Will We Ever Get Past Race and Class? It's the Profit Motive Behind It Stupid! #Education News.org

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EducationNews Today Will We Ever Get Past Race and Class? It's the Profit Motive Behind It Stupid! 7.29.10 - For the better part of a week, Washington has been consumed by the Shirley Sherrod pseudo-scandal, leading many pundits to ponder race relations in America circa 2010. A better indicator, however, might be the goings-on in Wake County, North Carolina, where civil rights advocates are angrily protesting the decision of a newly elected school board to end the education system's long-running busing program. Chicago Public Schools crackdown on cyberbullies 7.29.10 - Digitally placing classmates' heads onto other people's bodies, leaving abusive messages on Facebook profiles, e-mailing X-rated images and inciting violence via text message are all part of the modern school bully's arsenal, Chicago Public School officials say. ... Were some D.C. teachers fired based on flawed calculations? 7.29.10 - A professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, argues that D.C. Public Schools botched the calculations that were used to decide to fire some of the 241 teachers let go last week. ... Standards Raised, More Students Fail Tests 7.29.10 - The results indicated a dismal performance statewide, after years of significant gains. ... Expertise lost at crucial time 7.29.10 - GOVERNOR PATRICK has purged the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education of the two members who held the deepest suspicions of the newly-adopted national Common Core standards in math and English. On a number of other issues, ... Commentaries EYE ON THE PRIZE: KEEPING ALL STUDENTS SAFE 7.29.10 - Parents, parent advocates and self-advocates, attorneys, educators and medical/mental health professionals throughout the United States have been working for years to create federal legislation that would prohibit the use of seclusion and restraints throughout America's schools.

EdNews Reports Biological Psychiatry - Following the Money 7.29.10 - Beverly K. Eakman - Despite the public relations campaign aimed at "de-stigmatizing mental illness," scores of permanent, stereotyping labels are assigned to what are basically annoying habits: clicking a pen repeatedly (anxiety), talking fast (hysteria), repeating a favorite song over and over (obsessive-compulsive disorder), McREL report identifies what matters most to change the odds for student success 7.29.10 - Denver - A new report from McREL (Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning), a Denver-based nonprofit, nonpartisan education research organization, concludes that changing the odds for student success does not necessarily demand a wholesale reinvention of the system nor technology-driven innovation, but rather, a clear focus on simply doing what matters most for raising student achievement.