Gov., charter-school officials criticize Legislature’s “Race to the Top” bill | Politics on the Hudson

Gov., charter-school officials criticize Legislature’s “Race to the Top” bill | Politics on the Hudson:

"Gov. David Paterson announced this afternoon he is calling lawmakers into a special session Monday—a state holiday—to pass legislation New York needs to increase its chances of securing up to $700 million in federal “Race to the Top” funding. The governor is not happy with a joint Senate/Assembly bill that is different than the one he proposed. States’ applications for the competitive grants have to be in Washington by Tuesday afternoon, so New York officials are racing against the clock. Tomorrow’s session is at 8 p.m.

The most critical element the legislation has to include is increasing the cap of 200 charter schools, a limit the state has almost reached, but lawmakers and the governor disagree on what the new number should be and whether there should be changes to the administration and oversight of charters. Charter schools have been controversial in New York because per-pupil state funding follows students who leave traditional public schools for the publicly funded but privately run charter schools, which some believe hurts the traditional public-school system."

George Leonard, Voice of ’60s Counterculture, Dies at 86 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

George Leonard, Voice of ’60s Counterculture, Dies at 86 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com:

"George Leonard, a former journalist who foresaw the countercultural tides of the 1960s, then dived into them when he helped define the human potential movement at its de facto headquarters, the Esalen Institute, died on Jan. 6 at his home in Mill Valley, Calif. He was 86."


The cause was complications of esophageal cancer, said his wife, Annie Styron Leonard.
Mr. Leonard, as an editor and writer at Look magazine, was one of the first journalists to predict the tumult and idealism of the ’60s when he wrote a January 1961 cover article called “Youth of the Sixties: The Explosive Generation.” A year later he predicted, accurately, that the youth movements would first manifest themselves in California.

At the same time, he found himself wanting to become a part of the changes he had foretold. Shedding the conventions of objectivity in his reporting, he became a voice for an emerging new consciousness.

In 1965 Mr. Leonard met Michael Murphy, a co-founder of Esalen, in San Francisco, where Esalen was opening a learning center. Soon Mr. Leonard was visiting Esalen’s main campus, a seaside complex in the redwood-studded area of central California known as Big Sur.

“Explosion, catharsis, adventure” were the words Mr. Leonard used to describe his first impressions in an interview with U.S. News & World Report in 1992.

He went on to become the president of the institute’s trustees for many years and an important figure in expanding its concerns to include issues of social justice.

Can Newspaper Muckraking Carry on in Nonprofits? - ABC News

Can Newspaper Muckraking Carry on in Nonprofits? - ABC News:

"Nonprofit groups that specialize in investigative reporting have had some big scoops, cracking the front page of such newspapers as The Washington Post and forcing officials out of their jobs. Now the question is whether these organizations can stay afloat on donations.

As financially strapped newspapers have scaled back, charitable foundations have poured tens of millions of dollars into nonprofit watchdogs in hopes of keeping politicians and businesses in check. These groups figure to do a bigger share of the investigative legwork in the coming years.

But philanthropy probably can't maintain all of these groups forever. And some are still struggling to come up with a financially sustainable plan — just as old-school media are.

Consider the Center for Investigative Reporting, or CIR, which launched a new venture last year called California Watch with $3.7 million in donations from foundations and wealthy individuals. California Watch aims to cover such issues as education, immigration, public safety and the environment, filling holes left by newspapers."

The Tuition Time Bomb | The Texas Tribune

The Tuition Time Bomb | The Texas Tribune:

"Even with the next legislative session a year away, state Rep. Dan Branch, chair of the Higher Education Committee, has been visiting college presidents, delivering a frank warning: Texas families can’t take any more big tuition hikes, and neither can the cash-strapped state bail out bulging college budgets.

Since 2003, when the Legislature deregulated tuition by allowing individual boards of regents to set prices for each school, tuition and fees at four-year state schools has skyrocketed by an average of 63 percent, from $1,934 per semester to $3,150 according to the last state figures, from 2008. At some schools, such as Stephen F. Austin, Prairie View A&M, and Texas A&M Galveston, the cost of an education nearly doubled in that five-year span."

The Amazing Randi by Marcus A. Winters on National Review Online

The Amazing Randi by Marcus A. Winters on National Review Online:

"In what could prove a turning point in favor of education reform, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten came out in favor of considering student performance on standardized tests as one part of teacher evaluations. If Weingarten turns her words into real actions, and if the teachers’ unions follow Weingarten’s lead, it will improve teacher quality across the country.

