South Bend Tribune: Bennett's choice: Kids over politics

South Bend Tribune: Bennett's choice: Kids over politics:

"Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett is sowing confusion. What he sows is not what he hopes to reap.

Confusion?

Bennett, a Republican, praises the education policies of President Obama and hails Obama's secretary of education, Arne Duncan, as 'the right guy at the right place at the right time.'"

For Pete's sake, or at least for Rush's sake, why isn't a Hoosier Republican education official denouncing all that's Obama, especially on education? Gosh, even Obama's plea for kids to study hard and stay in school was denounced by vocal critics as a sneaky way to promote socialism.

Confusion?

Democrats in the state legislature and their allies in teacher organizations want to write off Bennett as a Bush Leaguer, a George W. Bush Leaguer, as he seeks to shake up the education establishment.And then he cites how Obama and Duncan want to shake up education, too, in similar ways, with similar goals for improvement.

Confusion?

Grant: Education reform next heated debate | thetowntalk.com | The Town Talk

Grant: Education reform next heated debate thetowntalk.com The Town Talk:

"As I listen to the stupefying debate over national health care I can't help but wonder whether we will get as contorted by the coming debate over education in this country."

That debate is inevitable as well. It will surely come next as a consequence of congressional submission to big money and halfway political compromises. When the middle class and states are forced to assume more of the costs of health care the dollar shift will be found in education cuts.

That's always the way of it.

It will be difficult enough to shift more costs to local school districts, but even more so for higher education where the rate of cost increases rival those of health care itself.

I hear opponents of serious health care reform brag that we Americans have the best in the world. But a number of studies don't even rank the U.S. in the top 10 countries in the world for quality of life on factors that include health care, social safety nets, education, crime, etc.

While American universities still stand out as the best in the world, there are challengers.

The asterisk behind our boasts about health care and higher ed leads to the footnote that reads: "This is true but only for those who can afford it."

As a people, we made the decision long ago that public education was a key element in the growth of the country and the success of democracy itself. We have been challenged repeatedly to live up to those goals and we are approaching such a challenge once again.

It would be helpful if the rhetoric over health care would take into account how decisions we make will impact the rest of the economy over time and to education in particular.

Education revolution fails grade

Education revolution fails grade:

"FINNISH students top all international tests, New York's charter schools have helped disadvantaged students succeed and England has brilliant programs that allow specialist schools. But these are not lessons the Rudd Government is heeding. The much-vaunted ''education revolution'' is heading for failure because it has not adopted key strategies that international experience tells us are important for success.

Most of what has been achieved has simply merged state and territory bureaucracies into a single framework of decision-making that may ultimately have no impact on how students learn. Australia may end up with one of the most centralised and bureaucratically organised systems of education in the world, with ministers left flailing for explanations as performance flatlines and expectations are unfulfilled"

A way to improve schools, one instructor at a time - The Boston Globe

A way to improve schools, one instructor at a time - The Boston Globe:

"A good teacher equals a good school year. Not always, but far more often than not. Ask any parents of an elementary-grade child how the school year is going, and it won’t be long before you’ll hear them rave about - or bemoan - the teacher their child has been assigned to. There are teachers who are duds, who can find a way to drain the fun out of a unit on dinosaurs for second-graders. And there those with a gift for reaching the eighth-grader slouched in the back of the classroom with a penchant for eye rolling. These teachers can bring to life to Poe’s fascination with the dead, or deliver just the right contemporary analogy to make sense of the War of 1812."

Nearly everyone can probably recall a teacher who lit their passion for poetry or who was able to help them connect all the dots in a seemingly incomprehensible algebra formula. We know that individual teachers can make a huge difference.

But public schools in America have been bent on ignoring the obvious: Almost nothing about the way we hire, evaluate, pay, or assign teachers to classrooms is designed to operate with that goal in mind. Most teachers receive only cursory performance evaluations, with virtually every teacher graded highly. We use a one-size-for-all salary structure, in which the only factors used in raises are teachers’ higher-education credentials and number of years in the system, neither of which is strongly linked to their effectiveness. And we often let seniority, rather than merit, drive decisions about where a teacher is placed. It is in many ways an industrial model that treats teachers as identical, interchangeable parts, when we know that they are not.

