TNJN - Qualms stirred over Obama and education

TNJN - Qualms stirred over Obama and education

"Obama did not encourage a formal education; he encouraged each student to take responsibility for whatever education - formal or technical - that he or she decided to attain. He gave students a dose of realism: most people do not gain success as a rapper or basketball player. A solid education will provide a solid foundation for all dreams. He told students that ultimately, they will fix the issues plaguing the world today. Taking responsibility for the education that teachers and parents try to provide is the only way to gain the knowledge that will help rectify the global problems."

The Associated Press: Census: Recession had sweeping impact on US life

The Associated Press: Census: Recession had sweeping impact on US life:

"The homeownership rate fell to 66.6 percent last year, the lowest in six years, after hitting a peak of 67.3 percent in 2006. Residents in crowded housing jumped to 1.1 percent, the highest since 2004, a sign people were 'doubling up' with relatives or friends to save money.

_ The share of people who carpooled to work rose to 10.7 percent, up from 10.4 percent in the previous year. Commuters who took public transportation increased to 5 percent, the highest in six years, with Washington, D.C., at the top.

_ Women's average pay still lagged men's, but the gap has been narrowing. Women with full-time jobs made 77.9 percent of men's pay, up from 77.5 percent in 2007 and about 64 percent in 2000.

_ More people are getting high school diplomas. Only two states, Texas and Mississippi, had at least 1 in 5 adults without high school diplomas. This is down from 17 states in 2000 and 37 in 1990."

Obama gets personal on the 'Late Show with David Letterman' -- latimes.com

Obama gets personal on the 'Late Show with David Letterman' -- latimes.com:

"In a more personal moment, Obama talked about how tough the homework load is at Sidwell Friends School, the Quaker school his daughters, Sasha and Malia, attend in Washington.

'We decided there weren't going to be any fancy camps during the summer,' Obama said. 'They basically just goofed off during the summer . . . which I couldn't do.'

'Others have,' Letterman said, a possible reference to the previous administration, drawing only a laugh from the president.

Obama also offered some insight into date nights with the first lady when shown a picture of the two of them wearing 3D glasses. They were watching the movie 'Up' at the time, he said."

Obama On Letterman

Watch CBS Videos Online

The Conversation: Education chief wants a transformation - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

The Conversation: Education chief wants a transformation - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee:

"U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is a man in a hurry. Children, he says, have only one chance to get an education: 'We cannot wait because our children cannot wait.'

And he's a one-man whirlwind in a battle against stifling bureaucracy at all levels – whether at the Department of Education in Washington or in rules and regulations at the local level that get in the way of efforts to improve student achievement."

Tweet-tweet goes Schwarzenegger, a big Twitter user - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Tweet-tweet goes Schwarzenegger, a big Twitter user - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"Schwarzenegger still delivers a weekly radio address and sends press releases. But he seems most obsessed with communicating in 140 characters or fewer via Twitter.

Since joining the social networking site last year, the governor has drawn 1.15 million followers. He visited Twitter headquarters in San Francisco last month and started a Web site that solicits ideas via Twitter. He even used it to wish his son Patrick a happy 16th birthday last week, calling him 'a true stud.'"

Survey: Financial worries more common than financial plans | Philly | 09/21/2009

Survey: Financial worries more common than financial plans Philly 09/21/2009:

"'There is no excuse to not have the info you need to get your financial house in order,' Smiley said in an interview this week.

Smiley on Saturday will deliver the keynote speech at a free financial workshop that is part of a five-city tour promoting economic empowerment and financial literacy.

The survey conducted by the Blackstone Group for the Smiley Group found that 31 percent of Sacramentans expect their household situation to be worse a year from now, but only 15 percent say they have written a financial plan, compared with 22 percent nationally. The survey of 1,600 respondents done in January has a margin of error of 7 percentage points."

WireTap Magazine - Black Male Teachers Are a Missing Ingredient

WireTap Magazine - Black Male Teachers Are a Missing Ingredient:

"'I was shocked,' said Alexander 'I had never had a Black male teacher before, except for P.E.' Alexander's experience is remarkably common. Only 2 percent of the nation's 4.8 million teachers are Black men, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The shortage of Black male teachers compounds the difficulties that many African-American boys face in school. About half of Black male students do not complete high school in four years, statistics show. Black males tend to score lower on standardized tests, take fewer Advanced Placement courses and are suspended and expelled at higher rates than other groups officials say."

SCUSD Observer: No child left behind races to the top?

SCUSD Observer: No child left behind races to the top?

No child left behind races to the top?
Last week's release of the AYP Progress report for SCUSD shows that many of the schools in our district are failing to adequately educate Sacramento children according to No Child Left Behind standards.

SCUSD schools in year 1 of program improvement status jumped from 3 in 2008-09 to 15 to 2009-10.

The statistics are troubling. Many of our local high schools are at risk of entering PI status next year.

