City schools may imitate best of charter schools | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle

City schools may imitate best of charter schools democratandchronicle.com Democrat and Chronicle:

"Rochester schools could take a big step forward in student achievement next school year.

Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard wants to take five schools and model them after successful charter schools."

Administrators, the teachers union and parents must be willing partners to ensure success.

This page, in its "Rescue City Schools" project in 2008, advocated that the district try to replicate the success of True North Rochester Preparatory School. That school had some of the best math scores in the county last year, despite serving mostly poor kids.
In fact, Brizard mentioned that school in a recent meeting with the Editorial Board where he announced the "autonomous schools" project.


Brizard's idea is to choose five schools and give them as much autonomy as possible, in terms of having control over how monies are spent and how faculty are selected.
So far, the teachers union is on board. It's expected to approve a contract extension on Monday that calls for working with the district on this.

SAC CHARTERGATE

SAC CHARTERGATE:

SAC CHARTERGATE

Sacramento citizens shining the light on Kevin Johnson, St. Hope and the takeover of Sacramento High School.

"New allegations that mayor Kevin Johnson offered hush money to a young Hood Corps volunteer who complained of his unwanted sexual advances splashed across media outlets around the country last week. The story has national legs given the zeal of congressional Republicans to underscore the involvement of Obama Administration officials in the dismissal of Inspector General Gerald Walpin, whose findings related to the illegal use of federal funds by St. Hope included the revelations."

The Associated Press: AP Impact: For-profit colleges haul in gov't aid

The Associated Press: AP Impact: For-profit colleges haul in gov't aid:

"RALEIGH, N.C. — Students aren't the only ones benefiting from the billions of new dollars Washington is spending on college aid for the poor.

An Associated Press analysis shows surging proportions of both low-income students and the recently boosted government money that follows them are ending up at for-profit schools, from local career colleges to giant publicly traded chains such as the University of Phoenix, Kaplan and Devry.

Last year, the five institutions that received the most federal Pell Grant dollars were all for-profit colleges, collecting over $1 billion among them. That was two and a half times what those schools hauled in just two years prior, the AP found, analyzing Department of Education data on disbursements from the Pell program, Washington's main form of college aid to the poor."

An Oakland science teacher’s message to Obama

An Oakland science teacher’s message to Obama

An Oakland science teacher’s message to Obama

I heard about President Obama’s Educate to Innovate science initiative yesterday while driving 13 tired students back from a four-day intensive workshop in geospatial technology in Sacramento.

My students gave up four days of their Thanksgiving vacation, slept on the floor in classrooms, ate cheap food we cooked ourselves, and put in 15-hour days in the field and computer lab to develop real science technology skills. They collected GPS waypoints and created a computerized map of River City High School. They produced seasonal climate maps of U.S. cities from data they collected on the Internet — original products that took up to eight hours to complete. Read the rest of this entry »

Picture Show: Urban Chickens | GOOD

Picture Show: Urban Chickens GOOD:

"We frequently extol the virtues of local food, but nothing is more local than one’s own backyard. To wit, in urban settings all across the country, a growing number of city-dwellers young and old are exploring the wonders of raising and farming backyard chickens. Recently, the photographer Todd Parsons scoured the San Francisco Bay Area for evidence of this burgeoning movement. The following photos offer a glimpse at a variety of hens, eggs, and coop architecture, revealing the chicken to be a strangely beautiful bird, and illuminating the deep and powerful connection we can make with our food—especially when it comes from the home."

Trinity's walking school bus? It's elementary - St. Petersburg Times

Trinity's walking school bus? It's elementary - St. Petersburg Times:

"Trinity's walking school bus? It's elementary

Cars began rolling into the Fox Wood Park parking lot at 9 a.m. sharp. Moms pulled up to the curb and the doors flew open, little children emerging with backpacks and lunch boxes.
Guiga Vieira and her kids, 7-year-old Lucas and 5-year-old Isabela, greeted them all as they arrived to walk to Trinity Elementary School together. In just a month, the walking school bus that Vieira started up has grown from a handful of participants to more than 40.