Opinion: Walters: Race for next schools superintendent will shape future of education reform - San Jose Mercury News

Opinion: Walters: Race for next schools superintendent will shape future of education reform - San Jose Mercury News:

"One of the more obscure — and probably more important — of California's many political conflicts pits an organization called EdVoice against the California Teachers Association and other school unions.

It centers on our ever-deepening education crisis, manifested in low test scores and high dropout rates, especially among black and Latino kids.

EdVoice, maintained by some wealthy Californians such as Southern California developer Eli Broad and Silicon Valley tycoon Reed Hastings, advocates charter schools, tougher teaching standards and other aggressive approaches.

The CTA and its allies, meanwhile, say California's chief education issue is money, specifically its below-average level of per-pupil spending.
It's not so much a partisan or even ideological conflict — Broad and many other EdVoice leaders are Democrats — as it is one of pedagogic philosophy, but that doesn't make it any less abrasive."

Thursday's D.C. Council hearing

Thursday's D.C. Council hearing

When Kathy Patterson learned about Thursday's D.C. Council hearing, during which Chairman Vincent C. Gray and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee pelted each other with accusations of law-breaking and secret meetings, she had one immediate reaction.

"Here we go again," said Patterson, a former council member and chairwoman of its education committee. It looked as if another attempt at public school reform was disintegrating in a hail of recriminations and rhetoric, with Rhee destined to join Franklin L. Smith, Lt. Gen. Julius Becton, Arlene Ackerman, Paul L. Vance and Clifford B. Janey, the school leaders who preceded her in the past two decades.

It was supposed to be different this time. The 2007 legislation that disbanded the old D.C. Board of Education and gave control of the school system to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) was designed to minimize the push-and-pull of ward politics, making a single executive accountable. But Thursday's hearing vividly illustrated that no legislation can completely account for the mix of personalities who come together to execute it.

At the beginning of the last century, urban reformers wrested control of schools from mayors and established independently elected boards as a hedge against corruption. But the pendulum has swung back. Mayors from Boston to San Jose have been taking over school districts since the early 1990s, recognizing that their city's economic growth and their political longevity are inextricably linked to the quality of the local educational system.

EcoKids dive deep into ecology | TheUnion.com

EcoKids dive deep into ecology TheUnion.com:

"“Ecology is science. Deep ecology is ethics. It's the philosophy behind the science,” asserted Marge Kaiser, founder and executive director of the Sierra Nevada Deep Ecology Institute of Nevada City.

It's the difference between “I-it” and “I-thou,” she explained. We are not separate from Nature. We are part of Nature.

“For us to think we're separate from — and better than — Nature is not only an illusion, but dangerous to ourselves and our planet,” she said with her characteristic intensity."

Marriages of convenience: Medical groups join with food companies - KansasCity.com

Marriages of convenience: Medical groups join with food companies - KansasCity.com:

"They may seem like odd couples, partners from opposite poles with a passion to help you lead a healthier life.

Or maybe it’s about money.

Soda-pop makers courting medical groups. Potato-chip producers curling up with dietitians. Beer companies linking arms with traffic-safety advocates.

These marriages of convenience have become an increasingly common part of corporate America. That leaves consumers and government regulators wondering if we can trust all the advice coming from organizations that buddy up with industry."

The latest tryst with a twist involves the American Academy of Family Physicians. The Leawood-based organization represents about 94,000 doctors who struggle to get their patients to shed excess pounds.

From across the room, Coca-Cola bats its eyelashes. The queen of carbonated drinks is fending off attacks that its sugar-sweetened products promote obesity and should be taxed.
The two organizations last month sealed a deal that had Coca-Cola giving the academy a grant in the mid six figures to come up with health messages for the public about beverages and sweeteners.

