Duffy suggests state action on schools by month's end | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle

Duffy suggests state action on schools by month's end | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle:

"Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy said today that he expected Gov. David Paterson to introduce a bill before the end of the month that would give the mayor control of the Rochester public school system.

Duffy spoke at a City Hall news conference flanked by Assemblymen Joseph Morelle and David Gantt, who said that if the governor did not come through with a bill he would introduce legislation to change the governance structure of the public schools.

The new briefing took place about an hour after a group of 20 parents of city students and education advocates gathered on the steps of City Hall to pledge their opposition to abolishing an elected school board, charging that such a move would stifle public input and diminish parental involvement."

SAN MARCOS: National Geographic focuses on San Marcos class for education project

SAN MARCOS: National Geographic focuses on San Marcos class for education project:

"Teachers across the nation next year may be following the lead of a San Marcos Middle School class when looking for lessons about climate change.

A crew from the National Geographic Society has filmed teacher Debra Brice's eighth-grade class at the school this week with plans to create a professional development course that will include printed material, a DVD and online lessons -- all due for release in about a year.

'I was excited and overwhelmed, but I always figure it's not about my teaching, but sharing enthusiasm with other teachers,' Brice said.

The crew focused on five students and asked about their thoughts on climate change before and after the lessons.
'I told them that I think it's important that we learn"

City schools, teachers continuing contract talks | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/16/2010

City schools, teachers continuing contract talks | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/16/2010:

"The Philadelphia School District will negotiate with its teachers union through the long holiday weekend in hope of reaching agreement on a new contract, district officials said yesterday.
They are optimistic a settlement will be reached before teachers return to work on Tuesday after Martin Luther King's Birthday, said district spokeswoman Evelyn Sample-Oates.

The contract was to expire at 12:01 a.m. today.

While the union's contract has been extended five times since Aug. 31, 2008, when the previous four-year pact expired, union and district officials said they were determined to reach an agreement as another deadline approached.

Union officials said yesterday that they were pressing for a settlement by the midnight expiration.

'We are continuing our negotiations with the goal of reaching an agreement by midnight,' Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said in a statement."

EducationNews.org - A Leading Global News Source - Student fights create teacher hazards

EducationNews.org - A Leading Global News Source - Student fights create teacher hazards:

"This week's fight involving a teacher and student at Martin Middle School illustrates a growing concern for teachers: Faculty caught up in student violence can face physical danger and accusations of going too far.

This week's fight involving a teacher and student at Martin Middle School illustrates a growing concern for teachers: Faculty caught up in student violence can face physical danger and accusations of going too far.

Police decided today to charge the 14-year-old female student with assault, and concluded the 39-year-old teacher was defending herself, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools police Chief Bud Cesena said. After Tuesday's fight, each accused the other of throwing punches and pulling hair. The teacher is suspended with pay until administrators finish their review.

“It's become increasingly unsafe for teachers to get into the midst of what's going on,” said Mary McCray, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators."

Documentary 'Ten9Eight' Shows US Inner City Kids Dreaming Big | Education | English

Documentary 'Ten9Eight' Shows US Inner City Kids Dreaming Big | Education | English

Documentary 'Ten9Eight' Shows US Inner City Kids Dreaming Big

In Mary Mazzio's film, underprivileged high school students chart their business futures

Mary Mazzio's documentary, "Ten9Eight Shoot for the Moon" opens with this idea:  "Every nine seconds a teenager in the U.S. drops out of high school. Imagine if they didn't." It's the inspiring story of underprivileged high school students who turn their lives around by learning business skills and competing for a $10,000 prize.  

The competition is fierce.  Out of 24,000 contestants in the United States that enter, only 34 advance to the finals in New York City. 

The test monitor is serious and to the point: "You have 8.5 minutes to present and judges will have three minutes for questions."  

D.C. Schools Insider - Rhee: Wedding to Johnson doesn't change plans

D.C. Schools Insider- Rhee: Wedding to Johnson doesn't change plans

Rhee: Wedding to Johnson doesn't change plans

Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee says she’s in D.C. for the long haul, despite her impending marriage to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.

“Yes, I’m fully ready for the commuter marriage!” she e-mailed Friday, after The Reliable Source broke the word that she and Johnson will wed on Sept. 4, location TBD.

Rhee has often said that she intended to remain in her post through a second Fenty term--assuming there is one.

