Monday, February 1, 2010

ESCONDIDO: Guys Read, and like it, in middle school literacy program

ESCONDIDO: Guys Read, and like it, in middle school literacy program:

"Boys will be boys, but that doesn't mean they can't appreciate a good read.

At two middle schools in Escondido, boys are taking one lunch break a week to read and discuss books, stories, graphic novels and even song lyrics with one another and two adult volunteers.

'I joined it because I was interested in the articles they had to read,' said Del Dios eighth-grader Jose Agundez. 'It's pretty chill. All my friends are here.'

His eighth-grade friend, Ezequiel Ramirez, said he didn't like reading before joining the group.

'This makes it fun,' he said. 'They make you understand the stories.'"

Phila. teachers jittery over school-overhaul plans | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/01/2010

Phila. teachers jittery over school-overhaul plans | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/01/2010:

"Upon learning that University City High School was on the list for radical changes, one teacher described the mood as 'pretty gloomy.'

'It's like someone died,' said Jeffrey Rosenberg, a gym teacher and athletic director who has spent 15 years at the school. 'Our heads are spinning.'

The atmosphere wasn't much better at the Douglass School in North Philadelphia, which has had seven principals in the last seven years.

'Some people are very sad; some are saying maybe it won't happen,' said Betsy Wice, a retired reading specialist who returns every day to volunteer at the elementary school where she taught for 20 years. 'People are sort of clutching at straws.'"

New city school class features black literature

New city school class features black literature:

"Life in late 17th century America wasn't as simple as black or white, slave or free.

Native American servants, indentured Europeans, mail-order brides and free blacks were part of the mix, too.

Nobel laureate Toni Morrison captured the different voices in her 2008 novel 'A Mercy,' one of the works Pittsburgh Public Schools students will study in a new black literature course to debut in the fall.

The course will be offered to seniors at all high schools. Seniors may take the new course, an Advanced Placement English course or the standard 12th-grade English, which includes black authors.

'I think what is different for us is that we're offering it as a core course. Many districts offer it as an elective,' said Diane Carroll, a curriculum specialist who is part of the team writing the new course."

Union officials are disturbingly inflexible toward charter schools - washingtonpost.com

IT IS HARD to square the words of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten with the actions of many of her union's officials. Even as Ms. Weingarten issues stirring calls for new ways of thinking, labor leaders in places such as New York use their political muscle to block important reforms. Perhaps they don't think that she means business, or maybe they don't care; either way, it is the interests of students that are being harmed.

The United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the AFT affiliate that represents teachers in New York City, led the opposition to legislation favored by Gov. David A. Paterson (D) that would have lifted the state's cap on charter schools. Mr. Paterson, backed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, had hoped to better position the state for up to $700 million in federal education dollars. The Obama administration has made clear that states that deny parents choice in where their children go to school by limiting the growth of these increasingly popular independent public schools will be penalized in the national competition for $4.35 billion in Race to the Top funds.
UFT officials were willing to lift the cap but -- saying more accountability and transparency are needed -- insisted on restrictions apt to have discouraged growth. The

States to government: hands off education - Yahoo! News

States to government: hands off education - Yahoo! News:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As the U.S. government discusses reauthorizing a sweeping education law and prepares to distribute billions of stimulus dollars for school reform, state legislatures are sending it a strong message: hands off.

Education policy has always been the territory of state and local governments, but in the last decade the U.S. government has interjected itself into curriculum and school reforms, the National Conference of State Legislatures said on Monday.

The group, which represents state legislatures, suggested using a federal model to fund education akin to that used to build the interstate highway system, whereby money is given to states, which then pass it on to local governments.

It would also like federal funds concentrated in areas where students are the most disadvantaged and not handed out equally to every congressional district.
The education law passed under former President George W. Bush and known as No Child Left Behind created a system of standards by which schools and school districts would be judged and federal funding awarded."

Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Education- Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Kids' sex talk horrifies teachers--Report

America isn’t the only country where there are concerns about kids engaging in sexual activity at ever younger ages. Teachers in Australia are reported to feel “helpless” while listening to fourth and fifth graders boast about their sexual exploits.

In an article in the Australian newspaper The Mercury Australian Education Union official Roz Madsen was reported saying that a recent union forum teachers described the discussions that the kids were having.

"The students are talking about what they have done on the weekend, sexual experiences that they are having," she was reported as saying. "Anecdotally it seems to be happening at earlier ages."

Continue reading this post »

Rhee's bad polls: should she go?

