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Friday, July 2, 2010

Children of accused spies confront identity crisis - Boston.com

Children of accused spies confront identity crisis - Boston.com

Children of accused spies confront identity crisis

Tim Foley, 20, left, and his brother Alex, 16, leave federal court after a bail hearing for their parents, Donald Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley, in Boston, on Thursday, July 1, 2010, who are among 11 people accused of trying to infiltrate U.S. policymaking circles.Tim Foley, 20, left, and his brother Alex, 16, leave federal court after a bail hearing for their parents, Donald Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley, in Boston, on Thursday, July 1, 2010, who are among 11 people accused of trying to infiltrate U.S. policymaking circles. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
By David B. Caruso
Associated Press Writer / July 2, 2010
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NEW YORK—Children often ask the question "Who am I?" as they come of age, but that's nothing like the identity crisis now confronting the sons and daughters of four couples accused of spying for Russia.
Over a turbulent week, at least some, and maybe all, have discovered that mom and dad are not who they said they were. The children's citizenship, family history, and even their very names have been called into question.
At least two children involved in the case, ages 1 and 3, will soon be headed for Russia.
Of the 11 people charged this week with being members of a Russian spy ring, eight were parents. Collectively, they are believed to have eight children,



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What Comes First? Teachers or Ed-Reform? � InterACT

What Comes First? Teachers or Ed-Reform? � InterACT

What Comes First? Teachers or Ed-Reform?

Yesterday, the House passed a bill by Congressman David R. Obey that would save 100,000 to 300,000 teaching jobs by cutting Race to the Top funds in the tune of $300 million. There have been lots of rumbles of both dissension and relief by those who keep up with the education reform debate.
One thing is clear, at least to teachers in the field: no reform will take place without actual teachers in place to implement it.
It might seem like common sense to state this, but there are those out there who feel saving teachers’ jobs is a ploy of the teachers union who only care about employment and tenure. I would disagree with this portrayal. Teaching, by definition, is about change and reform. Each day, each class even, presents an opportunity to reflect on the success of a lesson, and to ponder ways in which the lesson can be improved. I know teachers

Public education in CA: Calling for your forecast | The Education Report

Public education in CA: Calling for your forecast | The Education Report

Public education in CA: Calling for your forecast

By Katy Murphy
Friday, July 2nd, 2010 at 6:30 pm in budget, state news

Save our Schools rally in Livermore. (Bay Area News Group file photo)
I’m working on a project about school funding levels in California and what will happen — to class sizes, to teacher pay, to labor relations, to the quality of education – if the downward trend continues.
As usual, I could use your help.
I’m looking at how these cuts will hit some students harder than others, depending on where they live and what their needs are, especially in the lower grades.
I also wonder to what extent the more draconian reductions we’re seeing this year (kindergarten classes of 30 in some East Bay districts, such as Hayward, San Lorenzo and Mt. Diablo) will keep even more middle-class families in California from using the public schools. If that happens, the public school system could become even more segregated. Read the rest of this entry »

Media Advisories | U.S. Department of Education #education

Media Advisories | U.S. Department of Education

Media Advisories
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JULY 06, 2010

Assistant Deputy Secretary to Keynote Center for Social and Emotional Education's Annual Summer Institute

Kevin Jennings, assistant deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS), will keynote the Center for Social and Emotional Education's annual Summer Institute at 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 6, at Fordham University in New York City.
JULY 06, 2010

Assistant Secretary Brenda Dann-Messier to Discuss Workforce Development and Adult Education Policies in Capital Workforce Partners Roundtable Discussions

Dr. Brenda Dann-Messier, assistant secretary for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, will visit Capital Workforce Partners in Hartford, Conn. Tuesday, July 6. During her visit, Dr.

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Calhoun Falls Charter School

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Calhoun Falls Charter School

Much More & Much Less Than a Boss | Lefty Parent

Much More & Much Less Than a Boss | Lefty Parent

Much More & Much Less Than a Boss

Events happen every day reminding me that I am living in times of profound transition. A couple weeks ago something happened at my work that was a harbinger of a continuing cultural transition from hierarchy to a circle of equals, from patriarchy to partnership, from power-over to power-with, or from directive to facilitative leadership… however you want to frame it.

Schools Matter: Major Newspapers Ignore National Study Showing Charters No Better Than Public Schools

Schools Matter: Major Newspapers Ignore National Study Showing Charters No Better Than Public Schools

Major Newspapers Ignore National Study Showing Charters No Better Than Public Schools

It took the Washington Post almost 6 months and the New York Times 10 months to report any news of the national study in 2009 that showed the Obama charter solution as a policy loser even before it got steamrolling. It has rolled on, anyway. It will be interesting to see how long it will take the most recent large-scale research to get reported, another that shows again charters no better than the public schools.

