Update: California Labor Union Demands Resignation of UC Technology Chief

Update: California Labor Union Demands Resignation of UC Technology Chief:

"The University of California labor union (AFSCME) is demanding the immediate resignation of David J. Ernst, the university executive accused of pocketing more than $150,000 in improper expense reimbursements during his tenure at California State University.

The union sent a letter to UC President Mark Yudoff on Saturday, stating that Ernst’s 'jet-setting global junkets, lavish meals and opulent retreats at taxpayer expense is an insult to workers who have been asked to put less food on their tables and students who have been forced to forgo their dreams.'"

In-state tuition rates for illegal immigrants questioned - San Bernardino County Sun

In-state tuition rates for illegal immigrants questioned - San Bernardino County Sun:

"At a time of unprecedented peril for the state's education system, a growing number of school districts are going the extra mile to promote a law that allows illegal immigrant students to receive subsidized tuition at California colleges and universities.

The move is viewed by some state lawmakers and others as wasting scarce tax dollars on a program that benefits illegal immigrants at the expense of legal residents and U.S. citizens."

National Journal Online -- Education Experts -- Do Charter Schools Deserve The Spotlight?

National Journal Online -- Education Experts -- Do Charter Schools Deserve The Spotlight?:

"President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have made it clear that expanding charter schools is a critical part of successful education reform. 'States that do not have public charter laws or put artificial caps on the growth of charter schools will jeopardize their applications under the Race to the Top Fund,' Duncan said in June.

But two major studies on charter schools released this year had dramatically different findings. One study found that charter schools nearly closed the achievement gap between students in poor and affluent communities, while the other found that most charter schools deliver academic results that are no better, or worse, than those in regular public schools.
Do charter schools deserve the attention that the Obama administration is giving them? Why or why not?"

CSUS students protest outside president's home - Local - Modbee.com

CSUS students protest outside president's home - Local - Modbee.com:

"TURLOCK — Several dozen students protested in front of California State University, Stanislaus, President Hamid Shirvani's home Saturday afternoon, decrying budget cuts, his management style and the direction he is taking the campus.

'We feel like we've tried everything else,' said Barbara Olave, a senior studying sociology and one of the demonstrators. She said students have spoken with and written to Shirvani but to no avail.

The protesters did not speak with Shirvani. Olave said one student knocked on Shirvani's front door but no one answered."

Our View: California has lost its mojo for once great UC, CSU - Our View - MercedSun-Star.com

Our View: California has lost its mojo for once great UC, CSU - Our View - MercedSun-Star.com:

"Students protest higher fees. Faculty lament cuts to instruction. Administrators complain that the state is an unreliable funding partner to California's public colleges and universities.
It's time to get beyond griping and move on to solutions.

Ironically, California is about to mark -- celebrate certainly would not be the right word -- the 50th anniversary of the Master Plan for Higher Education.

That 1960 plan made a commitment that 'all Californians should be afforded the opportunity to receive a college education.'

It made California a national model.

For a generation, the 1960 Master Plan delivered prosperity to the state and a higher standard of living for residents."

NY1 | 24 Hour Local News | Education | School Laws Could Disqualify New York State From "Race To The Top" Funds

NY1 24 Hour Local News Education School Laws Could Disqualify New York State From "Race To The Top" Funds:

"Washington lawmakers are offering up to $700 million in educational funding to New York State, but some educational laws could disqualify the state. NY1's Educational reporter Lindsey Christ filed the following report.

The federal government is giving away $4.5 billion in education funding as part of the 'Race To The Top,' and New York State could get up to $700 million, if President Barack Obama's administration likes the state's application.

'It is a big load of money,' says State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer, the chair of the State Senate Education Committee."

Schools' testing success can come at a price - washingtonpost.com

Schools' testing success can come at a price - washingtonpost.com:

"Terry Dade, the 33-year-old principal of Tyler Elementary in Southeast Washington, freely describes himself as a 'data geek' who shares Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's educational creed: Digging relentlessly into student test scores, diagnosing weaknesses and tailoring teaching to address them can ultimately lift a school's academic performance.

Hired by Rhee as a first-time principal last year, Dade dug out a success story at Tyler, with double-digit boosts in reading and math proficiency. It's also left Dade with a challenge that has thwarted many other principals: what to do for a second act."

Without ready access to computers, students struggle - washingtonpost.com

Without ready access to computers, students struggle - washingtonpost.com:

"Julija Pivoriunaite's heart sinks when one of her teachers at Glasgow Middle School announces that students must go online to do a homework assignment. It happens almost every school day.

The 11-year-old's mind whirls with the complicated and stressful options available to get her assignments done, since her family has no reliable Internet service at home. She could work after classes in her Fairfax County school's computer lab, but it is open just two days a week. The library has free computers, but time online is limited if it's busy. Finding rides is tough."

