Education summit focuses on 'achievement gap' | students, groups, gap, state, achievement - News - OCRegister.com

Education summit focuses on 'achievement gap' students, groups, gap, state, achievement - News - OCRegister.com:

"Panelists spoke about the need to provide greater access for quality preschool especially in urban communities. They also emphasized providing a safe school environment, developing a stronger professional development program for teachers, raising expectations for students, and finding success stories to serve as examples.

But they also admitted the state's financial crisis has hindered the ability to implement some of these efforts. Schools are being hurt by larger class sizes, and fewer librarians, counselors, music and art programs, bus routes and other services, they said."

Robert Reich: The Truth About Jobs That No One Wants to Tell You

Robert Reich: The Truth About Jobs That No One Wants to Tell You:

"You see? The most important thing right now is getting the jobs back, and getting the economy growing again.

People who now obsess about government debt have it backwards. The problem isn't the debt. The problem is just the opposite. It's that at a time like this, when consumers and businesses and exports can't do it, government has to spend more to get Americans back to work and recharge the economy. Then -- after people are working and the economy is growing -- we can pay down that debt.

But if government doesn't spend more right now and get Americans back to work, we could be out of work for years. And the debt will be with us even longer. And politics could get much uglier."

Cal bringing in consultants to help cut millions from budget - ContraCostaTimes.com

Cal bringing in consultants to help cut millions from budget - ContraCostaTimes.com:

"UC Berkeley will hire consultants to help cut tens of millions from the campus budget.
Bain & Co. will spend six months guiding Berkeley leaders through a study of campus finances, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said Thursday. The university, which had its budget cut by $150 million this year, will pay the Boston-based firm $3 million plus expenses — half this year and the remainder next year.
The Bain collaboration will be part of an effort the university has named 'Operational Excellence' and is modeled after a Bain partnership at the University of North Carolina, which is starting to implement 10 changes recommended by the firm. Cornell University also is working with the company, said Birgeneau, who spoke to the leaders of both schools."

Treating Parents as Our Customers

Parents as Customers

We are often told that we should act more like a business. Setting aside the obvious problem that children are not widgets, you still are left with the chore of sorting out who the customers are.

One of the greatest problems of American education is a confusion over who we serve. Some would argue that the children are the customers. They sit in the seat each day receiving instruction. Others believe the community, big business, colleges or even the military are the customer since they hire or place the student.

I believe the parent is the customer. Customers are the people who can choose to take their business elsewhere. Students are captive to the process and the broader community must live with the product regardless. Students should be considered the workers since it is their productivity that really counts. The broader community, business and the rest are the shareholders. They own stock in the operation. These distinctions become very important when you understand that shareholders have very different expectations and values than customers. Shareholders want return on investment. Customers want value and service.

THANK YOU RACHEL MADDOW

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month

There are a lot of things, especially in these trying times, that we all wished we had more of. For some it’s difficult to see the blessings for the tribulations that cloud our journey. But even amidst all that, I can say that one of the many blessings I cling to is my Hispanic heritage. It is this heritage that has afforded me, a minority female, the opportunity to serve as the first female Cuban-American dean of an ABA accredited law school in the United States.

Yet I am not alone in my endeavors, as all across America more Hispanic men and women are embracing their heritage and turning to it as their motivation for success and to help others. Whether it is Nobel Prize-winning physicist Luis Walter Alvarez, political leader Nydia Velázquez or poet and author Julia Alvarez, we all have an opportunity to find our place in this world. But when we do, we must not forget how we got there. We must not forget our Hispanic heritage.

As a lawyer and educator, I can look back and say that it was in my blood. My grandfather, Gilberto Diaz Barreiro, was a respected civil judge in Camaguey, Cuba’s third largest city. His son and my father, Gaston Armando Diaz, was on the verge of earning his law degree at the University of Havana when his career plans were suddenly altered. Forced to move his wife and young children to New Jersey in 1961 to avoid Castro’s regime, my father had to leave Cuba before he could finish his legal education. He had only one class left to take before he would have become a practicing attorney, a dream that was ultimately fulfilled by me, his daughter, many decades later.

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled... Blogger for a Day: 'Our Plates Are Already Full'

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled... Blogger for a Day: 'Our Plates Are Already Full':

"As SDEA looked to bargain a reasonable workload model into our contract, we used a standard piece of contract language that is common in many districts and workplaces across the country: 'Maintenance of Standards.'

To explain the concept simply, maintenance of standards means is that if a teacher is required to complete tasks X, Y and Z during the current school year, the District cannot arbitrarily and unilaterally decide that the teacher is now required to complete tasks X, Y, Z and L during the following year (L representing a large quantity of additional hours of work) without either being compensated for task L, or having X, Y or Z removed from the teacher's plate."