So far, the Christian Science Monitor and the Washington Times are the only papers of any national prominence to print anything on the findings. From WT:
A study of middle school students in charter schools in 15 states has found that they generally

School Neighbors Asked To Help Prevent Fires, Vandalism Over Holiday Weekend - KTXL

School Neighbors Asked To Help Prevent Fires, Vandalism Over Holiday Weekend - KTXL

School Neighbors Should Be On Watch This Weekend

School Neighbors Should Be On Watch This Weekend
Sacramento, CA: Sacramento City Unified School District officials are asking community members to keep watch over neighborhood schools this long Fourth of July weekend to prevent costly fires or vandalism at local campuses.

"It's the worst weekend of the year for us," says Sgt. Vince Matranga, who oversees district security.

"We'll be out in force watching our schools but we need our neighbors to step up, too."

Vandals – mostly juveniles – typically cause about $7,000 in damage to district schools over the three-day holiday, Matranga says.

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Destruction can range from graffiti to broken windows to fires.

Last year, disaster was narrowly avoided when fireworks were thrown through a classroom window at John Bidwell Elementary School, he added. "The classroom could easily have caught on fire."

Ffireworks, matches and lighters, are not allowed on school property.

Neighbors who see the fireworks being lit at a school should

Schools Matter: In First Sign of Congressional Sanity on Education, RTTT Cut by $800 Million

Schools Matter: In First Sign of Congressional Sanity on Education, RTTT Cut by $800 Million

In First Sign of Congressional Sanity on Education, RTTT Cut by $800 Million

When the oligarchs cut a corporate welfare deal with Obama to spread their poisonous urban charter chain gangs across black and brown America, they did not count on pushback from a dumb Dem Congress. The House this week proves that there may be life still in a previously lifeless Body when it comes to education issues. Congratulations to those in the House who voted to make sure the sellout of American public schools may be slowed long enough for the mountain of research to be read by Congressional staffers. If the evidence against all the RTTT bribery is ever is read and digested, RTTT's unfair and ridiculous exclusionary BS will be

Eduflack: Around the Edu-Horn, July 2, 2010

Eduflack: Around the Edu-Horn, July 2, 2010

Around the Edu-Horn, July 2, 2010

RT @dorieturner Thomas Jefferson made slip in Declaration http://tinyurl.com/24hw6sj -- Say it ain't so, Tom!

Are boys in an academic crisis? http://sbne.ws/r/53XD (from ASCD)

PA signs onto Common Core -- http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10183/1069766-454.stm

The horror! GWU drops maid service for students -- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/02/maids

$13B in apps for $650M in available i3 money -- http://tinyurl.com/39a7syz

International Program Catches On in U.S. Schools - NYTimes.com

International Program Catches On in U.S. Schools - NYTimes.com

International Program Catches On in U.S. Schools




CUMBERLAND, Me. — SAT, ACT, A.P. ... I.B.?
The alphabet soup of college admissions is getting more complicated, as the International Baccalaureate, or I.B., grows in popularity as an alternative to the better-known Advanced Placement program.
The College Board’s A.P. program, which offers a long menu of single-subject courses, is still by far the most common option for giving students a head start on college work — and a potential edge in admissions. But the lesser-known I.B., a rigorous two-year curriculum developed in the 1960s at an international school in Switzerland, is now offered in more than 700 American high schools.
To earn an I.B. diploma, students must devote their full junior and senior year to the program, which requires English and another language, math, science, social science and art, plus a course on theory of knowledge, a 4,000-word essay, oral presentations and community service.
Here in Cumberland, Greely High School adopted the I.B. this year to ma

The Coveted but Elusive Summer Internship


Deidre Schoo for The New York Times
REDIRECTED Sarah Green’s internship trouble led to a change in plans.



IT’S been a rough summer so far for the Baltimore Orioles, Miley Cyrus and (it goes without saying) BP. Now, summer interns may have joined the list.
Stephanie Diani for The New York Times
LEARNING EXPERIENCE Emily Lennox interns at Smiling Planet in Marina del Rey, Calif.

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Between the sputtering economy and updated federal guidelines governing the employment of unpaid interns, many students have had a tougher time than they anticipated in landing résumé-enhancing experience this summer.
Tales of frustration abound. One junior at Penn State had his paid corporate internship offer revoked during the last week of classes this spring. A journalism student in Washington had to walk away from three internship opportunities because she wouldn’t receive academic credit. After an “awesome” internship at aventure capital firm last summer, a student in an M.B.A. program in Los Angeles struggled to find 15 hours a week of unpaid work this time around. And at ESPN, Howard Hamilton, a vice president of human resources, said that