'Every week, we get two or three more families,' Vieira said. 'Now that they see it's working, the kids want to walk.'

Trinity Elementary leaders are thrilled with the community effort to have children walk to campus, which is just three blocks from the park, rather than drive."

State charter schools program is 'out of control'

State charter schools program is 'out of control' StarTribune.com

State charter schools program is 'out of control'

Junk bonds fuel a building spree, but schools are more crowded, insiders are taking fees, and state regulators can't do much about it.

Minnesota's charter school movement, which sparked a national rethinking of public schooling nearly two decades ago, has been infected by an out-of-control financing system fueled by junk bonds, insider fees and lax oversight.

State law prohibits charter schools from owning property, but consultants have found a legal loophole, allowing proponents to use millions of dollars in public money to build schools even though the properties remain in the hands of private nonprofit corporations.

Hunger in America: How to help - Making a Difference- msnbc.com

Hunger in America: How to help

Organizations fight trend of growing hunger

A USDA survey last week found one in seven Americans struggled to get enough to eat in 2008, the highest level since the report began in 1995.

Wondering what you can do this holiday? Below is a list of links to get you started and connected with organizations like food pantries and soup kitchens.

• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Community Dining Room (Connecticut)
• Connecticut Food Bank
• Pantry of Broward, Inc. (Florida)
• Food Bank of Northern Indiana
• Ohio Association of Second Harvest Food Banks
• Second Harvest Heartland
• Salvation Army link: Food banks in the North West
• Action Against Hunger
• Bay Area Rescue (San Francisco)

Serve.gov

• Press release on intiative to end hunger
• Hunger Toolkit (.pdf)

Listing sites (unverified)

• Soup kitchens
• Food pantries

technology resource technology resources

technology resource technology resources:

"America is on the move! The grant and resource opportunities covered in Technology Grant News represent a variety of approaches to supporting technology use and development. Technology Grant News invites you to use our publications as an entrance into the world of growing philanthropic support available for technology.

Technology Grant News provides, accurate, one-stop information on technology grants, free technology resources, technology partnerships, strategic alliances and technology advancement for your organization. Our publications provide a valuable and unique service for colleges & universities, K-12 schools, non profits, libraries & museums and towns & cities -- we research and compile the latest information from all sources on this technology funding, support and assistance and present it in ‘one place’ in time for you to quickly respond and take advantage of the programs."

Official Google Blog: Gone Google at EDUCAUSE 2009

Official Google Blog: Gone Google at EDUCAUSE 2009:

"Last week the Google Apps for Education team headed to Denver for EDUCAUSE 2009 where the higher education community meets annually. It was at this conference three years ago that we first unveiled Google Apps for Education. Since then, we've witnessed staggering growth in the world of cloud computing in education. Lots has happened over the past year especially: more than 100 new features have rolled out in Google Apps, we've engaged well over six million students and faculty (a 400% increase since this time last year), launched free Google Message Security for K-12 schools and have integrated with other learning services such as Blackboard and Moodle."

These developments are just the beginning. According to the newly-released 2009 Campus Computing survey statistics, 44% of colleges and universities have converted to a hosted student email solution, while another 37% are currently evaluating the move. Of those that have migrated, over half — 56% precisely* — are going Google.

To toast the students and faculty that are shaping this movement, we hosted our customers and EDUCAUSE conference attendees at the Denver Public Library. Check out the photos to see what these schools have to say:

Foodie fave brings lessons to school :: WRAL.com

Foodie fave brings lessons to school :: WRAL.com:

"An outdoor classroom at a middle school in Berkeley, Calif., serves a the basis for lessons in social studies, math and science.
The 'edible schoolyard' is the brainchild of Alice Waters, famed chef and owner of Berkeley's Chez Panisse."

Waters, a pioneer in the organic movement, conceived the garden in 1994 as a way to improve on school lunch programs.