“I’m a serial monogamist, not a job hopper,” she said in a 2008 interview. Rhee cited her ten years at New Teacher Project, the non-profit she founded. She has also spoken admiringly of Atlanta School Superintendent Beverly L. Hall, who is in her eleventh year at the head of that system.

Such a pledge would take her to early 2015. That’s a lot of plane rides to and from Sacramento. But there may be other considerations as well. Her ex-husband Kevin Huffman, with whom she is raising two daughters, lives in the District.

New York May Double Number of Charter Schools Allowed - NYTimes.com

New York May Double Number of Charter Schools Allowed - NYTimes.com:

"New York legislators are poised to at least double the number of charter schools allowed in the state in an attempt to win as much as $700 million in federal education grants.

But they are also contemplating changes that some charter school advocates, including the New York City schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, oppose. Among the changes is a proposal to withdraw Mr. Klein’s ability to approve new charter schools.

The Obama administration is offering a total of $4 billion in federal grants to states that show the most progress in overhauling education, including easing restrictions on the growth of charter schools."

History teaching standards tilt to right for Texas high schoolers | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

History teaching standards tilt to right for Texas high schoolers | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News| Latest News

History teaching standards tilt to right for Texas high schoolers

08:57 AM CST on Saturday, January 16, 2010

By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
tstutz@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – Texas high school students will have to learn about leading conservative groups from the 1980s and 1990s – but not about liberal or minority-rights groups – under U.S. history standards tentatively adopted by a politically divided State Board of Education on Friday.

The Republican majority on the board also gave a thumbs down to requiring history teachers and textbooks to provide coverage on the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, as well as leading Hispanic civil-rights groups such as LULAC and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Led by the board's social-conservative bloc, Republicans left DemocratHillary Rodham Clinton and former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the nation's first black justice, on the list of important figures that will have to be covered in history classes.

But they also added, on a 7-6 vote, Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly, the National Rifle Association, Moral Majority and the Heritage Foundation to the list of persons and groups that students will learn about.

Board member Don McLeroy, R-College Station, offered the amendment requiring coverage of "key organizations and individuals of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s." McLeroy said he offered the proposal because the history standards were already "rife with leftist political periods and events – the populists, the progressives, the New Deal and the Great Society."

A disturbing picture of life for middle school students - Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun

A disturbing picture of life for middle school students - Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun:

"When it came time for the biennial statewide survey of middle school students, the Clark County School District added questions to dig deeper into students’ overall health and welfare.

The findings are tantamount to a cry for help.

Nearly one in five students surveyed in 2009 admits to using methods such as cutting and burning to intentionally harm themselves. Nearly that many of the surveyed students — in grades 6-8 — said they had gone hungry in the prior month because there wasn’t enough food at home. And close to a third of the students said they had been bullied at school in the prior year, with half of those attacks launched through digital means such as e-mail, text messaging or Web sites.

“We don’t want to just tell people we think this is happening,” said Mary Pike, the School District administrator overseeing the survey. “Now we can say we know this is happening.”"

MAYORAL CONTROL: Full-steam ahead, Gantt says, 'whether people like it or not' - News Articles - Rochester City Newspaper

MAYORAL CONTROL: Full-steam ahead, Gantt says, 'whether people like it or not' - News Articles - Rochester City Newspaper:

"Flanked at a press conference by Assembly members David Gantt and Joe Morelle, Mayor Bob Duffy again stated his desire to take control of the Rochester school district.

He did say he was willing to debate the issue.

'For those who say the mayor doesn't want to debate, that's not true,' Duffy said; he's willing to debate the issue in numerous forums, he said. For example, he would like to have panels with New York City schools chief Joel Klein, Washington DC's Michelle Rhee, and others who have experience with mayoral control, he said, and he would welcome having opponents bring their own experts.

Duffy charged that opponents are trying to confuse the public and said that 'a substantial amount of money is being put together to stop this.'"

School Bake Sales Are Back On, but Only for Haiti - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

School Bake Sales Are Back On, but Only for Haiti - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com:

"The city has taken a number of steps to help Haiti, gathering donations from the public, offering to send rescue workers and city engineers and giving city employees the option to have contributions deducted from their paychecks.

And it is allowing bake sales in schools.

In the fall, the schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, severely restricted bake sales in schools as part of the city’s effort to limit students’ consumption of junk food. Students raising money for trips and clubs could sell only from a list of specifically approved snacks, like baked chips and granola bars. Parents and students complained that the new regulations stifled their ability to raise money for extracurricular activities."

