Dozens of School Children Receive New Shoes — The Rancho Cordova Post

Dozens of School Children Receive New Shoes — The Rancho Cordova Post

Atotal of 62 children at Riverview Elementary School in Rancho Cordova,many of them from families with limited income, received new pairs of shoes and socks Thursday, courtesy of Kaiser Permanente physicians, nurses and staff.

The annual shoe distribution, in its final year due to the school’s scheduled closure, is part of a Kaiser Permanente program known as H.E.A.L. (Healthy Eating, Active Living), which encourages children to exercise frequently, including taking school-sponsored walks on campus.

On December 17th at a special assembly, the 62 wide-eyed students in grades K-2 received wrapped boxes containing new shoes.

“The staff at Kaiser Permanente’s Medical Office Building in Rancho Cordova have been committed to

The Educated Guess � The rush to common-core standards

The Educated Guess � The rush to common-core standards:

"Of all the reforms that legislators are on the verge of passing to enhance its Race to the Top application, the most consequential also has been the least discussed.

California is about to commit to junk its decade-old, much ballyhooed system of K-12 academic standards by Aug. 2. Doing so will the require writing new assessments and curriculum frameworks and adopting new textbooks over the next few years– at a cost that easily run in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

What’s amazing is not the state’s consideration of the Obama administration’s push for “common core” standards. The concept of internationally benchmarked academic standards to which students in all states can be measured and compared is certainly sound."

Education Futures - Share the love: Embedding the Education Futures timeline

Education Futures - Share the love: Embedding the Education Futures timeline:

"Share the love: Embedding the Education Futures timeline"

Source: Education Futures

VIET NAM NET Top 10 education issues for 2009

VIET NAM Top 10 education issues for 2009

1. University tuition ceiling raised to 240,000 dong

On August 21 the Prime Minister raised university tuitions from 180,000 dong to 240,000 dong per month. The tuition adjustment is part of the National Assembly’s Resolution on renovating education and training finances.

Tuition hikes have brought new worries to students burdened with higher daily expenses, room rents and other study costs. Many question if higher tuitions mean higher quality in education.

2. MOET drafts strategy for education development in 2009-2020

The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) announced plans for education development in 2009-2020, but it was not welcomed. Many believe that the ministry needs to devise a more scientific and feasible strategy.

Experts have pointed out that the time frame is not realistic and planners did not consult prestigious scientists and teachers from universities or education institutes.  The plan’s goals are termed both unnecessary and unfeasible.

3. The future of multiple university entrance exams undecided

MOET tried multiple times to end university entrance exams and organize a single test for both high schools and universities, but the public has not supported the measure.

4. Many schools became hospitals to fight A/H1N1 flu

On July 19, 2009, Ngo Thoi Nhiem High School in HCM City became the first school in Vietnam to serve as a hospital to fight swine flu. Other schools followed, becoming makeshift hospitals with physicians, ambulances and medical equipment.

5. Schools try to renovate teaching and learning methods

Many schools have sought to improve teaching and learning methods to replace older approaches that have been criticized as “out of date and ineffective.” Luong Dinh Cua Primary School in HCM City, for example, organised group-based classes to shift to student-centered teaching methods.

The HCM City Education and Training Department supported these changes.

6. Too many school fees frighten students’ parents

Education inspection tours discovered that schools collected too many fees and burdening parents and students. One primary school in Hanoi, for example, had a long list

Star Academy shines The Post and Courier - Charleston SC newspaper

Star Academy shines The Post and Courier - Charleston SC newspaper:

"It doesn't look like a typical high school classroom, and that's because it isn't.

The Stall High School classroom with the ball chairs and laptops is home to the school's Star Academy, a place where students who are behind can complete eighth and ninth grades in one year. They use the laptops for individualized lessons at their own pace, and the ball chairs allow them more movement than stiff, plastic ones.

'We're trying to meet the needs of nontraditional kids in a nontraditional way because a traditional setting hasn't worked for these kids,' said Anna Dassing, one of the school's assistant principals and director of the Star Academy."

Schools shortchange special needs kids, sending them home early

Schools shortchange special needs kids, sending them home early:

"The city has cheated some special needs kids out of valuable time in school, pulling them from class early to catch their ride home.

Across the city, the Daily News found scores of students boarding school buses as much as 40 minutes before the official end of the day.

