Monday, March 29, 2010

Education | Gregoire signs K-12 education bills into law | Seattle Times Newspaper

Gregoire signs K-12 education bills into law

Gov. Chris Gregoire returned to her hometown high school Monday to sign into law a package of education bills, including a plan that could help the state compete for a slice of the Obama administration's $4.35 billion Race to the Top program.

By CURT WOODWARD

The Associated Press

AUBURN — Gov. Chris Gregoire returned to her hometown high school Monday to sign into law a package of education bills, including a plan that could help the state compete for a slice of the Obama administration's $4.35 billion Race to the Top program.

Other measures significantly increase the state's spending on public education, allow local officials to ask voters for more property tax money, and set up a new early learning program for preschool children.

After the bill-signing ceremony at Auburn High School, Gregoire praised the state for not giving up on improving public education — even though a severe fiscal downturn has crimped spending on many government programs.

"Today is a really defining moment in our state when it comes to education," said Gregoire, a Democrat. "Despite the fact we're in the worst recession in history, the Legislature and I have stood up to the challenge to create a world-class education system. So I'm very proud."

The education bills were among the last measures approved by the Democrat-led House and Senate at the end of the Legislature's 60-day regular session. Lawmakers are now entering the third week of a special

Gun violence takes another young life The Education Report

The Education Report

Gun violence takes another young life

By Katy Murphy
Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 1:26 pm in crime, students
1 Comment

Last Friday, I put what I thought would be the finishing touches on a story about all of the Oakland students who have been shot and killed since January 2009. But by Sunday morning, the piece was already one tragedy short of complete.

Eric Toscano, a Skyline High School senior who played on the football team, was celebrating his 18th birthday at home on Saturday night when bullets flew from a passing car. He died at Highland Hospital a few hours later, on Sunday morning. Three other teens were wounded. Toscano planned to go to college in the fall; his coach, Jamaal Kizziee, told me about the day he came by with news of his first acceptance letter.

The story was heartbreaking – and covering it, during a full-blown celebration of Oakland, was surreal: Read the rest of this entry »

What the Race to Top Judges' Scores Tell Us - Politics K-12 - Education Week

What the Race to Top Judges' Scores Tell Us

by Michele McNeil

Behind the overall scores for the Race to the Top applicants is a complicated 500-point grading scale that weighs each state's plan according to more than a dozen different categories. The peer reviewers' scores and comments shed more light on the method behind the Race to the Top scoring madness.
After a quick review of the 16 finalists' scoring charts, here are some highlights I picked up:
Why Delaware and Tennessee won—In addition to the reasons detailed here, it's clear in looking at the judges' scores that the full panel of five peer reviewers agreed these were strong applications, in all categories. There were no wild swings in which one peer reviewer awarded a state all points in one category, while another peer reviewer drastically disagreed and awarded low points. In Florida's scoring, by contrast, one peer reviewer thought the state's plan for turning around lowest-performing schools was worthy of a perfect score, or 50. Another peer reviewer thought it was worth only 30 points. In Colorado, there was a 42-point difference in how the peer reviewers individually scored the teacher- and principal-effectiveness category. (To arrive at a final score, the

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 3/29/10 | The California Hook Up

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 3/29/10 | The White House

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:

Teresa Takai, Nominee for Assistant Secretary (Networks and Information Integration), Department of Defense
Since December 2007, Teri Takai has served as Chief Information Officer for the State of California. As a member of the Governor's cabinet, she advises him on the strategic management and direction of information technology resources as the state works to modernize and transform the way California does business with its citizens. Prior to her appointment in California, Takai served as Director of the Michigan Department of Information Technology (MDIT) since 2003, where she also served as the state's Chief Information Officer. In this position, she restructured and consolidated Michigan's resources by merging the state's information technology into one centralized department to service 19 agencies and over 1,700 employees. Additionally, during her tenure at the MDIT, Takai led the state to being ranked number one four years in a row in digital government by the Center for Digital Government. Before serving in state government, Takai worked for the Ford Motor Company for 30 years, where she led the development of the company's information technology strategic plan. She also held positions in technology at EDS and Federal-Mogul Corporation. In 2005, Takai was named "Public Official of the Year" by Governing magazine. She is Past-President of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and currently serves as Practitioner Chair of the Harvard Policy Group on Network-Enabled Services and Government. Takai earned a Master of Arts degree in management and a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from the University of Michigan.

