As rehab programs are cut, prisons do less to keep inmates from returning -- latimes.com

As rehab programs are cut, prisons do less to keep inmates from returning -- latimes.com:

"Reporting from Sacramento - Gina Tatum spends her days in a compound surrounded by electrified fence in the sun-baked heart of the Central Valley, hoping to change her life.

She will soon turn 50, and after two decades in and out of prison, she says she is tired of victimizing others, tired of stealing, tired of doing drugs.

'I can't afford any more years up here -- I've lost too many,' said Tatum, who is serving a four-year stint for forgery at the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla. 'I'm trying to learn things to change my thinking, change everything about me, so I can go home. It's so easy to get caught up here and never leave. I don't want to die in prison.'"

SN&R > Columns > Cut&Paste > City Hall gives no thought to freethought > 10.15.09

SN&R > Columns > Cut&Paste > City Hall gives no thought to freethought > 10.15.09:

"The Kevin Johnson administration is “not comfortable” with a longstanding City Hall tradition of recognizing Freethought Day, an annual celebration of the separation of church and state.

Freethought Day commemorates the day in October of 1692, when Massachusetts Gov. William Phips declared that “spectral evidence” was no longer allowed in court proceedings. That pretty much ended the Salem witch trials, and helped lay the groundwork for the separation of church and state.

And that’s why local atheists, freethinkers and humanists celebrated Freethought Day on Sunday, October 11, at Cesar Chavez Plaza, across from City Hall. Similar celebrations were held around the country on the same day."

Walk To Defeat ALS(TM) Sacramento Chapter:

Walk To Defeat ALS(TM) Sacramento Chapter::

"Hello Specktacular Speck Supporters!

The ALS Association (ALSA) is having a nationwide fundraising walk, The Walk to Defeat ALS, and the Sacramento Chapter is hosting a walk on October 17th at William Land Park in Sacramento.

This online fundraising team was created to walk/donate in support of Cathy Speck and her family. The team is called The Specktaculars. Our goal is to raise $10,000 for the ALS Association."

Chicago charter schools are failing on state tests but not facing turnaround or other sanctions - Substance News

Chicago charter schools are failing on state tests but not facing turnaround or other sanctions - Substance News

Charter school report shows scores of Chicago charters are 'failing' as measured by Illinois tests

Scores of Chicago public schools are being closed for performing poorly on the state tests and replaced by charter schools.

But what if those charter schools that replaced the ‘failing’ public schools are also performing poorly? Should not they be placed on probation, ridiculed and then closed as well?

That question needs to be asked after the Illinois State Board of Education issued the Illinois Charter School Annual Report in January 2009.

According to the Charter School Performance data, there are 12 Chicago charter schools — almost half of the total charters in Chicago — that did not make the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) on the state’s ISAT and PSAE tests during the 2007-2008 school year.

Tea Time

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/10/16/is-michelle-obama-right-about-teachers/

Is Michelle Obama Right about Teachers?

First Lady Michelle Obama wrote yesterday in US News and World Report that we face a teacher shortage. She laments that up to a third of current teachers could retire in the next four years. The solution, she says, is to embark on an aggressive and multifaceted teacher recruitment campaign.

But here’s an interesting thought: What if a million teachers really did retire in the next four years, and we only replaced half of them?

City Brights: Joe D'Alessandro : Take nothing for granted

City Brights: Joe D'Alessandro : Take nothing for granted:

"Even with all that City Hall and the many non-profits around town are doing, we hear complaints from our visitors about dirty streets, aggressive panhandling and public drug dealing.

Sacramento's celebrity Mayor Kevin Johnson had his bag stolen while helping someone into a cab right on Union Square last week. Street safety should be a priority for all of us.

These issues are important not just because they disturb our visitors and residents. The fact is that people are struggling and suffering. If we are truly 'the cool grey city of love,' we can't ignore that.

And we need to do everything we can to preserve the city's quirky 'Only in San Francisco' personality. Other cities may have beautiful hills, bridges and coastlines but only this city is '49 square miles surrounded by reality.'"

Inside School Research: Study Suggests Dyslexia Varies Around the Globe

Inside School Research: Study Suggests Dyslexia Varies Around the Globe:

"Dyslexia looks distinctly different in Chinese speakers than it does in American children, a new study says."

