Creating opportunities for parent involvement | delmarvanow.com | The Daily Times

Creating opportunities for parent involvement delmarvanow.com The Daily Times:

"In Worcester County Public Schools, we understand the connection between parental involvement and student achievement. Research shows that children who receive educational encouragement and support from their parents and guardians are likely to achieve at their highest potential."

At Buckingham Elementary School, we celebrate parent involvement. In fact, one of our parents, Gary Williams, won the inaugural Comcast Parent Involvement Matters award for Worcester County. As a member of our School Improvement Advisory Committee, Williams saw a need; he wanted our students to have access to digital cameras. Using his expertise in the area of electronics, he purchased cameras on eBay, refurbished them and created a camera lab for us. Because of his caring and creativity, our students have been further enriched.

Parents, however, do not need a specific set of skills in order to be involved in their child's education. Indeed, a parent is their child's first teacher. Throughout a child's education, as the child moves from grade level to grade level and from teacher to teacher, parents are the one constant. Parents act as an advocate, coach, and source of inspiration for their child.

As a Title I school having 59 percent of our students coming from households of poverty, Buckingham Elementary has a plan for parent involvement. We establish our goals and identify our resources for achieving them. For example, we partner with the Berlin Head Start in order to ensure that each student has a great beginning to their education.

South Bend Tribune: Michigan mother camps out for more schools cash

South Bend Tribune: Michigan mother camps out for more schools cash:

"LANSING (AP) — Michigan parents, teachers and school officials have held rallies and even bake sales at the state Capitol in efforts to persuade lawmakers to raise more money for education.

Dee Lindeman is taking it to another level.

The mother of three Center Line schools students has set up a tent and is camping in front of the Capitol from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. She leaves at night only because security guards tell her she has to go.

Lindeman is planning her third day of camping at the Capitol on Thursday. She plans to camp out through Dec. 10 unless lawmakers restore recent funding cuts to schools before then."

Mayor's First Year Nets Mixed Record - Politics News Story - KCRA Sacramento

Mayor's First Year Nets Mixed Record - Politics News Story - KCRA Sacramento:

"SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramento's mayor, Kevin Johnson, is completing his first year as mayor with a mixed record.

In many ways, says communications expert and Sacramento State professor Barbara O'Connor, it's been a missed opportunity.

'It's always a trade-off of, you have all this enthusiasm and new ideas, and you don't know how to manage,' O'Connor said. 'And that's really what can be said of the mayor's first year.'
Johnson has been linked to investigations of alleged misconduct with girls, and money questions have surfaced about his nonprofit foundation, St. HOPE."

CPR: Feature News Story | Johnson's First Year: Struggle to Build Consensus Slows Agenda

CPR: Feature News Story Johnson's First Year: Struggle to Build Consensus Slows Agenda:

"This week marks one year since Kevin Johnson became mayor of Sacramento. It’s Johnson’s first elected office, so he’s had to learn on the job. Over the last year, Johnson has made progress on several fronts: He addressed Sacramento’s highly publicized homelessness problem and helped the city avoid police and fire layoffs. But Johnson’s struggle to build consensus at City Hall is slowing his agenda.

One Year Through the Lens of a Single Week

If you want to know what Kevin Johnson’s first year as mayor has been like, check out two starkly different events from the first week of November, 2009."

Sacramento Press / Johnson reviews his first year as mayor

Sacramento Press / Johnson reviews his first year as mayor:

"Mayor Kevin Johnson has been at the helm of the city for one full year.

Johnson made remarks to reporters Tuesday about his past year in office, saying that his volunteer program and a drop in crime are among his accomplishments, and that the city’s business climate and City Council disagreements are some of his shortfalls. His one-year anniversary as mayor was Dec. 2.

“I’ve been in office 365 days,” Johnson said at his Tuesday meeting with reporters. “And I’m just as excited today as when I got elected.”"