"This is a delicious revolution that we're talking about," she said.

"This isn't hard to do. All of the ideas that I have had about food have proven to be true. That if they grow it, they cook it, they want to eat it."

Sixth graders at Martin Luther King Middle School spend their first period planting, harvesting and eating organic delights.

The garden and its adjacent kitchen provide plenty of learning opportunities.

"Teachers use every little drop of water or dew and every plant and every bed to to teach," said Fritjof Capra, of the Center for Eco-Literacy.

Wet plants yield lessons on the water cycle and condensation.

"It completes a circle for a lot of students who don't know the least little thing about nature and farming and they get to see that whole cycle," teacher Esther Cook said.

Apple Tablet To Redefine Newspapers, Textbooks and Magazines - apple tablet - Gizmodo

Apple Tablet To Redefine Newspapers, Textbooks and Magazines - apple tablet - Gizmodo:

"Steve Jobs said people don't read any more. But Apple is in talks with several media companies rooted in print, negotiating content for a 'new device.' And they're not just going for e-books and mags. They're aiming to redefine print.

Several years ago, a modified version of OS X was presented to Steve Jobs, running on a multitouch tablet. When the question 'what would people do with this?' couldn't be answered, they shelved it. Long having established music, movie and TV content, Apple is working hard to load up iTunes with print content from several major publishing houses across several media."

Mission: Educational engagement - JSOnline

Mission: Educational engagement - JSOnline:

"First of four parts

Lennise Crampton, a 40-year-old Milwaukee mother of eight, sometimes wonders how her children would have performed in school if she'd known how to be a better parent from the start.
A single mother until she married this year, Crampton usually managed decent meals and clothing and getting her kids to class. It was up to the school, she thought, to handle the education part.

Then in December of 2005, a representative from Lloyd Street School marched up to Crampton's door and asked her to participate in a program that improves relationships between teachers, schools and families."

Editorial - Over-Punishment in Schools - NYTimes.com

Editorial - Over-Punishment in Schools - NYTimes.com:

"New York City joined a national trend in 1998 when it put the police in charge of school security. The consensus is that public schools are now safe. But juvenile justice advocates across the country are rightly worried about policies under which children are sometimes arrested and criminalized for behavior that once was dealt with by principals or guidance counselors working with a student’s parents.

Children who are singled out for arrest and suspension are at greater risk of dropping out and becoming permanently entangled with the criminal justice system. It is especially troubling that these children tend to be disproportionately black and Hispanic, and often have emotional problems or learning disabilities."

Harvard ignored warnings about investments - The Boston Globe

Harvard ignored warnings about investments - The Boston Globe:

"It happened at least once a year, every year. In a roomful of a dozen Harvard University financial officials, Jack Meyer, the hugely successful head of Harvard’s endowment, and Lawrence Summers, then the school’s president, would face off in a heated debate. The topic: cash and how the university was managing - or mismanaging - its basic operating funds."

Through the first half of this decade, Meyer repeatedly warned Summers and other Harvard officials that the school was being too aggressive with billions of dollars in cash, according to people present for the discussions, investing almost all of it with the endowment’s risky mix of stocks, bonds, hedge funds, and private equity. Meyer’s successor, Mohamed El-Erian, would later sound the same warnings to Summers, and to Harvard financial staff and board members.

“Mohamed was having a heart attack,’’ said one former financial executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of angering Harvard and Summers. He considered the cash investment a “doubling up’’ of the university’s investment risk.

But the warnings fell on deaf ears, under Summers’s regime and beyond. And when the market crashed in the fall of 2008, Harvard would pay dearly, as $1.8 billion in cash simply vanished. Indeed, it is still paying, in the form of tighter budgets, deferred expansion plans, and big interest payments on bonds issued to cover the losses.

San Francisco's school of last resort

San Francisco's school of last resort:

"With a convicted bank robber and a former methamphetamine user in charge, John Muir Charter School on Treasure Island is not your typical public school."