In last week's Sacramento Bee, Superintendent Raymond describes the vicious cycle of program improvement:

"It's like the Hotel California, you check in but you never check out."

The Common Core State Standards Initiative

The Common Core State Standards Initiative

Common Core State Standards Available for Comment

NGA Center, CCSSO Release First Official Public Draft of the College- and Career-Readiness Standards

Contact: Jodi Omear, 202-624-5346 Office of Communications

WASHINGTON—The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) today released the first official public draft of the college- and career-readiness standards in English-language arts and mathematics as part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a process being led by governors and chief state school officers in 51 states and territories. These standards define the knowledge and skills students should have to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing, academic college courses and in workforce training programs.

The NGA Center and CCSSO are encouraging those interested in the standards to provide feedback, which must be supported by research and evidence, by October 21 at www.corestandards.org.

After the feedback period, the standards are subject to review by the expert Validation Committee. The Validation Committee is comprised of national and international experts on standards. This group will review the standards development process and the substance of the standards to ensure they are research- and evidence-based. Members of the committee are being selected by governors and chiefs and will be formally announced in the coming weeks.
The NGA Center and CCSSO will soon begin the process of developing the K-12 standards that will enable students to meet the validated college and career-readiness standards.

"We are pleased to release the college- and career-readiness standards today and to begin receiving comments on them," said Dane Linn, director of the NGA Center's Education Division. "These standards are vital to ensuring our students are prepared to compete and succeed in a global economy. I would also like to thank Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue for serving as the NGA co-leads on this initiative."

"The college- and career-readiness standards are really just the beginning," stated Gene Wilhoit, executive director of CCSSO. "We need this confirmed, validated goal of fewer, clearer, and higher standards to take on the real work of ensuring students have a roadmap from grades K-12 for achieving these standards."

The college- and career-readiness standards have been informed by input from education and content experts and feedback from participating states. They were developed based on the following guiding considerations:
Fewer, clearer, higher: It is critical that any standards document be translatable to and teachable in the classroom. As such, the standards must cover only those areas that are critical for student success.

Evidence: Each document includes sources of evidence for the standards. Evidence informed what was included in the standards.

Internationally benchmarked: These standards are informed by the content, rigor and organization of standards of high-performing countries and states.
Special populations: In the development of these standards, the inclusion of all types of learners was a priority.

Assessment: The standards will ultimately be the basis for a system of high quality assessments.
Standards and curriculum: Standards are not curriculum. The curriculum that follows will continue to be a local responsibility (or state-led, where appropriate).

21st century skills: The draft English-language arts and mathematics standards have incorporated 21st century skills.

For more information, please visit www.corestandards.org.
###

Founded in 1908, the National Governors Association (NGA) is the collective voice of the nation's governors and one of Washington, D.C.'s most respected public policy organizations. Its members are the governors of the 50 states, three territories and two commonwealths. NGA provides governors and their senior staff members with services that range from representing states on Capitol Hill and before the Administration on key federal issues to developing and implementing innovative solutions to public policy challenges through the NGA Center for Best Practices. For more information, visit www.nga.org.

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. CCSSO provides leadership, advocacy, and technical assistance on major educational issues. The Council seeks member consensus on major educational issues and expresses their views to civic and professional organizations, federal agencies, Congress, and the public. www.ccsso.org.

Expert Objects to Rampant Subjectivity in Grading

Expert Objects to Rampant Subjectivity in Grading:

"These schools overhauled the grading system, in part to make sure that students taking the same classes got the same scores. Some of the changes included:

-- Setting learning targets and linking grades to the achievement of those targets.

-- Giving grades based solely on achievement and separately reporting attendance, effort and participation.

-- Grading only individual achievement, not group work.

-- Giving scores only to certain assignments and choosing carefully which scores should be included in the final grade.

-- Making sure students understand how their grades are being determined.

The first step toward change, Reeves said, is eliminating 'dumb errors.'"

Education | Schools, students see impact of cash crunch | Seattle Times Newspaper

Education Schools, students see impact of cash crunch Seattle Times Newspaper:

"Meredith Westerside loved her work as a Bellevue School District librarian. But this year, for the first time in 20 years, she's back teaching English — part of the fallout from the deepest cuts in public-school funding in decades.

With the new school year under way, parents, students, teachers and staff in many districts across the state are feeling those cuts in ways large and small. Classes are bigger, new textbook orders are on hold, fees to play sports are up, music programs shut down and bus service cut back."

Dallas-Fort Worth school districts calculate different ways to use netbooks in classes | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Dallas-Fort Worth school districts calculate different ways to use netbooks in classes News for Dallas, Texas Dallas Morning News Latest News:

"More local students are using 'netbooks' at school. The small computers are much lighter and cheaper than traditional laptop computers.

One sign of that shift took place when the Irving school district decided in May to begin replacing aging and bulkier student laptops with about 4,600 netbooks.
'It's a lot easier to carry,' said Luis Hernandez, 11, a Travis Middle School student. 'I like how it looks, and it has a camera.'"

