Social networks could help community college students - USATODAY.com

Social networks could help community college students - USATODAY.com:

"Social-networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter can help community college students become more engaged in their academics, a report out today finds.

But while large numbers of students say they use such tools in their daily lives, many two-year colleges have yet to mine the potential of the technology.

'The uses of social-networking tools are clearly growing in frequency,' says Kay McClenney, director of the Texas-based Center for Community College Student Engagement, which released the report. But 'colleges are not taking advantage of that particular set of tools for making connections with students to the extent that they could.'"

Exercise balls get education rolling -- latimes.com

Exercise balls get education rolling -- latimes.com:

"Reporting from Chicago - Donna Yehl's fourth-grade students bob behind their desks, heads nodding up and down as if the children were on the deck of a ship.

But they aren't fidgeting.

The two dozen children in Yehl's Elgin, Ill., classroom read and write -- in fact, do all of their classwork -- perched on exercise balls."

Want to eliminate at-risk kids? Call them something else. - Class Struggle - Jay Mathews on Education

Want to eliminate at-risk kids? Call them something else. - Class Struggle - Jay Mathews on Education:

"I sympathize with those who may not be comfortable with the latest plan to rid our schools of at-risk kids. Several educators across the country, including Alexandria city schools superintendent Morton Sherman, have decided not to call them that anymore. Henceforth they will be known as “at-promise” children.

“We use the term ‘at-promise’ in Alexandria City Public Schools to describe children who have the potential to achieve at a higher rate than they are currently achieving,” Sherman said in a July 23 op-ed for the Alexandria Gazette Packet. “Really, all children are at-promise, because we, as educators, have made a promise to each and every child that we will work toward higher achievement for all.”"

Report says performance of Arizona's charter schools is mixed - washingtonpost.com

Report says performance of Arizona's charter schools is mixed - washingtonpost.com:

"SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. -- Here, where suburb meets desert, students are clambering amid the cacti to dig soil samples and take notes on flora and fauna. In an old movie complex in nearby Chandler, others are dissecting a Renaissance tract on human nature. On a South Phoenix campus with a National Football League connection, still others are learning how to pass a basket of bread and help a lady into her chair.

These are just three charter schools among a multitude in the most wide-open public education market in America."

Arizona's flourishing charter school movement underscores the popular appeal of unfettered school choice and the creativity of some educational entrepreneurs. But the state also offers a cautionary lesson as President Obama pushes to dismantle barriers to charter schools elsewhere: It is difficult to promote quantity and quality at the same time.

Under a 1994 law that strongly favors charter schools, 500 of them operate in this state, teaching more than 100,000 students. Those totals account for a quarter of Arizona's public schools and a tenth of its public school enrollment, giving charters a larger market share here than in any other state.

On school aides’ last day, Klein addresses union | GothamSchools

On school aides’ last day, Klein addresses union GothamSchools:

"On the last day of work for over 500 school aides, Chancellor Joel Klein delivered a speech at the aides’ union headquarters that made no mention of the layoffs.

Speaking at District Council 37’s Quality of Work Life Employee Recognition Ceremony this morning, Klein said that “this is a tough time,” and the work school aides do is more necessary than ever before. Then he reminded the aides that “it’s not how much you get, but how much you give.”

“I’m here today to call on all of you to make sure you and all of your colleagues continue the work you’re doing. Our children will depend upon it,” he said."

Academy for Young Writers' students looking for storied internships in the city

Academy for Young Writers' students looking for storied internships in the city:

"Passing state Regents exams is about to pay off for several dozen Brooklyn middle school kids - and possible future colleagues of mine - with your help.

About 40 seniors from the Academy for Young Writers in Williamsburg will skip school for two weeks in January.

If enough positions can be found, they will spend those weeks at unpaid internships at businesses around the city.

The two-week job is an extension of Academy's founder and Principal Carolyn Yaffe's education philosophy.

'We are an exhibition-based- on-instruction school,' Yaffe said. 'It is important that students see how what they are doing in the classroom is connected to the world outside the classroom.'"

Regents want teaching improved -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY:1706:

Regents want teaching improved -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY:1706::

"ALBANY -- The state Board of Regents is considering innovations to improve teaching."

The policy-making board will consider new requirements for incoming teachers to demonstrate knowledge of a subject and classroom skills that can be linked to effective instruction.
In addition to performance-based assessments for new teachers, the board will consider assessments for teachers who are two years in the job. It could also take longer for teachers to earn a master's degree.

The board is considering a pilot program of alternatives to colleges for training future teachers. The new options could include museums and cultural institutions.
Regents also want to draw more teachers now employed in the sciences and increase the ranks of highly skilled teachers in poor urban districts, where fewer work.

