Spot.us - Story: The Investors’ Club: How the University of California Regents Spin Public Money into Private Profit

Spot.us - Story: The Investors’ Club: How the University of California Regents Spin Public Money into Private Profit

The Investors’ Club: How the University of California Regents Spin Public Money into Private Profit

“As universities become glorified vocational schools for corporations they adopt values and operating techniques of the corporations they serve.” – Chris Hedges (Empire of Illusion, 2009)

This piece has been republished by The Berkeley Daily Planet. A version of it also ran in the Sacramento News & Review, North Bay Bohemian, and the SF Public Press. Analysis fromCalifornia Watch.

• Part One: The Investor's Club - Published below.

Introduction and overview of the 8-part investigation. The eight parts of this investigation and two appendixes are linked within the introduction. They may be read sequentially or as stand alone stories.

• See Part Two: The Smell Test
  

How to tell the difference between a conflict of interest and a coincidence.

This Week In Education: Video: Is Ravitch Being Blacklisted?

This Week In Education: Video: Is Ravitch Being Blacklisted?

Video: Is Ravitch Being Blacklisted?

by Alexander Russo

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Diane Ravitch
www.thedailyshow.com
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Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

On Sunday NYT bestseller Diane Ravitch tweeted "I have been repeatedly rejected by the Daily Show, Colbert, Maddow, etc. Katie Couric interviewed me for 30 minutes; never ran. Why?" But here she is on The Daily Show.... in 2003.

UC Students Rally Against Tuition Increases | Education | Change.org

UC Students Rally Against Tuition Increases | Education | Change.org

UC Students Rally Against Tuition Increases

by Carol ScottNovember 16, 2010 09:01 AM (PT)Topics: Higher Education, School Administration

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Rallying against proposed increases to tuition and fees, University of California student activists are planning massive on-campus protests this week. Today, students on campuses all over the state are staging demonstrations. Tomorrow, many will take buses to San Francisco to demonstrate at the UC Board of Regents meeting. UCLA student Nader Nasr has created a petition on Change.orgthat has close to 900 signatures.

What's behind this campaign? A request from the University of California to the Board of Regents to increase tuition for students another eight percent (fees increased 32 percent last year) to more than $11,000. Similar tuition increases for students in the Cal State education system are also in the works. Tuition (also called "fees") doesn't cover the other costs of room, board and books that families pay for higher education (UC Berkeley has the second-highest cost for room and board of any institutions, public or private, the Los Angeles Times editorial board has reported).

Although the increases would also come with increases in financial aid packages, students who don't qualify for financial aid, yet still can't afford the high price of college, will fall deeper into debt.

In a UCLA student video, undergraduate students talk about the increased financial hardships they face because they attend college. "This year, I have to work around 20 hours a week..." says one student. "It's been really difficult to balance everything." Another student says he's from a middle-class student family

In her book, chancellor appointee says she’s no data “whiz” | GothamSchools

In her book, chancellor appointee says she’s no data “whiz” | GothamSchools

In her book, chancellor appointee says she’s no data “whiz”

by Maura Walz

City officials’ argument to convince State Education Commissioner David Steiner that publishing executive Cathie Black is qualified to be schools chancellor is based on the idea that her managerial skills will be necessary during the coming years’ intense financial pressures.

But in her memoir-cum-business advice guide, “Basic Black,” the chancellor appointee describes her skills as far more attuned to sales and marketing than financial analysis. While she likes the operational side of business, she writes, “too much data and too many spreadsheets make my eyes glaze over.”

In a section of the book called “Power = knowing your strengths and weaknesses,” Black explains that knowing that she prefers broader strategy to rows of numbers has helped her decide which tasks to delegate:

Over the years I’ve taken care to work on that weakness — taking financial management courses,

Cal Admins Blockaded « occupy california

Cal Admins Blockaded « occupy california

Cal Admins Blockaded

by *

BERKELEY, California – As of 6:30am this morning, students at UC Berkeley have begun blocking the entrances to the California Hall, the main administrative building on campus. All entrances are surrounded.

UPDATE:

8:50am: UCPD has opened up an entrance. Alameda sheriffs have come as back up.

Remaking teacher education: Train teachers like doctors | Get Schooled

Remaking teacher education: Train teachers like doctors | Get Schooled

Remaking teacher education: Train teachers like doctors

10:27 am November 16, 2010, by Maureen Downey

A national panel of education leaders, teachers and researchers in Washington today called for turning teacher education “upside down” by shifting focus to clinical practice and creating deeper partnerships with school districts to track teacher performance in the real world.

