Sunday, June 6, 2010

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: U.S. “Fethullahci” charter schools

U.S. “Fethullahci” charter schools

by The Perimeter Primate

This is a list of 97 publicly-funded charter schools which are likely to be missionary schools started by followers of Fetullah Gülen, a controversial Turkish imam currently living in Pennsylvania. The operation of these schools is discreet and amorphous. There is no formal, visible umbrella organization that officially links them together in the way that is typical with very large EMOs like Imagine, White Hat, or KIPP.

As you search through the content on the schools’ Web sites, you will notice there are extremely strong visual similarities with a subset of these supposedly-unrelated schools on their Web site designs and school logos (intersecting ellipses).Most importantly, the Gülen-connected schools always share the same following characteristics:

Emphasis on math, science, computers and robotics

The Perimeter Primate: The U.S. “Fethullahci” schools, sometimes locally known as Turkish-run charter schools

The U.S. “Fethullahci” schools, sometimes locally known as Turkish-run charter schools

by The Perimeter Primate

Blog U.: Wal-Mart University? Really? - Confessions of a Community College Dean - Inside Higher Ed

Wal-Mart University? Really?
By Dean Dad June 6, 2010 9:36 pm

I take a week off from blogging, and Wal-Mart announces that it's entering higher education! I can't leave you people alone for one minute...
Anyway, it appears that Wal-Mart is entering into an agreement with the American Public University system -- which is for-profit, not public -- to offer its employees a group rate on any of several online degrees. Wal-Mart has a history of hiring from within, but many of its front-line staff don't have the educational background to move up, so this is a way for the company to grow its own.
A little quick research revealed that American Public University is an entirely online operation with a history of specializing in serving military personnel. (The system is comprised of American Military University and American Public University.) That may explain why its "arts and humanities" offerings include "air warfare" and "civil war studies" but not, say, poli sci. It's regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association, which is the same agency that accredits the University of Michigan and Northwestern. (It's also the agency that accredits the University of Phoenix and DeVry.) As such, it's eligible for Federal financial aid, and its students will have a legitimate expectation of transfer credit, should they try.
This is a bit of an inkblot test for commenters, so without tipping my hand overly much, a few opening thoughts.
- Even with the discount, the cost to the student for an Associate's degree is still higher than

Portland Superintendent Carole Smith adds security, orders dialer for Skyline School | OregonLive.com

Portland Superintendent Carole Smith adds security, orders dialer for Skyline School

By Nicole Dungca, The Oregonian

June 06, 2010, 6:24PM

Kyron Horman

The Oregonian's continuing coverage of missing second-grader Kyron Horman.

In response to Kyron Horman's Friday disappearance from Skyline School, all K-8 schools within Portland Public Schools will start using automated dialer systems to notify parents when students are absent without preapproval, Superintendent Carole Smith announced Sunday.

She also said two additional school resource officers would be assigned to help monitor Skyline's security starting today.

Until now, Skyline School officials did not generally call home concerning absences, said Portland schools spokesman Matt Shelby.

"It's a really small school," Shelby said. "They know their students and usually they know the reason for the absence."

Personal calls for parental notification will be used until the automated system is in place at Skyline, which will likely take about a week, Smith said.

Currently, 37 out of 57 elementary and K-8 schools in the district use the dialing system, which is already in use at all of the district's middle and high schools.

Shelby said the automated dialer system was first primarily used for truancy, which typically is not a significant problem at elementary and K-8 schools.

During a briefing across the road from Skyline School, which is in hilly, unincorporated Multnomah County about 16 miles west of downtown

Philanthrocapitalism: after the goldrush | openDemocracy

Philanthrocapitalism: after the goldrush

Michael Edwards, 20 March 2008

Subjects:

The application of business principles to the world of civil society and social change has fashion, wealth, power and celebrity behind it. But where is the evidence that "philanthrocapitalism" works, and are there better ways to achieve urgently needed global social progress? It's time to end the hype and start the debate, says Michael Edwards

(This article was first published on 19 March 2008)

About the author

Michael Edwards is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action, in New York, and the author of Small Change: Why Business Won't Save the World. He was formerly a director at the Ford Foundation. His website is www.futurepositive.org

It's indisputable that something genuinely important is stirring in the world of philanthropy - a movement to harness the power of business and the market to the goals of social change, what Matthew Bishop calls "philanthrocapitalism".

There is justifiable excitement about the possibilities for progress in global health, agriculture and access to micro-credit among the poor that have been stimulated by huge investments from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative and others. Philanthrocapitalism should certainly help to extend access to useful goods and services, and it has a positive role to play in strengthening important areas of civil-society capacity. These are surely good things, so why have I written a book -Just Another Emperor? The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism(Demos/Young Foundation, March 2008) - that challenges the increasing influence

Blog U.: Learning Technologists and Campus Conversations - Technology and Learning - Inside Higher Ed

Learning Technologists and Campus Conversations
By Joshua Kim June 6, 2010 8:52 pm

'"The idea of a "senior learning technologist" telling faculty that their syllabi should be made freely available is laughable."
--Posted by DrRingDing on June 3, 2010 at 11:30am EDT in a comment to my blog.
On this point, DrRingDing and I are in full agreement. Nobody should "tell" faculty how to do anything. The vast majority of the faculty that I work with are incredibly dedicated and passionate about teaching and their discipline. One of the positives of the long academic apprenticeship is that most of the faculty colleagues that I work with have extraordinary teaching experience - they have their 10,000 hours. I always learn more from my faculty colleagues than I could possibly offer them about teaching.
The idea that learning technologists "tell" faculty members anything completely mischaracterizes our relationship. Our goal is to find opportunities to have conversations with faculty to understand how we can work with them to solve their teaching needs. It is often the case that a specific methodology or technology can relieve a teaching pain point, allowing the faculty member more time and resources for their course design and teaching efforts.