Public officials who try to make big changes to solve crises often risk their popularity. That is why favorability ratings for Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama dropped when they tried to revive devastated economies in the first years of their presidencies. That also explains why D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, pushing hard to raise student achievement in her low-performing district, has lost so much public confidence in a new Washington Post survey.
The ratings for both Rhee and her patron, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, have plummeted. This suggests he might lose the next election, and she might be forced to leave sooner to free him of the taint of her reputation for offending parents and teachers.

Continue reading this post »

Schools Matter: The New NCLB's Demand for Highly Unqualified Teachers

Schools Matter: The New NCLB's Demand for Highly Unqualified Teachers

Sam Dillon has a big story on the Oligarch-Obama Plan to make Race to the Trough the new No Child Left Behind. Instead of federal education support based on funding formulas, the Oligarchs are envisioning a system of permanent competition based on the production of test scores as the chief criterion for states and localities to get federal assistance:

“They want to recast the law so that it is as close to Race to the Top as they can get it, making the money conditional on districts’ taking action to improve schools,” said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, who attended a recent meeting at which administration officials outlined their plans in broad strokes. “Right now most federal money goes out in formulas, so schools know how much they’ll get, and then use it to provide services for poor children. The department thinks that’s become too much of an entitlement. They want to upend that scheme by making states and districts pledge to take actions the administration considers reform, before they get the money.”
One section of the current Bush-era law has required states to certify that all teachers are highly qualified, based on their college coursework and state-issued credentials. In the Race to the Top competition, the administration has required participating states to develop the capability to evaluate teachers based on student test data, at least in part, and on

As New York’s Charter Schools Gain Students, Future Growth Is Unclear - NYTimes.com

As New York’s Charter Schools Gain Students, Future Growth Is Unclear - NYTimes.com:

Next year will be the biggest year of growth yet for New York’scharter schools, with 29 due to open in New York City alone. But Seth Andrew, the founder of Democracy Prep, a successful charter middle school in Harlem, is already starting to turn his focus to another state. The political environment in New York, he fears, is shifting.

This month, a bill to double the number of charter schools ended in deadlock in Albany. Political opposition is nothing new for such schools, but this defeat was particularly jarring, coming even as other states have loosened restrictions on charter schools to improve their chances for a share of $4 billion in federal grant funds in the competition known as the Race to the Top. As the Race to the Top deadline came and went, New York did not act.
Mr. Andrew, 31, wants to open five charter schools in the city; his second will open next year. But the current state law limits the number of charter schools to 200, and 182 are already running or have been given permission to open. While Mr. Andrew said he would not abandon his New York schools, he now plans to open three in Rhode Island, which offered him free facilities, and pledged to let him expand without limit as long as his schools show results.
“I was born and raised in New York, so I wanted to commit to New York,” said Mr. Andrew, who graduated from Bronx Science High School before getting degrees from Brown and Harvard.

United Federation of Teachers sues in effort to block closure of 19 city schools

United Federation of Teachers sues in effort to block closure of 19 city schools:

"The city's teachers union will file a lawsuit Monday in a bid to block the closure of 19 schools - ramping up its already antagonistic relationship with City Hall.

The United Federation of Teachers lawsuit accuses the city of violating the state mayoral control law by failing to account for the impact of the shutdowns on the community.

Advocates complained last week that the Education Department did not give proper notice about replacement schools before the Panel for Educational Policy voted Wednesday to approve the closures.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was in talks about joining the lawsuit, sources said. NAACP officials refused to comment yesterday.

A UFT lawsuit last year over the proposed closure of three other schools led the city to abandon its plans. None of those schools is on the closure list this year, having all"

City schools to be graded on a curve for next year’s report cards | GothamSchools

City schools to be graded on a curve for next year’s report cards

by Maura Walz

Many of the city elementary and middle schools who received A’s on last year’s report cards are likely to see their grades drop under a new scoring system for next year, Department of Education officials told principals today.

Next year, only the top-scoring 25 percent of schools will receive A’s, with just under a third of schools each getting B’s and C’s. A tenth of schools will be handed D’s, and 5 percent will receive failing grades, according to the plan outlined today by the city’s accountability chief Shael Polakow-Suransky.

(More than 80 percent of elementary and middle schools took home A’s on their progress reports for last school year.)

The change comes as part of the first step of a gradual recalibration of the way schools are rated in the city’s progress reports system and is also a by-product of the wider state effort to overhaul tests given to New York’s third through eighth graders.

State education officials are redesigning tests this year, both to make them more difficult and to judge a wider set of skills. Students are also taking state test in May this year for the first time, where in the past they’ve sat for exams in January.