Nation's teachers unions feel squeezed by some former allies - Sacramento Politics - California Politics | Sacramento Bee

Nation's teachers unions feel squeezed by some former allies - Sacramento Politics - California Politics Sacramento Bee:

"David Sanchez, president of the 340,000-member California Teachers Association, said teachers had high hopes for Obama but that so far there has been little change.

Indeed, when it comes to education policies, he said it's hard to distinguish Obama from his predecessor, President George W. Bush, who placed a premium on high-stakes student testing.
'To be perfectly honest, it's disappointing again,' Sanchez said. 'Our perception is it's more of the same, and that's not good, because we thought we were going to be able to change something, make some true reform in public education.'"

State politics could block Detroit's chance for educational progress | detnews.com | The Detroit News

State politics could block Detroit's chance for educational progress detnews.com The Detroit News:

"Another barrier to reform: ideological struggles between state Democrats and Republicans, who both try to write legislation to cater to their constituencies (union teachers for the Dems, charter schools for the GOP) rather than agree to research-based reforms that we know work for children. Then there are Michigan's public universities and colleges, which have not been forthcoming with commitments to adopt a K-16 data system that will allow Michigan to track students' graduation rates and other performance measures through college. The universities have avoided such accountability for years, but we rarely hear about them because they happen behind closed doors. Detroit's failures are on display for the world to see. The public universities' failures are covered up behind pretty ivy curtains."

The two worlds of education in America

The two worlds of education in America:

"Approximately two thousand high schools (about 12 percent of American high schools) produce more than half of the nation‘s dropouts. In these ?dropout factories, the number of seniors enrolled is routinely 60 percent or less than the number of freshmen three years earlier…Dropout factories produce 69 percent of all African American dropouts and 63 percent of all Hispanic dropouts, compared to 30 percent of all white dropouts."

Adjudicating School Reform

Adjudicating School Reform:

"The new policies, which the district plans to fully implement by next year, include eliminating seniority from hiring decisions, revising the teacher evaluation system, and offering financial incentives to teachers in low-performing schools. These reforms may be unpopular with some teachers and principals—though eventually all of Philly’s educators did show up for work—but they are the types of policies that are needed to ensure every student has access to an effective teacher."

Philadelphia’s new policies are remarkable for another reason—the district is required to implement the changes as part of a consent agreement that ends a 39-year old desegregation lawsuit. That suit, filed by the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission, alleged that Philadelphia schools were unlawfully segregated by race and denied minority students educational opportunities equal to white students. The parties agreed to end the lawsuit in July.

These test-score jitters are a sign of high standards - The Boston Globe

These test-score jitters are a sign of high standards - The Boston Globe:

"The federal No Child Left Behind law sets targets requiring every student to reach “proficiency’’ by 2014. States, which set their own proficiency standards, are expected to reach consistently higher points each year along that federal trajectory. It’s a lot easier for states with lower academic standards and easier tests to hit the annual mark. But that’s not the way of education reform in Massachusetts. State education commissioner Mitchell Chester wisely insists that he is “dead opposed’’ to making the MCAS test easier in order to look good on a federal report card. It’s that attitude that elevates Massachusetts students to the top of comparison charts on national and even international standardized tests."

San Gabriel Valley Tribune: Tests don't tell the whole story - National voices - Merced Sun-Star

San Gabriel Valley Tribune: Tests don't tell the whole story - National voices - Merced Sun-Star:

"Good news doesn't come out of nowhere. Credit goes to teachers, to students and to parents as well. And in Baldwin Park, many in the community -- and we would agree -- are giving credit for the scores improvement to Superintendent Mark Skvarna. In tough budgeting times that are forcing layoffs in many districts, Skvarna and his board did not hand out a single pink slip this past year. He said that fact helped morale along with keeping class sizes small. Both are important in fostering a happy and safe learning environment. Skvarna, who has a background in business, also worked on saving energy costs in schools."

A district under siege: Discord continues in Luther Burbank - San Jose Mercury News

A district under siege: Discord continues in Luther Burbank - San Jose Mercury News:

"In the tiny Luther Burbank School District, the office copy/fax machine is on the fritz, the phones go to voicemail for lack of a district secretary and teachers picket after school to protest stalled contract talks.

And yet, while some things in the central San Jose school district may be falling apart, eager students are tackling synonyms and long division, and the staff is celebrating test scores that indicate solid academic progress.

Three months after a scathing grand jury report questioned its very existence, and seven months after a audit critical of its financial practices, the one-campus district has shakily stayed its course, while the larger political and educational community has responded with a shrug of the shoulders.

'It just seems like the board and district are running amok and no one seems to care,' said Don Kawashima, foreman of the grand jury that in June suggested board President Antonio Perez step down, and the 566-student district merge with a neighbor. After alleging the board engaged in conflicts of interest, secrecy, intimidation, questionable spending and election malfeasance, the grand jury concluded that the district could not fix itself."