Post profile from 2006 here), Snoop plays a menacing but affable killer whose deadpan demeanor and mumbled lines have made her a fan favorite.  In real life, Pearson was a crack baby who was raised in the foster care system and had already gone to jail by the time she was 15 (for second-degree murder).  Now she's been on The Wire for two years and has this new memoir out. 

Moody, Tired, Forgetful Teens? It's Adults' Faults, Says PBS

Curious about why teenagers over-react to some things, and under-react to others?  Wonder why they're always tired and seem to have to be told things over and over? 

It's not that they're just the stereotypically lazy drama queens, according to a Frontline documentary that aired on PBS this week.  (Check it out here.)

And schools, in particular, aren't particularly well set up to deal with teenagers' developing brains and needs for sleep (during which new memories and skills are apparently practiced and consolidated). 

"Who's Who?" Update: Power Couples And Quick Turnarounds

What Republican education guru is advising the same campaign that her husband is working on?  What communications guy announced his departure from an education advocacy group just over a month after arriving?  Click here to see what's new on the Campaign 08 page for "Who's Who In Education?"  Click here to see what's new on the Communications page.    As always, feel free to update, correct, or add any information you want -- job departures, staff shakeups, power couples, etc. 

School District Responds To "Lunch Lady" Lies

According to a gossip blog that just happened to appear on my screen, Denise Martin from Survivor is not actually a lunch lady -- she's a custodian -- and she wasn't punished for appearing on the show like she said.  Her sob story helped earn her $50K, but will it cost her her job ?  The district released a press release and they sound pretty pissed (Survivor’s Denise Martin is a Liar).  No, that's not the headline of the press release. 

PS:  Sorry to everyone who was mad at me for revealing the series finale results yesterday. I should have run a spoiler alert.