tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983334520933101277.post5602528315460526538..comments2024-02-16T06:29:33.587-08:00Comments on Welcome to " The Math UnderGround " -- Seattle & Washington State: Instructional Materials Review ............ Headed in the Wrong Directiondan dempseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983334520933101277.post-72215963742889484232008-05-13T23:35:00.000-07:002008-05-13T23:35:00.000-07:00Before you convince Seattle Public Schools that Si...Before you convince Seattle Public Schools that Singapore (US standards) is the best choice overall - <BR/><BR/>1. you will have to find new management - your administrators were hired and trained by the foundations.<BR/><BR/>2. stop accepting grants with strings attached from private donors.<BR/><BR/>3. stop the silly and unsavory practices that are currently undermining support programs and alternative schools. Whoever heard of classrooms where no talking is allowed whatsoever. a nearly impossible task for any teenager, let alone a potential dropout.<BR/><BR/>4. start by introducing appropriate curriculum and direct teaching practices.<BR/><BR/>5. Opt for 1 track - 1 curriculum, so that all students are granted access to equal education. Once a student is put in the low remedial track its nearly impossible to take any real math or academic subject until community college. Its easy to make a test that denies a ninth grader the opportunity to take biology. The legal challenge is that the test results do not apply to all children. Even so, lets say the child that wants to take biology eventually fails (this should not be met by derisive remarks, but should be applauded as an attempt to do the right thing. We attach a stigma to failure, when we should be looking at policies that move children forward into careers and an education that prepares them for the future. It should not be relegated to seat time and baiting teachers which will only fill students with shame or regret.<BR/>There's no pride, you see, in going to school in a lower academic track - it yields nothing fruitful for the future. Better to say that you attempted college and failed, then attempted to sit in a high school class and made some idle chat with your neighbor - something gossipy like the music you downloaded on Limewire....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983334520933101277.post-6836524590978385802008-05-12T03:59:00.000-07:002008-05-12T03:59:00.000-07:00Notice his banner: success for all.This is a one-l...Notice his banner: success for all.<BR/><BR/>This is a one-liner and you will see the phrase in almost all interviews that help identify the particular reform movement from other projects. The locations are also of interest and the time frame. So once again we are tracking foundations and who's serving on the boards to help follow where the money is going and how the funds are being used. <BR/><BR/>Rezko and the Challenge Fund for instance. Why was there no improvement in student performance despite the addition of about $25 million per year for 5 years? Mind-boggling when you consider that in Philadelphia, the Annenberg fund provided $50 million, but the district had to spend $100 million in matching funds, and what did they get back in return? Nothing.<BR/><BR/>Green Dot Schools sued LAUSD in order to get more access to school buildings to open more schools???<BR/><BR/>Broad Foundation donated property so LAUSD could build a new high school? It was a superfund site and cost the district $100 million to clean up the hazaardous waste.<BR/><BR/>The $23.3 million in grants breaks down as follows:<BR/><BR/> -- KIPP will receive $12 million to expand open-enrollment KIPP public charter schools in Los Angeles from two to six by 2010, including two new KIPP elementary schools and two new KIPP middle schools in underserved areas of Los Angeles. With these funds, KIPP plans to serve a total of more than 2,000 Los Angeles students in kindergarten through eighth grade by 2013.<BR/><BR/> -- Aspire Public Schools will receive $5 million to open 13 new,<BR/>high-quality, public charter schools in Los Angeles over the<BR/>next four years, including several new elementary and middle schools in Huntington Park and Carson, areas that currently have lengthy waiting lists for charter schools. The new funds will bring to 16 the total number of Aspire schools in Los Angeles by 2011 that will serve 5,600 K-12 students.<BR/><BR/> -- Pacific Charter School Development, Inc. will receive a $6<BR/>million interest-free loan to leverage more than $30 million<BR/>in project financing to create more than 6,000 new,state-of-the-art campus seats in Los Angeles' most underserved neighborhoods in the next 10 years. PCSD will also receive $333,000 for operations.<BR/><BR/>Strong American Schools<BR/><BR/>Steering Board Who's Who<BR/><BR/>Roy Romer, the former governor of Colorado and a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, serves as chairman of the organization. <BR/><BR/>Marc S. Lampkin, the deputy campaign manager for the 2000 Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, acts as the executive director.<BR/><BR/>Strong American Schools / ED in 08 Steering Committee <BR/>Roy Romer <BR/>Chairman<BR/>Former Governor of Colorado<BR/>Former Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District<BR/> <BR/>Eli Broad <BR/>Founder, The Broad Foundations<BR/> <BR/>Allan Golston <BR/>President of U.S. Program, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation<BR/> <BR/>Janet Murguía <BR/>President and CEO, National Council of La Raza<BR/> <BR/>Louis Gerstner <BR/>Former CEO of IBM<BR/> <BR/>John Engler <BR/>Former Governor of Michigan<BR/>President of the National Association of Manufacturers<BR/> <BR/>Marc Lampkin <BR/>Executive DirectorAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983334520933101277.post-87658635511201214842008-05-12T03:38:00.000-07:002008-05-12T03:38:00.000-07:00Who directed Project 2061 and was with the AAAS? P...Who directed Project 2061 and was with the AAAS? Pinky Nelson, now project director for the MSP Grant of North Puget Sound and Director of SMATE at WWU.<BR/><BR/>http://www.project2061.org/publications/articles/articles/sacnas.htm<BR/><BR/>GN: That's another of the big challenges. I think today that the minority community is, in a large part, left out of this discussion and this is one of the reasons we purposefully called our description of literacy Science for All Americans. In the next century, we can't afford to have just a white male elite that's running the scientific community. Our notion is that by promoting literacy, universal literacy, for all students, that if everyone graduates from high school science literate, you're already increasing the pool for those who are actually going to go on and become scientists and engineers by an enormous amount.<BR/><BR/>SACNAS: What is Project 2061 specifically doing to address that isssue within the organization?<BR/><BR/>GN: Our goal is mostly focused on everybody, so we tend not to work specifically. We don't have a program, say, that's focused on Hispanic kids, but we try to work with those areas where the biggest need is. We're working with a lot of urban areas. And when you do that you're naturally getting those kids. So, we work in Philadelphia and San Antonio, San Francisco and San Diego.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com