In the U.S., children who are dyslexic have trouble detecting or manipulating the sound structure of oral language, according to a report on the study posted this week in the "Science Daily" blog, and that, in turn, leads to problems mapping speech sounds onto letters.

In China, though, dyslexia is both a phonological problem and a visuospatial disorder, says this group of researchers from the University of Hong Kong. That's due in part to structural differences in the languages. They write:

"Written Chinese maps graphic forms—i.e., characters—onto meanings. Chinese characters possess a number of intricate strokes packed into a square configuration, and their pronounciation must be memorized by rote."

That means the Chinese readers must rely more heavily on visuospatial processing than do readers of English. To test that idea, the researchers asked normal and dyslexic Chinese readers to judge the size of visual stimuli. In keeping with their theory, they found that nondisabled readers excelled at that task.

Five myths about paying good teachers more | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Five myths about paying good teachers more detnews.com The Detroit News:

"Education Secretary Arne Duncan says paying public school teachers based on their performance is his 'highest priority,' and he plans to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars to states and school systems that embrace the idea. In the District of Columbia, Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has made such reform a cornerstone of her agenda -- and a backdrop to her recent move to lay off 229 teachers in response to budget cuts. But school reformers have been trying unsuccessfully to introduce performance pay in public education for decades. If today's reformers want to break the deadlock, they're going to have to let go of several myths hanging over the debate:"

1. Merit pay has a strong track record.

2. Teachers unions are the biggest barrier to merit pay.

3. Principals are good judges of teacher talent.

4. Student test scores offer a simple solution to the evaluation problem.

5. Teachers are most motivated by money.

Welcome to the University of iTunes - CNN.com

Welcome to the University of iTunes - CNN.com:

"LONDON, England (CNN) -- The wisdom of business professors, once only available to MBAs and business students, can now be accessed by anybody with an Internet connection.

At HEC Paris, MBA students are given an iPod Touch so they can download podcasts of lectures.

Hundreds of universities, and a growing number of business schools, are making recordings of lectures, seminars and conferences available to the general public via Web sites such as iTunes and YouTube.

Leading business schools including University of Cambridge Judge Business School, Fuqua School of Business, and Yale School of Management make course content available for download through iTunes University (iTunes U), part of the of the iTunes online store.

That means those whose budget won't stretch to a two-year MBA can simulate the experience at home -- or at work, in the gym or anywhere else they choose. And even better for money-conscious learners, the iTunes U content can all be downloaded free of charge."

Police: Washing mouth out with soap a crime | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY

Police: Washing mouth out with soap a crime floridatoday.com FLORIDA TODAY:

"It was a Wednesday evening along Shenandoah Road when the 8-year-old girl said a bad word, Palm Bay Police said."

According to investigative reports, the girl's mother, 32-year-old Adriyanna Herdener, deferred punishment to her live-in boyfriend, 41-year-old Wilfredo Rivera. After all, he was the father of their 18-month-old daughter and, as Herdener told police, "the head of the household."

What happened next went from simple punishment to what police call a crime and saw both adults lose custody of their children.

Herdener told police that Rivera went into the home's bathroom, grabbed a bar of Irish Spring soap sitting in a dish and told the girl not just to wash her mouth out with it, but to eat it.

It is a ramped-up version of an old-fashioned punishment many of today's adults endured as children -- and one experts say just doesn't work anymore, if it ever did.

Gov. Granholm named National Education Policy Leader of the Year | Bay City News - - MLive.com

Gov. Granholm named National Education Policy Leader of the Year Bay City News - - MLive.com:

"Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm has been named Policy Leader of the Year by the National Association of State Boards of Education.

The association is a nonprofit that represents state and territorial boards of education.

“Jennifer Granholm has recognized that in difficult economic times, the future health and prosperity of her state’s children and of Michigan as a whole is inexorably linked to a strong and vital public education,” Association Executive Director Brenda Welburn said in a news release issued by Granholm's office.

Granholm says she has strengthened Michigan’s education system in numerous ways, including:"

expanding preschool programs and creating a public-private partnership, the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, to improve early childhood care and education;

adopting some of the most rigorous K-8 content standards and high school graduation requirements in the nation;

creating the Michigan Promise scholarship – the first universal college scholarship – which sets the expectation that students will continue their education beyond high school;

establishing Promise Zones, new public-private partnerships in 10 Michigan communities with high poverty rates, that will guarantee all children the financial support to obtain a college degree;

developing the Michigan College Access Network, another public-private partnership, linking Michigan communities together to help more students not only attend college but also to succeed in earning degrees and other credentials;

launching the No Worker Left Behind job-training program in 2007 that provides qualifying participants two years of free tuition up to $10,000 at any Michigan community college, university or other approved training program. This month, enrollment in the program topped 100,000.

