Sunday, January 3, 2010
Palm Beach County School District's profitable rental policy put to the test
"There's life after the last bell: On a recent Sunday, Oklahoma-based LifeChurch.tv's 9:30 a.m. service drew enough parishioners to fill the west side of Palm Beach Central High School's parking lot. Space rented from the high school may run five figures, but the school's state-of-the-art auditorium is a good fit with LifeChurch's JumboTron-like broadcast sermons and live music.
And when LifeChurch is shutting down its Sunday services and pulling its 26-foot trailer out of the Wellington school's parking lot, the Tabernacle Pentecost congregation's truck is pulling in.
'It can get interesting,' LifeChurch campus pastor Larry Mayer said of the back-to-back ministries.
That's not the half of it.
Soul line dancing. A poetry slam. Pre-kindergarten graduation. A Sweet Sixteen party, wedding reception, family reunion: Organizations ranging from tutoring franchises to the How Ya Livin ministry are leasing portables, fields and auditoriums, pouring millions of dollars into school district coffers — $3.6 million in the 2008-09 school year alone."
And when LifeChurch is shutting down its Sunday services and pulling its 26-foot trailer out of the Wellington school's parking lot, the Tabernacle Pentecost congregation's truck is pulling in.
'It can get interesting,' LifeChurch campus pastor Larry Mayer said of the back-to-back ministries.
That's not the half of it.
Soul line dancing. A poetry slam. Pre-kindergarten graduation. A Sweet Sixteen party, wedding reception, family reunion: Organizations ranging from tutoring franchises to the How Ya Livin ministry are leasing portables, fields and auditoriums, pouring millions of dollars into school district coffers — $3.6 million in the 2008-09 school year alone."
Kevin Huffman - The keys to a successful education system
Ten years ago, deep in the Rio Grande Valley, two 23-year-old Teach for America teachers opened an after-school tutoring program. Through sheer force of will, the program became a public charter school, housed on the second floor of a local church. Eventually, that school became a cluster of 12 schools, serving kids from Colonias -- communities so impoverished that some lack potable water.
IDEA College Prep graduated its first high school class in 2007 with 100 percent of the seniors headed to college. Last month, U.S. News and World Report ranked it No. 13 among America's public high schools.
"It's not magical resources," IDEA Principal Jeremy Beard told me. "It's the thinking around the problem. I have no control over what goes in on in the kids' Colonia. But we can create a culture. Kids here feel part of a family, part of a team, part of something special."
I have worked in education for most of the past 17 years, as a first-grade teacher, as an education lawyer and, currently, for Teach for America. I used to be married to the D.C. schools chancellor. And the views expressed here are mine alone. I tell the IDEA story because too often when we look at the sorry state of public education (on the most recent international benchmark exam conducted by the Program for International Student Assessment, U.S. high schoolers ranked 25th out of 30 industrialized nations in math and 24th in science) we believe the results are driven by factors beyond our control, such as funding and families. This leads to lethargy, which leads to inaction, which perpetuates a broken system that contributes to our economic decline.
Last year, McKinsey & Co. monetized the cost of our international achievement gap. Our education system's poor results cost the country $1.3 trillion to $2.3 trillion a year, it found -- as much as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the stimulus package combined. America cannot afford this kind of failure. We must make this the decade of education
Op-Ed Contributor - The Replacements - NYTimes.com
"TWO years ago, during lunch with a second-grade teacher in the Chicago area, I mentioned that I was going to substitute teach. The teacher — I’ll call him Dan — started into a story about his own experience with a substitute, which is easily summarized: Dan left a lesson plan; the sub didn’t follow it. So, he ended by asking, how hard can substitute teaching be?
I smiled, said nothing and bit into my Reuben.
Over the next two years, I would learn — as I subbed once a week for a variety of classes, including kindergarten, sixth grade, middle-school social studies, high-school chemistry, phys ed, art, Spanish, and English as a second language — that Dan’s story is standard teacher fare. Last time I heard it, though, I didn’t bite my sandwich or my tongue.
