Study Gauges Teach for America Graduates’ Civic Involvement - NYTimes.com

Study Gauges Teach for America Graduates’ Civic Involvement - NYTimes.com:

"Teach for America, a corps of recent college graduates who sign up to teach in some of the nation’s most troubled schools, has become a campus phenomenon, drawing huge numbers of applicants willing to commit two years of their lives."


But a new study has found that their dedication to improving society at large does not necessarily extend beyond their Teach for America service.

In areas like voting, charitable giving and civic engagement, graduates of the program lag behind those who were accepted but declined and those who dropped out before completing their two years, according to Doug McAdam, a sociologist at Stanford University, who conducted the study with a colleague, Cynthia Brandt.

The reasons for the lower rates of civic involvement, Professor McAdam said, include not only exhaustion and burnout, but also disillusionment with Teach for America’s approach to the issue of educational inequity, among other factors.

The study, “Assessing the Long-Term Effects of Youth Service: The Puzzling Case of Teach for America,” is the first of its kind to explore what happens to participants after they leave the program. It was done at the suggestion of Wendy Kopp, Teach for America’s founder and president, who disagrees with the findings. Ms. Kopp had read an earlier study by Professor McAdam that found that participants in Freedom Summer — the 10 weeks in 1964 when civil rights advocates, many of them college students, went to Mississippi to register black voters — had become more politically active.

School choice movement pushes for open enrollment in Missouri - KansasCity.com

School choice movement pushes for open enrollment in Missouri - KansasCity.com:

"The idea of opening enrollment across school district boundaries has some obvious supporters.

Start with the families of the 84 students since the fall of 2007 whom the Lee’s Summit School District has removed from its schools for giving false addresses.

“Some forge documents that (say) they are living with someone else,” said Jeff Miller, Lee’s Summit’s director of student services. “Some put money on a place and show a contract, then back out.”"

Should schools relax zero-tolerance disciplinary policies? - Faceoff - NewsObserver.com

Should schools relax zero-tolerance disciplinary policies? - Faceoff - NewsObserver.com:

"Maybe some of the thousands of disruptive, violent or criminal students Wake County suspends each year need a more constructive alternative than getting kicked out of school."

In-school suspensions, reform schools or community service might be better alternatives than life at home, in a gang, or on the street, away from the chance to learn.

But if Wake's school board tinkers with its "zero-tolerance" disciplinary policy, as some board members want to do, it should take care not to make matters worse for teachers and the majority of students who work hard and behave.

The job of students is to learn. The job of teachers is to teach. The job of schools is to make it happen, not to coddle troublemakers.

Granted, some troubled students need and want help. They come from broken homes or suffer emotional, developmental or learning disabilities. We must not abandon them.

And there's no doubt that some misbehaving students booted from school only graduate to professional lives of crime, preying on innocent victims and requiring still more public attention, effort and treasure. Reform school is cheaper than prison. We need effective programs to shrink the pipeline of despair.

FALLBROOK: High school district agrees to settle First Amendment case

FALLBROOK: High school district agrees to settle First Amendment case:

"The Fallbrook Union High School District will pay $7,500 to the faculty advisor of the Fallbrook High School campus newspaper and $20,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union to settle a lawsuit over a censored article and editorial.

Five Fallbrook High School journalism students and the ACLU filed the suit in November 2008, a year after Principal Rod King told faculty advisor Dave Evans that he couldn't run a student-written article in the Tomahawk's November 2007 edition about former Superintendent Tom Anthony's resignation.

Officials have declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding Anthony's resignation.

The article on Anthony was held despite Evans' 'strong objections,' according to the ACLU.

King also ordered Evans later to hold an editorial critical of the district's abstinence-only sex education program."

Nutter to focus on increasing college admissions | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/04/2010

Nutter to focus on increasing college admissions | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/04/2010:

"In the year ahead, Mayor Nutter's administration will open an office to help more city residents to and through college, and seek from area universities up to 100 new scholarships for city students.

It's part of a push to sharpen the city's focus on higher education - an area not often embraced by mayors traditionally more consumed with their kindergarten-through-12th-grade school systems.

'If we are going to remain economically competitive as a region, we have to get more kids going to college,' said Lori Shorr, Nutter's chief education officer."

HISD chief may halt alternative school program | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

HISD chief may halt alternative school program | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

"Some Houston ISD principals banished as much as 11 percent of their students with disciplinary problems to a privately run alternative campus last school year, while other principals sent only one or two children away.

The wide disparity in principals' use of schools run by Community Education Partners has caught the attention of HISD Superintendent Terry Grier, who questions whether schools are kicking out too many students on trivial grounds.

