Friday, September 23, 2011

Don’t Believe the Hype: Obama’s NCLB Waiver More of the Same | Dailycensored.com

Don’t Believe the Hype: Obama’s NCLB Waiver More of the Same | Dailycensored.com:

Don’t Believe the Hype: Obama’s NCLB Waiver More of the Same

Written by Adam BessieEducation, MediaSep 23, 2011

If you’re a casual observer of the education debate, today might seem monumental: George W. Bush’s controversial No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which created a system of extensive high-stakes testing for students and schools nearly a decade ago, is finally being “revamped” by President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, according to a report in the Washington Post, and across the national press. Obama and Duncan’s move to waive the “cornerstone requirements” of NCLB, most notably ending the impossible “2014 deadline that all students be proficient in math and language arts (Education Week Blog)”, might just feel like the end of an era: finally, the failed experiment in draconian testing and scripted classrooms, which bored students and stifled teachers, has come to an end.

Yet, NCLB has not been revamped, but rather, rebranded.

In trade for letting individual states opt out of NCLB, they must submit

Plastic bags praised in state text | SignOnSanDiego.com

Plastic bags praised in state text | SignOnSanDiego.com:

Plastic bags praised in state text

Officials note many groups had input on environmental text

Answer key for teacher's manual suggests how students might describe the benefits of plastic bags

Polls »

Should the plastics industry have had input in the state environmental curriculum?

Advantages of plastic bags

• Plastic bags require 70% less energy to make than paper bags, take less energy to recycle, and take up less space in landfills than paper bags.

• Lightweight plastic bags cost less to transport. Seven trucks are needed to deliver the same number of paper bags as the number of plastic bags that one truck can deliver.

• Plastic bags can be reused, for example, to line household wastebaskets, and can be made into a variety of second generation products, such as new bags and plastic lumber for decking.

Disadvantages of plastic bags

• Although polyethylene can be recycled, most plastic bags end up as urban blight or in landfills, waterways, and in the ocean. Plastic is especially harmful to marine life.

• The polymer pieces in plastic bags are not biodegradable. The bag may break into pieces, but the pieces still exist as plastic.

• Nonrenewable natural resources—oil and natural gas—are used to manufacture these bags, and these resources are in short supply.

Source: Education and the Environment Initiative Curriculum

Documents »

Download: Education and the Environment Initiative Curriculum [36MB pdf]

California Watch

Plastics industry edited environmental textbook

The San Diego County Office of Education is standing by an environmental curriculum developed with positive messages about plastic bags, inserted by the plastics industry.

The 85-unit Education and the Environment Initiative Curriculum was created by the California Environmental Protection Agency and unanimously approved by the State Board of Education in 2010.

The text was put together by consultant Gerald Lieberman, director of the nonprofit State Education and Environmental Roundtable, who was paid $2.4

President Obama to Deliver Back-to-School Speech September 28 | The White House

President Obama to Deliver Back-to-School Speech September 28 | The White House:

President Obama to Deliver Back-to-School Speech September 28

by The White House

Release Time:

For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As students begin their school year, President Barack Obama will deliver his third annual Back-to-School Speech at 1:30PM EDT on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, DC. The President’s remarks are open to pre-credentialed media, and closed to the public as this event is by invitation only.

The President’s Back-to-School Speech is an opportunity to speak directly to students across the country. In past years, President Obama has encouraged students to study hard and take responsibility for their education, urging students to set goals, to believe in themselves, and to be the authors of their own destinies.

Benjamin Banneker Academic High School opened in 1981 as a magnet school for students in grades 9-12 enrolled in rigorous academic experiences in preparation for college. It placed on the Newsweek list of America's Best High Schools for 2011 for their high graduation rates, college matriculation rates, and test scores. Banneker is a part of the District of Columbia Public Schools system.

President Obama’s Back-to-School Speech will be live streamed on WhiteHouse.gov so that classrooms across the country may listen to or watch the remarks. For more information about watching the speech, visitwww.whitehouse.gov/back-to-school.

Schools across the country can also watch the speech live on MSNBC as a special feature of NBC News’ “Education Nation” – part of NBC’s weeklong commitment to education reports and programming across the network’s shows and platforms beginning September 25.

Students re-tested in Conn. cheating review - Boston.com

Students re-tested in Conn. cheating review - Boston.com:

Students re-tested in Conn. cheating review

September 23, 2011

Text size – +

WATERBURY, Conn.—Students whose Connecticut Mastery Tests were invalidated because of alleged cheating by adults at their Waterbury elementary school have taken the exam again.

About 160 current and former Hopeville School students re-took the test this week, and results are due in about a month.

A state investigation was launched after Hopeville's scores jumped so dramatically last spring that they outpaced every other elementary school in Connecticut.

The review found children were improperly coached to change their wrong

No Child Left Behind Waivers for States - NYTimes.com

No Child Left Behind Waivers for States - NYTimes.com:

Obama to Waive Parts of No Child Left Behind

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

President Obama spoke about changes in the No Child Left Behind law Friday during a ceremony at the White House.

By SAM DILLON

Published: September 23, 2011

REPRINTS

Criticizing Congress for months of inaction in updating No Child Left Behind, President Obama on Friday offered to lift the law’s most onerous provisions, including its 2014 deadline for bringing all students to proficiency in reading and math, for states that promise to follow his administration’s own school improvement agenda.

Times Topic: No Child Left Behind Act

“Congress hasn’t been able to do it, so I will,” Mr. Obama said in a speech at the White House. “Starting today, we’ll be giving states more flexibility to meet high standards.”

Under the plan outlined by the White House, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is inviting states that agree to overhaul low-performing schools and adopt more rigorous teacher evaluation systems to apply for relief from the Bush-era law’s 2014 deadline and

Latest News and Comment from Education