“Maggie,” a teacher in a Milwaukee public school, was talking about the difficulty of her job, which is something the teachers I know do quite a lot. Then she complained that her sub hadn’t completed the lesson plan she’d been given."
I smiled, said nothing and bit into my Reuben.
Over the next two years, I would learn — as I subbed once a week for a variety of classes, including kindergarten, sixth grade, middle-school social studies, high-school chemistry, phys ed, art, Spanish, and English as a second language — that Dan’s story is standard teacher fare. Last time I heard it, though, I didn’t bite my sandwich or my tongue.
“Maggie,” a teacher in a Milwaukee public school, was talking about the difficulty of her job, which is something the teachers I know do quite a lot. Then she complained that her sub hadn’t completed the lesson plan she’d been given."
Julia Steiny: We give kids the message: ‘We don’t want you.’ | Julia Steiny | projo.com | The Providence Journal
Julia Steiny: We give kids the message: ‘We don’t want you.’ | Julia Steiny | projo.com | The Providence Journal:
"Carson McCullers’ 1946 novel “The Member of the Wedding” is a haunting description of childhood loneliness. I knew the story first as a play and then as a heartbreaking movie with Julie Harris playing Frankie, a motherless 12-year-old, and Ethel Waters as Bernice, Frankie’s African-American caretaker.
Frankie is desperate to find “a we of me.”
Like many modern kids, Frankie’s loneliness is endemic to her life. The older neighborhood girls have not invited her into their new club, but Frankie’s loneliness is not just a bout of friendlessness such as happens to any of us, when we’re the new kid in town or the one who’s outgrown the old gang."
"Carson McCullers’ 1946 novel “The Member of the Wedding” is a haunting description of childhood loneliness. I knew the story first as a play and then as a heartbreaking movie with Julie Harris playing Frankie, a motherless 12-year-old, and Ethel Waters as Bernice, Frankie’s African-American caretaker.Frankie is desperate to find “a we of me.”
Like many modern kids, Frankie’s loneliness is endemic to her life. The older neighborhood girls have not invited her into their new club, but Frankie’s loneliness is not just a bout of friendlessness such as happens to any of us, when we’re the new kid in town or the one who’s outgrown the old gang."
Support education that makes a difference
Support education that makes a difference:
"In his powerful and eloquent Nobel Prize lecture, President Obama, exploring the chasm between our hopes for peace and the reality of war, exhorted his audience to continue striving for a just and peaceful world."
"We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The nonviolence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached - their fundamental faith in human progress - that must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey ...
"Let us reach for the world that ought to be," the president said.
Obama's speech was inspiring but short on details for those of us who don't control the levers of state. How do we "reach for the world that ought to be" in an era of airplane bombers with explosives in their underwear or shoes? What can the average citizen do to help bring about peace on earth and goodwill to all men (and women)?
Dr. Helene Gayle, who heads CARE USA, believes her Atlanta agency has one answer: build schools in the world's troubled regions, including Afghanistan. Educating children, including girls, helps to lift people from poverty, which, in turn, contributes to stability and peace.
Education is no peacemaking panacea, of course. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian suspected of attempting to blow up an American passenger jet on Christmas Day, is well educated, having grown up in a prosperous family. Similarly, Osama bin Laden grew up affluent and was given an education. Still, many experts on the developing world believe that only an educated citizenry can build the civil institutions that contribute to stability and respect for the rule of law.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/03/INKD1BATML.DTL&type=education#ixzz0bZJ3bxNg
"In his powerful and eloquent Nobel Prize lecture, President Obama, exploring the chasm between our hopes for peace and the reality of war, exhorted his audience to continue striving for a just and peaceful world.""We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The nonviolence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached - their fundamental faith in human progress - that must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey ...
"Let us reach for the world that ought to be," the president said.
Obama's speech was inspiring but short on details for those of us who don't control the levers of state. How do we "reach for the world that ought to be" in an era of airplane bombers with explosives in their underwear or shoes? What can the average citizen do to help bring about peace on earth and goodwill to all men (and women)?