Administration Proposals Seek Broad Changes to ‘No Child Left Behind’ - NYTimes.com

Administration Proposals Seek Broad Changes to ‘No Child Left Behind’ - NYTimes.com:

"Now the administration hopes to apply similar conditions to the distribution of the billions of dollars that the Department of Education hands out to states and districts as part of its annual budget."

“They want to recast the law so that it is as close to Race to the Top as they can get it, making the money conditional on districts’ taking action to improve schools,” said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, who attended a recent meeting at which administration officials outlined their plans in broad strokes. “Right now most federal money goes out in formulas, so schools know how much they’ll get, and then use it to provide services for poor children. The department thinks that’s become too much of an entitlement. They want to upend that scheme by making states and districts pledge to take actions the administration considers reform, before they get the money.”
One section of the current Bush-era law has required states to certify that all teachers are highly qualified, based on their college coursework and state-issued credentials. In the Race to the Top competition, the administration has required participating states to develop the capability to evaluate teachers based on student test data, at least in part, and on whether teachers are successful in raising student achievement.

Survey: School lunches, full of processed foods, still fail health test

The health-crazed Bloomberg administration often touts how it has overhauled school lunches and slashed calories - but critics charge the standard cafeteria fare is still far from healthy.

A Daily News survey found lunchrooms routinely serve highly processed foods such as mozzarella sticks and pizza, which critics charge are loaded with preservatives and other unhealthy ingredients.

"It's more window dressing than real change," said nutritionistSusan Rubin, founder of the Westchester-based advocacy group Better School Food. "Just cutting the calories and fat doesn't make this processed food healthy."

The simple-sounding toasted cheese sandwich on oat bread is a case in point: Ingredient lists obtained by The News show the frozen sandwich contains more than 30 ingredients - including high-fructose corn syrup, which officials have vowed to cut out.

"It just looks so greasy, you can tell it's unhealthy," said Schnedie Dorizan, 16, a junior at Clara Barton High School inBrooklyn.

Nutritionists said processing foods, such as turning chicken into nuggets, removes nutrients while adding possibly unhealthy preservatives and fillers. Processed foods also pack more sugar, fat and salt to make up for flavors lost in processing.

Pizza is served regularly in city schools. Bronx high schools were scheduled to offer pizza at least nine times this month.

School creep's detention haul - NYPOST.com

A Queens teacher who collects a $100,000 salary for doing nothing spends time in a Department of Education "rubber room" working on his law practice and managing 12 real-estate properties worth an estimated $7.8 million, The Post found.

Alan Rosenfeld hasn't set foot in a classroom for nearly a decade since he was accused in 2001 of making lewd comments to junior-high girls and "staring at their butts," yet the department still pays him handsomely for sitting on his own butt seven hours a day.

In 2001, six eighth-graders at IS 347 in Queens accused Rosenfeld, a typing teacher who filled in for an absent dean, of making comments like "You have a sexy body," asking one whether she had a boyfriend and making others feel uncomfortable with creepy leers.

J.C. RICE

BIZMAN ON CAMPUS: Typing teacher Alan Rosenfeld outside the Brooklyn “rubber room” where he clocks in every morning with fellow classroom exiles and manages a law practice and real-estate fortune.

TEACHERS GONE WILD!: 'LOVE BOAT' PROM SCANDAL

Because the Department of Education could not produce all the students as witnesses, he was found guilty in only one case. A girl testified that Rosenfeld stopped at her locker, where she was standing with a friend, and "said I love him because I talk to him so much."

A DOE hearing officer gave him a slap on the wrist -- a week off without pay -- for "conduct unbecoming a teacher." He was cleared to return to teaching.

Instead, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has kept the scruffy 64-year-old in a Brooklyn rubber room, deeming him too dangerous to be near kids, officials said.

The DOE can't fire him.

D.C. Schools Chancellor Rhee's approval rating in deep slide - washingtonpost.com

D.C. Schools Chancellor Rhee's approval rating in deep slide - washingtonpost.com:

"D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's job approval rating has dropped precipitously over the past two years, alongside Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's, despite sentiment among District residents that conditions in the city's long-troubled public education system are starting to improve, according to a new Washington Post poll.

Rhee's performance was viewed favorably by 59 percent of residents in January 2008, with 29 percent disapproving. Now, there is a near-even split: 43 percent approve of what she's doing, and 44 percent are dissatisfied. Those with children in D.C. public schools have nearly reversed their opinion of Rhee. Two years ago, 54 percent of those parents approved of her; now, 54 percent disapprove."