Texas law requires that students be sent to disciplinary alternative programs for certain reasons — such as assault and selling or using drugs or alcohol — but gives principals discretion over less serious offenders.

“Why are some schools sending so many children to CEP for what on the surface look like much less serious disciplinary actions?” asked Grier, who, after four months on the job, has ordered a comprehensive review of the Houston Independent School District's arrangement with CEP."

Views: Playing Mozart on the Titanic - Inside Higher Ed

Views: Playing Mozart on the Titanic - Inside Higher Ed:

"Scattered through the Modern Language Association’s 2009 convention were telling sessions devoted to the state of higher education. Compelling testimony was offered in small and sometimes crowded rooms about the loss of long-term central features of the discipline, from foreign language study to graduate student support to tenure track jobs for new Ph.D.'s. In many respects, the MLA’s annual meeting is more responsive to higher education’s grave crisis than the other humanities and social science disciplines that should also be part of the conversation, from anthropology to classics to history and sociology. There are simply more MLA sessions dealing with such issues than there are at other disciplinary meetings. Yet there was also throughout the MLA convention a strong sense of irrelevant business as usual, in the form of innumerable sessions devoted to traditional scholarship. There is a certain poignancy to the orchestra playing Mozart while the Titanic slips beneath the waves: We who are about to die salute our traditional high cultural commitments."

Opposing Views: NEWS: Higher Rates of Autism Found in Clusters Around Los Angeles

Opposing Views: NEWS: Higher Rates of Autism Found in Clusters Around Los Angeles:

"Researchers at the U.C. Davis MIND Institute have discovered regions in the state of California that have notably higher autism incidence. But the story is more complicated, and more sad, than one might think at first. Instead of indications of an “autism epidemic”, these clusters point to the fact that minority and poor children are much less likely to receive autism diagnoses.

I don’t have the paper yet (I’m still trying to find the abstract), but articles in the Woodland Daily Democrat and the San Diego Union-Tribune are reporting the story.

The clusters do not appear to point to environmental causes. Instead…well, read for yourself:

Researchers said that in this investigation the clusters probably are not correlated with specific environmental pollutants or other “exposures.” Rather, they correlate to areas where residents are more educated."

How To Close The Budget Gap In Ten Steps | California Progress Report

How To Close The Budget Gap In Ten Steps | California Progress Report

Beginning today, the effects of California’s fiscal meltdown will become ever uglier, with hefty new cuts likely in education, health, welfare and almost every other state program. As always, the biggest victims will be children, the poor, the old, the sick and the future.

By the latest count the state faces a $21 billion budget gap in the coming 18 months and more deficits in the years thereafter. We’ll get some of the grim details from the governor’s state of the state and his budget proposals later this week.

But it doesn’t have to be this way – it’s not written in stone, and never was. We – the legislature, a generation of governors, the voters – have made the choices that got us here, and it wouldn’t be all that hard to work our way out of it, were we only willing. 
Begin with a few simple facts:

*Because of the accretion of loopholes and other tax breaks enacted in the past three decades, California corporations are paying a much smaller share of their profits in corporate taxes now than they did in 1981. If the share had been the same in 2006 as it was in 1981, according to CBP, the California Budget Project, corporate tax collections would have been $8.4 billion higher. Our corporate tax rates are high, but the tax code is such a Swiss cheese of breaks that the official rates tell a misleading story.

*All, told, tax cuts enacted since 1993 cost the state an estimated $11 billion in 2008-9.

*Because a much larger share of the state’s economic

SoCal Muslims Targeted in Recent Hate Crimes

SoCal Muslims Targeted in Recent Hate Crimes

Costa Mesa - Police are investigating a series of apparent hate crimes targeting Muslims in Southern California.

Mosques and displays have been vandalized in Costa Mesa, Mission Viejo, and Azusa in recent weeks... in five separate incidents.

On New Year's Day, someone left a burned and tattered Quran... the Islamic faith's holy text... at the back entrance of the Islamic Education Center while hundreds of people worshipped inside.

L.A. needs a healthy Latino middle class - latimes.com

L.A. needs a healthy Latino middle class - latimes.com:

"The middle is what holds Los Angeles together.

Not too rich, not too poor. Right in the middle of the curve -- a place that doesn't inspire much passion.

But without the middle class, what is Los Angeles?

Imagine a metropolis where all the homes have either iron bars on the windows or walls and guards to keep away the riffraff. A city of castes. Gated communities and gangland, with nothing in between.

In other words, a Third World city.

With our economy in the dumps and public services and the education system in crisis, it's easier to imagine Los Angeles becoming such a place.

