Sunday, May 2, 2010

So My Kids’ Generation Wants to Live a Balanced Life | Lefty Parent

So My Kids’ Generation Wants to Live a Balanced Life | Lefty Parent

So My Kids’ Generation Wants to Live a Balanced Life

by Cooper Zale

America is a country shaped in many ways, for better and for worse, by Calvinist principles, both religious and secular (see my piece “American Calvin”). Perhaps the most persistent of these principles is the conventional wisdom that work is good for the soul, more work is better, and a failure to buy into this regimen is a severe moral failing. Our country was built on the hard work of individuals, not by “idle hands”. But a recent study by www.livescience.com, shows that my kids’ Millennial generation is more inclined to “work to live” and live a balanced life than my own Baby Boomer comrades.

According to this article summarizing the study the results suggest that…

Large generational gaps exist, particularly when it comes to work attitudes. The findings reveal young people just entering the workforce, often called GenMe or Millennials, are more likely than

at

Schools Matter: The Truth About "Tenure" in Colorado

Schools Matter: The Truth About "Tenure" in Colorado

The Truth About "Tenure" in Colorado

by Jim Horn
Tomorrow Colorado legislators decide whether or not they will bamboozled by corporate education's billionaire boys' club to disrespect and demoralize Colorado teachers once again. Here's some facts to consider from an op-ed in the Durango Herald News:
What makes a good teacher? Is it longevity, popularity, education or good test scores? Denver politicians are trying to tell the people of Colorado that there is only one answer: test scores. Senate Bill 191 would deny or remove “tenure" from teachers whose evaluations did not demonstrate student academic growth as evidenced by standardized tests such as the Colorado Student Assessment Program.
Most of the controversy and misinformation surrounding this bill comes from the term “tenure." It
at

BRIEF: Database: Compare employee benefit costs at California school districts

BRIEF: Database: Compare employee benefit costs at California school districts

BRIEF: Database: Compare employee benefit costs at California school districts

May 02, 2010 (The Sacramento Bee - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Sacramento region's two largest school districts -- Elk Grove Unified and Sacramento City Unified -- both saw employee benefit costs per student increase more than 50 percent during the last five years, nearly double the statewide rate of growth. Both also pay more per student on employee benefits than the statewide average of $1,750.


This database shows 1) employee benefit costs per student last school year for every district in the state and 2) the percentage of every district's revenue spent on employee benefits.

Click here to load this Caspio Bridge DataPage.




Source: California Department of Education via Ed-Data Education Data Partnership To see more of The Sacramento Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
at

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - A War of Words Against the Achievement Gap

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - A War of Words Against the Achievement Gap

A War of Words Against the Achievement Gap

Print
Font Size:
Default font size
Larger font size

  • Sam Hodgson
    Marshall Elementary fifth-grade teacher Tara Malm leads her class in a unique vocabulary lesson.

Sam HodgsonFifth-grader Jasmine Fisher works on a vocabulary exercise.

    Related Links

    Posted: Sunday, May 2, 2010 3:48 pm | Updated: 4:06 pm, Sun May 2, 2010.
    By EMILY ALPERT
    The dictionary was out of sight as Tara Malm quizzed her fifth grade class about vocabulary. The kids had already learned one meaning of "critical" -- careful and thoughtful deliberation, as in "critical thinking." But Malm asked them where else they'd heard the word and what else it might mean.
    "Oh!" exclaimed 12-year-old Latrell Judge. "Sometimes after a movie comes out there are critics."
    Slowly the kids cobbled together that a critic is someone who judges things, so being critical could mean judging things. Malm took it a step further and explained that more specifically, it means when someone believes that people or things are bad.
    "Like Simon Cowell on American Idol," Latrell added.
    "That's a good example," Malm said.
    Another student raised her hand. "What about a critical injury?" she asked.
    "Yes!" Malm said. "What's a critical injury?"
    "A serious injury."
    And the class figured out that "critical" could also mean "very important."
    As they grapple with new words, Latrell and his classmates at Marshall Elementary are part of an unusual experiment in San Diego Unified. The City Heights school is one of two dozen elementary and middle schools testing a new and potentially powerful way to teach vocabulary that aims to conquer part of the achievement gap between children from poor homes and wealthy ones.
    at