But the typical public school experience didn't work for the 105 students at John Muir.

Among them are former robbers and thieves. Some are teenage parents. All were academic failures elsewhere and, at one point or another, on the state's long list of high school dropouts.

Each one wants another chance.

This school gives them that as well as health care, bus passes, individual support, construction job training, and a capitalistic reason to show up: a paycheck.

John Muir offers its students a fast track to the elusive diploma and the option of vocational job training in various construction fields. Getting a paycheck with benefits gives them one more reason to go to class.

"We're taking the kids our school system can't handle," said Garry Grady, the former bank robber, as he sat in his musty administrator's office watching students head back to class to solve algebraic equations, complete a plant biology worksheet and finish a lesson on Adolf Hitler.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/11/29/MNRG1A9R7G.DTL#ixzz0YGMGlEMi

Chaos control is a challenge as Montgomery enrollment surges - washingtonpost.com

Chaos control is a challenge as Montgomery enrollment surges - washingtonpost.com:

"Oakland Terrace Elementary School in Silver Spring, one of the most overcrowded schools in an crowded district, has 800 students, 10 kindergarten classes, 11 portable classrooms and only four and a half restrooms. But the numbers are an abstraction until lunchtime.

At 11:25 a.m. one recent day, the cafeteria was packed with 175 kindergartners, many of whom seemed to be making as much noise as possible. As the din crescendoed, someone turned off the lights to calm the students down. Most fell silent, and Jennifer Dunkin, the team leader who was riding herd over the group, began reading from a book."

Ruling on D.C. Teacher Layoffs Raises Broader Issues - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Ruling on D.C. Teacher Layoffs Raises Broader Issues - Teacher Beat - Education Week:

"A Washington superior court judge has backed Chancellor Michelle Rhee in a dispute with the Washington Teachers' Union over layoffs. The union sought a preliminary injunction that would essentially have required Rhee to reinstate teachers who were laid off supposedly due to budget cuts while other legal claims worked their way through the District of Columbia school system.

In essence, the union said that Rhee hired hundreds of young teachers over the summer, more than the district could pay for, thus forcing a later need to make cuts. Because of a series of administrative rulings in the late 1990s, layoffs in D.C. are done not only by seniority but also by performance. In this case, principals laid off many veteran teachers. That precipitated protests, allegations from the WTU that Rhee was bypassing termination procedures in the contract, and hearings with the D.C. Council."

Blather, Rinse, Repeat at The Core Knowledge Blog

Blather, Rinse, Repeat at The Core Knowledge Blog

In a debate on the Education Next website, Joe Williams of Democrats for Education Reform and Pedro Noguera of New York University wrestle with the question, “Should school reformers pay more attention to the non-academic needs of poor children?” The more pertinent question might be which of the two groups Williams and Noguera speak for–the Education Equality Project (Williams) and the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education (Noguera)–is paying attention to the academic needs of poor children. Based on the evidence, it’s hard to say.

The tale of the tape:

Word count in the “debate”: 4,188
Number of times the word “accountable” or “accountability” is used: 8
“Tests” or “testing”: 12
“Reform”: 23
“Teacher” or “educator”: 34
“Performance” and/or “pay”: 12
“Choice” and/or “charter”: 23
“Money” and/or “funds”: 14
“Unions,” “NEA,” or “AFT”: 9
“Parents”: 6

Curriculum: 1

I guess they both agree on one thing: What kids actually learn in school apparently doesn’t matter a bit.

A growing expulsion pipeline | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

A growing expulsion pipeline Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

"Unlike some 11th graders, Kyle Mechin knows exactly what he would like to do after high school.

“I want to go to UCLA film school. I want to be a horror movie director,” he said.

An A and B student at Swenson Arts and Technology High School, Mechin was on his way to achieving his goal. He was taking a digital media arts class to learn filmmaking, and was encouraged by news that a friend who took the same class received a full scholarship to the college of her choice because of her work in that course."