The HML Post 
 
 
Greetings!
 
Welcome to the February 17th, edition of the HML POST

Highlights of the 92nd annual Meeting of the HML, Click here.

Check out HML's Cornerstone on "FLIPBOARD."   (The public schools are the "Cornerstone" of our democracy.)
The Annual Meeting was held in Nashville, TN, on Friday, February 14th, at the Omni Hotel. Sixty-eight members and guests attended the meeting.  Awards:
 
Marion Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund was awarded the Outstanding Friend of Public Education.  (See Video)   The Children's Defense Fund's mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.
 
Larry Cuban, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University was awarded the Outstanding Public Educator Award
.  Larry is a former superintendent who taught and conducted research at Stanford University.
 
 
Julie Underwood, Dean of the School of Education a
t the University of Wisconsin-Madison was awarded the Friend of the Horace Mann League.
  Julie has been a leader in exposing the motives of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
 
 
Jeff Charbonneau
is the 2013 "National Teacher of the Year" and the featured speaker at the luncheon.  Jeff's talked about being a teacher and the importance of being a relationship builder.  Jeff teaches science at Zillah HS in Zillah, Washington. 
 

  

  

David Berliner Invites You to Try a Thought Experiment  by David Berliner 

Can you predict which state has high-performing schools and which state has low-performing schools?  Let's do a thought experiment. I will slowly parcel out data about two different states. Eventually, when you are nearly 100% certain of your choice, I want you to choose between them by identifying the state in which an average child is likely to be achieving better in school. But you have to be nearly 100% certain that you can make that choice.

  

 

Many school districts today use cloud computing to house information such as grades, attendance records, bus routes and health records. But most contract with a third-party vendor to house and manage the data, and - according to recent national surveys - vulnerability of student data is a real issue.
  

 

  

  

  

  

Large numbers of low-income children who begin formal schooling with many disadvantages - poor medical care, homelessness, an uneducated mother, for example - not only struggle with schoolwork but hurt the achievement of other children in their classrooms, according to a new study.
  

 

  

  

  

Recently, TB Fordham Institute released a report by AIR researcher Michael Hansen on "Rightsizing" the classroom. Hansen based his analysis on data from the state of North Carolina, using distributions of teacher value added scores and class sizes to derive conclusions about how "great" teachers could be given larger classes, thus reducing students exposed to "bad" teachers, leading to overall benefits in terms of student outcomes. 
 

  

 A Declaration of Independence from Corporatist/Behaviorist Education  by Diane Ravitch on the Diane Ravitch Blog.
When, in the course of a teaching career, it becomes essential to break from excessively rational beliefs and schemes and to begin thinking openly and freely, disregarding the dictatorial influences of political hacks, the insidious prodding of education gurus and the bleating of complacent peers, it is necessary that the thinking educator admonish the world with the whys and wherefores of their intended independence from those scourges of productive learning, Corporations and their Behaviorist lackeys.

  

 

 

Who 'Won' The Creation Vs. Evolution Debate?   by bill Chappell on N:R-The Two-Way Street.
Days after a wide-ranging debate on creationism and evolution between Bill Nye and Ken Ham, the event is driving an online conversation. Themes of belief and literalism, logic and faith - and, for some, relevance - are being aired and disputed. And some wonder what the debate accomplished.
 
 
 
 

See these and other related articles in the "Cornerstone" Internet magazine.

 

 


Reprinted with permission.
 
 
About Us
The Horace Mann League of the USA is an honorary society that promotes the ideals of Horace Mann by advocating for public education as the cornerstone of our democracy.

 

Officers:
President: Gary Marx, President, Center for Public Outreach, Vienna, VA
President-elect: Charles Fowler, Exec. Director, Suburban School Admin. Exter, HN
Vice President: Christine  Johns-Haines, Superintendent, Utica Community Schools, MI
1st Past President: Joe Hairston, President, Vision Unlimited, Reisterstown, MD
2nd Past President: Mark Edwards, Superintendent, Mooresville Graded Schools, NC

Directors:
Laurie Barron, Supt. of Schools, Evergreen School District, Kalispell , MT
Martha Bruckner, Supt., Council Bluffs Community Schools, IA
Evelyn Blose-Holman, (ret.) Superintendent, Bay Shore Schools, NY
Carol Choye, Instructor, Bank Street College, NY
Brent Clark, Exec. Dir., Illinois Assoc. of School Admin. IL
Linda Darling Hammond, Professor of Education, Stanford U. CA
James Harvey, Exec. Dir., Superintendents Roundtable, WA
Eric King, Superintendent, (Ret.) Muncie Public Schools, IN
Steven Ladd, Superintendent, Elk Grove Unified School District, Elk Grove, CA 
Barry Lynn, Exec. Dir., Americans United, Washington, DC
Kevin Maxwell, CEO, Prince George's County Schools, Upper Marlboro, MD
Stan Olson, Director, Silverback Learning, Boise, ID
Steven Webb, Supt. of Schools, Vancouver School District, WA

 

Executive Director:
Jack McKay, Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 
560 Rainier Lane, Port Ludlow, WA 98365 (360) 821 9877
 
To become a member of the HML, click here to download an application.