Tuesday, April 27, 2010
EducationCEO's Blog
If reading is FUNdamental, what happened to the fun?
April 27, 2010
As the school year draws to a close (for those of us in the South), I wanted to revisit something I tweeted months ago: The school’s new reading program stinks! This is not just one of my usual rants. I have witnessed first-hand my girls’ waning interest in reading for 20 and 40 minutes each night (kindergartener and 3rd grader). And I am not happy about this. More importantly, I honestly think they feel the program sucks too (no coercing from me)! DISCLAIMER: If you do not believe in rewarding kids, I suggest you stop reading NOW! Also, when you go into work tomorrow, tell your boss that you will work for free for the remainder of the year….yeah, I thought so.
Elk Grove Citizen : First furlough day Friday for secondary grades 7-12
First furlough day Friday for secondary grades 7-12
The first furlough day for Elk Grove Unified School District under the agreement with the teachers’ union will be Friday for grades seven through 12.
All classes will have two furlough days for the balance of the 2009-2010 school year.
The next furlough day for the secondary schools will be May 14.
Alternative schools, grade seven-12, will also be closed on April 30.
All classes will have two furlough days for the balance of the 2009-2010 school year.
The next furlough day for the secondary schools will be May 14.
Alternative schools, grade seven-12, will also be closed on April 30.
Oregon political leaders greet Chinese official sponsoring Mandarin instruction in Oregon | OregonLive.com
Oregon political leaders greet Chinese official sponsoring Mandarin instruction in Oregon
By Richard Read, The Oregonian
April 27, 2010, 6:06PM
Official Portland took pains to welcome a ranking government representative from China Tuesday whose agency is helping Oregon launch Chinese-language classes in several schools statewide.Mayor Sam Adams, Portland State University administrators and Royal Rosarians greeted Xu Lin, China's top official for spreading Chinese language and culture worldwide. China and Portland are moving beyond Adams' recent declaration of a Tibetan awareness day that irked Beijing, which regards Tibet as an integral part of the People's Republic of China.
Xu, a member of China's powerful State Council, runs an agency calledHanban, which has an expanding network of 282 institutes in 90 countries. The Confucius Institutes, including one at PSU and another at the University of Oregon, sponsor classes, lectures, teacher training and other programs. Hanban's mission resembles that of Spain's Instituto Cervantes or Germany's Goethe Institut -- and of the U.S. Information Service, a federal
Will Portland high schools be big enough for the job? City and suburban educators say yes
Superintendent Carole Smith was seeking a way to raise all high school enrollments to 1,350, but chose a less-drastic plan. Planners had said high schools with just 1,000 students are too small. Now they're back-pedaling, and leaders of successful large high schools say small ones can work
Benson High students hold rally, protest changes to their school
Hundreds of Benson High students walked out of classes Tuesday to protest plans to convert their school from a four-year school to a two-year program.
Remainders: State says tests are harder, teachers have doubts | GothamSchools
Remainders: State says tests are harder, teachers have doubts
- On average, student retention at NYC charter schools is lower than at district schools.
- Alan Chartock, a union member and father of SUNY’s Jonas Chartock, weighs in on the charter debate.
- Analyzing his students’ exam reading passages, Ruben Brosbe finds many are below grade level.
- State education officials said the tests would be harder this year, but Miss Eyre doesn’t buy it.
- Thousands of New Jersey high school students staged a walk out to protest school budget cuts.
- Only half of the city’s public high schools have student newspapers, in the Bronx it’s 32 percent.
- Aaron Pallas: charters don’t necessarily improve minority students’ acceptance rates to top high schools.
- About 30 students zoned for P.S. 234 may end up being bused to schools with open seats in Chinatown.
- Ed Money Watch says more federal funding should go to states that have spent their stabilization funds.
- Diane Ravitch: No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top are worse for students than bad teachers are.
- Summer’s coming fast and InsideSchools has tips on how to get your child a summer job.
- You can’t change your school’s administration, but you can change how you deal with it, writes a teacher.
- Chicago’s school chief is putting more pressure on principals to raise their students’ test scores.
- And a judge finds that Cincinnati’s school board violated open meetings law
MICHELLE RENEE - Founder, Rock to Stop Violence The Women’s Conference
MICHELLE RENEE - Founder, Rock to Stop Violence
Michelle Renee, Founder, Rock to Stop Violence
After my daughter and I survived a home invasion kidnapping and being held hostage for 14 hours as part of a bank robbery scheme, returning to my 13 year executive banking career was not an option. I began searching my heart for a way to combine my love for music with my passion for educating others about the realities of violence, abuse and trauma for women and girls. The answer: Rock To Stop Violence (www.rocktostop.org), an organization that brings the community together for non-violence through rock & roll music, art, and fashion.
Passion alone, however, doesn’t equal success. Without action, patience, and the right team, your passion will not develop into a profitable venture.
Here are my top five must do’s to help you be a take charge, live your dream, make a positive difference success:
- Take Personal Inventory: Make personal choices with healthy self-loving boundaries using my five favorite boundary setting words, “that doesn’t work for me.” Take personal inventory and cut out any personal drama and doubters and develop a successful personal infrastructure first.
- Don’t Treat Your Business Like Pasta: You have heard the old saying “throw everything up against the wall until something sticks” right? Great for pasta, not great for business. Before you begin to develop your business plan, develop a vision. Spend 10 minutes each day picturing what you want your business to look like, feel like, the type of people you want working with you, and how you see yourself operating it. Stick to your vision and adopt a “see” it before making it happen habit.