The academy and Coca-Cola said the information would be based on objective science.

But doctors, nutrition experts and consumer advocates charge that Coca-Cola is proffering the money just to improve its reputation and possibly to buy the academy’s silence.
In various toasts to our health, bedfellows of the strangest kind are everywhere and go back decades. The study of alcoholism owes much to the distilled-spirits industry, which teamed with Cornell University and the National Institute of Health on research as early as the 1940s.

Now an increasingly skeptical and health-conscious public, with so much information at its fingertips, isn’t sure whose advice to trust, said Shelly Rodgers, a University of Missouri researcher of strategic communications: “Consumers instantly see the conflict and go, ‘What? What?’ ”

Our views: Classroom equality | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY

Our views: Classroom equality floridatoday.com FLORIDA TODAY:

"Separate but equal was inherently unequal and harmful to black students.

That was the U.S. Supreme Court’s finding in the watershed 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision that mandated school integration and helped trigger the civil rights movement’s crusade for racial equality in public schools in the 1950s and 1960s."

Most Americans rightly view the desegregation order as a triumph over prejudice.

But its legacy is one reason some 120 black students who live closest to University Park Elementary in Melbourne are nonetheless bused to 10 other schools, some more than nine miles away, conforming with a 40-year-old federal order forbidding black- or white-only schools.

Students in three other neighborhoods, one each in Cocoa, Titusville and Rockledge, are also affected by the policy.

Targeting mostly minority kids for busing to achieve diversity seems unfair, and the situation needs review.

California's folly - Prop. 13

California's folly - Prop. 13:

"In November 1978, Harper's magazine published my article on the passage of Proposition 13 under the headline 'Californians Rush for Fool's Gold.'"

At that time, Prop. 13 was getting lots of national media attention. The pundits of type and tube were hyping California as the pacesetter for a post-Watergate America. At the same time, the cultural gurus were proclaiming it to be a proving ground for paradise.

Even George F. Will, the usually cautious Washington Post columnist, declared, "The East Coast, landfall for immigrants of all sorts, once was the laboratory of American politics. Today California, land's end for migrants of all sorts, is the laboratory."

Birthplace of the "less is more" philosophy, the Golden State had become both the cultural fad-fashioner of the nation and a dominant political force. What did this imply for the nation politically? Many observers referred to California trendiness as a hopeful sign of America's greening.

Instead, Prop. 13 was to become California's Folly. I thought then, and am firmly convinced now, that the key elements in the proposition - the taxation formula and the two-thirds legislative requirement - would be responsible for causing a fiscal and social disaster. These two requirements have, in time, helped to lead the state into financial bankruptcy and created a dysfunctional state government.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/01/INF41AA3BG.DTL#ixzz0VcYIAcO4

USC President Steven B. Sample to step down in August -- latimes.com

USC President Steven B. Sample to step down in August -- latimes.com:

"USC President Steven B. Sample, who dramatically boosted the university's academic prestige, financial resources and civic engagement during nearly 19 years as its leader, says he will step down from the post next summer.

Sample, who turns 69 this month, said he will end his presidency in August, allowing university trustees ample time to choose a new president for the 34,000-student campus near downtown Los Angeles.

'It's a time for fresh leadership. I don't mean to sound self-congratulatory, but we've had a good run. And so, why not quit while you're ahead?' Sample, an electrical engineer who previously headed the State University of New York at Buffalo, said in an interview in his campus office."

California's deficit of common sense -- latimes.com

California's deficit of common sense -- latimes.com:

"California is rich. Even in the midst of a drought, we have lots of water, and in the midst of a recession, we have lots of money. The problem is one of distribution, not of actual scarcity.

This is the usual problem of the United States, which is not just the richest and most powerful nation on Earth now, but on Earth ever, and one of the most blessed in terms of natural resources. We just collectively make loopy decisions about how to distribute the money and water, and we could make other decisions. Whether or not those priorities will change, we could at least have a reality-based conversation about them."

