School Tech Connect: The Alamo For Sanity

School Tech Connect: The Alamo For Sanity

The Alamo For Sanity

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

Roland Burris

I had a nice note from Senator Roland Burris today; I'm not going to post it because it appears not to be boilerplate. Nobody wants to write to a constituent who's just going to post every little thing. I sent him a letter when I was still mortified about the food stamp swap-out in the recent EduStarve bill.

I like Roland Burris. He's a decent man. If he were on the ballot in the next election, I'd vote for him. But his letter to me had more than one gulp of Kool-

L.A. Times Prints Cheap Shot At Teachers | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

L.A. Times Prints Cheap Shot At Teachers | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

L.A. Times Prints Cheap Shot At Teachers

Filed under school reform

The Los Angeles Times today published what I think is an incredibly “cheap shot” at teachers today headlined “Grading The Teachers: Who’s teaching L.A.’s kids?”

The paper collected data from student test scores on teachers in the district, put them in a data base on the newspaper site, and identified the supposed “value-added” increase each teacher provided. The article itself also highlighted — by name and photo — supposedly “effective” and “ineffective” teachers.

The Times could have chosen to write an article examining the

Pupil Survey of Instruction (SB 1422) � SCUSD Observer

Pupil Survey of Instruction (SB 1422) � SCUSD Observer

SCUSD Observer

Pupil Survey of Instruction (SB 1422)

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What is SB1422? Is it a way for students to effectively get their teachers fired? A tool for teachers to pick out the students who harbor animosity towards them? Or is it simply a useless and unneeded piece of legislation.

In fact, SB1422 is none of these things. Rather, it is a way for students statewide to provide anonymous feedback to their teachers, without the risk of negative repercussions on the part of the teacher. With this bill in place, teachers would also have the ability to choose whether or not they participate in their school’s program, and then would be allowed to choose if their results are kept private or made public.

To be more specific, “This bill would authorize the student government of a school maintaining any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, to establish a committee of pupils and teachers to develop a survey by which pupils may

Back-to-school Fla. sales tax holiday starts - Boston.com

Back-to-school Fla. sales tax holiday starts - Boston.com

Back-to-school Fla. sales tax holiday starts

By Annie Greenberg

Associated Press Writer / August 13, 2010

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SUNRISE, Fla.—Francesca Tillem took the day off from work Friday to shop during Florida's back-to-school sales tax holiday, pushing a huge shopping cart alongside her two daughters.

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"I'm getting everything today. I got here at 10 a.m. and will stay here until they close," Tillem, 45, said at Sawgrass Mills Mall in Sunrise.

"I have to get polos for their school uniforms, sneakers, shoes, underwear, everything," she said of her shopping experience with her children, who will be starting the sixth and eighth grades.

The tax break, which started at 12:01 a.m. Friday and runs through midnight Sunday, lifts the state's 6 percent sales tax on many school supplies priced les

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Federal Funds Boost California Jobs Budget Goals, Republicans Risk Throwing Away $1.2 Billion in Aid | California Progress Report

Federal Funds Boost California Jobs Budget Goals, Republicans Risk Throwing Away $1.2 Billion in Aid | California Progress Report

Federal Funds Boost California Jobs Budget Goals, Republicans Risk Throwing Away $1.2 Billion in Aid

by kaldveer

By Assemblymember Nancy Skinner
SACRAMENTO – In this Democratic weekly address, Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) thanks the President and Congress for advancing comprehensive legislation to save jobs but notes analysis from the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office shows the Governor’s budget proposal, which Republican leaders support, risks making California schools ineligible for $1.2 billion set aside in the federal legislation to keep California teachers on the job.
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‘We Have to Reach Further Than the Classroom'

‘We Have to Reach Further Than the Classroom'

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  Sam Hodgson

  Bill Freeman is the new president of the San Diego Education Association.
  

Posted: Friday, August 13, 2010 2:31 pm | Updated: 11:09 pm, Fri Aug 13, 2010.

While he was a lieutenant colonel in the Army, Bill Freeman mentored middle and high schoolers. But when he retired, he decided he needed to start earlier, in elementary school.

Freeman took up a second career and taught for a dozen years at Porter Elementary in Lincoln Park, drawing on his experiences growing up "not wealthy" in Waco, Texas. Last year, he was honored as Elementary Teacher of the Year. This year, he was elected as the new teachers union president, replacing Camille Zombro.

We joined him over coffee on his first

Tough solutions for high school truancy rate

Tough solutions for high school truancy rate

Tough solutions for high school truancy rate

San Francisco's Truancy Reduction Initiative has been a success - albeit a qualified one. Over the past three-plus years, the program...

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More college students mentally ill, study shows

The number of college students who are afflicted with a serious mental illness is rising, according to data presented Thursday at the...

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UC, postdoctoral researchers achieve labor pact

The fighting is over between the University of California and its staff of 6,500 highly educated but low-wage postdoctoral researchers...

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Require kindergarteners to be 5 by Sept. 1

When you think back to kindergarten, you probably remember finger painting, listening to stories, playing in the sandbox and nap time...

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Dropout-prevention program reinstated for Tolleson district

Dropout-prevention program reinstated for Tolleson district

by Megan Gordon - Aug. 14, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Tolleson Union High School District's dropout-prevention program, Jobs for Arizona's Graduates, is undergoing major changes.

Student objections and grant funding for the program caused the district's five schools to reinstate the program, but it will look dramatically different this fall, said Dennis Dowling, Tolleson Union's executive director of curriculum and instruction.

Students will now participate in an after-school program and be eligible for an elective half-credit rather than receiving full credit and attending class during the school day,

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/08/14/20100814wvtoljag0814.html#ixzz0waftIaKs

Quick Takes: Court Orders Raises for Nebraska State College Faculty - Inside Higher Ed

Quick Takes: Court Orders Raises for Nebraska State College Faculty - Inside Higher Ed

Court Orders Raises for Nebraska State College Faculty

The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday ordered raises of 7 percent for the past academic year (awarded retroactively) and 4 percent for the new academic year for faculty members at Chadron State, Peru State and Wayne State Colleges, The Omaha World-Herald reported. The court ruled because of an impasse between the faculty union, affiliated with the National Education Association, which has been pushing for the raises, and the state college system, which said that they couldn't be afforded. The Supreme Court ruling upheld findings of the state's Commission on Industrial Relations, which had called for the raises to be awarded. State college officials said that paying for the raises could lead to serious budget cuts, potentially including layoffs.

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