    The Education Report Big decision Monday for Oakland teachers

    The Education Report

    Big decision Monday for Oakland teachers

    By Katy Murphy
    Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 at 3:48 pm in OEA, strike, teachers, union contract
    4 Comments »
    At a 4 p.m. membership meeting tomorrow at Oakland Technical High School, teachers will take an important vote: whether to authorize an extended strike. As of this afternoon, the meeting has not been prominently featured on the Oakland Education Association’s website, though I saw fliers promoting it on strike day.
    Union leaders met Friday evening to determine the substance of tomorrow’s secret ballot and whether it would include strike authorization. My attempts to reach OEA President Betty-Olson Jones by phone that night and the next day were unsuccessful, but fortunately I saw her last night at the Oakland Museum of California reopening. (I love cornering sources while they’re out trying to enjoy themselves…)
    • Share/Bookmark
    Leave a comment

    A teacher strike, in pictures

    By Katy Murphy
    Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 5:36 pm in OEA, strike, teachers, union contract
    36 Comments »
    Oakland Tribune photographers D. Ross Cameron and Lane Hartwell chronicled this out-of-the-ordinary day. You can find their slideshow here.
    Strike day rally at Oakland City Hall
    • Share/Bookmark
    at

    The problem with RttT and Its ilk… | Reflections on Teaching

    The problem with RttT and Its ilk… | Reflections on Teaching

    The problem with RttT and Its ilk…

    by alicemercer
    I’ll warn you that this post does reflect some bitterness on my part. While my own situation is settling, I can’t help but realize most of the madness I’ve lived through in just the last two months (I really can’t believe it’s only been two, it feels like ages since this mess started) came about because of larger policy decisions that have been made in the last year, and I can’t see things getting any better until they are addressed.
    What’s wrong with RttT? First, we’ll start with the fact that it takes the core duplicity of NCLB, holding schools and districts “accountable” for improving student performance on tests without ever providing full-funding for the program to a whole new level. Rather than screwing over everyone, by shorting them on resources they need to affect change, it picks and chooses some to shower in money, and some to leave to the benign neglect of their state’s budget process. It’s a slight of hand worthy of a Nigerian email con-artist. In order to apply for these grants you need to change state rules, and laws to implement the policies the federal government would like states to follow in education and education reform. This doesn’t guarantee you ANY money, it’s just the foot in
    at

    Dear Millennials: Your Parents Lied To You - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

    Dear Millennials: Your Parents Lied To You - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

    Dear Millennials: Your Parents Lied To You

    by CJW
    (Millennials, often called Generation Y, or Gen Y, were generally born between 1978 and 1995 - ages 14 through 31 - and make up the largest and fastest growing segment in the workforce today. You may know them as your...
    Continue Reading at The Daily Riff

    FamilyBeach.jpg
    (Millennials, often called Generation Y, or Gen Y, were generally born between 1978 and 1995 - ages 14 through 31 - and make up the largest and fastest growing segment in the workforce today.   You may know them as your students, teachers or parents.  Let us know if this scenario sounds familiar! - Ed. Note)
    at

    At Potter-Thomas, change the only constant | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

    At Potter-Thomas, change the only constant | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

    At Potter-Thomas, change the only constant

    by Gustavo Martínez on May 02 2010
    For the past eight years at Potter Thomas Elementary School, the only constant has been change.
    As a low-performing school, it was turned over toEdison Schools in 2002. But because it made little improvement, it was taken away from Edison in 2008.
    During and after Edison’s tenure, Potter-Thomas has had a total of six principals. This year, parents finally got one they liked and who seemed to be making a difference. Since Dywonne Davis-Harris came in September, there has been a palpable change in school climate and a renewed focus on academics.
    “With this new principal, we have seen an improvement overall, even in the behavior of the students,” said Guadalupe Tovar, who has three children at the school.
    But now, as a designated Renaissance School, Potter Thomas is facing yet another upheaval, just as parents thought they had found some stability. The school is in line to be matched with one of five possible outside providers – all of which would convert the school into a charter.
    Parents – the school is 95 percent low-income and 78 percent Latino – are worried about what becoming a charter will mean.
    “Now there’s resources for parents and kids,” said Elizabeth Álvarez, whose
    at