SN&R > Columns > Bites > Lies, damn lies and the mayor’s blog > 12.03.09

SN&R > Columns > Bites > Lies, damn lies and the mayor’s blog > 12.03.09:

"“Numbers can be made to say almost anything,” warns Mayor Kevin Johnson, opening a recent entry on his always informative and entertaining blog (www.kevinjohnsonformayor.com/kjfm). And then he proves it.

“But here’s a number we should celebrate. By one measure, Sacramento is becoming a safer city. We moved seven positions—in the right direction—in a national safety survey that looks at hundreds of U.S. cities.”

That survey is the annual City Crime Rankings put out by CQ Press. This year, Sacramento moved from the 51st most dangerous city in America to being the 57th most dangerous city in America."

LaJollaLight.com | Board of Education calls on state to solve its budget woes

LaJollaLight.com Board of Education calls on state to solve its budget woes:

"The San Diego Unified School District's Board of Education Tuesday night unanimously passed a resolution calling for the state government to solve its budget woes without placing further financial burdens on education.

The resolution, sponsored by board member Richard Barrera, calls for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to take 'a balanced approach' to solving fiscal problems 'that includes both new revenues and budget cuts to reduce the negative impacts of excessive cuts to education.'

The resolution promises the district will advocate 'progressive tax policies,' and for simple majorities for the Legislature to raise taxes and pass an annual budget. The Assembly and Senate require two-thirds majorities to do both."

Houston sixth-graders' heart screenings shock researchers | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Houston sixth-graders' heart screenings shock researchers Houston & Texas News Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

"Heart screenings offered to sixth-graders at a Houston middle school revealed seven with undiagnosed heart conditions — two of which required surgery — and the results shocked researchers who want to see such tests offered at every campus.

Those 94 students at Key Middle School were the first tested in a study led by Houston cardiologist Dr. John Higgins. On Wednesday, his group began screening 150 students at Houston's Fleming Middle School.

Higgins is hoping the findings will win support for his crusade to make heart exams routine for all U.S. sixth-graders.

“Usually, the first time these kids have symptoms is during cardiac arrest,” said Higgins. “We had at least two cases in Houston last year where it was the first episode and they died.”
While other studies have focused on athletes, this project includes all students."

Sticking with magnet schools to strengthen poor kids' scores - washingtonpost.com

Sticking with magnet schools to strengthen poor kids' scores - washingtonpost.com:

"Aleader in the national effort to raise the achievement of low-income children once told me how she became, to her amused surprise, one of those rare suburban Washington parents who pay tuition to send their children to D.C. public schools.

She grew up in a white, blue-collar family far from Washington. Her children attended economically diverse schools, but when she got a big job in the District, the people at her new office, despite their shared commitment to improving urban education, told her she would be nuts to put her kids in the D.C. system. Uncertain what to do in a strange new city, she bowed to this unanimous view and bought a house in Montgomery County, never anticipating what would happen next."

Texas students struggle on early versions of end-of-course tests | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Texas students struggle on early versions of end-of-course tests News for Dallas, Texas Dallas Morning News Latest News:

"AUSTIN – As hundreds of Texas school districts get a jump on the end-of-course tests that will debut statewide in two years, preliminary results indicate a large number of students will have trouble passing the exams."

High school students will be required to pass the battery of 12 end-of-course tests beginning with freshmen entering high school in the 2011-12 school year. But many districts are already giving early versions of the tests to their students, and some are even using them as final exams in Algebra I and four other courses.

The Algebra I test was administered to nearly 79,000 students earlier this year, and just 57 percent of those students passed the 50-question exam. About 11 percent achieved "commended performance" for answering most of the items correctly.

Results were similar on four other tests measuring knowledge and skills in biology, chemistry, geometry and U.S. history. In biology, the 58,000 who took the exam answered about 60 percent of the questions correctly.

Harvard Law School Suspends Program Giving Students Free Tuition - NYTimes.com

Harvard Law School Suspends Program Giving Students Free Tuition - NYTimes.com:

"Less than two years after announcing that it would waive tuition for third-year students who pledge to spend five years working for nonprofit organizations or for the government, Harvard Law School is suspending the program — in part because almost twice as many students as expected signed up."

