Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Should Sac City schools be doing business with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp? - SNOG - October 6, 2011 - Blogs - Sacramento News & Review

Should Sac City schools be doing business with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp? - SNOG - October 6, 2011 - Blogs - Sacramento News & Review
Should Sac City schools be doing business with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp?

Remember how people got bummed about the half million dollars in consultant contracts having to do with a new Kings Arena?

What about a half million bucks in Sacramento taxpayer money to company owned by Rupert Murdoch?

The Sacramento City Unified School Districtboard in August approved a half million contract (well, $494,199) to company called Wireless Generation.

It is, like a lot of contracts that SCUSD has with various consultants, a bit tough for me to define. But from what I can tell talking to district

Color Coded High School ID Cards Sort Students by Test Performance - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Color Coded High School ID Cards Sort Students by Test Performance - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Color Coded High School ID Cards Sort Students by Test Performance

A high school in La Palma, California, is coming under fire for a system that publicly identifies and treats students differently according to their scores on the state standardized tests. Students who perform at the highest levels in all subjects receive a black or platinum ID card, while those who score a mix of proficient and advanced receive a gold card. Students who score "basic" or below receive a white ID card. Students with black or gold cards get certain privileges, such as free entrance to sporting events and discounts at local business events. Those with white ID cards get no such privileges, and have a designated line in the cafeteria, while the elite black and gold cardholders have a different line. The majority of students at the school have white cards, so guess which line is longer?

A school administrator reportedly advised female students at an assembly to go to dances with boys with black cards rather than white cards.

Parents have complained that this is akin to bullying, and that low performing and learning disabled students feel

Five Ways You Can #OccupyTheClassroom [It's About Time] | The Jose Vilson

Five Ways You Can #OccupyTheClassroom [It's About Time] | The Jose Vilson:

Five Ways You Can #OccupyTheClassroom [It's About Time]

OccupyEverything

For World’ Teachers’ Day, all the big edu-wigs broke out in song about saluting great teachers, trying to stretch their arms out their offices far enough to find a teacher they’d consider effective and Kumbaya them to death. The billows of hollow praise doesn’t whittle away the troubling issues with education.On that day, teachers all across this nation were given the day off, the week off, and the entire year off without pay, and possibly forever, for lack of investment into the neediest areas. Mayors and governors shook whole public institutions into test-prep mechanisms and called it 21st century learning with 19th century thinking with paper and computer apparatuses expert pedagogues wouldn’t recommend. Schools continue to suffer and close their doors under the

Underage employee at iPhone sweatshop fired for 10-second pause honoring Steve Jobs

Underage employee at iPhone sweatshop fired for 10-second pause honoring Steve Jobs:

Underage employee at iPhone sweatshop fired for 10-second pause honoring Steve Jobs

by SHANE FINNERAN on OCTOBER 6, 2011 · 0 COMMENTS

in "ARE YOU KIDDING?", CULTURE, ECONOMY, LABOR, MEDIA

Xiang Jo, a 14-year-old laborer on an iPhone assembly line in Suzhou, China, just wanted to pay homage to someone whose vision transformed the world.

Jo had no idea the homage would cost him his job.

Steve Jobs with ipod

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

The trouble started Thursday morning, when word of Steve Jobs’ death spread through the factory where Jo and dozens of other young Chinese use the toxic chemical N-Hexane to clean iPhone touch screens.

Jo, who had read about Jobs’ achievements on a heavily censored Chinese news website, decided to pause from his work and observe a 10-second moment of silence out of respect. A supervisor saw Jo sitting motionlessly and immediately fired him.