Online Education Investor Makes More Than $1 Million in Scholarships Available to Those in Need | Reuters

Online Education Investor Makes More Than $1 Million in Scholarships Available to Those in Need Reuters:

"SOLANA BEACH, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Dr. Michael Clifford, the principal of SignificantFederation (www.sigfed.com), a
company that has invested or has a financial stake in more than a dozen online
colleges and universities around the country, has decided it is time to give
back.

Clifford announced today that SignificantFederation plans to make $1 million in
scholarships available to smart students, who can no longer afford to pay the
skyrocketing tuition that most schools are seeking.

'SignificantFederation has done extremely well in recent years by investing in
colleges that already have, or would like to have, an online education
component,' said Clifford, who was an early investor in both Grand Canyon
University and Bridgepoint Education, two highly successful online education
companies that have gone public in the last 12 months.

'We believe the time has come to reach out to the smartest and poorest students
in America and give them a chance to expand their horizons,' he added.

Prospective students, including adults, are encouraged to visit
http://www.significantfederation.com/scholarships/ to fill out a simple form and
receive a scholarship application."

53 House Republicans Seek Removal of Obama Schools Official - NYTimes.com

53 House Republicans Seek Removal of Obama Schools Official - NYTimes.com:

"WASHINGTON — Fifty-three House Republicans have signed a letter to the Obama administration asking for the ouster of Kevin Jennings, an official charged with promoting school safety, because of his career as an advocate of teaching tolerance of homosexuality."

“As the founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, Mr. Jennings has played an integral role in promoting homosexuality and pushing a pro-homosexual agenda in America’s schools — an agenda that runs counter to the values that many parents desire to instill in their children,” the lawmakers write.

They cite as evidence the foreword Mr. Jennings wrote for a book titled “Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue About Sexualities and Schooling” (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999).

The outcry from conservative commentators and activists began not long after the resignation in September of another Obama appointee, Van Jones, who had the task of promoting energy-efficient jobs. Mr. Jones had signed some far-left petitions, including one suggesting that the Bush administration may have allowed the Sept. 11 attacks as a pretext for invading Iraq.

Yale Daily News - Brill: Booker and the Brick City

Yale Daily News - Brill: Booker and the Brick City:

"It’s time for Cory Booker to step up. I write that not in spite of the Newark mayor’s spectacular accomplishments in his first two years in office, but because of them. The Brick City — resilient, reborn under new leadership — is on the mend. But one project looms untouched, without which urban revitalization cannot be close to complete: mayoral control and reform of Newark’s public schools.

It’s hard to understate the miserable condition of New Jersey’s largest school system. For decades, Newark public schools were severely underfunded, resulting in crumbling schools and underpaid teachers. In 1990, however, funding advocates won a landmark lawsuit in the New Jersey Supreme Court which won billions in new school money. Today, per-pupil spending is $18,000, among the highest of urban school districts."

Charter School Battle Reignites

Charter School Battle Reignites:

"Several groups are seeking to make Maine the 40th state to allow charter schools. The groups, including the Maine Association of Charter Schools, Democrats for Education Reform, and the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, will meet this Wednesday the 14th in Augusta. The groups seek to inform Mainers about the benefits of charter schools in combating dropout rates, the subject of a recent forum in Orono, low achievement, and more. Matthew Stone reported that the forum comes as another battle over allowing charter schools in Maine is about to heat up.

Advocates of charter schools see the institutions as a way to diversify the learning environment and bring more advantages to Maine students. “We’re just not competitive if we’re not giving students and parents and educators the option for charter schools,” said Roger Brainerd, executive director of the MACS. “It’s not the answer to everything. It’s just another tool.” Charter schools have also been cite many times as a key component to receiving Federal “Race to the Top” funding."

DETNEWS | Weblogs | Daniel Howes' Blog

DETNEWS Weblogs Daniel Howes' Blog:

"In a town desperate for good news, word that Robert Bobb is negotiating to extend his stay as emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools is about as good it gets. They need him. The city of Detroit needs him. DPS kids and their parents need him. The social-services budgets of the city, the state and the feds need him because, as Nick Kristof points out in today's New York Times:

'Good schools constitute a far more potent weapon against poverty than welfare, food stamps or housing subsidies. Yet, cowed by teachers' unions, Democrats have too often resisted reform and stood by as generations of disadvantaged children have been cemented into an underclass by third-rate schools.'

