Education Professor Honored for Body of Work | UANews.org

Education Professor Honored for Body of Work UANews.org:

"Luis C. Moll, whose research contributions are credited with advancing the understanding of ways that Hispanic students learn, is being honored by the American Educational Research Association.

By La Monica Everett-Haynes, University Communications
October 16, 2009

For decades, Luis C. Moll has investigated the ways Hispanic families' social networks and household environments contribute to the education and success of their children.
Considered pivotal research, the work headed by Moll and his colleagues have challenged long-existing theoretical models that have indicated that people of color are inherently disadvantaged because of their social and cultural backgrounds.

'We learn and develop through our relationships with each other – that is fundamental to the development,' said Moll, a University of Arizona professor in the language, reading and culture department."

Harvard loses $1.8b in cash placed in high-risk investments - The Boston Globe

Harvard loses $1.8b in cash placed in high-risk investments - The Boston Globe:

"Harvard University, one of the world’s richest educational institutions, stumbled into its financial crisis in part by breaking one of the most basic rules of corporate or family finance:

Don’t gamble with the money you need to pay the daily bills."

The university disclosed yesterday that it had lost $1.8 billion in cash - money it relies on for the school’s everyday expenses - by investing it with its endowment fund, instead of keeping it in safe, bank-like accounts. The disclosure was made in the school’s annual report for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Typically, companies and big institutions manage their cash conservatively in order to have it readily available, by keeping the money in such low-risk investments as money-market mutual funds.

But Harvard placed a large portion of its cash with Harvard Management Co., the entity that runs the university’s endowment and invests in stocks, hedge funds, and other risky assets. It has been widely reported that Harvard Management’s endowment investments were battered in the market crash - down 27 percent in its last fiscal year. Not revealed until yesterday was that the school’s basic cash portfolio had also been caught in the undertow.

Education cuts slice through tightknit community - SignOnSanDiego.com

Education cuts slice through tightknit community - SignOnSanDiego.com:

"ALPINE — From secretaries to school board members, folks in the small Alpine Union School District talk proudly of how everyone knows each other and tries to work like family. Many of the district's employees live in the community off Interstate 8 in the foothills near the Cleveland National Forest. They bump into each other in the grocery store. Their children play sports together after school. “It's very tightknit,” said Superintendent Greg Ryan. When the 2,000-student district was facing a budget crunch last spring, all of its employees, including school board members and administrators, agreed to take 2 percent pay cuts. Teachers also agreed to trim two days from their calendar and nonteaching employees four days to further reduce salaries."

10.16.2009 - Stephen Barnett, California Supreme Court expert, dies at 73

10.16.2009 - Stephen Barnett, California Supreme Court expert, dies at 73:

"BERKELEY — Stephen Barnett, professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, died of complications resulting from cardiac arrest on Tuesday, Oct. 13. He was 73.

Stephen Barnett (Jim Block photo)Barnett was a prominent expert on intellectual property law; the news media; the legal institutions of California, principally the California Supreme Court; and First Amendment issues.

'In his scholarship, Steve was a devastating critic of the practices of the California Supreme Court and the California State Bar Association,' said Berkeley Law professor Melvin Eisenberg. 'He did a lot of acute, penetrating research that no one else has done regarding judicial transparency and legitimacy.'

Berkeley Law Associate Dean and professor Stephen Sugarman said Barnett 'was probably California's leading analyst and critic of the way the California Supreme Court goes about its business – how promptly it delivers its decisions, when the judges prepare their opinions, the Court's control over the briefs of parties and the role of oral argument, and the role of unpublished opinions and de-published opinions of lower California courts.'"

Education Technology News: Pearson to Advance Learning Systems in Six California Schools

Education Technology News: Pearson to Advance Learning Systems in Six California Schools:

"Pearson, an education and technology services company, will now be offering six California schools dubbed the “Model Innovation Schools” an innovation strategy for maximizing and improving technological education services.

Partnering with the six model schools – Valadez Middle School Academy, VanderMolen Fundamental Elementary, Rosebud Academy Charter School, Ecademy, Woodridge Elementary and Rio Terra Junior High School – Pearson will work with the six educational facilities to have an e-learning system where students can have an alternative route to learning."

Educator sees the value in 'value-added' approach to evaluating teachers -- latimes.com

Educator sees the value in 'value-added' approach to evaluating teachers -- latimes.com:

"When Terry Grier was hired to run San Diego Unified School District in January 2008, he hoped to bring with him a revolutionary tool that had never been tried in a large California school system.

Its name -- 'value-added' -- sounded innocuous enough. But this number-crunching approach threatened to upend many traditional notions of what worked and what didn't in the nation's classrooms.

It was novel because rather than using tests to take a snapshot of overall student achievement, it used scores to track each pupil's academic progress from year to year. What made it incendiary, however, was its potential to single out the best and worst teachers in a nation that currently gives virtually all teachers a passing grade."

Nurses wanting to unionize face unlikely foe: Feinstein - BostonHerald.com

Nurses wanting to unionize face unlikely foe: Feinstein - BostonHerald.com:

"WASHINGTON — The nation’s nurses have an idea for how to improve health care: Allow more of them to unionize.

As they press Congress to approve a bill that would make it easier to organize, however, nurses and other unions have identified a big obstacle in Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

While President Barack Obama and a majority of Senate Democrats are behind the Employee Free Choice Act, Feinstein isn’t. After she scored a perfect 100 rating from the AFL-CIO last year, many union activists are scratching their heads, wondering why Feinstein has parted ways with them on their signature issue."

Studies Show Furloughs Not Saving State - California Progress Report

Studies Show Furloughs Not Saving State - California Progress Report:

"Earlier this week, the Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes released a report that concluded that the furlough savings was illusory at 24.7 facilities, specifically at state hospitals, prisons, and other 24/7 facilities that are under state operation. This finding by itself carries a considerable consequence, but amazingly it is not the only finding of its kind.

But another study done by UC Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education released on Thursday found that:

"Much of the savings from California state workers' three-day-a-month mandatory furlough will be offset by reduced revenue and increased costs to the state general fund in future years."

The Berkeley study analyzes the impact of furloughing state employees for three days a month, the equivalent loss of seven weeks of pay. The study concludes that the furlough will save the general fund only 12 cents for every dollar cut in wages.

Government agencies across the state have imposed furloughs as a means to reduce operating costs during the hardship. They range from cities to counties to the higher educational system. It is unclear just how much these findings are generalizable to other situations, but it seems these impacts ought to be examined.

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."