Holding out the medical school model, a series of experts called for an infusion of clinical practices for prospective teachers from the minute they begin their training. (I listened via conference call to the two-hour panel.)

“That clinical practice has to be infused in every facet of teacher education through dynamic ways, none of this waiting to the end to student teach,” said Nancy Zimpher, chancellor of the State University of New York and panel co-chair.

Zimpher cited pedagogical labs, such as the ped lab at Boston College that simulates the classroom experiences teachers will face in the classroom. No one would consider sending a new pilot into a real cockpit without simulation training at the controls, she said. Teachers need those same simulations, with mentors serving as co-pilots.

Zimpher also cited the grand rounds in medical school residency training in which a team of experienced doctors works with new doctors on challenging clinical problems. Teachers need

Education Panel Meets Tonight, But Won't Weigh In on Black - WNYC

Education Panel Meets Tonight, But Won't Weigh In on Black - WNYC

Education Panel Meets Tonight, But Won't Weigh In on Black

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

By WNYC Newsroom

New York City's Panel for Educational Policy meets tonight, but discussion about Hearst publishing executive Cathie Black becoming the new schools chancellor is not on the agenda.

The Department of Education says the panel does not need to weigh in on whether Black gets a waiver from state law requiring school superintendents to have educational experience. But, the City Council's education committee chair, Robert Jackson, disagrees.

"The request must come from the Board of Education, and this, in New York City, is the panel for educational policy -- not the Mayor directly," he said.

Jackson is urging Black's opponents to speak up during the panel's public comment period tonight. He said she's not qualified to lead the city school system because she's not an educator.

The Answer Sheet - Experts: How to overhaul teacher ed (and my problem with their report)

The Answer Sheet - Experts: How to overhaul teacher ed (and my problem with their report)

Experts: How to overhaul teacher ed (and my problem with their report)

A big report by a panel of national experts was released Tuesday that calls for overhauling the way teachers are educated in the United States. It says that teacher ed programs should be less academic and based more on classroom experience in the model used by the medical profession. The report, titled “Transforming Teacher Education Through Clinical Practice: A National Strategy to Prepare Effective Teachers,” makes a number of smart, common-sense recommendations for improving teacher education programs: *Admissions and graduation standards for would-be teachers should be strengthened. *Accreditation for teacher education programs should be made tougher to weed out weak programs. *Student education programs should model themselves on medical training programs that rely heavily on clinical training. *Colleges and universities training teachers should work in partnership with school districts and states to change policy that promotes better teacher education. *Higher education institutions and school districts should work together to design

Community Left Out of School Closure Process « EdVox

Community Left Out of School Closure Process « EdVox

Community Left Out of School Closure Process

by edvoxny

The NYC Department of Education has added 8 new high schools to the list of potentially closing schools, bringing the grand total to 55 schools – more than half the number of schools that the DOE has closed since 2003. If all of these schools close, it will bring the grand total of schools the DOE has closed to 146, which is about the number of schools in the entire city of Boston. Do you think this list will continue to grow?

1. Urban Assembly Academy for History and Citizenship for Young Men (District 9)
2. Herbert Lehman HS (District 8 )
3. Performance Conservatory HS (District 12)
4. University Neighborhood HS (District 1)
5. Legacy School for Integrated Studies (District 2)
6. Bosy and Girls HS (District 16)
7. Washington Irving HS (District 2)
8. Gompers Career and Tech HS (District 7)

by Anna Schwartz

When the New York City Department of Education announced this year that there are 47 schools across the city at risk of closing, they declared that there would be more community involvement than in previous years. A

Berkeley Student Activists Shut Down Campus Admin Building « Student Activism

Berkeley Student Activists Shut Down Campus Admin Building « Student Activism

Berkeley Student Activists Shut Down Campus Admin Building

by Angus Johnston

The next meeting of the University of California regents doesn’t start until tomorrow, but Berkeley’s activists are starting the protests early.

The regents are expected to impose a new eight percent fee hike at this week’s meeting, and other proposals on the agenda are meeting with student resistance as well. Students will be coming in to protest the meeting from all over the state, and we’ll be covering that story as it develops.

This morning, though, at six-thirty, activists at Berkeley gathered at California Hall, UCB’s administration

James O’Keefe’s Misogyny and Racism Claims Another Victim

by Angus Johnston

You remember James O’Keefe — the guy behind the fake prostitute scam that took down ACORN, the guy who got an anti-racist government official fired by pretending she was a racist, the guy who plotted to trap a female journalist on a boat and videotape himself making crude sexual advances against her.