There's no Detroit dateline on the piece, but there might as well be. He continues: 'It's difficult to improve failing schools when you can't create alternatives such as charter schools and can't remove inept or abusive teachers.'"

Rhee uses scores to back up reforms - Washington Times

Rhee uses scores to back up reforms - Washington Times:

"D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee said Thursday that standout gains on a national math test reinforce recent local test results and further validate her aggressive approach to school reform in the District.

'I never like to say that I expect anything,' Ms. Rhee said at a news conference at Mary Church Terrell Elementary School in Southeast Washington. 'We just are glad to see that the progress that our kids are making academically is consistently being seen in lots of different kinds of data.'

The District and four states were the only jurisdictions to see improvements from both fourth- and eighth-grade students since the semiannual National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test was last given in 2007, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Education."

Media-Newswire.com - Press Release Distribution - PR Agency

Media-Newswire.com - Press Release Distribution - PR Agency:

"(Media-Newswire.com) - U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan issued the following statement on The Nation's Report Card: Mathematics 2009, National Assessment of Educational Progress ( NAEP ) at Grades 4 and 8:

“Today's results are evidence that we must better equip our schools to improve the knowledge and skills of America's students in mathematics. Our students have made real gains in math over the past two decades, but for the first time since NAEP's mathematics test started in 1990, student achievement in fourth grade has not improved. More must be done to narrow the troubling achievement gap that has persisted in mathematics, and to ensure that America's students make greater gains toward becoming competitive with their peers in other countries.

“None of us should be satisfied. We need reforms that will accelerate student achievement. Our students need to graduate high school ready to succeed in college and the workplace. These NAEP results are a call to action to reform the teaching and learning of mathematics and other related subjects in order to prepare our students to compete in the global economy.

“President Obama's agenda for school reform is focused on improving student achievement. We're building a teaching profession that will ensure every child has an excellent teacher and that teachers are rewarded for excellent work. We're supporting efforts to create standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and careers. We're helping states build data systems to track whether students are meeting those standards. And we're turning around our lowest-performing schools."

Academic dishonesty | The Citizen Online

Academic dishonesty The Citizen Online:

"College education is a costly proposition with tuition, room and board at some colleges topping $50,000 a year. Is it worth it?

Increasing evidence suggests that it’s not. Since the 1960s, academic achievement scores have plummeted, but student college grade point averages (GPA) have skyrocketed. In October 2001, the Boston Globe published an article entitled “Harvard’s Quiet Secret: Rampant Grade Inflation.” The article reported that a record 91 percent of Harvard University students were awarded honors during the spring graduation. The newspaper called Harvard’s grading practices “the laughing stock of the Ivy League.”

Harvard is by no means unique. For example, 80 percent of the grades given at the University of Illinois are A’s and B’s. Fifty percent of students at Columbia University are on the Dean’s list. At Stanford University, where F grades used to be banned, only 6 percent of student grades were as low as a C. In the 1930s, the average GPA at American colleges and universities was 2.35, about a C plus; today the national average GPA is 3.2, more than a B."

UCSC Students Occupy Dean's Office: Call to Revolt! : Indybay

UCSC Students Occupy Dean's Office: Call to Revolt! : Indybay:

"The glass walls of passivity, separating us from one another, can only be shattered with revolt. We are occupying a second building on the Santa Cruz campus of the University of California because we have answered the call of the first to occupy everything. Tonight is a demonstration to students and workers everywhere that the division between taking what you want and planning for a movement to come only appears as a problem for abstract thought about taking action. We only catch sight of the fires of the insurrection to come on the morning after the unrest of the night before.

What is a crisis anyway? It is the exclusion from work and public services of those most precariously situated within this system. To a crisis which is generalized, it is pointless to respond with generic activism. Activists of more prosperous eras held demonstrations. Still, they were unable to secure any lasting position for those on whose behalf they took “action”. As the current crisis unfolds, it is necessary to elaborate innovative forms of escalation and revolt. Our crisis is as much the failure of these tired forms of mobilization as it is the collateral damage caused by a growing economic catastrophe."