Fact-checking Moore's 'Capitalism' | Comcast.net

Fact-checking Moore's 'Capitalism' Comcast.net:

"Despite the title of his new movie, Michael Moore really hates capitalism. He says it's a scheme for businesses to profit at the expense of the little guy.

The provocateur filmmaker is campaigning for an end to what he says is the 'evil' in our economic system and a return to the days when our lives weren't so defined by money. It's an ambitious theme, but some of his arguments in 'Capitalism: A Love Story' fall apart on closer inspection."

Bridging Differences: The Habits of Using Evidence & Reason Can't Wait

Bridging Differences: The Habits of Using Evidence & Reason Can't Wait:

"'To the extent that we can teach students to seek evidence and rational explanations, we will reduce magical thinking and encourage the application of reason and intelligence.' —Diane Ravitch, Bridging Differences, Sept. 29

We agree! That's my 'core.'

We also agree that Arne Duncan's agenda lacks evidence or rational explanations. Why? Partially because he ignores his own privileged schooling as irrelevant for all of those millions of 'others.' He's creating a system, a big business. He forgets that business data doesn't always speak for itself. Witness our current crisis."

Inside School Research: IES Plans Major Study of Stimulus Spending

Inside School Research: IES Plans Major Study of Stimulus Spending:

"A big criticism so far of the U.S. Department of Education's proposals for spending economic-stimulus dollars has been that they don't include a strong evaluation component. How can we learn from all those government-subsidized efforts to turn around failing schools, open up charter schools, build longitudinal data systems, and institute merit-pay programs for teachers and principals if we don't study them? The fear is that the nation will never again have an opportunity like this to study so much experimentation going on in so many places.

Well, it turns out the department is planning to seriously study those efforts after all. In an interview yesterday, the department's research czar, John Q. Easton, told me his agency is developing a multilayered, crosscutting, multimethod study of states' stimulus-powered reform efforts."

Education Week: IG Questions Use of Stimulus Aid for Education

Education Week: IG Questions Use of Stimulus Aid for Education:

"President Barack Obama did not intend for state lawmakers to simply cut state education spending and replace it with stimulus dollars.

But Congress made that tough to enforce, and the Education Department's inspector general said in a memo Thursday that some states are doing it.

That means instead of getting extra help to weather tough times, school districts and colleges could wind up with the same level of state aid or with cuts, even as local tax revenues plummet.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said some states are flouting the president's wishes."

Education Week: The Vanishing Innovation

Education Week: The Vanishing Innovation:

"Unfortunately for education, the interest in getting improvements to spread has been accompanied by a failure to give warranted attention to a second question: How do we get improvements to last? The phrase “scale up and sustain” is also part of our vernacular, but the “sustain” part often gets short shrift. While it is important to understand spread, it is endurance that separates the tipping of fads from meaningful change. Unless the investments we make in innovations have lasting impact, in the end, we have wasted our time and resources and, most importantly, squandered students’ opportunities to learn."

The CEO educator - Oct. 1, 2009

The CEO educator - Oct. 1, 2009:

"You mention differentiating pay -- rewarding teachers who achieve better results. In the business world that's obvious, but it's not the way things have traditionally been done in public education. How hard was it to make that happen?

Public education is an entirely different culture. Fundamentally, the only differentiator is seniority. The power in the system is fundamentally the power of the bureaucracy, of the political forces, of the union.

When I was at Bertelsmann, we were constantly focused on how to incentivize the workforce, inject increasing accountability, deciding where to substitute technology for human capital."

In a public school system it's an entirely different set of questions. And until you get used to the questions, you can't think too well about how you want to answer them.
But one could argue that public school teachers, especially the best ones, aren't in it for the money in the first place. Does paying them for performance really work?

I think it does. We haven't seen enough of it in America to know. But think about it this way: Every university I know pays differently for science teachers than it does for English teachers. But I pay the exact same for a science teacher and a physical education teacher. And then I pay the same whether you work in my highest-need school or in my most successful school.

Look, money isn't the only thing that drives teachers -- indeed, it isn't the only thing that drives school chancellors -- but money is an ingredient in the mix of things that matter to people. Fairly compensating them if they take on the tougher assignments, if they're doing the work where it's harder to attract people, like science and math -- that seems to me a critical component.

California Parent Center

California Parent Center:


"A Technical Assistance Center for School, Family and Community Partnerships

Training Preschool and K-12 Educators and Parent Leaders in California, Arizona, Nevada and
Serving Program Improvement Schools and Districts Across the Nation"

Public Schools Incorporate Art as a Teaching Tool - NYTimes.com

Public Schools Incorporate Art as a Teaching Tool - NYTimes.com:

"The Columbus school incorporates sculpture and other art into nearly every corner of its year-old building with the hope that it will inspire students in this working-class Hispanic neighborhood to learn. It is one of a growing number of newly built or renovated public schools across the country that look more like cultural centers than the austere, utilitarian houses of learning of the past, displaying museum-worthy pieces commissioned from artists alongside more traditional finger paintings and statues of school mascots."