"Nothing makes more difference than an outstanding teacher," David Steiner said when he was named state education commissioner. He is the former dean of Hunter College School of Education at the City University of New York.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=866201&category=region#ixzz0X21GiFZY

Parents applaud governor on her 'rainy day' reversal | HonoluluAdvertiser.com | The Honolulu Advertiser

Parents applaud governor on her 'rainy day' reversal HonoluluAdvertiser.com The Honolulu Advertiser:

"Parents of some Hawai'i public school students yesterday praised Gov. Linda Lingle's plan to tap into the state's 'rainy day' fund and end teacher furlough days from January through 2011."

"This is the rainy day," said Celia Molina, a mother of a first-grader at Kalei'opu'u Elementary School in Waipahu. "We wish that we didn't need to use it, but given the circumstances and the dire need, this is an appropriate use."

It's a position some parents said Lingle should have held before Hawai'i's estimated 189,783 students lost three instructional days — so far — to furloughs.

Allison Mikuni's daughter attends Kahala Elementary School, and Mikuni said she believes that "No one looked at furloughs from the long-term social costs and implication of not educating your future. They were only looking at the fiscal situation, as a dollar-and-cents issue. I appreciate the fact that the governor looked at what has happened and is making the changes as needed."

Lingle announced yesterday that she wants to end teacher furloughs starting in January by tapping into the state's rainy day fund and converting noninstructional days to classroom days.

Will Peru's next president come from Sonoma County? | PressDemocrat.com | The Press Democrat | Santa Rosa, CA

Will Peru's next president come from Sonoma County? PressDemocrat.com The Press Democrat Santa Rosa, CA:

"An as-yet unannounced candidate for president in Peru’s 2011 election — an Amazon tribal native educated at Stanford and Oxford universities — already has a campaign base in western Sonoma County.
If that scenario seems mind-boggling, you’d have to consider the resume of the candidate, 39-year-old Miguel Hilario-Manenima, who speared giant catfish in the Ucayali River as a boy, got an education in Sonoma County and is now completing his Ph.D. in anthropological sciences at Stanford.
From hunting with a blow gun in the jungle as a Shipibo-Konibo tribesman to handling cell phones, computers and honing a doctoral dissertation, Hilario-Manenima’s life spans cultures and continents."

Coaches and Parents: New Podcast Offers Youth Sports Advice from Football Great Tony Dorsett

Coaches and Parents: New Podcast Offers Youth Sports Advice from Football Great Tony Dorsett:

"Boston, MA (PRWEB) November 16, 2009 –- According to the Institute for Sport Coaching, fewer than 10 percent of the 2.5 million American volunteer coaches, and fewer than one-third of interscholastic coaches have had any type of coaching education. As these coaches and parents turn to the Internet to seek youth sports coaching advice, it’s easy to find drills and sample practices, but more challenging to find effective resources for teaching the more emotional components and values of youth sports. To fill this need, football icon Tony Dorsett discusses the life lessons he learned through sports in the third installment of Liberty Mutual's Responsible Sports Podcast Series released today at ResponsibleSports.com."

Eli Broad expands plans for his Westside museum -- latimes.com

Eli Broad expands plans for his Westside museum -- latimes.com:

"Art collector and philanthropist Eli Broad has nearly doubled the size of the museum he intends to build on the Westside for his 2,000-piece collection of contemporary art, and the cities of Beverly Hills and Santa Monica are vying to be its home.

Broad said Saturday that he isn't playing two municipalities against each other -- and he said a third city is in the running that he declined to name. He said he hopes to accelerate the process of building the headquarters for his Broad Art Foundation by talking to several cities."

Five Things the U.S. Can Learn from China - Yahoo! News

Five Things the U.S. Can Learn from China - Yahoo! News:

"All true - and all, for the most part, beside the point. After decades of investment in an educational system that reaches the remotest peasant villages, the literacy rate in China is now over 90%. (The U.S.'s is 86%.) And in urban China, in particular, students don't just learn to read. They learn math. They learn science. As William McCahill, a former deputy chief of mission in the U.S. embassy in Beijing, says, 'Fundamentally, they are getting the basics right, particularly in math and science. We need to do the same. Their kids are often ahead of ours.' (See pictures of China on the wild side.)

What the Chinese can teach are verities, home truths that have started to make a comeback in the U.S. but that could still use a push. The Chinese understand that there is no substitute for putting in the hours and doing the work. And more than anything else, the kids in China do lots of work. In the U.S., according to a 2007 survey by the Department of Education, 37% of 10th-graders in 2002 spent more than 10 hours on homework each week. That's not bad; in fact, it's much better than it used to be (in 1980 a mere 7% of kids did that much work at home each week). But Chinese students, according to a 2006 report by the Asia Society, spend twice as many hours doing homework as do their U.S. peers."

The American Spectator : No Education Silver Bullets

The American Spectator : No Education Silver Bullets:

"The Latino teens graduating from the Animo Leadership High School just outside Los Angeles probably aren't familiar with the arguments for expanding Head Start and pre-kindergarten programs offered by advocates such as Nobel Laureate James Heckman. And the Latino middle-schoolers being prepared for high school and college success by the KIPP Summit Academy in the working class San Francisco suburb of San Lorenzo aren't up to speed on attempt to link academic achievement and immigration trends offered the Manhattan Institute's Heather Mac Donald and other immigration restrictionists."