Robert Healy, longtime Globe reporter, editor dies - Boston.com

Robert Healy, longtime Globe reporter, editor dies

June 6, 2010

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BOSTON—The Boston Globe says Robert L. Healy, a longtime reporter and editor who is credited with kicking the gun from the hand of Sirhan Sirhan, Sen. Robert Kennedy's assassin, has died of a stroke at his home in Jupiter, Fla. He was 84.

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Healy, who died Saturday, was executive editor, the news operation's second-highest post, Washington bureau chief, political editor and columnist.

The Globe says Healy was the last reporter to speak to Kennedy the night of his death in June 1968 and that he kicked the gun from Sirhan after the assassin was wrestled to the floor of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

During World War II, Healy served in the Army Air Corps and flew in bombing missions over Germany.

Memo to College Applicants: You’re Just a Number � The Quick and the Ed

Memo to College Applicants: You’re Just a Number

The admissions and financial aid offices of Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA gave access for a Washington Post reporter to write a revealing look at the college admissions process nowadays. Using a process called “enrollment management,” Ursinus, and similar colleges and universities across the country, are raising their published prices in order to “manage” who they let in and how much they should pay. Ursinus breaks down each applicant using standardized formulas based on high school grades, SAT or ACT scores, the family’s income, and a few soft variables like whether the student has visited the college or met with a recruiter. Then, after labeling a student a one (for students with a high test score and high school rank), two, or three, Ursinus chooses whether to offer the student admission and, if so, how much they should get in financial aid. The article makes it clear that Ursinus is trending away from a need-based financial aid process in favor of “merit.” In getting to watch the proces

SCUSD DAC Bylaw Revision Subcommittee Reports Out District Advisory Council Bylaws

District Advisory Council Bylaws

Dear DAC,

The attachment for the bylaws contains the following edits to the May 11 presentation. These changes were suggested by members and the legal review and help with clarity. They have been reviewed by the Executive Board and do not represent substantive changes. It is proposed that suggestions for substantive change to either the revised or certified bylaws be addressed by the amendment process next year.

Article II (Purpose) "Board of Trustees" is changed to "Board of Education".

Article III, Section B, 2 (Members) has "Members may not vote." added.

Article IV, Section G, 1 (Officers, President) is reworded to read: "The president shall serve on the Bylaws Committee." with the "and" deleted.

Article V, Section B (Conference Items) is reworded to change "conference" to "discussion" and has "to allow further discussion by SSCs as desired" added to the first sentence. An “s” is deleted from “meetings”.

Article IX (Amendments) has “of authority” deleted.

The attachment for the officers vote contains the following changes to the May 11 presentation. These changes are advised by the Executive Board and will be voted on June 8th.

June 8^th Election Procedures

1. Candidates must be present on date of election. Write ins may be nominated at this time. (added)

4. DAC representatives from each school, district department, public organization or community agency will receive one paper ballot per represented group.

(Change from “DAC representatives who are recorded on this year’s attendance signups and present will receive one paper ballot per represented group.”)

The comparison attachment presents the highlights of the changes from the current certified bylaws to the proposed revised bylaws.

The amendments attachment presents one possible approach to implementing the substantive changes suggested by the legal review by the district’s outside counsel.

Respectfully submitted,

Léo Bennett-Cauchon

Blog U.: Paying for College, Sometimes With Blood - Mama PhD - Inside Higher Ed

Paying for College, Sometimes With Blood
By Susan O'Doherty June 6, 2010 6:15 pm

Ann Larson’s recent IHE column, in which she dissects the popular idea that that a college education is the key to upward mobility for lower-income Americans, resonated for me in a personal way, because I have two nephews who joined the military after they ran out of money for college tuition. One, in the National Guard, spent a year in Iraq and could be called up again. The other will have shipped out to Afghanistan when this column is posted.
Both are highly intelligent young men who made what seem to a fond and panicked aunt to be foolish decisions based on false assumptions, though they would tell you otherwise. Our politics are very different, but neither joined up out of a fervent desire to further a political cause. It was a trade-off, in both cases: service in return for educational support. And because they are honorable people, they are prepared to give their lives to fulfill their end of the agreement.
Larson discusses the case of “Valerie,” who immigrated from Haiti with the dream of attending college, and is now saddled with student-loan debts she is unlikely to ever be able to pay off given the jobs available to her. A recent NYT article describes a middle-class family in a similar economic situation. My nephews, like many other young people, saw the military as an alternative to a life that is crippled by either crushing debt or limited vocational opportunities. But, Larson argues,
The issue of college payoff becomes even more complicated when we consider that many

Slideshow: Commencement ceremony at National Hispanic University in San Jose - San Jose Mercury News

Slideshow: Commencement ceremony at National Hispanic University in San Jose

National Hispanic University held a commencement ceremony for about 150 graduates - ranging in age from 20 to nearly 60 -- Saturday at the school's San Jose campus. Six students addressed the cheering crowd of relatives and friends, paying tribute to the sacrifices of immigrant parents, support from spouses and children, or describing long journeys to receiving their diplomas. Entertainer Linda Ronstadt delivered the keynote address and was given an honorary doctorate. NHU was founded in 1981 and around 500 students, attend classes there. The school recently announced it has joined Laureate International Universities network.

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