AP: States struggle to keep top teachers - USATODAY.com

AP: States struggle to keep top teachers - USATODAY.com:

"ATLANTA — Most states are holding tight to policies that protect incompetent teachers and poor training programs, shortchanging educators and their students before new teachers even step into the classroom, according to a new national report card.

The study from the National Council on Teacher Quality— being released Friday — paints a grim picture of how states handle everything from pay to discipline for public school teachers. States are using 'broken, outdated and inflexible' policies that ultimately hurt how children learn, according to the report."

Obama’s State of the University >>

Obama’s State of the University :

"President Obama’s plan to cap student loans could substantially lower payments for thousands of UC Irvine graduates and provide a powerful incentive to students considering a job in public service.

If Congress responds to Obama’s push in last night’s State of the Union address, the new rules could dramatically reduce monthly loan payments as early as next year for millions of former students across the country.

A graduate owing $30,000 and earning $25,000 a year, who might otherwise owe $345 a month, would see their monthly payment capped at $73. And if they worked in government or for a non-profit organization, whatever portion of the loan that remained unpaid after ten years would be forgiven."

The WIP Contributors: India Sets Its Sights on Higher Education

The WIP Contributors: India Sets Its Sights on Higher Education
India Sets Its Sights on Higher Education

by Priyanka Bhardwaj
- India -

• India's new education reforms could keep more bright minds from leaving home to pursue higher education. Photograph by flickr user Universidad de Navarra used under Creative Commons licenses. •

Education remains an emotional subject in a poor and developing country like India, where it is seen as the primary means for social and economic mobility. Indian families are known to sell land and spend their life’s savings to educate their children, especially males. Such desperation means that any change in the sector is a highly debated subject.

Meena, a resident of Gurgaon, has been making the rounds at banks, in the hopes of getting an educational loan for her son Rahul.

“We have decided to send our son abroad for higher education, preferably an MBA,” she explains, “as this will make him more globally competitive and it will stay with him for a lifetime. After all, he is our only son among three children and as responsible parents we feel obliged to think of the best for his welfare.”

The Daily Aztec - FLAMING LIBERAL: Transparency needed for CSU system now

As the winter draws to an end, it’s not just time for sunshine in the sky, but also sunshine for the way that our state university system is run. Senator Leland Yee is calling on the California State University system and all branches of higher education, to open up their books when it comes to the auxiliary organizations on their campuses.

Yee’s reintroduced legislation is similar to SB 218, which would have updated the California Public Records Act to include those auxiliaries that perform government functions. This shows his commitment to making sure our higher education system is working for students, and not executive donors or special interests within the university system.

Yee’s new bill, SB 330 passed through the senate floor last Thursday and will be seen in the state assembly shortly.

This level of transparency is necessary for students, faculty and community members to have the knowledge and power to serve as a check on how their university operates. For the CSU system alone, Chancellor Charles B. Reed has admitted that 20 percent of the system’s operating budget is funded by budgets which are kept secret from the public, within the myriad campus and system auxiliaries.

Organic garden blooms at Billy Mitchell Elementary - The Daily Breeze

Second-grade students at Billy Mitchell Elementary School spent a recent afternoon getting their hands dirty - all in the name of education.
This is the first year the Lawndale school has implemented a gardening program in which students learn about healthful diets, nature and sustainability by getting hands-on experience working in a small organic garden during their lunch recess.
On Wednesday, with the help of parent volunteers and teachers, students harvested vegetables they planted months ago, learning the joys of spending time outside.
"This may be the only place they can have access to nature," said volunteer gardener Kris Lauritson, who is overseeing the garden project through the University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program. "It's an outdoor classroom."
The school serves primarily Latino students from urban neighborhoods. About 80 percent of Billy Mitchell students qualify for free and reduced lunches.

San Diego summit for March 4 | SocialistWorker.org

San Diego summit for March 4

By Marcos Perez | February 1, 2010

SAN DIEGO--More than 80 people representing various student, parent and faculty organizations and unions from all public education sectors met at the United Labor Center building January 23 to plan a collective action for March 4 in San Diego.

Present were representatives from San Diego Sate University, University of California (UC)-San Diego, California State University (CSU) San Marcos, San Diego City College and Grossmont College.

The summit was called by the Education For All Coalition after 800 students, workers and teachers from across the state converged at the October 24 Conference to Save Public Education at UC-Berkeley.

The attendees voted overwhelmingly for a statewide strike and day of action on March 4, with each campus, local union and organization to decide on what type of action to organize. Since then, the call has been taken up at a national level.

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