Editorial: Not pretty, but state education bill takes a step - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Editorial: Not pretty, but state education bill takes a step - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee:

"This week will be a big test for the California Legislature, which has the lowest approval ratings since the Field Poll started measuring in 1983.
In particular, it marks a critical step for the Senate and its leader, President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

The Pro Tem has called the Senate back into special session Monday to take up legislation to make the state competitive for up to $500 million in federal Race to the Top education grants.

Will California fight President Barack Obama's education agenda for turning around the nation's lowest-performing schools? Or will California be a leading partner?"

NO on SB 5X 1

CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR

This is the info you will need to contact Darrell Steinberg.

District office -
telephone - 651-1529
FAX --------- 327-8754

Capital office -
telephone -- 651-4006
FAX ---------- 328-2263

CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

Senators' Home Pages

Senators' Addresses

Visions In Education K-12 Charter School Video Production Wins Telly Award - PR.com

Visions In Education K-12 Charter School Video Production Wins Telly Award - PR.com:

"Sacramento, CA, November 01, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Visions In Education Charter School, one of California's leading home schooling and independent study programs in grades K-12 is proud to announce that its school informational DVD has won a Bronze Telly. Their production firm, Haven Falls Motion Picture Productions, nominated the DVD for this year’s Telly Awards.

As the Oscars are for feature films, and the Emmys are for broadcast television, so the video production industry sees the Tellys. Production companies only put forward their very best work, and this Bronze Telly was in approximately the top 28 percent of all productions that were considered (about 15,000 entrants). Additionally, the project won in the category of Recruitment, which is validation that compared with other organizations that are using videos for recruiting purposes, this project has been independently judged to be in the top tier."

Viewpoints; Supply, demand, quality: Crisis in teaching - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Viewpoints; Supply, demand, quality: Crisis in teaching - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee:

"If confidence in public schools weren't already precarious enough, it was further shaken by remarks made by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan in a speech delivered at Columbia's Teachers College on Oct. 22.

Duncan urged an overhaul of schools of education, calling them cash cows that do a mediocre job of preparing their graduates for the demands of the classroom. His charges made headlines, but they were not new. They echoed many of the points made by Arthur Levine, former president of Teachers College, in 'Educating School Teachers in 2006,' and by David F. Labaree in 'The Trouble With Ed Schools' in 2004."

Sacramento Press / Operation Sellout: How the Sky Box Trumps the Lunch Box

Sacramento Press / Operation Sellout: How the Sky Box Trumps the Lunch Box:

"From the lofty perches of the power players, in their skyboxes and bank towers, the public may look very small, almost antlike. Deal and decision makers are elevated and segregated from the little people, whose lives they influence.

On Thursday, October 29, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced his 'Rules of the Game' plan to build an arena and entertainment complex in Sacramento. The press conference was held 25 floors up, with a hazy overview of the city, extending from the historic rail yards to Cal Expo: two potential sites for a new and lucrative sports/real estate venture."

In that same sweeping view, the mayor could look down on the central city neighborhoods. From Downtown, Midtown, East Sac, all the way east to River Park and southward to College Glen, Tahoe Park and back around to Oak Park -- all of these neighborhoods are being intentionally and systematically deprived of a comprehensive, traditional, public high school.
This mayor has claimed to want to be an education mayor for Sacramento, even though public education is outside the duties and jurisdiction of the mayor.

One Parents view: REJECT SENATE BILL 5x 1.

One Parents view: REJECT SENATE BILL 5x 1.


ATTENTION!
State Senator Gloria Romero (D- Los Angeles ), a candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction (FYI, Eli Broad and Richard Riordan are heavily backing her), is using the federal Race to the Top (RTTT) program to push through unnecessary legislation that will hurt teachers, students and schools.

CONTACT STATE SENATOR LONI HANCOCK AND ASK HER TO REJECT SENATE BILL 5x 1.

DO IT TODAY!!!