'It's not right. They're not helping the kids learn more or get better in school,' said Jacqueline Peralta, 35, mother of two students, Luis Diaz, 16, and Carla Diaz, 14, who attend Public School 79 in East Harlem because they use wheelchairs and have learning disabilities.

On a December afternoon, two dozen students at PS 79 boarded buses at least a half-hour before the end of classes."

2theadvocate.com | News | La. tops U.S. in teacher training — Baton Rouge, LA

2theadvocate.com | News | La. tops U.S. in teacher training — Baton Rouge, LA:

"Louisiana may score low in many national education rankings, but the rest of the country is paying more attention to the way the state trains its teachers.

Just this past week, education officials from at least 10 states — from California to Georgia — visited Baton Rouge to study Louisiana’s state’s teacher-prep model, officially called the Value-Added Teacher Preparation Assessment Model.

Studies thus far have shown that, in some cases, new Louisiana teachers are performing as well or even better than more-experienced peers after going through “redesigned” teacher-preparation programs."

Nerd, nerd, nerd is the word: Prof says the slur scares kids off science and math

Nerd, nerd, nerd is the word: Prof says the slur scares kids off science and math

David Anderegg, a professor of psychology at Bennington College who puts the "egg" in "egghead," believes he knows one reason why America lags in producing math and sciences whiz kids.

It's because, he thinks, the U.S. has stereotyped the intellectually advanced among us as pocket protector-wearing social misfits. And no teenager worth his or her acne medication wants to be seen as such a retro creature.

Anderegg suggests banning two words from the vocabulary: "nerd" and "geek."

That guy who won't make eye contact because he's enraptured by a new social networking app on his iPhone? Call him a technophile.

That guy who won't read a novel, not even the sci-fi book of the year, unless it's available for the Kindle? He's an environmentally aware, cutting-edge bookworm.

Read more:http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/12/22/2009-12-22_nerd_nerd_nerd_is_the_word.html#ixzz0aQHt2BNG

Rochester school board approves 2 new high schools | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle

Rochester school board approves 2 new high schools | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle

Rochester school board members signed off Monday on proposals for two new high schools, but as enrollment in the city declines, the move means closing old ones.

As state and federal governments push for quick closure of failing schools, the decision to open the new schools — supported by nearly $1 million in public and private grants — likely locks the district into phasing out at least two schools starting this fall. Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard said it could be as many as five.

At a meeting to discuss the proposals, Brizard told board members that the new schools' costs will be absorbed easily into the district's budget.

"Most of the funding is going to come internally," Brizard said. "We anticipate, of course, closing schools to replace these schools. We intend to hopefully operate fewer facilities."

Early College High School, a partnership between the district, St. John Fisher College and Monroe Community College, will be designed with input from the Asia Society, a national nonprofit with school planning experience.

The early college model, which allows studentsto earn as many as 20 college credits during high school, was the subject of

Michigan schools on brink of funding crisis | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Michigan schools on brink of funding crisis | detnews.com | The Detroit News:

"Lansing -- While lawmakers enacted sweeping education reforms last week in an effort to win up to $400 million in federal Race to the Top cash, they left in place a finance system that some say is failing public schools.

Funding is heavily reliant on retail sales in a down economy that is increasingly shifting toward services. That has left school budgets lean and getting leaner at a time when the state needs to retool to prepare students for a knowledge-based marketplace.

'We have to fix the way education is funded in Michigan,' Gov. Jennifer Granholm said. 'Our funding structure was adopted at a time when the economy was different.'"

School group flunks Capitol roof repair - NYPOST.com

School group flunks Capitol roof repair - NYPOST.com:

"ALBANY -- Education groups yesterday blasted the Paterson administration's decision to approve a $50 million state Capitol renovation at the same time schools face a freeze in state aid.

'The timing of this is really bad,' said New York State School Boards Association Executive Director Timothy Kremer.

'It sends out another one of these mixed messages to the taxpayers that says, 'Do as I say, not as I do.' '

The Post first reported yesterday that the Office of General Services in July awarded bids to begin the final, five-year phase of a massive state Capitol renovation project."

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer | MNN - Mother Nature Network

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer | MNN - Mother Nature Network:

It would be easy to mock a grad student who decides to put down roots with her auto-mechanic boyfriend in a sketchy part of Oakland, Calif., better known for its murder rate than fresh produce.

