Sunday, May 23, 2010

Put the Parent Voice back in Public Education! | Change.org

Put the Parent Voice back in Public Education!

Targeting: The President of the United States, The U.S. Senate and The U.S. House of Representatives

Secretary of Education Duncan's proposals to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) would take the parent voice out of public education, would encourage more test prep and narrowing of the curriculum, would lead to more privatization and inequities in funding, and would further undermine the quality of our public schools.

Parent leaders from across America have written a letter to the President and the US Congress, asking them to listen to parents, and enact real education reforms that have been proven to work, including requiring more parent involvement in decision-making and reducing class size.

We insist that the next version of the ESEA formally incorporates the views of public school parents. As highly knowledgeable primary stakeholders, we must be permitted to have a seat at the decision-making table.

The original letter is posted here. Please join us by signing the letter below! You can also personalize it, adding details about your own school or community. And then join our facebook page, Parents Across America.

Questions Over Children Fundraising In SF - cbs5.com

Questions Over Children Fundraising In SF

Reporting
Anna Werner
E-mail

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: A child selling snacks in downtown San Francisco.
CBS

The Wrong Stuff : Diane Ravitch on Being Wrong

Diane Ravitch on Being Wrong

Posted Monday, May 17, 2010 12:53 AM | By Kathryn Schulz

"We are in the grips of a kind of national madness," Diane Ravitch told me, "closing schools, firing teachers, shutting down public education." What makes this statement interesting is that, for many years, Ravitch was a powerful voice within the national education reform movement she now rejects as faddish, empirically unfounded, and bad for America's kids.

As assistant secretary of education under George H.W. Bush, Ravitch became an outspoken supporter of educational testing, school choice, charter schools, and No Child Left Behind. Later, she championed those positions as a member of the National Assessment Governing Board (the entity that oversees education testing in the United States) and through her involvement with two prominent conservative think tanks, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the Koret Task Force.

Today, Ravitch refers to the reforms she once championed as "deforms." Her new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, documents her own reversal and the impact of current education policy on communities, schools, families, teachers, and students. When I spoke with her, she was frank and thoughtful about the experience of coming to reject what were once some of her most deeply held beliefs. "For years," she told me, "people would say to me, ‘Well, I don't agree with everything you write,' and I would think, 'Thanks a lot, that's some compliment.' But now I say, ‘Well, I don't agree with everything I write, so why should you?' "

Thanks for agreeing to meet with me. Not everyone relishes talking about their mistakes.

This is something that I haven't really put into words, so I don't know if I'm going to get it

Mass. immigrant students to rally on military plan - Boston.com

LATEST EDUCATION NEWS WIRE UPDATES

Mass. immigrant students to rally on military plan (AP, 3:08 p.m.)
Justice Souter to speak at Harvard commencement(AP, 2:38 p.m.)
RI to submit new bid for federal education money (AP, 2:08 p.m.)
Cash-strapped districts cutting summer school (AP, 3:20 p.m.)
Federal judge to hear Conn graduation case Monday(AP, 12:48 p.m.)

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: White Hat Management

White Hat Management

by The Perimeter Primate

h/t C.G. & K.M.
White Hat Management has been accused of bribing public officials and corrupt financial practices. In May 2010, the boards of ten White Hat-managed charter schools in Ohio filed suit against their parent company.
White Hat is the largest for-profit charter school operator in Ohio and third largest nationwide. It operates more than 50 schools in six states under the auspices of three separate educational ventures.

DELA (Distance & Electronic Learning Academies) schools are “home-based distance learning model” schools located in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
HOPE Academies are tuition-free and are open to students in grades K-8 throughout the state of Ohio.
Life Skills Centers are alternative education charter schools serving students between the ages of 16 and

Cash-strapped districts cutting summer school

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, Associated Press Writer

Sunday, May 23, 2010

E-mail

Comments (0)

Font | Size:

0digg

MORE NEWS

As spill grows, oil soaks delicate marshes, birds 05.23.10
Iran spy chief says 3 jailed Americans are spies 05.23.10
Thai film 'Boonmee' wins top honor at Cannes fest 05.23.10

(05-23) 12:09 PDT Kansas City, Mo. (AP) --
Amber Bramble had to scramble to arrange summer plans for her 5- and 7-year-old daughters after their suburban Kansas City school district gutted its summer school program this spring.
Her daughters were among about 2,500 of the Raymore-Peculiar district's 6,000 students who enrolled for free last summer in a program that combined traditional subjects with enrichment classes like music. But with state funding uncertain, the district decided to focus this year on about 800 students who either need to make up credits to graduate or are struggling to keep up with classmates.
Across the country, districts are cutting summer school because it's just too expensive to keep. The cuts started when the recession began and have worsened, affecting more children and more essential programs that help struggling students.
And in districts like Raymore-Peculiar, although lawmakers ultimately decided to maintain summer school funding, they made the decision so late in the session that many administrators already had eliminated or scaled back the programs.
The cuts come even as President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan call for longer school days and shorter summer breaks. But in many states districts cutting summer school outnumber those using stimulus money to expand their offerings.
"At a time when we need to work harder to close achievement gaps and prepare every child for college and career, cutting summer school is the wrong way to go," Duncan said in a written statement. "These kids need more time, not less."
With the Raymore-Peculiar district trimming its program, Bramble's daughters were unable to participate.
"I think it gets them out of the rhythm," she said. "You lose the momentum."
An American Association of School Administrators survey found that 34 percent of respondents are considering eliminating summer school for the 2010-11 school year. That's a rate that has roughly doubled each year, from 8 percent in 2008-09 to 14 percent in 2009-10.
Noelle Ellerson, a public policy analyst for the group who managed the study, said the cuts illustrate how strapped school districts are.

