Saturday, January 29, 2011

Parents Should Take Advantage of Critical Window for Children’s Health Insurance | California Progress Report

Parents Should Take Advantage of Critical Window for Children’s Health Insurance

Posted on 29 January 2011

Assemblymember Mike Feuer:

SACRAMENTO – In this Democratic weekly address, Assemblymember Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), Assembly Majority Policy Leader and Chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, highlights a critical open-enrollment period for kids’ health insurance that began on January 1, 2011 and ends on March 1. As a result of President Obama’s federal health care reform plan and a new state law Feuer authored, insurers can no longer deny coverage to children, whether they are sick or healthy, but it’s important that parents sign their kids up for health insurance during this initial open enrollment period or coverage for their kids could be significantly more expensive.

Click onto the following link for the

Senators Hear Teacher Worries Over Education Reform | Sunshine State News

Senators Hear Teacher Worries Over Education Reform

Tenure tinkering, teacher evaluations on educators’ minds

BY: GRAY ROHRER | POSTED: JANUARY 29, 2011 3:55 AM

TAGS:

FLORIDA TEACHER OF THE YEAR, GOV. CHARLIE CRIST, NATIONAL TEACHER OF THE YEAR, NEWS, RUEDIGER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, SB 6, SEN. STEPHEN WISE, SENATE EDUCATION PRE-K-12 COMMITTEE, GOVERNMENT

Sen. Stephen WiseHide

Hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s uproar over Senate Bill 6, legislators sought input from teachers Friday during a workshop meeting of the Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee.

The education reform legislation that would have tied teacher pay to performance was vigorously opposed by teachers unions, leading former Gov. Charlie Crist to veto the bill. Legislators still want to pass a law requiring greater accountability of teachers, but would like a more inclusive process to address teachers’ concerns. Only two of the five senators on the committee, however, attended the workshop.

Of particular concern to teachers is the potential of a merit pay system based solely or heavily on student test scores at the end of the year. Some have suggested testing children at the beginning of the year as well, in order to determine how much they have learned over the course of the school year, because many students enter a new year with skills far below their grade level.

Charter Schools Behind NYC School Closures - New York Bronx County Independent | Examiner.com

Charter Schools Behind NYC School Closures

Despite strong opposition from public education rights groups throughout the City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is plowing ahead with a plan to close 26 public schools for the 2011-12 academic year. As a part of the public debate around the issue, the Independent Budget Office has released a comprehensive study of the schools slated for termination. What emerges is roadmap that leads directly into the growing trends toward two-tier education through school privatization.

Certain parts of the report have already filtered into the broader debate about the closings. For instance, the targeted schools are overwhelmingly attended by Black students. The IBO reported that, “The average share of

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Charter Schools Behind NYC School Closures - New York Bronx County Independent | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/bronx-county-independent-in-new-york/charter-schools-behind-nyc-school-closures#ixzz1CRXbZ3vI

Rhee's successor escapes her shadow; challenges remain

By Bill Turque

Saturday, January 29, 2011

A picture of Michelle A. Rhee, from a recent Newsweek cover, hangs above Interim Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson's desk. It shows her outspoken mentor and friend seated at an old-style classroom desk, smiling.

"It's the Michelle Rhee I know," Henderson said, "and it reminds me of how far we've come on education reform."

Yet, as she seeks to build on Rhee's accomplishments, Henderson faces challenges as daunting as the ones her predecessor did when she arrived in 2007. Some are as basic as seeing through a controversial new teacher evaluation system, managing severe budgetary pressures and finally developing citywide curriculums for reading, math and other

Arne Duncan on Monday: We need more black men in classrooms | Get Schooled

Arne Duncan on Monday: We need more black men in classrooms

9:28 am January 29, 2011, by Maureen Downey

Arne Duncan will be here Monday to talk to Morehouse students about teaching.

Less than 2 percent of the nation’s teachers are black males.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, film director Spike Lee and Congressman John Lewis will try to change that Monday when they appeal to the men of Morehouse College to consider teaching as a career.

In a phone interview Friday, Duncan said the nation’s teacher workforce does not reflect the diversity of its student when only one in 50 teachers is a black male. “This is a national problem,” he said, “and one in which most schools of education have not shown leadership or foresight.”

So, Duncan has been traveling the nation to appeal to students of color “to consider coming back to the community and making a difference.”

Wouldn’t those students or any students, I asked Duncan, be more interested in coming to New

Classes So Small They Might Disappear - voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled: The Education Blog

Classes So Small They Might Disappear

Photo by Sam Hodgson
Carver Elementary teacher Andrew Rodaniche is briefly interrupted by kindergartner Shaun Pham as he talks to his class about behavior issues. The schools classes are small, but it could be forced to give up a fifth of its teachers to budget cuts, boosting class sizes significantly.

Posted: Thursday, January 27, 2011 6:00 pm |Updated: 11:35 am, Fri Jan 28, 2011.

By Emily Alpert

While Amanda Freeman helps a tiny boy read the word "puppet," the other kids chirp "Teacher! Teacher!" like baby birds eager for a worm. One wants to know what an otter is. Another says, "I'm done!" A girl dressed entirely in pink steps up and taps Freeman on the arm until she gets a glance. Read the rest of this article

Fighting a Grade? Fat ChanceComments (1) | 2:37 pm

You know how they say you can't fight City Hall? It looks like you can't fight your teacher either, at least when it comes to getting a grade you don't like.

Only two San Diego Unified students tried to appeal the grades they got to the school board between November 2009 and October 2010. Neither of them won their cases.

Read the rest of this article

Saturday, January 29, 2011