Sunday, March 16, 2008
Best Of The Week (December 10-15) Willing To Work For $125,000? 
This guy, Zeke Vanderhoek, will pay teachers $125K at a new school being set up in a poor Dominican part of Manhattan. (12) Comments

More Friday News:  (5) Comments, (8) Comments

Obama Education Funding Requests
You usually never see these things, but Obama released his today under pressure from Clinton and McCain and the press.(2) Comments

New Catalyst Issue Online 
School budget forecast: cloudy

Wednesday Morning News: (15) Comments

What To Do When Students Ask For Help? 
There's a scene in the HBO drama "The Wire" where a former student comes back to his old elementary student to see a favorite teacher and ask for help. (4) Comments

Who Is The "These Kids" Teacher At Dodge? 
The press is having a field day looking into Hillary Clinton's "red phone" 3 am ad -- first finding out that the little girl (now teenager) who is pictured in the ad is an Obama supporter, and now pointing out that some of Clinton's "experience" wasn't all that substantive ("Red Phone Moments" In Bosnia). (6) Comments

Questions About Obama & LSCs 
Want to help me with an article I'm researching on what Obama did or didn't do during the 1999 Vallas attempt to revamp the LSC law that was rebuffed?

"Potholes" Study Coming Out Today 
"This report reveals that a majority of Chicago Public Schools graduates—even those with top grades and test scores--do not successfully navigate the daunting process of enrolling in four-year colleges and too often default to schools for which they are overqualified. Latino students are most at risk of not enrolling in college. Many students are derailed by complex federal financial aid requirements." (5) Comments

Obama Gets Schooled 
I read Josh Pasternak's new article about Barack Obama's school reform credentials ( Reform School) with mixed feelings, not just because I'm working on my own Obama piece about his work in Chicago on education but also because I'm not sure Pasternak's analysis is altogether compelling.(1) Comments

New Trier Hack Job 
"The intent, according to investigators, was to obtain grades and ACT scores to determine class rank and share it with other students." (1) Comments

New Leaders Pats Itself On The Back -- Again 
I never got any response from New Leaders about their attrition rates -- and still wonder what the hell Erin Roche's mentor was doing for him at Ravenswood -- but it seems that New Leaders folks are all about the self-congratulations, and so they do have a new report out about "the patterns and techniques evident in low-income, urban public schools making dramatic gains in student achievement." (2) Comments

Great Debate In Chicago 
"The competition was part of the After-School All-Stars, a pilot program organized by Chicago Public Schools with help from the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues and the Chicago Debate League."

Announcement: Big Job - New Organization 
The attached nine-page PDF is as much an organizational statement as it is a job announcement.

Comings & Goings (Early Bird Preview) 
Just for fun, let's do it as a series of blind items. (18 comments)

A Peek Into Ren-10 
Here's the March Ren10 report, which always gives an interesting peek into the world of new schools.

PLUS:  Daily news, weekly blog roundups, and -- still -- lots of comments on the CTU and Special Ed issues.