“This was always an experiment and just one of many ways we were trying to encourage students to explore public interest careers,” said Martha Minow, the dean of the law school, adding, “What we found is that we had less trouble than we thought encouraging that.”

But the recession was also a factor. “It’s really a function of the endowment going down drastically,” said Robb London, the law school’s assistant dean for communications.

Harvard’s endowment declined 27 percent between June 2008 and June 2009, falling to $26 billion, and the university has adopted a number of cost-cutting moves. In fact, on Tuesday, Harvard’s largest division, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, announced a voluntary retirement plan for professors. Other schools will offer similar packages in the near future.

The Answer Sheet - A teachable moment for and about the Secret Service

The Answer Sheet - A teachable moment for and about the Secret Service:

"Every second of every day its agents put their lives on the line to protect our federal officials and, out of nowhere, up comes a super tall, super thin, super blond woman to a White House state dinner and is allowed in by Secret Service agents even though she and her husband aren’t on the official guest list.

Scandal ensues. Michaele and Tareq Salahi become household names (actually I had to look them up; I know them only as “the gate crashers”). The reputation of the Secret Service is sullied."

Teaching mildly autistic kids the ABC's of key social skills - washingtonpost.com

Teaching mildly autistic kids the ABC's of key social skills - washingtonpost.com:

"The middle school years, when nothing seems more important or more impossible than fitting in, are rough for nearly everyone. But they are particularly brutal for preteens such as Will Gilbertsen, whose mild autism makes him stand out."

Less than two months into sixth grade at Arlington County's Kenmore Middle School this fall, the freckle-faced 11-year-old with a passion for skateboarding had gained a reputation for racewalking through the halls between classes. "That's so I can't hear the teasing," he told his mother.

As the number of children with autism has ballooned nationwide, so has the population of children who, like Will, are capable of grade-level academics but bewildered by the social code that governs every interaction from the classroom to the cafeteria. Not so profoundly disabled that they belong in a self-contained classroom but lacking the social and emotional skills they need to negotiate school on their own, they often spend the bulk of their day in mainstream classes supported with a suite of special education services including life-skills groups and one-on-one aides.

District urging state to rethink ed funding - Education - SignOnSanDiego.com

District urging state to rethink ed funding - Education - SignOnSanDiego.com:

"SAN DIEGO — Rather than cut $200 million from its $1.2 billion operating budget to offset massive funding reductions that are anticipated from the state, the San Diego school board wants the Legislature to rethink how it funds education.

Otherwise, trustees might just take drastic measures of their own.

The San Diego school board passed a resolution last night that calls on the state to avoid making “draconian cuts … that will decimate the quality of education for all students.” Proposed by trustee Richard Barrera, the resolution goes on to state that the cuts could be avoided, “if the governor and state legislators make decisions to reform tax benefits for corporations or consider other new revenue options … .”"

Survey: Oakland principals like to control their own budgets | The Education Report

Survey: Oakland principals like to control their own budgets The Education Report:

"A survey of Oakland principals by a local advocacy group found support for the district’s unorthodox, largely decentralized school budgeting system, known as RBB; it also found that one-third of the principals surveyed didn’t feel prepared or equipped to run their entire school budget, as they’re expected to do."

Here is a summary of the findings, straight from the memo:

• 93.3% of principals surveyed value having decision-making authority over their school site’s budget

• 93.1% of principals surveyed responded that if budget cuts have to be made, the principal with the school community should have the primary responsibility for making these decisions

• 86.4% of principals surveyed prefer to have control over the number and type of positions at their schools (principal with community decides staffing instead of according to central office formulas)

• 82% of principals surveyed believe that changes to OUSD’s budgeting system are necessary

• 77.8% of principals surveyed believe that General Purpose dollars should be equitably distributed among all OUSD students

• 67.3% of principals surveyed feel that they have the ability, or are prepared, to completely run their entire site budget, including personnel decisions

Invisible: 1.4 Percent Coverage for Education is Not Enough - Brookings Institution

Invisible: 1.4 Percent Coverage for Education is Not Enough - Brookings Institution:

"News coverage is important to every policy area. While some people have personal knowledge of certain topics, many rely on mass media for direct, up-to-date, and in-depth reporting. This is especially the case with education because only a third of American adults currently have a child in elementary or secondary school. What most people know about schools comes from newspapers, radio, television, the Internet, or blogs – or from memories of their own experiences, often from long ago."