Dr. Helene Gayle, who heads CARE USA, believes her Atlanta agency has one answer: build schools in the world's troubled regions, including Afghanistan. Educating children, including girls, helps to lift people from poverty, which, in turn, contributes to stability and peace.
Education is no peacemaking panacea, of course. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian suspected of attempting to blow up an American passenger jet on Christmas Day, is well educated, having grown up in a prosperous family. Similarly, Osama bin Laden grew up affluent and was given an education. Still, many experts on the developing world believe that only an educated citizenry can build the civil institutions that contribute to stability and respect for the rule of law.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/03/INKD1BATML.DTL&type=education#ixzz0bZJ3bxNg
O.C. Islamic Educational Center a target of anti-Muslim acts - latimes.com
"O.C. Islamic Educational Center a target of anti-Muslim acts
Costa Mesa police step up patrols after incidents at the center, including the burning of two copies of the Koran. The Muslim part of an interfaith display in Mission Viejo was defaced, a group says."
Costa Mesa police have stepped up patrols near the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County, the target of recent anti-Islamic acts including vandalism, hate mail and the burning of two copies of the Koran.
Vandals also recently defaced part of an outdoor interfaith holiday display in Mission Viejo, according to the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which denounced both acts as "incidents of anti-Islam hate targeting the local Muslim community."
The two incidents are thought to be unrelated but appear to be part of a recent uptick in anti-Muslim acts nationally, especially since the attempted terrorist bombing of a jetliner headed to Detroit on Christmas, council spokeswoman Munira Syeda said Saturday.
A burned and torn copy of the Koran was found in the parking lot at the educational center, on Airport Loop Drive, during Friday prayers. It was the second time in a month that a desecrated Koran had been found there, according to a statement on the Costa Mesa mosque's website.
"This deplorable incident is a form of anti-Islamic assault, hate crime and terror campaign against American Muslims," it read. "Even more, it is a great offense against 1.2 billion Muslim followers worldwide because it defiles their holiest and most sacred divine book."
Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Ed Everett said that his department has increased patrols in the area but that no arrests have been made.
Vandals also recently defaced part of an outdoor interfaith holiday display in Mission Viejo, according to the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which denounced both acts as "incidents of anti-Islam hate targeting the local Muslim community."
The two incidents are thought to be unrelated but appear to be part of a recent uptick in anti-Muslim acts nationally, especially since the attempted terrorist bombing of a jetliner headed to Detroit on Christmas, council spokeswoman Munira Syeda said Saturday.
A burned and torn copy of the Koran was found in the parking lot at the educational center, on Airport Loop Drive, during Friday prayers. It was the second time in a month that a desecrated Koran had been found there, according to a statement on the Costa Mesa mosque's website.
"This deplorable incident is a form of anti-Islamic assault, hate crime and terror campaign against American Muslims," it read. "Even more, it is a great offense against 1.2 billion Muslim followers worldwide because it defiles their holiest and most sacred divine book."
Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Ed Everett said that his department has increased patrols in the area but that no arrests have been made.
2010 Kentucky Legislative Preview | Education: Bill would clear way for charter schools | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal
"Allowing charter schools to operate in Kentucky and stronger consequences for the state's lowest-performing elementary, middle and high schools are two of the top education issues lawmakers are expected to grapple with this session.
Supporters of charter schools say they believe the momentum for the independent public schools is building because without legislation allowing them, Kentucky could lose out on up to $200million in federal stimulus money aimed at education reform and innovation.
.jpg)
Rep. Brad Montell, R-Shelbyville, and Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, have already pre-filed bills that would authorize charter schools in the state, but Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, the chairman of the House Education Committee, said he isn't convinced charter schools are what is best for Kentucky."
State regulations can require some changes at charter schools. If, for instance, St. Anthony's School in Indianapolis decides to move ahead with a proposal to become a charter school, religious symbols could no longer be displayed. (Indianapolis Star photo) .