Educators wary of federal grants - Local - Modbee.com

Educators wary of federal grants - Local - Modbee.com:

"President Barack Obama is trying to overhaul public education by offering states billions of dollars in stimulus money if they improve student assessments, teacher effectiveness, collection and use of data, and support for struggling schools.

Called Race to the Top, the program provides $4.35 billion in federal stimulus money to public schools if they meet certain requirements, such as linking teacher pay to students' test scores.

The changes are drawing support from politicians — including Gov. Schwarzenegger and State Superintendent Jack O'Connell — and ire from educators, especially teacher unions."

MissionTimesCourier.com | Mission Times Courier | San Diego news, Local community news

MissionTimesCourier.com Mission Times Courier San Diego news, Local community news:

"WHEN THEY CUT…WE ALL BLEED

(Mission Times Courier, San Diego, Ca) - Associated Students (AS) is organizing a student march and rally at San Diego State University (SDSU) on Monday, November 16th from 11:50 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event is being held as a protest of the State of California’s cuts to higher education with the goal of sending a strong message to the state legislature.

The slogan for the rally is “WHEN THEY CUT…WE ALL BLEED”. AS believes that students must unite and demand that their voices be heard. At the rally, AS will help facilitate this by setting up an “AS Advocacy Tent” that will give students the opportunity to register to vote, learn about and sign postcards in support of Assembly Bill 656, and by writing letters to legislators."

San Jose Unified's chief nurse sees swine flu vaccines as an education matter - San Jose Mercury News

San Jose Unified's chief nurse sees swine flu vaccines as an education matter - San Jose Mercury News:

"Melinda Landau ran her hands over the white Styrofoam cooler as though it were a treasure chest.

'Do you know what this is?' the chief nurse of San Jose Unified School District asked. 'Our first 300 doses.'

The contents of the container — the scarce and coveted H1N1 vaccine—are ready to be administered Tuesday to the students of Lowell Elementary School in downtown San Jose, the first to partake in an ambitious districtwide program intended to protect its 32,000 students against swine flu."

State cuts give private colleges an edge -- latimes.com

State cuts give private colleges an edge -- latimes.com:

"Thousands of other students might have jumped at the chance to attend UCLA, but not Michael Rodriguez. He passed up his UC acceptance last year in order to attend California Lutheran University, a less well-known but more intimate private campus in Thousand Oaks.

Rodriguez, who is happy with his choice, said one reason for the decision was a financial aid program Cal Lutheran established specifically to lure students who had been admitted to several top UC campuses. A math and physics major from San Fernando, Rodriguez also said he wanted a more personal setting with small classes and hoped to avoid the overcrowding and other problems state budget cuts are causing at UC schools."

Courts caught in state's budget mess - Capitol and California - Fresnobee.com

Courts caught in state's budget mess - Capitol and California - Fresnobee.com:

"When the state assumed full financial responsibility for the court system a decade ago, it was billed as a way of relieving pressure on county finances.

However, much like the state's shouldering the financial burden for schools, judicial centralization has created unintended consequences. In both cases, hitherto independent systems have found that shifting financial responsibility to Sacramento puts them in competition with other sectors of the state budget for increasingly limited dollars.

That's why the California Teachers Association and other school interests created an Education Coalition that wages constant war in political and legal arenas to protect its share of the state budget. And that's why judges now find themselves in the Capitol's political maelstrom – and even squabbling among themselves – as the governor and legislators whack court funds to deal with a deepening budget crisis."

Higher education collapse: Dream now a nightmare - The Reporter

Higher education collapse: Dream now a nightmare - The Reporter:

"Whatever happened to the great California dream -- the promise of a good, affordable education for every qualified, committed student? The dream that in 1960 was hammered into policy as the California Master Plan for Higher Education?

It was a farsighted document that argued that the future economic well-being of California depended upon a well-educated work force that would encourage business investment in the state, as well as drawing smart people. The list of benefits was long and, as it turned out, prophetic.

That dream is now fading. As state funds to colleges and universities have been slashed, classes and programs have been eliminated, faculty and staff have been laid off or required to take furlough days, and student fees have been raised. Even if students can afford their education, they are no longer sure they will be able to get the classes they need in a timely manner."

State officials target new teachers' effectiveness

State officials target new teachers' effectiveness:

"State school officials are proposing two new assessments - or nearly new - to measure the effectiveness of thousands of fledgling teachers in their classrooms before they become fully licensed.

Under the plan to be announced Monday at an Albany news conference, the first assessment would be administered before teachers could obtain initial state certification. The second assessment would come after teachers had spent two years on the job and would include a look at whether the teachers had raised student test scores.

Teachers would have to pass the second assessment to become permanently certified. About 25,000 teachers obtain certification statewide each year."