Favorite Education Blogs of 2008

Edwize is among the Washington Post's Favorite Education Blogs of 2008, courtesy of teacherken.

Webcomics Discussion Panel at STAPLE! 2008

I came to this panel on web comics from David Malki, whose Wondermark I love. It's hilarious and worth watching. Click the button and spend an hour laughing.

Open Left 12/4/2007

From Open Left:

Reading Liberally Page Turner: What Book To Give Your Conservative Uncle This Holiday Season

Well, O'Reilly is getting even more ballistic than usual, so y'know what that means - the holiday season is upon us. With the first night of Hanukkah this evening, with Christmas and Kwanzaa only a few weeks away, some of our minds turn to gift-giving. Namely, what to give to that conservative uncle/aunt/friend who constantly e-mails you conservative spam and turns every family get-together into a political referendum. Figuring that knowledge is power, we asked some of our favorite activists what book to give our favorite conservative this winter. Happy Holidays!

Steve Perez, United Federation of Teachers: I'll recommend Singularity Sky by Charles Stross. Three reasons: first, it's fiction, and I prefer that to a polemic. Second, it's a good book, funny and smart. Third, there's a lot of progressive science fiction being written, and IMO it doesn't get the attention it deserves.

Politicker 11/9/2007

From the Politicker:

Elsewhere: Clinton, Spitzer, Smiley

The UFT is heading to talks with the city next week about reducing paperwork for teachers.

Daily Kos 10/25/2007

From DailyKos:

Midday Open Thread
by MissLaura

In New York City's largest labor organizing drive since 1960, 28,000 home childcare workers joined the UFT. That's something for labor to celebrate.

The Albany Project 10/12/2007

Front page blog post at The Albany Project:

Bad News? We Don't Need No Stinking Bad News!
by: SteveUFT

[I hope this post proves interesting. It was written by Edwize blogger Leo Casey. This crosspost rearranges the original post for space considerations.]

The New York City Department of Education web site has had a dramatic facelift, with almost every new whistle and bell you could want.

If you want information and data on a school, you type the name into the conveniently located search engine, and it will take you to what is called a NYC DOE portal for that school. We searched Stuyvesant High School, and we were taken here. On the left hand side of the page there is a category "Statistics," and if you click on it, it takes you to a page that has all of the DOE's statistical reports. You can read the Stuyvesant High School's Learning Environment Survey, its Quality Review Report, its School Report Card, its Budget, its Weekly Attendance, its Register, its Expenditure Report, its Galaxy Budget Allocations, its Table of Organization [with budget allocation], and its Building and School Facilities Report.

Everything you could want to know, right?

Not if graduation rate is what you're looking for.

. . .

MyDD, Room 8, The Albany Project, Daily Gotham 10/9/2007

Blog post on the recommended list at MyDD:

Teachers Union Endorses Hillary Clinton
by SteveUFT

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president:

Acting on behalf of its more than 1.4 million members, the AFT executive council on Wednesday endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president, citing her proven ability to advance our nation's key priorities, and her bold plans for a stronger America.

"Our members have told us that they want a leader they can trust to strengthen public education, increase access to health care, promote commonsense economic priorities and secure America's place in the world," said AFT president Edward J. McElroy. "Hillary Clinton is that leader."

Chris Bowers at Open Left calls it, "the biggest endorsement of the campaign for me so far."

I know AFT people, both the teachers and the organizers. They are friends, family and colleagues. They are smart, extremely hard working, and also very progressive. I trust the decisions they make. If they decide to endorse Hillary Clinton, that means a lot to me . . . The AFT endorsement of Hillary Clinton improves my image of Hillary Clinton.

Here's coverage from TPM Election Central:

The drumbeat of good Hillary news just isn't stopping today: The latest is that she's picking up the endorsement of the American Federation of Teachers.

Garance Franke-Ruta at Tapped offers this analysis:

The move was long expected for three reasons: Clinton's historic commitment to and advocacy work around the education of children have given her deep relationships in the education community; the largest AFT affiliate is based in New York; and more than three-fourths of teachers are female.

Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic reports, "a union source says the vote for Hillary was 'overwhelming.'"

Liz Benjamin at Daily Politics looks at the timing:

The New York contingent, which is the largest state organization in the AFT, lobbied hard on the part of its "favorite daughter" - a status the union conferred on Clinton back in April - while Illinois, the second-largest, did the same on behalf of its designated "favorite son," Barack Obama.

The argument, Ianuzzi said, was less about whether Clinton should be the AFT's candidate, since 45 percent of the union's likely voters favor her, according to a poll conducted by Peter Hart Associates (Obama got 21, John Edwards received 13), and more about whether it would be more appropriate to delay the endorsement altogether to see if some other frontrunner emerges.

The Council isn't scheduled to meet again until February, Ianuzzi noted, by which point, at the rate things are going, the Democratic nomination contest could be good and over.

Additional coverage rounded up at Edwize.

Also on the front page at Room 8, The Albany Project, Daily Gotham.