Supporters of charter schools say they believe the momentum for the independent public schools is building because without legislation allowing them, Kentucky could lose out on up to $200million in federal stimulus money aimed at education reform and innovation.
.jpg)
Rep. Brad Montell, R-Shelbyville, and Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, have already pre-filed bills that would authorize charter schools in the state, but Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, the chairman of the House Education Committee, said he isn't convinced charter schools are what is best for Kentucky."
State regulations can require some changes at charter schools. If, for instance, St. Anthony's School in Indianapolis decides to move ahead with a proposal to become a charter school, religious symbols could no longer be displayed. (Indianapolis Star photo) .
Latino numbers surge at public universities | desmoinesregister.com | The Des Moines Register
"Ames, Ia. - Erika Bahamon, born to Colombian immigrants in southern Texas, had never seen so many white faces as when she showed up for classes at Iowa State University.
'So many blond people - I didn't know it was so common,' recalled a laughing Bahamon, now a 21-year-old senior majoring in pre-med.
It probably won't always be that way. Latinos are the fastest growing minority group on the campuses of ISU, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa, as they are in Iowa and the nation.
At this rate, there could be more Latinos on Iowa's college campuses than African-Americans or Asians within a few years."
'So many blond people - I didn't know it was so common,' recalled a laughing Bahamon, now a 21-year-old senior majoring in pre-med.
It probably won't always be that way. Latinos are the fastest growing minority group on the campuses of ISU, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa, as they are in Iowa and the nation.
At this rate, there could be more Latinos on Iowa's college campuses than African-Americans or Asians within a few years."
Ruben Navarrette: Brat-pack parents strike back - Pasadena Star-News
"After recently criticizing bratty students at the University of California for protesting a fee hike because they'd rather have taxpayers subsidize their educations, I should have expected to be attacked by a squadron of helicopter parents.
Those people get their name because they're so eager to protect their offspring against even the mildest insult or inconvenience that they constantly hover over them. They confuse love with smothering and tend to fight their children's battles. They push self-esteem, instead of self-sacrifice. They do all this because they figured out that it's easier to coddle your kids than to actually go to the trouble of rolling up your sleeves and raising them by teaching some values.
Many of them get carried away. Lik"
Those people get their name because they're so eager to protect their offspring against even the mildest insult or inconvenience that they constantly hover over them. They confuse love with smothering and tend to fight their children's battles. They push self-esteem, instead of self-sacrifice. They do all this because they figured out that it's easier to coddle your kids than to actually go to the trouble of rolling up your sleeves and raising them by teaching some values.
Many of them get carried away. Lik"
Seven Tepees helps build higher education foundation for youth
"San Francisco Unified School District’s high school curricular program has been an amalgamation of bits and pieces and was defined by the individual schools themselves. This left a gap between what was taught in high school and what was needed to enter a four-year university.
The requirements to enter college are known as A-G. According to Coleman Advocates, “70 percent of Black, Latino and Pacific Islander students who graduate from SFUSD are denied the opportunity to even apply to a CSU or UC school because they lacked the required ‘A-G’ courses.”
Over the last year, Coleman joined forces with hundreds of parent and youth members to work with SFSUD personnel to pass a policy requiring all high schools provide the A-G courses needed. Collectively, they mobilized 3,000 postcards from parents, youth and community members demonstrating the broad support for the passage of the policy. San Francisco School Board passed the policy on May 26 and starting with the class of 2014, all high school students will take A-G coursework."
The requirements to enter college are known as A-G. According to Coleman Advocates, “70 percent of Black, Latino and Pacific Islander students who graduate from SFUSD are denied the opportunity to even apply to a CSU or UC school because they lacked the required ‘A-G’ courses.”
Over the last year, Coleman joined forces with hundreds of parent and youth members to work with SFSUD personnel to pass a policy requiring all high schools provide the A-G courses needed. Collectively, they mobilized 3,000 postcards from parents, youth and community members demonstrating the broad support for the passage of the policy. San Francisco School Board passed the policy on May 26 and starting with the class of 2014, all high school students will take A-G coursework."