Pissed Off: Message To The Accountable Education Mayor

Pissed Off: Message To The Accountable Education Mayor:

"Message To The Accountable Education Mayor
Hey Mayor Money Bags,

When the glare bothers, can you close a blind or a shade? How about when it bothers any of your staff? do you order new window coverings or fix the ones you have? The custodians at Packemin have no chord to fix the problem and there are no extra shades around. When the kids in our classrooms can't see the board we have to stick part of a broken shade in a window and then slam the window to hold it down. Some kids still can't see the board. But hey, that is what you want anyway. If they can't see the board, they won't be able to do the work, they will fail, lower graduation rates and then you will have another school to close down. (Part of your master plan, right?)"

Head Start study shows no lasting gains � Joanne Jacobs

Head Start study shows no lasting gains Joanne Jacobs:

"Head Start’s benefits fade by first grade, concludes a major study on the $7 billion-a-year program’s impact. While Head Start participants have a social, emotional and cognitive edge over similar kids who didn’t participate in pre-K, according to a 2005 study, the advantages don’t last long.

“The next few weeks are probably going to be rocky ones for the Head Start community,” writes Early Ed Watch, which suggested K-3 teachers aren’t trained to help Head Start grads move forward."

Class Struggle - Charters raising less

Class Struggle- Charters raising less:

"I was drawn to an 11:30 a.m. post by Philissa Cramer at GothamSchools, revealing that someone in New York associated with a GothamSchools funder has calculated how much charter schools in New York are raising beyond the money they get from the school district. Apparently the private money has declined because of the recession.

I wish we had that kind of data in D.C. It would lead to many interesting discussions of how much the charters need to keep quality up, and whether or not regular schools could do the same."

Teachers, students and sex

A 29-year-old female teacher and track team coach in Maryland's Anne Arundel County has been charged with three counts of fourth degree sex offense--a misdemeanor--for having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male student. But if that had happened in Georgia, the teacher wouldn’t have broken any laws.

Student-teacher sexual relations are disturbing in all cases, but they are not necessarily illegal.

Continue reading this post »

Charter Laws � The Quick and the Ed

Charter Laws � The Quick and the Ed:

"Charter school laws have been all over the news lately, with a second national organization releasing their rankings of state charter laws at the same time states are revising their laws in order to be eligible for the Race to the Top (RTTT) Fund’s $4.35 billion. Charter laws vary tremendously state-by-state, but the federal Department of Education has been pushing hard on the charter quantity issue, urging states to give up arbitrary caps in order to apply for the RTTT money.

A lesson from my home state, Iowa, shows this effort is not as meaningful as it might appear.

Iowa has long had one of the weakest charter laws in the country. It technically has one, which is more than can be said for 11 remaining states, but it’s law limits charter authorizers to school districts themselves (often the last place to look for someone interested in starting a charter school) and set an artificial cap on the number of charters that could operate in the state. Perhaps worst of all, the law was scheduled to sunset in 2011."

The Potemkin Village Cap Lift: What Would the Reviewers Say?

The Potemkin Village Cap Lift: What Would the Reviewers Say?

It’s interesting to me that you have folks out there that don’t quite believe that we’re going to keep a high bar…. It’s going to be a very, very high bar. People won’t believe it until we do it.
--Secretary Arne Duncan discussing the Race to the Top

“Don’t quite believe” is right. Albany still seems to think there is a way to hurt the state’s charter schools and get rewarded for it in the Race to the Top (RTTT). The latest  destructive idea is to lift the state’s nominal cap on charter schools, then choke charter school growth by turning new school creation into a centralized RFP process.

As the  Post and Daily News point out in must-read editorials this morning, that kind of fakery won’t fool anyone.

Both papers are exactly right about the raw politics: at the end of the day, there’s just no way the feds will reward a state that eliminates SUNY CSI, one of their  favorite authorizers—let alone a state that starts doling out charters through politicized central planning. As Duncansaid last month, “In the end, I want state lawmakers to lead reform, not lag it.”

Legislators And Booksellers Aim To Cut Textbook Costs

Legislators And Booksellers Aim To Cut Textbook Costs
Legislators and Booksellers Aim to Cut Textbook Costs

Compiled By CityTownInfo.com Staff
January 15, 2010

Legislators and booksellers are moving forward with electronic textbooks and textbook rental programs in an effort to reduce expenses for college students.