But Novella Carpenter did and readers should thank her for it. In Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, Carpenter comes across as the sort of person you’d hope to meet at a dinner party, nutty enough to be captivating and charming enough to draw you in. From her opening sentence, “I have a farm on a dead-end street in the ghetto,” she had me hooked.

No survivor’s tale of crime and desperation, Farm Cityis a memoir based on living off the land with modest expectations. Carpenter writes about establishing and then subsisting on a garden plot located on an abandoned 4,500-square-foot lot next to her apartment building.

In a decaying city suffering from “beautiful neglect,” Carpenter and her boyfriend join a community called Ghost Town, which is composed of immigrants, outliers and miscreants unfit for the slick precincts of San Francisco or the manicured lawns of Berkeley. They befriend Lana — who says that’s “anal spelled backward,” by way of introduction — and Bobby, a junk-collecting homeless resident.

NPS study of Salinas links dropout rate, unemployment to gang violence - MontereyHerald.com :

NPS study of Salinas links dropout rate, unemployment to gang violence - MontereyHerald.com ::

"In a report to be released next month, researchers at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey find that nearly 30 years of violence in Salinas has been intimately tied to education and employment levels, but not necessarily to crowded housing or police staffing levels.
'Although funding will be a problem for any program recommended to help lower violence, education pursuits should be given priority for funding,' the report concludes.

One finding surprised the authors — that Salinas' crowded housing not only did not exacerbate violent crime, but was inexplicably tied to decreases.

An analysis of whether police budgets have an impact on violent crime was inconclusive. But that shouldn't rule out a hard look at the city's approach to policing, the report said.

The NPS research is part of an ongoing effort to understand — and rectify — the city's violent crime rate, which for 14 straight years has been greater than state and national averages. A record number of 29 homicides this year have been blamed on gang violence."

Parent fees for public education come under scrutiny: Part Two SDNN: San Diego News Networ

Parent fees for public education come under scrutiny: Part Two

Note: Part One, published yesterday, discussed how one woman’s crusade to eliminate required fees for public school classes and programs has garnered mixed reactions.
Brett Killeen, principal of Torrey Pines High School in the San Dieguito Union High School District, said in an email that the requirement to fund all extracurricular activities at his former high school in San Bernardino resulted in reduced quality of programs in some cases, a fact that sometimes “irritated students.”
For example, rather than allow the cheer team members to buy their own cheerleading outfits, the school supplied them. “It was of lesser quality and could not be customized, because the uniforms were used year-to-year,” Killeen said. “They were checked out to the students; they couldn’t keep them anymore.”
“It’s a tricky line,” said Brian Kohn, principal of Canyon Crest Academy, another high school in the San Dieguito district. “You want to make it clear these programs do cost money. They’re expensive. So you need the donations.”
But Kohn said the school is careful about the language used to solicit funds.

“We say, ‘Here’s what the program costs.’ But it’s very carefully worded to make sure that people understand that it’s not something that affects whether or not a student can participate,” he said.
The Envision arts program at Canyon Crest is particularly expensive. Even so, Kohn said no student whose family cannot


Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-12-22/education/education-commentary/parent-fees-for-public-education-come-under-scrutiny-part-two#ixzz0aQCDp3dH

Schools Plan Spells Trouble in Beverly Hills | NBC Los Angeles

Schools Plan Spells Trouble in Beverly Hills | NBC Los Angeles

Schools Plan Spells Trouble in Beverly Hills

A contentious proposal goes before the Beverly Hills School Board next month.

Just how contentious?

Police will be on hand when the board votes. If heightened security doesn't do enough to illustrate the furor surrounding the plan, consider the name calling.

"I’ve been called 'Hitler,'" board member Brian Goldberg told the New York Times. "I just want the noise to lessen."

The noise is being generated by a plan that would eliminate hundreds of slots at Beverly Hills schools reserved for non-residents.

As things stand, the board allows some residents of nearby communities to attend Beverly Hills schools on a permit basis. That could change for some of those non-resident students if the proposal is approved.

"I am incredibly compassionate and sympathetic for what is going on here," Jake Manaster, a board member, told the New York Times. "It was very generous of Beverly Hills to take 20 percent of students from the outside."

That was back when school funding tied to enrollment worked in the district's favor. More students meant more state aid.