How California produces bad news - Press-Telegram
When it comes to describing the true source of California's current troubles, one of the late, great cartoonist Walt Kelly's swamp-dwelling characters may have said it best: "We have met the enemy and he is us," declared Pogo in 1971.
He could have been lamenting the irresponsible way we Californians have spent this state into a deep hole over the last 30 years.
Each depredation seemed laudable enough in its time - from passing mandatory prison sentencing laws by large margins to okaying virtually all bond issues proposed on statewide ballots.
Here's some of the bleak picture:
California - once the paragon of smooth roads - now has the second worst pavement conditions in America, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Road Information Program. Its latest report says this state spends $11 billion a year less than what's needed to maintain good roads.
State prisons are so overcrowded courts repeatedly find they violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. As many as 40,000 prisoners may have to be released in the next year.
California's public university systems have unprecedented numbers of qualified applicants for admission at the same time they're reducing student slots. They'll turn away about 150,000 qualified people this year. This amounts to all but abandoning the state's 50-year-old master plan for higher education.
California now has about $89 billion in long-term bond
How to help California / Removing conditions attached to federal funds an excellent idea - SignOnSanDiego.com
How to help California / Removing conditions attached to federal funds an excellent idea - SignOnSanDiego.com:
"We’ve confirmed that there’s going to be an intriguing wrinkle in the 2010-11 budget proposal that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will unveil later this month: a request to the federal government that it reduce the strings it attaches to billions of dollars in stimulus aid it has already committed to provide to struggling states.
As first reported by Josh Barro on the RealClearMarkets.com Web site, the governor wants President Barack Obama and Congress to eliminate the requirement that stimulus dollars be used to maintain existing service levels in programs getting federal support. This prevents California from changing its Medicaid eligibility rules, which are generous, and from reducing Medicaid services to core medical care, omitting such relative luxuries as acupuncture and chiropractic. There is no good reason why California should spend twice as much per-capita on Medicaid as Nevada."
As first reported by Josh Barro on the RealClearMarkets.com Web site, the governor wants President Barack Obama and Congress to eliminate the requirement that stimulus dollars be used to maintain existing service levels in programs getting federal support. This prevents California from changing its Medicaid eligibility rules, which are generous, and from reducing Medicaid services to core medical care, omitting such relative luxuries as acupuncture and chiropractic. There is no good reason why California should spend twice as much per-capita on Medicaid as Nevada."
The Seminal � What happened to education politics?
"Introduction: Autonomous political organizations and educational politics
Of recent I’ve put forth a number of diaries discussing the need for autonomous political organizations. An autonomous political organization would be able to be able to create a class coalition, to unite the poor to demand a fair share of the economic pie. An autonomous political organization would not care much about whether President Obama were an accomplished leader or a corporate shill, preferring instead to make up its own mind about policy regardless of what Obama thinks about any particular issue. An autonomous political organization, then, would be independent of the 'Veal Pen' by which political organizations are constrained to avoid controversy.
Here I’m going to recommend that, if we are to have an autonomous political organization, it would best be advised to take a position on educational politics, in opposition to the corporate use of the public schools as a cash cow."
Of recent I’ve put forth a number of diaries discussing the need for autonomous political organizations. An autonomous political organization would be able to be able to create a class coalition, to unite the poor to demand a fair share of the economic pie. An autonomous political organization would not care much about whether President Obama were an accomplished leader or a corporate shill, preferring instead to make up its own mind about policy regardless of what Obama thinks about any particular issue. An autonomous political organization, then, would be independent of the 'Veal Pen' by which political organizations are constrained to avoid controversy.
Here I’m going to recommend that, if we are to have an autonomous political organization, it would best be advised to take a position on educational politics, in opposition to the corporate use of the public schools as a cash cow."
Higher education in California should better reflect the times - latimes.com
Higher education in California should better reflect the times - latimes.com
Higher education in California should better reflect the times
As the crisis persists, it's time for a new master plan that would streamline curriculum, bring funding in line with students' ability to pay and put UC, Cal State and community colleges in sync.
