Join GOOD for a community-based project bringing together education leaders from all sectors to define the critical variables of a successful school, and the best practices to bring these to life on a wide scale.

On August 19, 2010, we’ll kick-off this discussion with Randi Weingarten (President, American Federation of Teachers), Jordan Henry (Teacher, Santee Education Complex, UTLA House of Representatives, Member), Steve Barr (Founder of Green Dot), John Deasy (Deputy Superintendent LAUSD), and Allison Graff-Weisner (Executive Director, City Year LA). We’ll then dig into further detail with other thought leaders during workshops around these defined variables in the month of September.


Be sure to RSVP by August 13th: GOODeducationevents@gmail.com.

Jordan Henry has taught elementary school, middle school, high school, music, and violin in bilingual and English-only classrooms of Los Angeles since 1994. He has assumed numerous leadership roles in his school, union, district, and city, including as member of UTLA’s House of Representatives, LAUSD’s Teacher Effective Task Force, staff to LAUSD Board Member Marlene Canter, and Interim Executive Director of The Harmony Project. Jordan is an alumnus of Yale University, Teach For America, Americorps, the Henry Mancini Institute, and Coro Southern California, and resides in South Los Angeles with his family of four.

John Deasy is Deputy Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Previously, Dr. Deasy served as deputy director of education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, Dr. Deasy served as superintendent of the Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, where he earned a national reputation for his leadership in significantly narrowing the achievement gap between low-income and minority students and their peers. He also served as superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District in California, and Coventry Public Schools in Rhode Island. He has been an Aspen Fellow, a Broad Fellow, and an Annenberg Fellow. He has also spoken and written extensively on education and serves on numerous boards.

Allison Graff-Weisner, a Southern California native, serves as the Founding Executive Director of City Year Los Angeles. In 2006, she moved to Los Angeles to launch CYLA, leading the organization’s eighteenth site. Starting with 75 corps members in its founding year, CYLA has quickly grown to meet the needs of the region, expanding to 200 corps members in its fourth year. Prior to launching CYLA, Allison served as the national Alumni Director for City Year, Inc. Allison has worked at numerous community development and education organizations in the U.S. and abroad. After running parent involvement programs at 20 schools in the Bronx with Learning Leaders, an organization that engages 10,000 volunteers in New York City schools, Allison became a leader of the program department. Prior to Learning Leaders, she taught and ran an after-school program in Washington, D.C. during her year of national service with Public Allies. She currently serves on the Board of Advisors at the Drucker Institute and is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

  • Man’s dog suddenly becomes protective of his wife, Internet clocks the reason right away
    Dogs have impressive observational powers.Photo credit: Canva

    Reddit user Girlfriendhatesmefor’s three-year-old pitbull, Otis, had recently become overprotective of his wife. So he asked the online community if they knew what might be wrong with the dog.

    “A week or two ago, my wife got some sort of stomach bug,” the Reddit user wrote under the subreddit /r/dogs. “She was really nauseous and ill for about a week. Otis is very in tune with her emotions (we once got in a fight and she was upset, I swear he was staring daggers at me lol) and during this time didn’t even want to leave her to go on walks. We thought it was adorable!”

    His wife soon felt better, butthe dog’s behavior didn’t change.

    pregnancy signs, dogs and pregnancy, pitbull behavior, pet intuition, dog overprotection, Reddit stories, viral Reddit, dog instincts, canine emotions, dog owner tips
    Otis knew before they did. Canva

    Girlfriendhatesmefor began to fear that Otis’ behavior may be an early sign of an aggression issue or an indication that the dog was hurt or sick.

    So he threw a question out to fellow Reddit users: “Has anyone else’s dog suddenly developed attachment/aggression issues? Any and all advice appreciated, even if it’s that we’re being paranoid!”

    The most popular response to his thread was by ZZBC.

    Any chance your wife is pregnant?

    ZZBC | Reddit

    The potential news hit Girlfriendhatesmefor like a ton of bricks. A few days later, Girlfriendhatesmefor posted an update and ZZBC was right!

    “The wifey is pregnant!” the father-to-be wrote. “Otis is still being overprotective but it all makes sense now! Thanks for all the advice and kind words! Sorry for the delayed reply, I didn’t check back until just now!”

    Redditors responded with similar experiences.

    Anecdotal I know but I swear my dog knew I was pregnant before I was. He was super clingy (more than normal) and was always resting his head on my belly.

    realityisworse | Reddit

    So why do dogs get overprotective when someone is pregnant?

    Jeff Werber, PhD, president and chief veterinarian of the Century Veterinary Group in Los Angeles, told Health.com that “dogs can also smell the hormonal changes going on in a woman’s body at that time.” He added the dog may “not understand that this new scent of your skin and breath is caused by a developing baby, but they will know that something is different with you—which might cause them to be more curious or attentive.”

    The big lesson here is to listen to your pets and to ask questions when their behavior abruptly changes. They may be trying to tell you something, and the news may be life-changing.

    This article originally appeared last year.

  • Throughout history, women have stood up and fought to break down barriers imposed on them from stereotypes and societal expectations. The trailblazers in these photos made history and redefined what a woman could be. In doing so, they paved the way for future generations to stand up and continue to fight for equality.

  • ,

    Why mass shootings spawn conspiracy theories

    Mass shootings and conspiracy theories have a long history.

    While conspiracy theories are not limited to any topic, there is one type of event that seems particularly likely to spark them: mass shootings, typically defined as attacks in which a shooter kills at least four other people.

    When one person kills many others in a single incident, particularly when it seems random, people naturally seek out answers for why the tragedy happened. After all, if a mass shooting is random, anyone can be a target.

    Pointing to some nefarious plan by a powerful group – such as the government – can be more comforting than the idea that the attack was the result of a disturbed or mentally ill individual who obtained a firearm legally.


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