Senator Hancock's District Office Phone: (510) 286-1333 (you'll be instructed to press 0 to leave your voicemail)

Senator Hancock's District FAX: (510) 286-3885

Senator Hancock's Web site: http://dist09.casen.govoffice.com/

Background: Hastily Amended Bill, Short Notice

Under the cover of the special session on education called by Gov. Schwarzenegger, Sen. Romero has amended her measure and worked with Sen. President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) to put the bill on a “fast track.”

The bill was amended Thursday night with the intention of having the Senate Education Committee pass it on Monday, followed immediately by a vote of the full Senate. Not only is this “short cut” suspect, it also prevents lawmakers from giving the measure and its major education changes the careful study they deserve.

Members of the education community and the public deserve time to review and have input on this legislation.

What’s even worse – the bill would change state law before the RTTT federal regulations are even finalized. Those regulations may not be finalized until December. It makes no sense to pass the Romero bill now.

SB 5x 1 has numerous problems:

It locks into state law unnecessary changes Sen. Romero claims are needed to implement RTTT even before the federal regulations governing the program have been adopted.

It repeats the mistakes of the fatally flawed No Child Left Behind Act, including the overreliance on test scores as the only measure of student achievement.

It modifies regulations governing the entire School Improvement Grant Program in hopes of helping California get one-time RTTT funds, but it would also cause schools to lose SIG money if they do not comply with the new state regulations.

It forces irresponsible and punitive changes in teacher and administrator evaluations.
It allows unfettered increases in under-regulated charter schools that are not responsible to the community.

It substitutes narrow compliance in place of innovation and local flexibility vital to schools’ success.

It increases costs and mandates at a time schools are staggering under $17 billion in cuts and 20,000 educator layoffs.

Please help spread the word!

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

Assembly Members' Home Pages

Assembly Members' Addresses

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Senators' Addresses

Will the Digital Divide Close by Itself? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Will the Digital Divide Close by Itself? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com:

"On the subject of tech and education, academics and executives are worried about many divides.

There’s the growing divide between kids who have access to technology and those who don’t; kids who participate in creating content with technology at home and school, and those who can’t; and the kids who know a lot about technology, and the parents who fear them.

Divides also enter into the equation for proponents of education reform.

Early Wednesday at Google’s “Breakthrough Learning in the Digital Age,” at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., a spat broke out over the urgency of filling in all the gaps."

Cal Expo board extends arena pact despite Johnson task force - Sacramento Business Journal:

Cal Expo board extends arena pact despite Johnson task force - Sacramento Business Journal::

"Uncertain if it might become a jilted lover, Cal Expo decided Friday to extend its courtship with the National Basketball Association.

A day after Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson surprised the Cal Expo board by announcing he is actively soliciting proposals for any and all sites for a new sports and entertainment center, board leaders agreed to extend their letter of understanding with the NBA for another six months. The current agreement to negotiate exclusively with one another was set to expire Nov. 30, and now runs to May 31."

Revising the Guide and Template for the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA)

Dear Categorical Program Director:

The California Department of Education (CDE) is currently in the process of revising the Guide and Template for the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) and would like your input. Improving academic performance and ensuring equity of achievement of all students is the top priority of the education system in California. The California Education Code (EC) sections 41507, 41572, and 64001 and the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) require each school to consolidate school planning requirements into the SPSA for all programs funded through the Consolidated Application, ESEA Program Improvement, the School and Library Improvement Block Grant, Economic Impact Aid (EIA), the Pupil Retention Block Grant, and the Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) into the SPSA. ECsection 11502 requires the integration of parent involvement programs into the school plan.

It is very important to the CDE that all interested stakeholders have an opportunity to provide input. The CDE will be conducting this revision process over the next few months. The current Guide and Template for the SPSA can be viewed on the CDE SPSA Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/nclb/sr/le/singleplan.asp.

Please e-mail your comments and recommendations to spsa@cde.ca.gov before November 30, 2009.
Sincerely,

/FB/

Fred Balcom, Director
District and School Improvement Division