I started thinking about the middle class after three reports came across the transom about Latinos, that very loosely defined ethnic group whose members make up a plurality of both Los Angeles County and Greater Los Angeles.

Two of the reports contain troubling information."

Mysterious pro-charter study supposedly to be announced Jan. 5

Mysterious pro-charter study supposedly to be announced Jan. 5:

"In an odd new salvo in the food fight over whether charter schools are superior to public schools, a Stanford organization that released a high-profile study last June showing charter schools performing worse than public schools is reportedly about to release a new report showing the opposite about New York City's charter schools.

Because New York is the nation's largest school district and Mayor Michael Bloomberg's school reform policies are so drastic and controversial, this report should get a lot of attention. But there are some strange things about it.

The organization CREDO -- the Center for Research on Education Outcomes -- released its nationwide study in June 2009, showing that (according to the press release on the study) 'in the aggregate, students in charter schools [are] not faring as well as students in traditional public schools.' The report 'found that 17 percent of charter schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than traditional public schools, while 37 percent of charter schools showed gains that were worse than their traditional public school counterparts, with 46 percent of charter schools demonstrating no significant difference.'"

Educational Institutions Are Facing a Leadership Vacuum

Educational Institutions Are Facing a Leadership Vacuum:

"Educational institutions are facing a 'demographic time bomb' which could potentially leave them seriously short of qualified leaders within the next ten years. As babyboomers prepare for retirement, no system is immune, K12, Community Colleges and Universities alike face an impending leadership vacuum. Experts warn that leaving leadership development to chance or individual whim is short-sighted, there must be a concerted effort to identify and recruit talented individuals from existing faculty pools.

For many institutions, the problem finding qualified leaders is a real challenge. It is one thing to find someone with the background in finance, or law, or institutional and facilities planning. It is another challenge to find someone with a solid background in best teaching practices and the skills necessary to help struggling students achieve in the classroom. However, it is another thing entirely to find someone who has both the business and pedagogical background all in one package. These individuals are golden."

California leaders seek budget help from D.C.

California leaders seek budget help from D.C.:

"California's political leaders, who are facing the daunting challenge of closing an estimated $20.7 billion budget deficit this year, are looking to Washington for help. Just don't call it a bailout."


Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said he plans to head to the nation's capital "early and often" seeking federal assistance. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger already has put the federal government on notice that he wants billions he says the state is owed. And outgoing Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Baldwin Vista (Los Angeles County), said she would head east as soon as this month.
It is not just cash that California wants. Schwarzenegger is calling for permanent changes to the formula that determines the amount of money the federal government contributes to Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, noting that the state is among the lowest in the country in reimbursement rates. He also wants money for the costs of providing special education in schools and incarcerating illegal immigrants, both unfunded federal mandates.
Steinberg said he wants a "dynamic partnership" between the federal government


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/01/04/MNCJ1B84N3.DTL#ixzz0beGbEPOD

Sacramento charter school aims for Hmong - Local - Fresnobee.com

Sacramento charter school aims for Hmong Local- Fresnobee.com

SACRAMENTO -- A group of Sacramento parents, educators and business professionals wants to open a charter school that will focus on teaching Hmong children, who have largely fallen through the cracks at regular public schools.

Hmong students in the Sacramento City Unified School District had the lowest scores -- collectively -- of all the district's ethnic groups on the English language arts section of standardized tests last year and the year before.

Studies show Hmong struggle in school districts throughout the nation. The result: A large number of Hmong youths are relegated to a life of gangs, crime or low-paying jobs, said Dennis Mah, president of the Urban Charter School Collective, formed to start the school.

This can be a perplexing problem in a region that is home to 30,000 Hmong.

The Yav Pem Suab Academy would serve kindergartners through sixth-graders. It would focus on teaching methods tailored to helping Hmong students learn but, as a public school, will be open to all students.

"We think we can build a better mousetrap," said Mah, who also is a retired principal.

Students at the academy would attend school year-round, four days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. -- the equivalent of 100 more days than the average school.

The school day would include Hmong language classes and three hours of enrichment -- music, drama, dance, agriculture, quilting or drawing -- as well as state-mandated courses.

The charter proposal must be approved by the Sacramento City Unified school board, which is scheduled to vote on it Jan. 21.

Organizers of the proposed school say the academic struggles of Hmong students often go unnoticed because they are grouped with other Asians in analyses of school test scores; generally, Asians perform exceptionally well on standardized tests.

"At the state level Asians are lumped together and Hmong students don't show up on the radar," said William Vang, who worked as a student achievement specialist with Sacramento City Unified before taking a leave this year.

The Hmong community has rallied around the charter school proposal. More than 300 people showed up for the public hearing on the charter at the Nov. 18 school board meeting, Mah said.