Well, he’s at it again.

In August of this year O’Keefe sent a handful of operatives to a teacher’s union conference in New Jersey. They were armed with miniature video cameras, and they were looking for dirt — anything they could find, any way they could get it.

One of O’Keefe’s minions struck up a conversation with a teacher named Alissa Ploshnick at the hotel bar. She was 38 and single. He was younger. He engaged her in conversation. He flirted. He bought her drinks.

Schools Matter: "Dummying down" Teacher Education

Schools Matter: "Dummying down" Teacher Education

"Dummying down" Teacher Education

by Jim Horn

Here is the new " comprehensive report" from the "expert panel" put together by NCATE and the corporate foundations. I am reading it now, but here is the bottom line of the bottom line

Measures of Effectiveness

Current Teacher Ed Model: Programs are not always held to same standards by state departments of education; variability of standards and licensure requirements among states.

The New Model: All programs held to same standards; data-driven accountability based on

Queens Teacher: Cathie's Waiver Hurdles

Queens Teacher: Cathie's Waiver Hurdles

Cathie's Waiver Hurdles

by Queens Teacher

Cathie's waiver hurdlesBy YOAV GONEN

The state has raised the bar for certification as a superintendent since outgoing schools chancellor Joel Klein got a waiver in 2002 -- making it potentially tougher for proposed chancellor Cathie Black to get one herself.

The state Board of Regents approved a number of new requirements for certification as a school district leader in July 2006 -- including passing a written and oral test, an extra year of educational leadership work and the recommendation of a graduate-school program.

State Education Commissioner David Steiner has the power to approve a waiver of those requirements,

School Tech Connect: The Man Has Done His Homework

School Tech Connect: The Man Has Done His Homework

The Man Has Done His Homework

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

We here at School TechConnect (meaning Scout and I) had a hearty chuckle this morning over this storyabout newly elected Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD), who railed during his campaign against the private health insurance reforms that are often referred to as "Obama-care" by people like, well, him.

Apparently he wasn't aware of the waiting period that new employees often face--- one of the great innovations of the private health insurance market. Members of Congress are covered by the lovely private program described here, which looks like a Cadillac to me but is not good enough for the freshman congressperson.

The congressman is a physician, so voters in Maryland

This Week In Education: Teacher Prep: Can Ed Schools Reform Themselves?

This Week In Education: Teacher Prep: Can Ed Schools Reform Themselves?

Teacher Prep: Can Ed Schools Reform Themselves? [image: Rain-Level] Major revision of teacher training programs urged by panel of top educators Eight states, including Maryland, have signed on to adopt the recommendations, scheduled to be released Tuesday... Teacher Training Is Panned WSJ: In ...

Chart: The Classroom Of The Future? [image: The Fifth-Grade Exploration Studio, imagined by Greg Stack and Natalia Nesmeainova. Click to see larger view.]"Adjustable furniture, a messy art area, video screens large and small, communal areas for classes to share, carefully placed ...

Reauthorization Roundup: No One Really Knows What's Going To Happen [image: 5062542725_441ce65c8c_b-450x785] With divided Congress, tough road for ed reform AP: None of the major initiatives pushed by President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have been bipartisan. Most were approved through large ...

Local control: Is there a deal? — Joanne Jacobs

Local control: Is there a deal? — Joanne Jacobs

Local control: Is there a deal?

by Joanne

Republican John Kline, the likely chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, wants to restore “local control” of education. Education Secretary Arne Duncan wants to push reform through Race to the Top grants. But both Republicans and Democrats want to modify No Child Left Behind, officially the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). In its current version, 100 percent of students must reach “proficiency” by 2014 or their schools will be considered failures. National Journal asks: Is there room for a deal?

Conservatives have tough decisions to make, write Sandy Kress.

Are we for local control so much that we support encrusted, top-heavy, expensive local bureaucracy? Are we for local control so much that we support union and bureaucracy-based decisions that prevent meaningful parental choice? Are we for local control so much that we support decisions in many districts that foster waste and ineffective spending?

Really the only “intrusion” from NCLB is to say that for all the federal dollars schools and districts receive they must be held accountable (by the locals!) for closing the achievement gap for poor kids and kids of color. The sad part of this “intrusion” is that it permits this accountability to be so