Yet despite the importance of media coverage for public understanding of education, news reporting on schools is scant. As we note in this report, there is virtually no national coverage of education. During the first nine months of 2009, only 1.4 percent of national news coverage from television, newspapers, news Web sites, and radio dealt with education.1 This paucity of coverage is not unique to 2009. In 2008, only 0.7 percent of national news coverage involved education, while 1.0 percent did so in 2007. This makes it difficult for the public to follow the issues at stake in our education debates and to understand how to improve school performance. Community colleges fare especially poorly in the constellation of news coverage. Of all the education reporting, only 2.9 percent is devoted to two-year institutions of higher learning, compared to 12.5 percent for colleges and 14.5 percent for universities (the rest goes to elementary and secondary schools). The lack of attention devoted to community colleges is noteworthy because even though they enroll 6.7 million students compared to 11.2 million for colleges and universities, two-year schools attract only one-tenth the news coverage of four-year institutions. From the standpoint of national media coverage, community colleges barely exist.

Restructuring the CSU or Wrecking it? What Proposed Changes mean and What We Can Do About Them | California Progress Report

Restructuring the CSU or Wrecking it? What Proposed Changes mean and What We Can Do About Them California Progress Report:

"Like so many other public institutions these days, the California State University is under attack. Not just from the deep and persistent budget cuts, but also from a radical change in the way university administrators want to deliver higher education.

Today, the California faculty Association has released a white paper detailing this disturbing trend entitled, “Restructuring” the CSU or Wrecking It?”

To view the white paper, go to: http://restructuringcsu.wordpress.com/

This authoritative report seeks to address the top down call for “restructuring” occurring throughout the CSU and UC systems and offers insight into the political agendas that may be driving the trend."

Budget Blogs Keep Tabs on UC Meltdown | California Progress Report

Budget Blogs Keep Tabs on UC Meltdown California Progress Report:

"Mainstream media have covered protests in response to the massive budget cuts at the University of California, including the confrontation at UCLA when tuition was raised Nov. 19, but few reporters have the time or resources to delve deeply into the crisis of public higher education.

But where newspaper coverage is dying, blogs are blooming, helping fill the reporting gap on what the cuts mean for students, faculty, workers and administrators.

One notable blog is http://www.utotherescue.blogspot.com, a comprehensive blog maintained by UC Santa Barbara professor Christopher Newfield, author of Unmaking the Public University, Harvard University Press. Newfield’s theory, as captured in his book description is the following:"

SCUSD Observer: Short for "status quo ante bellum"

SCUSD Observer: Short for "status quo ante bellum"

Short for "status quo ante bellum"

Baby Barack Mayor Kevin Johnson sent out a mailer touting his strong mayor initiative this week, challenging Sacramentans to question business-as-usual politics.

Status quo is short for "status quo ante bellum" meaning "the state before the war." And that's what this local argument is turning in to...KJ uses Obama references whenever he can make a sophomoric connection that is meant to fire our synapses, because we (the unwashed electorate) are apparently not going to grasp the nuance that we are being played.

So the comparison of Kevin Johnson's fight to change the city's charter is equal to Obama's fight to convince an entire world on how to execute a war?

Right.

The News and Review claims that.... continue reading at SCUSD Observer

SDUSD Calls For State To Fix Budget - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego

SDUSD Calls For State To Fix Budget - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego:

"SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Unified School District's Board of Education Tuesday night unanimously passed a resolution calling for the state government to solve its budget woes without placing further financial burdens on education.

The resolution, sponsored by board member Richard Barrera, calls for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to take 'a balanced approach' to solving fiscal problems 'that includes both new revenues and budget cuts to reduce the negative impacts of excessive cuts to education.'"