Vice President Biden Hosts Conference Call with Elected Officials to Discuss Recovery Act Implementation | The White House

Vice President Biden Hosts Conference Call with Elected Officials to Discuss Recovery Act Implementation

Earlier today, the Vice President hosted a conference call with Governors and a Mayor from across the country to discuss implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The following officials participated:

Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN)
Governor Martin O’Malley (D-MD)
Governor Bev Perdue (D-NC)
Mayor Adrian Fenty (D-DC)

Register Today for Veggie Chase 2010 — The Rancho Cordova Post

Register Today for Veggie Chase 2010

by MICHELLE VENTRESS on MARCH 29, 2010 · 0 COMMENTS

in LIFESTYLE, SPONSORED

Post image for Register Today for Veggie Chase 2010

If the phrase “Veggie Chase” makes you think of cartoon carrots chasing crowns of broccoli, you’re probably not alone. If instead, you think of an annual family running event, you’d be closer to the truth. In fact, the Veggie Chase will be held on Sunday, May 23rd in Hagan Park, Rancho Cordova. Everyone in the family is invited to attend and participate in the event appropriate for their age and fitness level.

Early registration for all Veggie Chase races ends on April 7th. Make sure you fill out all of your registration paperwork as early as possible because the Veggie Chase is likely to sell out. Registering before April 7 not only costs less (generally about half of what you’d pay on the day of the races), but it also gives you a much better chance of insuring your space in the race. There are a few different options to make registering as simple as possible. You can register online, in person, or by mail. For more information on registration for the Chase, please see the official website.

The Veggie Chase includes events for the entire family. Youngsters who are

GothamSchools - Breaking News and Analysis of the NYC Public Schools

New York loses in first round of Race to the Top; will reapply

by Maura Walz

New York State lost out on $700 million in federal Race to the Top money today, placing second to last and beating only the District of Columbia among the 16 finalists. Only two states, Delaware and Tennessee, won in the initial phase of competition for the coveted federal grants.

New York was not widely expected to be a first-round winner; even its advance to the final round of competition caught many observers by surprise. Today’s announcement will send state education officials back to the drafting table to refine their plan — and will likely re-ignite a legislative battle over the state’s teacher evaluation laws and cap on charter schools — before the June 1 deadline for the next round of competition.

In the 500-point scoring rubric federal officials used to judge applications, New York lost the greatest sha

QUICK Hits � The Quick and the Ed

The Everything-BUT-Race-to-the-Top Edition:

What’s for lunch? The School Lunch bill gets slimmed down in the Senate. (New York Times)

Should school leaders use social media to listen—even to people who AREN’T USING THEIR INSIDE VOICES? (AASA)

In tough budget times, is there a better way to lay off teachers? (The New Teacher Project)

Could these “power subs” come off the bench and, as Dickie Vee would say, turn into PTPers (prime time players)? (h/t SmartBrief)

Science ed. conference wrap-up and thoughts | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Science ed. conference wrap-up and thoughts

by Timothy Boyle on Mar 29 2010 Posted in Boyle's law

Tags:

science

I very much appreciated the opportunity to attend this year's National Science Teachers Association Conference. Meeting people from across the country facing the same challenges, while being innovative, was a good kick start in the midst of the long slog to the PSSA. Between the conference and reading Education Week's Technology Counts, I've been doing a lot of thinking about the state of my teaching, and the state of science teaching around me.

Some ideas I took away:

We as teachers (science and otherwise) have the expertise to give children a 21st century education right now. Connecting knowledgeable people is the obstacle.
Science educators want the measurement of our student's knowledge to matter as much as literacy or mathematics knowledge, but disagree on the worth of current assessment practices.
The skills the next and current generation of teachers will need to have are the ability to collaborate and the ability to facilitate student-led learning.
The concern over content knowledge of teachers should be secondary to

U.S. Names Education Grant Winners - NYTimes.com

U.S. Names Education Grant Winners

By SAM DILLON

Published: March 29, 2010

REPRINTS

Delaware and Tennessee beat out 38 other states and the District of Columbia to win a share of $4 billion in federal education grants, convincing the Obama administration that they have bold plans for overhauling their public school systems, an administration official said Monday.

The Department of Education said that Delaware would be awarded about $100 million and Tennessee about $500 million.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that both Delaware and Tennessee had won because they had gotten overwhelming statewide support from teachers, school districts and business leaders for comprehensive school improvement plans, and had written new laws to support their policies.

By announcing only two winners in the first round, Mr. Duncan held to his vow that only a small number of states with extremely bold plans would receive money in the Race to the Top competition, which aims to promote educational innovation by rewarding a few states for exemplary progress in areas President Obama considers crucial to education reform.

Georgia and Florida came in third and fourth in the competition, officials said.

The president’s goals include expanding the number and quality of charter schools, reworking outdated teacher evaluation systems, improving the sophistication of states’ student-data tracking systems and turning around thousands of the lowest-performing schools.

One highlight of Delaware’s proposal was a new state law that allows teachers rated as “ineffective for three years to be removed from the classroom, even if they have tenure, the department said.