Marijuana For A.D.D. Instead Of Adderal? - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Marijuana For A.D.D. Instead Of Adderal?

"Andrew, Weed Is Nothing Short Of A Miracle For Me"

A reader with a severe-sounding case of ADD writes in to Andrew Sullivan at his Daily Dish blog on The Atlantic's website:

"I'm a college student (should be writing my final paper right now, in fact), so there isn't any real stigma regarding smoking marijuana, but I do it for a much different reason than most of my friends. I'm 21 and I have rather severe Attention Deficit Disorder, something I've struggled with my entire life. The only medication that works for me at all is Adderall, which I think of as meth for rich people. However, while taking 25mg a day allows me to function normally as a student, it also makes me miserable . . ."

Check out the rest of his argument for a few tokes instead of "acceptable" prescription drugs:

". . . .Because of weed, I don't have to choose between being functional and feeling good. I don't like having to break the law, but as a well-off, clean-cut

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Pacific Collegiate Charter School

Pacific Collegiate Charter School

by The Perimeter Primate

h/t anonymous reader:

Pacific Collegiate Charter School in Santa Cruz, CA is highly ranked by Newsweek and USA Today for student performance. Critics charge that the school has never sought to address under-served and underachieving students. In a community with at 50% Hispanic population, PCS doesn't even register a single significant subgroup other than White (see Ed Data). It is widely held that the school skims top performing students from affluent families; performance results from the "who" not the "what". There is little innovation in the actual program other than it is AP intensive and requires parents to donate 40 hours/school year (and $3,000/student/year).
There is huge demand for lower grade openings; the annual lottery results in 400-500 applicants for as few as 50 open seats in the 7th-9th grades. However, attrition is rumored to be steep with

School for Arts in Learning

by The Perimeter Primate

h/t to a reader
Charter school pioneer gets FBI scrutiny: Posh living, finances eyed (The Washington Times, May 5, 2010)

Charter school pioneer L. Lawrence Riccio is known internationally as an influential voice for youths with disabilities, an innovator in special education and the arts. He's authored books, drives a Porsche, dines in style and travels abroad frequently.
But his vaunted standing was brought low by claims of malfeasance after he retired in June from the nonprofit group and arts-based charter school he headed in Washington, D.C., according to public records, educators and school board officials who have been questioned by the FBI and the District of Columbia's office of inspector general.
An independent auditor's report said that in the fall of 2008, the U.S. attorney's office issued a subpoena for school financial records related to Mr. Riccio's "alleged criminal activities." The report said the school he founded in 1998 — the School for Arts in Learning (SAIL) — was cooperating with the investigation.
A review by The Washington Times of records and interviews of more than a dozen people familiar with the investigation has exposed cracks in the fiscal oversight of the District's 57 public charter schools in a city known as the vanguard of the nation's charter school movement but with a history of unaccountability and shoddy oversight.
Questions also have surfaced over Mr. Riccio's suspected use of a school

Ross Global Academy

by The Perimeter Primate

Charter School at Tweed Probed for Test Tampering (NY Sun, June 2, 2008)

The city's Department of Education is investigating a charter school housed in its own headquarters building following an allegation that student scores on a state test were doctored.
The person accused of test-tampering, Stephanie Clagnaz, left abruptly as Ross Global Academy's principal in the middle of May. She is at least the fifth head of school to leave Ross Global since it was founded two years ago.

Palin issues "wake-up" call at DU Education - The Denver Post

Education - The Denver Post

Palin issues "wake-up" call at DU 805/22/2010With her trademark plain talk and pitch that bring roomfuls of loyalists to their feet, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin implored 3,500 people at the University of Denver on Saturday to "wake up" because, she said, "I can see November from my house."

Palin's message is more diffuse, but her star power's undiminished 1105/23/2010 - As a vice presidential hopeful two years ago, Sarah Palin drew passion and loyalty from the Republican base even before there was a Tea Party movement.

Colorado gets $17.4 million grant for data system to track student progress 505/22/2010 - Colorado's ability to win big-stakes education grants got a boost Friday when the federal government announced the state had been awarded $17.4 million to build a statewide education data system.

Chancellor of CU's Denver, Aurora campuses resigns 205/22/2010 - Dr. M. Roy Wilson, the chancellor of the University of Colorado campuses in Denver and Aurora, will resign from both positions effective June 30, university spokesman Ken McConnellogue said Friday.

DPS, teachers agree on contract05/21/2010 - Denver's teachers agreed to a delayed pay increase next school year and a pay freeze in 2011-12, according to the contract agreement reached between the district and union that was announced Thursday.

Race to the Top MoU RTTT MoU Arne Duncan governance

Race to the Top MoU

Race to the Top Memorandum of Understanding

SCUSD joins other CA Districts to win a portion of 700 million prize

How to Participate

For Round 2, California has formed a working group of six district superintendents who will work with consultants to craft the best Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) possible. The six districts are: Los Angeles Unified School District (USD), San Francisco USD, Long Beach USD, Fresno USD, Clovis USD, and Sanger USD. Together, they represent more than 1 million students in California.

RTTT MoU Arne Duncan governance

Latest News and Comment from Education

Sunday, May 23, 2010