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Sunday, July 18, 2010

Should Seniority Count in Teacher Layoffs? - Newsweek

Should Seniority Count in Teacher Layoffs? - Newsweek


Chicago’s Lesson in Layoffs

Should the newest teachers go?


Charles Rex Arbogast / AP
Education reformers were feeling optimistic. With President Obama’s Race to the Top competition, which offers financial rewards to states willing to hold teachers accountable for their students’ performance, they’ve made real progress in weeding out poor teachers.
But now the reformers have spotted a dark cloud on the horizon. State budgets, particularly in badly managed big states like California, New York, and New Jersey, are out of control. Although Congress managed to avoid massive teacher layoffs last year with federal aid, the stimulus money is running out, and congressmen do not appear to be in the mood for more deficit spending. That means teacher layoffs are coming—perhaps more than 100,000 nationwide. In most states, union contracts or state law requires they be done by seniority, so the newest teachers are pink-slipped, no matter how good they are. “ ‘Last in, first out’ virtually guarantees that all our great, young teachers will be out of a job, and some of the least effective will stay in the classroom,” says Tim Knowles, director of the Urban Education
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New U.S. HIV/AIDS Strategy Seeks To Revitalize Public Education Efforts

New U.S. HIV/AIDS Strategy Seeks To Revitalize Public Education Efforts

New U.S. HIV/AIDS Strategy Seeks To Revitalize Public Education Efforts

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 16 Jul 2010 - 3:00 PDT

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The Obama administration'sstrategy to combat HIV/AIDS in the U.S. will use new communication methods, such as social media and medically accurate school-based programs, to address the epidemic, Reuters reports. The White House announced the plan on Tuesday (Fox, Reuters, 7/13). It sets a 2015 deadline for reducing the annual number of new HIV infections by 25%, lowering the HIV transmission rate by 30%, increasing the proportion of patients accessing care within three months of diagnosis from the current 65% to 85%; and raising the number of HIV-positive individuals who are aware of their status from 79% to 90% (Women's Health Policy Report, 7/13).

By the end of this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will conduct an assessment of all social marketing and education campaigns associated with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, according to the plan. CDC also will review campaigns related to substance abuse and risk behaviors associated with HIV; develop evidence-based efforts to educate the public about STIs; and ensure that school-based education provides "scientifically sound information about HIV

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On UC's Risky Venture Into Online Education / Mortarboards without the bricks

On UC's Risky Venture Into Online Education / Mortarboards without the bricks

On UC's Risky Venture Into Online Education

Mortarboards without the bricks

Sunday, July 18, 2010
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Paul Chinn / The Chronicle
Christopher Edley, dean of UC Berkeley School of Law, says online education could be an effective way to cut costs and preserve opportunity.
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A handful of administrators at the University of California are spearheading an effort to create an ambitious online educational program for undergraduates. The idea is that UC could become the first top-tier American university to offer a bachelor's degree over the Internet. It's a thought-provoking, fascinating and innovative concept. It's also a highly risky experiment.
Online education has a place - even in the university system. For students, it's impossible to beat the convenience and the accessibility of online learning. For workers, it can be a great way to expand their knowledge base without having to leave their jobs. Corporations, small businesses, even traffic schools - all of these institutions have shown that there's a positive place for online education in our society.
But that doesn't mean that the UC should jump into the fray.
As it stands now, online education is a hodgepodge effort by private, for-profit companies that are making gobs of money - but not providing much in the way of quality to students. UC Berkeley Law School Dean Christopher Edley, who is leading the online charge, said he first noticed this while serving on a university task force about


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/17/ED4S1EDLBO.DTL#ixzz0u2nNnPiy
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Fellowship Program Opens Doors for Minority Researchers

Fellowship Program Opens Doors for Minority Researchers

Fellowship Program Opens Doors for Minority Researchers

by Dana Forde , July 16, 2010

Categories:
Cherie Butts
Dr. Cherie Butts, who earned degrees at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center/UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, believes her career began to soar when she was chosen as an inaugural Keystone Symposia Fellow.

Dr. Cherié Butts, a researcher and drug reviewer in the Office of Biotechnology Products at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, enjoys her job as a scientist so much that she often prepares for the next day’s projects the night before.