Modern School: Zero-Tolerance Policies Increasing Suspension and Drop-Out Rates

Modern School: Zero-Tolerance Policies Increasing Suspension and Drop-Out Rates:

Zero-Tolerance Policies Increasing Suspension and Drop-Out Rates


The National Education Policy Center has found that suspension rates across the country are increasing due to “zero tolerance” policies, particularly among poor and minority students. The researchers say this is increasing the dropout rate. According to the Los Angeles Times, much of this increase is due nonviolent offenses like dress code and cellphone violations. Nationally, nearly one-third of all black male middle school students have been suspended at least once. In LAUSD, almost 34% of the students suspended from middle schools last year were African American, while about 11% were Latino, 5% were white and 3% were Asian.

It is rare that students are actually suspended for dress code violations or cell phone use. Rather, when students repeatedly violate school policies, argue about it, or refuse the punishment, they may be suspended for defiance.

This, however, reflects schools’ lack of creativity and vision, not students’ relative badness.

Hike it! Bike it! I like it! Walk to School 2011 | ED.gov Blog

Hike it! Bike it! I like it! Walk to School 2011 | ED.gov Blog:

Hike it! Bike it! I like it! Walk to School 2011

Walk to School LogoIt’s a special day when communities and schools, parents, kids, and teachers make that extra effort to find an alternate safe way to get to school other than riding on a bus or in a car. Meg McFarland, Walking School Bus Committee Chair, at Briarcliff Elementary in the North Kansas City Missouri School District, organized and created a “human school bus” to help celebrate International Walk to School Day on October 5, 2011. Briarcliff students, staff, parents, the North Kansas City High School Hornet Marching Band, Varsity Cheerleaders and Henry the Hornet along with invited guests and the surrounding community met at a designated area and walked, wheeled and rolled together to recognize the healthy benefits of exercise.

Group PhotoMore than 250,000 children across the United States and nearly three million around the world participated in the annual event.

“Walking and bicycling to school enhances the health of kids, improves air quality and the environment, cuts down on traffic congestion and fuel costs, and is fun,” remarked McFarland. She explained that every Friday in fall and spring more than 30 students participate in the Walking School Bus—a fixed-route walking schedule that allows many adults to supervise kids on their walk to school. “The families, the community, and the environment all benefit,” she said. This initiative also supports the President’s Challenge and First Lady Michelle Obama’sLet’s Move! campaign by helping to solve the problem of obesity within a generation, as well as ED’s new Green Ribbon Schools competition.

Through the 2005 passage of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act, Congress authorized $612 million toward developing the National Safe Routes to School Program, and money is distributed to states to fund education, planning and implementation of Safe Routes to School plans and programs.

Creating a special day for our children to walk or bike to school helps communities figure out ways to overcome their reliance on cars and buses. Briarcliff Elementary and thousands of schools across the country are encouraging healthy lifestyles by putting regular physical activity back into daily routines and promoting healthy eating habits — habits that have proven to produce happier students and higher grades.

Jeanne Ackerson

Jeanne works in ED’s Kansas City, Mo., regional office.

Big Education Ape: 10-6-11 PM Facing Social and Educational Inequity EDition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now:

Published by Coopmike48 – 7 news spotters today

Anger Toward Wall Street Understandable, Cuomo Says

capitaltonight.com - Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this morning he understood why protestors continue to demonstrate in Lower Manhattan, part of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street presence that has been growing in strength and su...

DianeRavitch

Facing Social and Educational Inequity

dailykos.com - So let’s consider more fully the logical and evidence-based elements behind claims that U.S. public education is cheating the top 10% of students, specifically in order to meet the needs of the low...

DianeRavitch

PSBA | Issue: Tuition Vouchers

psba.org - When new legislation passes, PSBA is seen as the leader in analyzing it and helping members make sense of it. History and Status of Taxpayer-Funded Voucher Bills School Director Toolkit Summary of ...

DianeRavitch

Chamber cheerleading the charter movement

arktimes.com - Propaganda party touted here by the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, which has served for some time as an enabler of messaging about the alleged waste of money that is the Little Rock Scho...