The state's budget crisis changed things. According to the Times article:

Essentially, because the city is collecting more in property taxes designated for education than it would receive from the state for its schools, the city is required to use its tax dollars directly to finance

Pasadena Unified School District pushes parcel tax, budget cuts

Pasadena Unified School District pushes parcel tax, budget cuts:

"What is a student worth? Parents and teachers might balk at putting a price tag on a child, but for public school districts in California, the price is $5,000 per head per year in state funding.
With fewer students—a lost of more than 3,000 since 2004—the Pasadena Unified School District is facing declining income along with declining enrollment. A projected budget deficit of $20 million has resulted in proposed cuts to match. Cuts include faculty, staff, libraries, and athletics.

The PUSD, which includes Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre, is pushing to get funding from tried-and-true sources, such as a parcel tax on the 70,000 parcels in the district and property leases. It has also come up with less traditional sources, such as charging a fee for home-to-school transportation for regular education students, and a “gift” catalog provided by the Pasadena Educational Foundation, which provides grants to the district."

Newest SF Muni fare increase may further affect access to education

Newest SF Muni fare increase may further affect access to education

The newest Muni Fast Pass, premiering January 2010, will debut with a new 2-step system, rescinding a well used rider perk for many years. Scores of San Francisco commuters have enjoyed and depended on their ability to use the monthly Muni Fast Pass on Bart as well, for travel within San Francisco to work and to school. But as of next month, not only will the Fast Pass fare increase, but the ability to use the pass on Bart travel within San Francisco will cost an additional monthly fee. Any fare increase directly affects education access for adult learners, but the burden of an even greater fare increase for Bart use will be especially hard to take. Fast Pass users were hit with a $10 increase in July, and now less than 6 months later another increase will take effect. This time a 2-tier system materializes, with a new $60 Fast Pass for Muni only riders, and a $70 Fast Pass for riders who need to use Bart within San Francisco as well.

The Associated Press: Study: Schools face shortfalls after stimulus ends

The Associated Press: Study: Schools face shortfalls after stimulus ends:

"ALBANY, N.Y. — Using federal stimulus money to avoid layoffs at schools is going to create a shortfall even more difficult for states and schools to contend with when that money runs out, according to a first-of-its-kind study released Monday.

New York alone will see a $2 billion shortfall after stimulus money ends in 2011-12, and that could drive up some of the nation's highest local property taxes another 8 percent, according to the analysis by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

'This isn't just a New York problem,' DiNapoli said in an early and detailed analysis of school aid after federal stimulus funds run out in 2011-12. 'Other states across the country will face a similar dilemma if they used stimulus money to plug budget holes instead of paying for one-time expenses."

Common Core standards undermine California's gains

Common Core standards undermine California's gains:

"Academic content standards are lists of the topics that K-12 students are expected to master in each grade. This past summer, organizations of governors and of state school superintendents launched a new effort (the Common Core State Standards Initiative) to create common academic standards across all states, effectively national content standards. The federal government has promised $350 million stimulus money to promote these standards, and states that compete for a slice of the $4 billion available from the federal 'Race to the Top' program would be required to adopt them."

PD Editorial: School wars | PressDemocrat.com | The Press Democrat | Santa Rosa, CA

PD Editorial: School wars | PressDemocrat.com | The Press Democrat | Santa Rosa, CA:

"Familiar old battles are holding up state's Race to the Top effort"

With a deadline approaching to apply for up to $700 million in federal aid for public schools, state legislators are still debating how to proceed.

That debate reprises long-running disagreements between the California Teachers Association and education reform groups, fought out by their respective surrogates in Sacramento.

It may make for grand political theater, but millions of schoolchildren stand to lose if they can't reach a sensible compromise.

There's no question that California schools are struggling. Too many high school graduates require remedial math and English classes in college — if they pursue a higher education at all. Drop-out rates are unacceptable, with at least one in five students not finishing high school. The state has fallen near the bottom nationally in funding and academics, receiving a D grade in student achievement in Education Week magazine's school survey this year.

None of these problems will be eliminated by Race to the Top, the U.S. Department of Education's $4.35 billion grant program. California's potential share — $350 million to $700 million — is less than 2 percent of what the state spends on K-12 education annually.

What an infusion of federal money could do is restore some of the teaching positions eliminated by budget cuts and pay