“Some experiments can take three to four days and some can take weeks,” she says. Butts, whose research focus is to decipher how steroid hormones modify immune responses during disease in an effort to develop better therapeutic strategies, feels that one of the few things lacking in her satisfying career is more colleagues of color.

According to a 2006 National Science Foundation study, African-Americans, Hispanics and American Indians make up only 2.65 percent, 3.53 percent, and 0.59 percent, respectively, of life sciences academics at four-year institutions. Precise numbers are

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On Formspring, an E-Vite to Insults and Crude Queries - NYTimes.com

On Formspring, an E-Vite to Insults and Crude Queries - NYTimes.com

Teenage Insults, Scrawled on Web, Not on Walls


By TAMAR LEWIN

Published: May 5, 2010

It is the online version of the bathroom wall in school, the place to scrawl raw, anonymous gossip.
Formspring.me, a relatively new social networking site, has become a magnet for comments, many of them nasty and sexual, among the Facebookgeneration.
While Formspring is still under the radar of many parents and guidance counselors, over the last two months it has become an obsession for thousands of teenagers nationwide, a place to trade comments and questions like: Are you still friends with julia? Why
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Charter-school bandwagon avoided by some states - USATODAY.com

Charter-school bandwagon avoided by some states - USATODAY.com
Charter-school bandwagon avoided by some states

By Jessie L. Bonner and Dorie Turner, The Associated Press
BOISE — In her small timber town in northern Idaho, Christina Williams enrolled her son in the closest public school because she had few other choices near her home.
But as she watched him struggle for years — many mornings prying him out of bed and forcing him to go to school — Williams sought an alternative to the traditional classroom. The single mother now drives about 140 miles roundtrip each day to her 12-year-old son's charter school inSandpoint.
"It's killing my poor little car, but it is so worth the drive to me," Williams said in a telephone interview. "He was not getting the education he needed."
Williams would like a closer alternative, but Idaho allows just six new charter schools a year.
Several other states also put strict limits on the number of new charter schools. Another 11 states don't allow charters at all, even though the federal government has created a $4.35 billion competition to encourage charters and other educational innovations.
Most states adopted only modest measures to improve charter schools as a result of the "Race to the Top" competition and no new substantive charter school laws were passed, said Jeanne Allen, president and founder of the Center for
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School chief urges changes - The Boston Globe

School chief urges changes - The Boston Globe

Changes urged for Mass. schools

Education official wants adoption of US standards

By James Vaznis
Globe Staff / July 17, 2010
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The state’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education recommended yesterday that Massachusetts replace its highly regarded academic standards for English and math with a uniform set of national standards that could lead to major changes in standardized testing.
The recommendation by Mitchell Chester sparked a mix of praise and condemnation around Beacon Hill and on the campaign trail, following months of speculation across the state and nation over whether Massachusetts would join other states in adopting standards that outline what material should be taught in kindergarten through 12th grade.
Chester, other education officials, and Governor Deval Patrick had said they would not support the so-called Common Core Standards if they were not as


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Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...


  • Welcome!

    Thanks for dropping pastmy Blog!



    I'm Larry Ferlazzo and here you will catch me talking about websites that will help you teach ELL, ESL and EFL!
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Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Daily Education & Technology News for Schools 07/18/2010

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Daily Education & Technology News for Schools 07/18/2010

Daily Education & Technology News for Schools 07/18/2010

by coolcatteacher@gmail.com (Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher)

  • Cool Cat Teacher on Facebook
    I've made a facebook page for the readers of my blog. This will be different. It will have small daily challenges for using technology or improving your life that will go into your facebook. You don't have to friend me - just "like" the page and you can converse and share.

    Just trying to separate out my "personal" life on facebook with professional and I suggest all teachers and bloggers do this as it will simplify things.
    tags: education facebook

  • Lean Manufacturing Blog, Kaizen Articles and Advice | Gemba Panta Rei - Annotated
    Great article my husband, Kip, sent me discussing "thinking across silos" or out of discipline. Truly, in education we must do this with IT learning to think like curriculum, admin, and teachers and vice versa.
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