US charter schools 'state' case to NY - NYPOST.com

US charter schools 'state' case to NY - NYPOST.com:

"Charter-school operators from other states are urging New York's elected officials to increase the number of charter schools allowed in the state or risk having them set up elsewhere, letters obtained by The Post reveal.

Directors at the highly regarded MATCH Charter Public School in Boston, Citizens' Academy in Cleveland and The SEED Foundation in Washington, DC, have all said they won't even consider opening shop in New York without an assurance that there will be charters left to issue above the state's current limit of 200."

To date, 36 charters remain unclaimed, but that number is expected to be cut in half as early as next month with the approval of 18 new schools.

"Given the state's looming charter cap, I can't justify investing time to explore the interest in bringing a Citizens' Academy to New York City," said Perry White, the school's founder and executive director, who is looking to replicate the academy's 11-year-old model. The Citizens' Academy Charter Elementary is one of just 11 schools in Cleveland -- out of 150 -- that was rated "excellent" by the state, according to White.

MATCH offers its students a minimum of 10 hours of one-on-one tutoring per week on top of a long school day and a small, intimate environment. The SEED schools are college-preparatory boarding schools that target poor urban kids who largely hail from single-parent or no-parent households.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/us_charter_schools_state_case_to_zeUxz8GQwWHjsdYFn0AGaP#ixzz0Z0eSyXNP

Letter - Teachers and Tenure - NYTimes.com

Letter - Teachers and Tenure - NYTimes.com:

"Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plans to use student test scores in the ranking and firing of New York City teachers pits teachers against students to cut the state budget (front page, Nov. 26).

Moreover, we take issue with his analogy regarding cardiac surgery and teacher performance. What has most improved cardiac surgery outcomes is collaborative effort among teams of cardiac surgeons to learn best practices from one another, and not a punitive quest to fire outliers."

Student learning, like patient experience, is multifactorial and multidimensional. The quest for better quality is not about teaching to the test, nor avoiding the sickest patients or the most disadvantaged students.

Improving quality means finding ways for doctors and patients, students and teachers and their communities to openly identify areas of weakness that are most fruitful for improvement, not creating incentives to hide or paper over.

To excel, teachers, like students and schools in need of improvement, need support, not threats.

Gordon D. Schiff

Virginia Casper

New York, Nov. 29, 2009
The writers are, respectively, and a physician and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School; and a teacher educator on the graduate faculty at the Bank Street College of Education.

Scholarly Investments - NYTimes.com

Scholarly Investments - NYTimes.com:

"THEIR company names were conspicuously absent from their nametags, but that is how these hedge fund managers and analysts — members of a field known for secrecy — preferred it. They filled the party space at the W Hotel on Lexington Avenue in late October, mostly men in their 30s. Balancing drinks on easels adorned with students’ colorful drawings, they juggled PDA’s and business cards, before sitting down to poker tables to raise money for New York City charter schools."

Working the room, the evening’s hosts, John Petry and Joel Greenblatt, who are partners in the hedge fund Gotham Capital, had an agenda: to identify new candidates to join their Success Charter Network, a cause they embrace with all the fervor of social reformers.

“He’s already in,” Mr. Petry said as he passed John Sabat, who manages a hedge fund for one of the industry’s big stars. (Like Voldemort in the Harry Potter novels, no one in the group would name him aloud.)

“I wasn’t hard to turn,” said Mr. Sabat, 36, whom Mr. Petry drafted last year to be a member of the board of Harlem Success Academy 4, on East 120th Street, the latest in its network of school in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Boards agree to donate or raise $1.3 million to subsidize their school for the first three years. “You can’t talk to Petry without taking about charters,” Mr. Sabat added. “You get the religion fast.”

Inequities found in area Advanced Placement course choices | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Inequities found in area Advanced Placement course choices News for Dallas, Texas Dallas Morning News Latest News:

"By the time she graduates, senior Cindy Santillan will have taken 21 college-level Advanced Placement courses at the School of Science and Engineering at Townview – a feat made possible by the extraordinary menu of courses offered at her high school."

From Latin, to microeconomics, to art history, to an array of rigorous math and science courses, the 400 students at the magnet school can pick from 30 AP subjects – more than any other high school in Dallas. In the North Texas region, only the much-larger Plano Senior and Plano West Senior high schools offer as many AP choices.

The AP courses are key in building impressive transcripts and giving students an advantage in the competitive college admissions process. Students who pass AP exams can also earn college credit and save themselves thousands in tuition dollars.

White House economist: 'F--- up' conservative prof

White House economist: 'F--- up' conservative prof:

"According to a university colleague, former president of Harvard and current White House economist Larry Summers once asked for help to 'f--- up' one of the school's conservative professors.