California's Master Plan for Higher Education is history. State officials and politicians don't want to admit it, but it's true. Blame it on a severe recession, a dysfunctional state government or tax-phobic voters, the result is the same. Contrary to the plan's vaunted goal, every high school graduate does not have the option of receiving an affordable, high-quality education.
This year's budget cuts were the deepest in the higher education system's history, and projections of continuing deficits promise even more. But California still needs a public option for education. The University of California, the Cal State system and community colleges are major creators of economic wealth, and their graduates are the future drivers of growth.
What to do? We need a new Master Plan for Higher Education that acknowledges a withering state role even as the demand for an educated workforce grows.
When the state adopted the original plan in 1960, higher education was commonly thought to occur on leafy campuses that trained individuals in distinctive curricula and academic specialties. Classes were offered at fixed times and places, and learning proceeded at the same pace for one and all.
The plan's four basic assumptions reflected this reality:
* High school education was separate from the higher education
This year's budget cuts were the deepest in the higher education system's history, and projections of continuing deficits promise even more. But California still needs a public option for education. The University of California, the Cal State system and community colleges are major creators of economic wealth, and their graduates are the future drivers of growth.
What to do? We need a new Master Plan for Higher Education that acknowledges a withering state role even as the demand for an educated workforce grows.
When the state adopted the original plan in 1960, higher education was commonly thought to occur on leafy campuses that trained individuals in distinctive curricula and academic specialties. Classes were offered at fixed times and places, and learning proceeded at the same pace for one and all.
The plan's four basic assumptions reflected this reality:
* High school education was separate from the higher education
What’s your college major? No more philosophy or classics | Get Schooled
What’s your college major? No more philosophy or classics | Get Schooled
What’s your college major? No more philosophy or classics
As a parent of two college students pursing liberal arts degrees, I wonder about their job prospects and whether their areas of study will have any relevance to what they end up doing.
There seems to a change under way in the perceived role of colleges. While it used to be that we saw higher ed as providing an education for life, we now seem to want it to provide an education for careers.It was enough that college taught students how to think; now students want to learn how to do something.
A New York Times story says a lot of parents and students are concerned about the relevance question in this bleak job market. But even before the economy tanked, students were becoming more interested in majors that would help them secure jobs.
In response, colleges are dropping long-standing majors that no longer appeal to goal-oriented students, including philosophy and classical studies
According to the Times
2010: More Budget Pain For California
"During last summer's fiscal crisis, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger borrowed the title of a film classic to describe California's budget, saying it contained 'the good, the bad and the ugly.'
He was referring to welfare reforms and the streamlining of state boards that he was able to broker, along with deep spending cuts for schools, health care programs for the poor and AIDS-prevention efforts.
All that's left in 2010 is the ugly.
The nation's most populous state faces a nearly $21 billion shortfall over the next 18 months, a deficit that comes after years of making deep cuts in core state programs."
He was referring to welfare reforms and the streamlining of state boards that he was able to broker, along with deep spending cuts for schools, health care programs for the poor and AIDS-prevention efforts.
All that's left in 2010 is the ugly.
The nation's most populous state faces a nearly $21 billion shortfall over the next 18 months, a deficit that comes after years of making deep cuts in core state programs."
Shutdowns in region leave parents scrambling to find alternatives - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee
"After the economy caused her daughter's preschool to contract and close, Amy Peterson-Mar was faced with several tough questions.
Would she be able to find affordable care? Should she look for a center near her home or near her job? And how would she break the news to Elspeth, known to everyone but the folks who printed her birth certificate as 'Beanie'?
In the end, Peterson-Mar said, she found a family care home that would work for a while and 'we told (Beanie) she was going to camp.'"
Would she be able to find affordable care? Should she look for a center near her home or near her job? And how would she break the news to Elspeth, known to everyone but the folks who printed her birth certificate as 'Beanie'?
In the end, Peterson-Mar said, she found a family care home that would work for a while and 'we told (Beanie) she was going to camp.'"