Tennessee passed a new state law that will allow the state to intervene in failing schools

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Applauds U.S. Department of Education on Selection of Race to... -- WASHINGTON, March 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Applauds U.S. Department of Education on Selection of Race to the Top Winners

Delaware and Tennessee win Round One; both took steps to increase charter schools in their states

WASHINGTON, March 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is pleased to seeDelaware and Tennessee named as the two states awarded funding in Round One of the Race to the Top competition. Both have taken steps to remove barriers to charter school expansion, allowing families to have additional choices in public education.

"U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has kept his word about setting a 'very high bar' for the competition and sent a strong signal to every state hoping for success in Round Two," said Nelson Smith, president and CEO, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. "The message is clear: States that increase support for high-quality public charter schools have an important advantage in the competition."

Both of today's winning states have acted to expand charter schooling as a key component of systemic reform. However, Smith stressed, "Despite their progress, both states have some work to do if public charter schools are to fulfill their potential."

Delaware, which produced the strongest application in Round One, allowed the state's moratorium on the opening of any new charter schools to lapse in June 2009. It is now critical that Delaware make further improvements to its charter law, including creating additional authorizing options, ensuring equitable operational funding and providing equitable access to capital funding and facilities.

Tennessee enacted several improvements to its law in 2009. Among other enhancements, the state partially lifted its cap on charters and now allows low-income students to attend charter schools -- in addition to the original five categories of

The Best Sites For Creating Sentence Scrambles | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Larry Ferlazzo

The Best Sites For Creating Sentence Scrambles

Filed under best of the year, reading, teacher resources

Sentence scrambles — taking a sentence and mixing up the word order — are great activities for English Language Learners and native-English speakers alike. They’re good for regular practice, and also nice for competitive games. In the classroom, students can create their own, too. I’ve often had students pick several sentences from the book they’re reading, make up cards with all the words and punctuation marks, paper-clip each sentence together (not in order), and collect them. Then, I divide students in small groups, and each group gets ten or so of them to compete to see who can complete them all first correctly.

I’ve also used them one at a time for just a break from routine, and I’ve also created some for tests. It’s easy, though, to miss including a word

Delaware and Tennessee Get Round 1 Financial Bonus - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Delaware and Tennessee Get Round 1 Financial Bonus
By Michele McNeil on March 29, 2010 3:48 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
The Education Department has made an important change to Round 2 of the Race to the Top competition that has big—and not necessarily positive—implications for the remaining 47 states and D.C. if they plan to seek a share of the $3 billion or so still left.
In Round 2, Race to the Top awards will be capped at levels outlined in what originally were the Education Department's original nonbinding estimates. Those estimates will now be binding.
That means Round 1 winning states Delaware and Tennessee, in addition to bragging rights, got a financial bonus, too: Their grants are larger than they would have been under the new rules for Round 2. And they'll also be worth more per student than any state that wins in Round 2. In the first go-round, the department suggested that a state of Delaware's size could win up to $75 million, but it turns out the state is getting an additional $25 million. Tennessee's top-line budget estimate was $250 million, and the state is getting twice that

4-Day School Weeks: Headed to Your District?

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by Bob Ross
Topics: Education Issues Today

Peach County, Georgia, located in south-central Georgia, near Interstate 75 and Highway 49, was the last of 161 counties created in the state of Georgia in 1924. The county has a population of just under 24,000 people, a trifling amount compared to the 8.2 million in all of Georgia, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

Yet an interesting thing is happening in this small county that could affect the rest of Georgia, and perhaps other parts of the country: it switched to a four-day school week in response to a nearly $900,000 loss from the county's school budget.

The school system in Peach County is one of about 100 districts out of more than 15,000 throughout the country using a 4-day school week. Many of the rest of the schools on 4-day school weeks are in the rural West, but Peach County sits just a couple of hours south of Atlanta, a test case of sorts for Georgia, during a time when more and more school budgets are getting slashed throughout the country.

The idea of 4-day school weeks is not new. In fact, they have been around for decades, mostly in Western states like Wyoming and Idaho, as a way to fight rising energy prices. More recently, 4-day weeks are a growing trend in states like Colorado and Minnesota, and are being tested elsewhere in a handful of other states. Like Georgia.

Not many education experts think much of the idea of 4-day school weeks. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the second largest school

Wow. Seriously … Wow. � Student Activism

Wow. Seriously … Wow.

March 29, 2010 in Students

It’s not often that I come across a student protest action that’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard of before, but this is one of those days.

Last Wednesday student activists and others at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, a Canadian university some seventy miles northwest of Seattle, held a teach-out on “food democracy” and sustainability issues. There was music, a slate of speakers, pamphlets to read, and tea. At the end of the event the group planted a garden.

On the lawn.

In front of the library.

They ripped up the sod, built some raised beds, and planted a variety of vegetables and other native plants. They planted, they mulched, they