Are educated youth leaving California? - Bakersfield.com

Are educated youth leaving California? - Bakersfield.com:

"CALIFORNIA BRAIN DRAIN?

Here's something new to consider: the high cost of living in California and the rising cost of a university education is leading to a statewide 'brain drain' of college kids out of our state. That's the conclusion of a Capitol Weekly report that said for the first time since the 1980s, California sent more college kids out of state than it received from other states.

This is amazing stuff and points to the increasing cost of a California bachelor's degree combined with other factors like state and local taxes and housing costs that are sending kids elsewhere."

New teachers having trouble finding jobs in a competitive market - Whittier Daily News

New teachers having trouble finding jobs in a competitive market - Whittier Daily News:

"Michael Korte received his teaching credential from Azusa Pacific University in January.

Nearly a year later, with more than 50 applications and two dozen job interviews under his belt, the Glendora resident is still working as a security guard.

'Every semester, I keep telling myself, `well, next semester I'll start getting calls.' I'm always sending out resumes and always looking for jobs online. Now I'm hoping I'll have one by spring,' Korte said."

California Deserves Better Than Yudof's Failed Leadership | California Progress Report

California Deserves Better Than Yudof's Failed Leadership California Progress Report:

"Executives revel in taxpayer-backed bonuses while front-line workers suffer layoffs and wage cuts. Ordinary people see their livelihoods diminished and their children’s futures eroded while the corner office club gets richer. Costs increase for consumers though they get less value in return.

These were the stories you heard following the fallout on Wall Street during the meltdown of AIG and Lehman Brothers. But now they’re just as applicable to result of the misplaced priorities of the University of California under UC President Mark Yudof."

La Opinión - noticias locales, nacionales e internacionales desde Los Ángeles - impre.com - An opportunity for California

La Opinión - noticias locales, nacionales e internacionales desde Los Ángeles - impre.com - An opportunity for California:

"California’s educational system desperately needs additional funds to address the budget crisis while, at the same time, it also must tackle reforms to improve student learning. The State Assembly has the possibility to achieve both of these goals by passing a single legislative bill.

The Obama administration is pushing significant changes in the education system across the country through a program called 'Race to the Top,' which has $4.5 billion to award to states that adopt new standards for student learning and new systems to assess student achievement, that recruit and train effective teachers and principals, and finally, that turn-around low-achieving schools."

Montessori program at S.F. school stirs clash

Montessori program at S.F. school stirs clash:

"When San Francisco school officials opened a public Montessori program in an under-enrolled elementary school adjacent to the city's low-income Western Addition neighborhood in 2005, it sounded like a good idea."

It meant that poor, mostly African American students would have free and convenient access to what often is an expensive private program, out of reach and relatively unknown to inner-city children.
Instead, the effort has turned into a major headache for district administrators who now are embroiled in a bitter community battle over the educational fate of Cobb Elementary School.

At the heart of the fight is a district plan to phase out the school's traditional general education program - now serving predominantly African American students - to convert Cobb to all Montessori. While the program is offered to any family in the city, the intent of placing a Montessori program at Cobb was to better serve the neighborhood's African American families. Yet few parents from the community there seem to know much about the program or want it.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi file=/c/a/2009/12/07/MNLT1APV54.DTL#ixzz0Z0lqG5Te

Three Cheers for Community Colleges -- baltimoresun.com

Three Cheers for Community Colleges -- baltimoresun.com:


"DEAR JOYCE: My nephew's college plans are uncertain. His mother says a small scholarship and student loans can pay for a local private college with a $35,000 annual tuition. When I suggested he start out at a two-year public community college ($2,500 yearly tuition) and later transfer to a state university, she dismissed the idea as 'graduate high school.' Your opinion? -- V.M.

Debt loads for graduating college students are at a record high. The average recent college graduate with debt owes a total of $21,000 -- and the payback figure can be as steep as the high fives. (Debt totals for graduate and professional studies are another jaw-dropping story; research student debt and you'll see what I mean.)"

Bob Williams: UC's withering heights» Redding Record Searchlight

Bob Williams: UC's withering heights» Redding Record Searchlight:

"Back in 1960, California adopted the Master Plan for Higher Education. It was a three-tiered system. At the top was the research and Ph.D.-granting University of California. Next was what is now renamed the California State University. Finally, there were the two-year community colleges.

This plan has worked extremely well and has provided many of the scientists, engineers, doctors, agricultural specialists and others who have made this state an economic and innovative powerhouse that accounts for 13 percent of our nation's gross domestic product. It became a model emulated by other states and, to an extent, other nations."

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."