In California, a new law was passed this week which will require companies that sell textbooks to California colleges and universities to offer electronic versions by 2020. The law, Senate Bill 48, was authored by state Sen. Elaine Alquist, with the goal of significantly reducing textbook costs for students, which can often be as high as $1,000 per year.

James Schwab, a legislative aide to Alquist, told The Chronicle of Higher Education that the new law would also encourage the use of technology in the classroom, thereby giving students better marketable skills. He added that it would help generate more student interest in science, engineering and math.

"Students these days, and kids growing up, will be used to--and even prefer--reading stuff in an electronic format," said Schwab in the Chronicle.

Bruce Hildebrand, executive director of the Association of American Publishers, noted in the Ventura County Star that publishers should have no trouble complying with the law's deadline.

Schwarzenegger's chief aide wields power with gusto - latimes.com

Schwarzenegger's chief aide wields power with gusto - latimes.com:

"Schwarzenegger's chief aide wields power with gusto
Susan Kennedy, who also worked for the governor's predecessor, loves to win on big issues and lets little get in her way. Critics wonder if shortcomings in the two men's records reflect on her."


Reporting from Sacramento - She arrives unseen at the Capitol each morning, entering through an underground garage and riding an internal elevator to the governor's office to take command.

Rarely venturing out into public, she instills fear in legions of state workers, lobbyists and lawmakers even though many would not recognize the 5-foot-2, wiry woman with close-cropped blond hair who is likely to be remembered as the most enduring force in state government of the last decade.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, upended the political establishment late in 2005 when he hired Susan Kennedy as his chief of staff: She is a gay Democrat who began her career as an activist for liberal causes 30 years ago and served as a high-ranking aide to the governor's recalled predecessor, Gray Davis. Democrats called her a traitor. Republicans called for her head.

But Schwarzenegger stuck with her, trusting Kennedy, 49, to wield his authority so completely that they came to be described as "governor and governess," or "the big governor and the little governor." As his administration draws to a close, Kennedy has attained near-mythic status as a partisan only to winning.

AllGov - News - Student Financial Aid Sending More Money to Wealthy Families

AllGov - News - Student Financial Aid Sending More Money to Wealthy Families


Student Financial Aid Sending More Money to Wealthy Families
Saturday, January 16, 2010

Public universities are increasingly giving more financial aid to students from relatively wealthy families instead of lower income homes in order to recruit academic achievers and boost the school’s reputation. The Education Trust, a nonprofit advocacy group, concluded in its latestreport that public research universities increased aid to students whose parents made at least $115,000 a year by 28%, to $361.4 million, from 2003 to 2007.

 

The result of this shift in financial assistance has been shrinking diversity at some campuses. “It’s almost as if some of America’s best public colleges have forgotten that they are, in fact, public,” said Kati Haycock, president of The Education Trust.

 

In 1980, the maximum Pell Grant, the primary federal grant program for low-income students, covered 77% of total costs at a four-year public university. Today a Pell Grant only covers 36% of the same costs, forcing low-income students and their families to come up with almost two-thirds of their college expenses.

 

In 15 of the 22 states The Education Trust examined, the top-ranked private institution had a higher proportion of minority students than the public university. For example, Stanford University was more diverse than the University of California, Berkeley; Harvard University topped the University of Massachusetts Amherst; and Columbia University bested the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Ra Ra Riot: “The State is Broke, and Berkeley is in Revolt” | F i a t Lux

Ra Ra Riot: “The State is Broke, and Berkeley is in Revolt” | F i a t Lux

Ra Ra Riot: “The State is Broke, and Berkeley is in Revolt”

2010 JANUARY 15

by Sylvie Greenberg

To jump on coattails of Paul Craft’s post and to further discuss the crisis in California, here is an article about by Tad Friend on the recent protests surrounding the fate of public education in California. The tagline of his January 4th article, in the New Yorker, “Protest Studies,” is “the state is broke, and Berkeley is in revolt.” (Here is the article in another form for New Yorkersubscribers)

According to Friend (and who wouldn’t trust someone named Friend!), here are the basics of the issue.

What is the root of the unrest?

Friend would agree with the points raised in Paul’s article about, well, a huge fiscal crisis and severely diminished funding for higher education.

Who do protesters believe to be the villains?

UC president Mark Yudof, for one, though Robert Birgeneau, Berkeley’s “gangly, staunchly liberal chancellor,” says that,