Summers' colleague, Cornel West, is a radical race relations instructor who is now a professor at Princeton after departing Harvard in the wake of a dispute with Summers. Obama named West, whom he has called a personal friend, to the Black Advisory Council of his presidential campaign. West was a key point man between Obama's campaign and the black community.

In his recently released memoirs, 'Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud,' West claims that Summers invited West into his office and asked him to help undermine Harvard government professor Harvey Mansfield, who had professed conservative views."

Deployments Taking Toll on Military’s Children - NYTimes.com

Deployments Taking Toll on Military’s Children - NYTimes.com:

"After eight years of war, children with parents in the military are reporting signs of emotional wear and tear from long and repeated deployments, a new study shows.

The study by the RAND Corporation found that children in military families were more likely to report anxiety than children in the general population. The researchers also found that the longer a parent had been deployed in the previous three years, the more likely their children were to have difficulties in school and at home."

Class Struggle - Why can't regular schools expand learning time?

Class Struggle - Why can't regular schools expand learning time?:

"I got an advance look at the first ever count of U.S. public schools that have significantly expanded learning time. The report by the National Center on Time & Learning, released today, reveals a surprisingly large number--655--give students an average of 25 percent more time than the standard six-and-a-half hours a day, 180 days a year. But I was disappointed that only about 160 of that group are regular public schools.

The District has 18 schools on the list, more than in all but ten states. But they are charter public schools. The majority of D.C. children are still in regular schools. They have not had a chance to see what a big jump in learning time might do for them."

DPS teachers decry $10,000 deferment | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

DPS teachers decry $10,000 deferment freep.com Detroit Free Press:

"The 3-year tentative agreement, outlined during a heated 2-hour union meeting at Cobo Hall, would save the deficit-ridden district $62.8 million, Robert Bobb, emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools, said after the meeting. It also would eliminate the need for DPS to file bankruptcy, he said.Members will vote over the next two weeks.

Bobb said the deferred pay -- the issue that raised the most hostility Sunday -- is not a wage cut but will reduce DPS cash-flow problems while placing those wages in protected accounts.
Money will be returned upon the employee's departure.DFT President Keith Johnson urged teachers to consider that rejecting the contract could lead to bankruptcy, in which job protection could be disregarded.'I suggest you go back to the negotiation table,' Kimberly Porter, a teacher at Cass Tech High, said amid cheers."

District may pay millions for consulting firm to stay

District may pay millions for consulting firm to stay:

"The consulting firm hired for a four-month review of Maricopa Community Colleges could be in line for a multimillion-dollar contract to stay on with the college system, overseeing implementation of its own recommendations.

An Arizona Republic examination of e-mails between MCCCD Chancellor Rufus Glasper and Colleen Clark, the president of the Maricopa County Community College District governing board, reveal that Clark has asked Glasper for input on the value of keeping Alvarez & Marsal consultants in the Valley as part of an 'extended relationship.'

At least one board member is openly critical of the idea, suggesting the district can put the recommended changes into effect. It also has raised questions, e-mails suggest, about whether such a contract would need to be competitively bid."

Sacramento Press / Google Wave Hit’s The River City (Sacramento)

Sacramento Press / Google Wave Hit’s The River City (Sacramento):

"What is a Google Wave? Why do I need a Google Wave Account? I’m just learning Facebook and Twitter, how does it compare to those social media sites? All of those are very good questions, let’s take them one at a time.

What is a Google Wave? A Google Wave is a great many things and in its simplest form, it is a (hosted) document as a conversation. Google Wave is a new online communications tool that enables groups of people to edit and discuss documents simultaneously on the web. The Google Wave team says Wave is 'what email would look like if it were invented today.' Google Wave is Google’s ambitious attempt to change the way we collaborate with each other."

85+ Resources: Educator Guide for Integrating Social Media « emergent by design

85+ Resources: Educator Guide for Integrating Social Media « emergent by design

85+ Resources: Educator Guide for Integrating Social Media

Capistrano Unified teachers protest proposed 10% pay cut -- latimes.com

Capistrano Unified teachers protest proposed 10% pay cut -- latimes.com:


"Teachers angry at the Capistrano Unified School District's proposal to cut their pay by 10% held a rally Saturday to protest the move.

The demonstration, which took place near the Mission Viejo Mall, drew more than 300 people, according to organizers of the event. It marked the latest in a series of actions highlighting teachers' dissatisfaction with contract negotiations and the school board.

Capistrano Unified needs to slash about $25 million from its 2010-11 budget, board officials have said. They have suggested cutting teachers' pay by 10% and making the decrease retroactive to July by deducting it from upcoming paychecks."