NEA moves to help poor schools with best teachers - USATODAY.com

NEA moves to help poor schools with best teachers - USATODAY.com:

"Testifying Tuesday before the House education committee, National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel said the union, which represents about 3.2 million teachers and other workers, will ask local affiliates to draw up memoranda of understanding with local school districts that would 'waive any contract language that prohibits staffing high-needs schools with great teachers.'

Van Roekel said the move is part of the union's 'Priority Schools' campaign that will also encourage 'the most accomplished teachers-members' to start their teaching careers in high-needs schools, remain there or transfer there."

Education Week: House Panel Targets Teacher Distribution, Pay

Education Week: House Panel Targets Teacher Distribution, Pay:

"Lawmakers and teacher spokesmen had a spirited exchange here this week on the equitable distribution of effective teachers, illuminating the contours of a debate that will likely continue as Congress revisits the issue.

Differing opinions about incentive-pay programs, the role of test scores in pay and evaluation, and how prescriptive the federal government should be in seeking to boost teacher effectiveness were aired at a House hearing. It came as the upcoming renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and implementation of the economic-stimulus law are helping to spur such debate."

Teachers Who Made a Difference - NAM

Teachers Who Made a Difference - NAM:

"Editor’s note: In early September, on schoolyards and in hallways across the country, the same excited, anxious question rings out: “Who'd you get?” Students know that the heart of education beats inside the individual teacher. When NAM asked young people in our youth communications programs to write about the one teacher who’d really made a difference, they barely had to think before the keys were flying. This feature supported by funding from the California Teachers Association."

Coach K Demanded GreatnessBy Roland BallardThe teacher who made the biggest difference in my life would be my high school freshmen P.E. teacher, Keith Norman, better known as Coach K. He was my coach on the basketball team and also the first person to sit and talk to me about college. And he never let up on me. Outside of all the basketball knowledge he passed on to me, he also showed me the ways of a man. He taught me that a man makes sacrifices to be successful.

Ms. G: A Push in the Right DirectionBy Anastasia Freeman Throughout the years I have had a lot of teachers who have greatly affected me. The one who has affected me the most has to be Ms. Grinberg, my English and History teacher. She is the reason I am alive today. When I first came into her class it was because I had gotten kicked out of my old high school. I walked in with my mind made up that I wasn’t doing anything at all. I had just given birth to my daughter, who was a preemie and was still in the hospital. I was only going to school because I was on probation and I didn’t want to go back to jail. So, for two whole marking periods I just sat there and failed.

Mr. Jackson Told Me I Would Go PlacesBy Janet Lagto Michael Jackson. For many people, that name sparks memories of the dancing, performing maestro of pop. For me, however, it strikes up memories of attending high school, and sitting in Mr. Jackson’s stifling classroom that smelled heavily of mildew and glue. This tall, blonde man touched a very special place in my heart. Although I was rarely in school during most of my high school years, when I was there, my favorite place to be was in Mr. Jackson's classroom, listening to him rant and rave in an intellectual and witty way. He knew I had no interest in school. He knew I was picky about what work I would actually do. Yet he placed hope in me and told me things my other teachers never did. He told me that someone as bright as me (imagine, me, bright!) would eventually go places.

Special-ed ruling may mean teacher cutbacks - Cleveland.com

Special-ed ruling may mean teacher cutbacks - Cleveland.com:

"If the Cleveland schools are forced to hire large numbers of special-education teachers, mainstream teachers will be axed to make room on the payroll, Chief Executive Officer Eugene Sanders says.

An arbitrator has ruled that, under union contract, the district must assign both a general-education teacher and special-education teacher to every class that mixes students with disabilities and other children. That could require hiring up to six teachers per building, the union estimates.

At a school board meeting Tuesday, Sanders said the hires would come at the expense of general-education teachers."

Richard Whitmire and Andrew Rotherham explain how teachers unions have been taken to task by the New York Times, the Washington Post and even The New Yorker. - WSJ.com

Richard Whitmire and Andrew Rotherham explain how teachers unions have been taken to task by the New York Times, the Washington Post and even The New Yorker. - WSJ.com:

"Editorial pages of major papers nationwide have begun to demand accountability for schools, despite objections from vested interests. Since the Obama administration took an unexpectedly tough line on school reform, the elite media response has been overwhelmingly positive.

'All the reforms unions oppose—charter schools, testing, accountability, No Child Left Behind, performance pay—have been around for a while now and the disasters the unions predicted have not come to pass,' said Richard Colvin, who runs the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media in New York. 'The unions are out of touch and are courting irrelevance.'"