And the state already has given the charter preliminary approval for a $600,000 start-up grant.

You Decide

Palm Beach County School District's profitable rental policy put to the test

Palm Beach County School District's profitable rental policy put to the test:

"There's life after the last bell: On a recent Sunday, Oklahoma-based LifeChurch.tv's 9:30 a.m. service drew enough parishioners to fill the west side of Palm Beach Central High School's parking lot. Space rented from the high school may run five figures, but the school's state-of-the-art auditorium is a good fit with LifeChurch's JumboTron-like broadcast sermons and live music.

And when LifeChurch is shutting down its Sunday services and pulling its 26-foot trailer out of the Wellington school's parking lot, the Tabernacle Pentecost congregation's truck is pulling in.

'It can get interesting,' LifeChurch campus pastor Larry Mayer said of the back-to-back ministries.

That's not the half of it.

Soul line dancing. A poetry slam. Pre-kindergarten graduation. A Sweet Sixteen party, wedding reception, family reunion: Organizations ranging from tutoring franchises to the How Ya Livin ministry are leasing portables, fields and auditoriums, pouring millions of dollars into school district coffers — $3.6 million in the 2008-09 school year alone."

Kevin Huffman - The keys to a successful education system

Kevin Huffman - The keys to a successful education system


Ten years ago, deep in the Rio Grande Valley, two 23-year-old Teach for America teachers opened an after-school tutoring program. Through sheer force of will, the program became a public charter school, housed on the second floor of a local church. Eventually, that school became a cluster of 12 schools, serving kids from Colonias -- communities so impoverished that some lack potable water.
IDEA College Prep graduated its first high school class in 2007 with 100 percent of the seniors headed to college. Last month, U.S. News and World Report ranked it No. 13 among America's public high schools.
"It's not magical resources," IDEA Principal Jeremy Beard told me. "It's the thinking around the problem. I have no control over what goes in on in the kids' Colonia. But we can create a culture. Kids here feel part of a family, part of a team, part of something special."
I have worked in education for most of the past 17 years, as a first-grade teacher, as an education lawyer and, currently, for Teach for America. I used to be married to the D.C. schools chancellor. And the views expressed here are mine alone. I tell the IDEA story because too often when we look at the sorry state of public education (on the most recent international benchmark exam conducted by the Program for International Student Assessment, U.S. high schoolers ranked 25th out of 30 industrialized nations in math and 24th in science) we believe the results are driven by factors beyond our control, such as funding and families. This leads to lethargy, which leads to inaction, which perpetuates a broken system that contributes to our economic decline.
Last year, McKinsey & Co. monetized the cost of our international achievement gap. Our education system's poor results cost the country $1.3 trillion to $2.3 trillion a year, it found -- as much as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the stimulus package combined. America cannot afford this kind of failure. We must make this the decade of education

Op-Ed Contributor - The Replacements - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Contributor - The Replacements - NYTimes.com:

"TWO years ago, during lunch with a second-grade teacher in the Chicago area, I mentioned that I was going to substitute teach. The teacher — I’ll call him Dan — started into a story about his own experience with a substitute, which is easily summarized: Dan left a lesson plan; the sub didn’t follow it. So, he ended by asking, how hard can substitute teaching be?

I smiled, said nothing and bit into my Reuben.

Over the next two years, I would learn — as I subbed once a week for a variety of classes, including kindergarten, sixth grade, middle-school social studies, high-school chemistry, phys ed, art, Spanish, and English as a second language — that Dan’s story is standard teacher fare. Last time I heard it, though, I didn’t bite my sandwich or my tongue.

“Maggie,” a teacher in a Milwaukee public school, was talking about the difficulty of her job, which is something the teachers I know do quite a lot. Then she complained that her sub hadn’t completed the lesson plan she’d been given."

Julia Steiny: We give kids the message: ‘We don’t want you.’ | Julia Steiny | projo.com | The Providence Journal

Julia Steiny: We give kids the message: ‘We don’t want you.’ | Julia Steiny | projo.com | The Providence Journal:

"Carson McCullers’ 1946 novel “The Member of the Wedding” is a haunting description of childhood loneliness. I knew the story first as a play and then as a heartbreaking movie with Julie Harris playing Frankie, a motherless 12-year-old, and Ethel Waters as Bernice, Frankie’s African-American caretaker.

Frankie is desperate to find “a we of me.”

Like many modern kids, Frankie’s loneliness is endemic to her life. The older neighborhood girls have not invited her into their new club, but Frankie’s loneliness is not just a bout of friendlessness such as happens to any of us, when we’re the new kid in town or the one who’s outgrown the old gang."