- Avoid Super Woman Syndrome: When I first started out I was a one super woman show. When I had finally attracted the world famous House of Blues and Rady Children’s Hospital Foundation as supporters for my second annual event, I had to learn to
Local News | 18 state schools to share in federal improvement grants | Seattle Times Newspaper
18 state schools to share in federal improvement grants
Eighteen schools in Washington state will receive large federal grants, part of a $3.5 billion effort to overhaul the nation's lowest-performing schools.
Seattle Times education reporter
Information online
For a full list of 18 schools that received one of the federal grants, see "What's New" at
Eighteen schools in Washington state will receive large federal grants, part of a $3.5 billion effort to overhaul the nation's lowest-performing schools.
Forty-one Washington schools applied for the three-year awards, but there wasn't enough money for all of them. Together, the 41 schools asked for $49 million for the 2010-11 school year. Washington state will receive only $50 million total for three years.
To win one of the federal grants, school districts had to agree to make one of four major changes at each school: close it; replace its principal and at least half its staff; turn it into a charter school; or "transform" it. The latter has a number of requirements such as tougher teacher evaluations.
All the winning Washington schools will use the "transform" option, except three of Tacoma's middle schools. One of those is closing, and two others will replace its principal and at least half its staff.
For the first year of the grant, Seattle Public Schools will receive $2.1 million for three schools: Cleveland High, Hawthorne Elementary and West Seattle Elementary. The Highline School District will receive $1.8 million for Cascade and Chinook middle schools. Marysville School District will receive $2.1 million for Totem
KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMESUniversity of Washington President Mark Emmert, right, greets Peter McPherson, president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, at the Seattle conference of Western college leaders on Monday. The UW gathering was one of five being held around the U.S. this month. Read story
A cry for help from higher ed
College leaders from this state aren't alone in trying to figure out how to navigate a massive erosion in public funding for their institutions. On Monday, leaders from about 30 colleges in the Western United States met at the University of Washington to strategize about how to "reset" their finances.
UPDATE - 5:06 PM
- Statement from UW President Mark Emmert (PDF)
- Gallery | UW President Emmert leaves for NCAA
- NCAA news release
- What the NCAA does
- Statement from UW Board of Regents Chair Herb Simon
- USA Today | Who else was in the running
Past UW presidents
In the past 50 years, seven men have led the University of Washington.
Oregon Institute of Technology named one of 10 best green study programs | OregonLive.com
Oregon Institute of Technology named one of 10 best green study programs
By Eric Mortenson, The Oregonian
April 27, 2010, 4:37PM
Oregon Institute of Technology, which powers its Klamath Falls campus with geothermal heat, has been selected to a list of the schools that offer the best "green" study programs.WiseChoice, an on-line college guidance service, included OIT's Renewable Energy program among its top 10 list of programs. The course of study includes alternative fuels, windpower and geothermal heat. Graduates find jobs with utility companies, consulting firms, manufacturers and government agencies.
Earlier this month, OIT fired up the first geothermal combined heat and power plant in Oregon, and the only geothermal electric plant operating in the state. It has a capacity of 280 kilowatts using existing wells on the
Sherwood School District names Redmond administrator new superintendent
Heather Cordie, assistant superintendent in the Redmond School District, will replace Dan Jamison who will step down June 30.
Who knows the ocean? Oregon's Neah-Kah-Nie High does
The team from a small high school in coastal Rockaway Beach wins seventh place among hundreds of U.S. high schools in an ocean sciences competition
Lincoln High Constitution Team stars in national competition
Portland's Lincoln High represented Oregon in the national finals of the "We the People" competition in Washington, D.C. Lincoln's constitution team is mostly sophomores.
Marshall would close, Benson become a career-tech center under Portland's high school plan
The depth and scope of the changes are less than some advocates had hoped and many parents had feared.
NorthJersey.com: Students walkout to protest state of Englewood School District finances
Students walkout to protest state of Englewood School District finances
NORTHERN VALLEY SUBURBANITE
NEWS EDITOR
ENGLEWOOD – Hundreds of Dwight Morrow High School students took part in a walkout Tuesday morning showing their displeasure with the state of the district’s budget. Voters rejected the tax levy increase in the April 20 election.
The demonstration, which was organized through Facebook and forwarded text messages, began around 8:15 a.m. after homeroom and lasted until around 10 a.m. when education leaders asked the students to return inside.
Students held up signs asking motorists to honk in support of their education. Cheers rang out from the crowd each time a horn sounded.
Freshman Chanel Ortiz believed the rally was important.
"It’s good for everybody to participate in this because we really need this for our school and we really care about everything. We want a better education for us," she said. "We just need money for our school."
Students said even this year money has been tight and they have to bring paper to use the district printers. They were concerned about keeping events such as prom and trips, saying certain trips have already been canceled because of budget constraints.
Class size was another big issue on students’ minds. They worry about the quality of learning in larger classes.
ELIZABETH LARA/THE RECORD
Buy this photoDwight Morrow High School students hold signs April 27 encouraging motorists on Knickerbocker Road in Englewood to honk in support of their efforts protesting the state of the district budget.
Students held up signs asking motorists to honk in support of their education. Cheers rang out from the crowd each time a horn sounded.
Freshman Chanel Ortiz believed the rally was important.
"It’s good for everybody to participate in this because we really need this for our school and we really care about everything. We want a better education for us," she said. "We just need money for our school."
Students said even this year money has been tight and they have to bring paper to use the district printers. They were concerned about keeping events such as prom and trips, saying certain trips have already been canceled because of budget constraints.
Class size was another big issue on students’ minds. They worry about the quality of learning in larger classes.
• Gov's office to protesting NJ students: Stay in classrooms todaySTATE HOUSE BUREAU
• Tests put graduation of students 'at risk' HERALD NEWS
Education - ContraCostaTimes.com
Education - ContraCostaTimes.com
EducationContraCostaTimes.com
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