DianeRavitch

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coopmike48 “Occupy Sacramento” Brings Out Hundreds, Davis Residents Included - Davis, CA Patch - http://t.co/RZxmCZxiabout 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 With regatta, Harbor School turns to city’s sailors for support | GothamSchools - http://t.co/U97z4RGB34 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

Will the Real Progressives Please Stand Up!

nbcchicago.com - After finishing third in February’s mayoral election, Miguel del Valle promised to use his following among neighborhood activists to build a progressive movement in Chicago. On Saturday, Oct. 15, f...

delValleChicago

Wall Street Warily Eyes the Protests on Its Doorstep

wnyc.org - The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have riveted the nation's attention, and are now spreading to other cities, but it's unclear whether the protesters' message is actually reaching financial ins...

leoniehaimson

SocietySee all

Legal Scholar Derrick Bell Dead at 80

theroot.com - We had barely absorbed the sad news of the passing of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth Wednesday -- not to mention the death of Apple leader Steve Jobs -- when we heard news of another tragic loss: the deat...

mikeklonsky

PoliticsSee all

Obama: Wall Street protests show a "broad-based frustration"

schoolingintheownershipsociety.blogspot.com - President Obama speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House. (Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images/ 10/6/2011President Obama said Thursday that the Occupy Wall Street protests show ...

mikeklonsky

Art & EntertainmentSee all

JĂłvenes mexicanos becados para estudiar moda

vidayfamilia.univision.com - Sin duda alguna, la pasión que se siente por una profesión es la clave del éxito para la vida. Ana patricia entrevistó a estudiantes que persiguieron un sueño y lo lograron. Gracias a su esfuerzo y...

coopmike48

Blog posts on this issue

whitehouse.gov - The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release October 06, 2011 Rose Garden1:52 P.M. EDTTHE PRESIDENT: Everybody have a seat. Howdy!AUDIENCE: Howdy!THE PRESIDENT: Welcome to th...

coopmike48

TechnologySee all

How He Made The Nerd Cool

huffingtonpost.com - Apple, more than any other company, factored us, the people, in, and extrapolated outwards. Designers obsessively anticipate the forms they see fitting into our worlds, often changing those worlds ...

leoniehaimson

iPhone 4S: “Lo Siento… No Hablo Español”

hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - Published at 12:35 pm, October 6, 2011 Photo Credits: iPhone 4S Doesn't Speak Spanish Siri, the new iPhone 4S voice recognition app, responds to commands in three dialects of English, French and Ge...

coopmike48

Get Involved with GoodSearch

goodsearch.com - Get involved with GoodSearch! There are dozens of ways you can help us spread the word about GoodSearch and earn funds for your school or non-profit. Click on the links below to locate buttons, ban...

coopmike48

BusinessSee all

Ty Fahner is a big fat liar. « Fred Klonsky's blog

preaprez.wordpress.com - Illinois is Broke is an organization fully funded by the the pals and members of the Civic Committee and their millionaire lawyer, Ty Fahner. As part of their efforts to destroy the Teacher Retirem...

mikeklonsky

Pay No Attention to Those Banksters Behind the Curtain

my.firedoglake.com - I'll get you, my pretty! Photo: tom-margie Peter Orszag, formerly the head of OMB for Obama and now the vice chairman of global banking at Citigroup Inc, offers an interesting look at the problems ...

coopmike48

#progressiveRead this paperSee all

Will the Real Progressives Please Stand Up!

nbcchicago.com - After finishing third in February’s mayoral election, Miguel del Valle promised to use his following among neighborhood activists to build a progressive movement in Chicago. On Saturday, Oct. 15, f...

delValleChicago

#chicagoRead this paperSee all

Will the Real Progressives Please Stand Up!

nbcchicago.com - After finishing third in February’s mayoral election, Miguel del Valle promised to use his following among neighborhood activists to build a progressive movement in Chicago. On Saturday, Oct. 15, f...

delValleChicago

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