Support for using student test scores to evaluate teachers is a departure for Weingarten. Two years ago, when New York City planned to start using test scores as part of its teacher evaluations, it was Weingarten, then head of the city’s teachers’ union, who pushed state lawmakers to ban the city from doing so. The legislature caved. New York’s education reformers are working to eliminate the ban."

EcoCenter may have to close - SignOnSanDiego.com

EcoCenter may have to close - SignOnSanDiego.com:

"SAN DIEGO — An award-winning educational program that has taught thousands of Southern California school children about renewable energy and energy independence could shut down soon because of a lack of funds.

“We are endangered,” said Judy Bishop, executive director of the EcoCenter for Alternative Fuel Education.

Based in a former car dealership on El Cajon Boulevard, the EcoCenter has postponed student tours while it seeks funding to pay its monthly $12,700 rent, Bishop said."

RIMOFTHEWORLD.net - Columns

RIMOFTHEWORLD.net - Columns:

"Mountain Communities - Despite a pledge to spare education from budget cuts, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2010-11 budget proposal includes $1.5 billion in central office administration and maintenance outlays."

For the already financially strapped Rim of the World Unified School District, the reduction in those area could mean a potential loss of $756,610, according to the California Department of Education and the California Department of Finance.

In the 2007-08 year, Rim's non-instructional spending was $7,566,101 representing 19.1 percent of non-instructional general fund spending.

Warning signs - baltimoresun.com

Warning signs - baltimoresun.com:

"Maryland achieved an odd distinction last week. It was rated by Education Week magazine as having the top education system in the nation for the second year in a row. And it was ranked by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools as having the worst charter school law in the country. It would be easy to dismiss the report by the charter schools advocacy group -- after all, if we're No. 1, why bother with charter schools? But the truth is that even if we are as good as Education Week says we are, that's not good enough, and the details of the rankings reveal weaknesses that will prevent our children from competing fully in the global economy for years to come.

It's clear from Education Week's analysis that some of the policy decisions Maryland has made have paid off. State schools chief Nancy S. Grasmick has long focused on early childhood education, and that helps boost Maryland's ranking. The relatively small number of school districts in Maryland helps reduce funding inequities, and the massive infusion of state schools spending through the Thornton formula puts the state near the top in financial support for education."

State education chief to give final address - ContraCostaTimes.com

State education chief to give final address - ContraCostaTimes.com:

"After more than seven years serving as the state's superintendent of public instruction, Jack O'Connell gets ready for his swan song.

O'Connell will deliver his seventh and final State of Education address in Sacramento on Friday.

He will discuss the current state of the California public education system and how the future of schools will be shaped by current reform efforts.

In other education news, California Community College Chancellor Jack Scott will pay a visit to Chaffey College's Chino campus Tuesday.

Scott will tour the new community center and host a Chancellor's Circle luncheon.

At the Ontario Convention Center, experts on Tuesday will shed more light on the future of the Meredith property, the 250 acres of undeveloped land near Fourth Street and Vineyard Avenue in Ontario."

Raising the education bar - latimes.com

Raising the education bar - latimes.com:

"What percentage of Georgia's fourth-graders are good readers? It seems to depend on whom you ask. The state will tell you that 85% met or exceeded the proficiency benchmark on its 2007 test. On the other hand, that year only 28% scored high enough to be considered proficient on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, an exam administered by the U.S. Department of Education that is usually regarded as the gold standard. The big difference results from where the two tests set their proficiency bars. Georgia sets its bar pretty low -- so low that barely literate students can score high enough to be deemed proficient. On the NAEP, a student labeled 'proficient' by Georgia could fail to score above 'basic.'

Unfortunately, five states have even lower standards than Georgia's, and eight others are at about the same level. For its part, in 2007, 52% of California's students performed at or above the proficiency benchmark on the state's reading exam, while only 23% met or exceeded the NAEP's proficiency standard."

The Governor’s School Budget: The Race To Mediocrity | California Progress Report

The Governor’s School Budget: The Race To Mediocrity | California Progress Report:

"On Friday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state officials signed California’s grand, ambitious, 550-page application for federal Race to the Top (RTTT) education funding. It came just a week after the governor submitted a budget plan for the coming year that’s so riddled with holes, misrepresentations and improbabilities that you’d never know they applied to the same state.

The application for RTTT funding boasted that despite the California’s fiscal crisis, the “State has made education funding a priority over the last several years.” But it does not tell the federal reviewers that California is among the lowest three or four states in the nation in what spends per pupil in school funding, and perhaps the lowest and that it’s done almost nothing to change it. ."

Organizers want to see a walk-in at CSUS - Local - Modbee.com

Organizers want to see a walk-in at CSUS - Local - Modbee.com:

"TURLOCK — Rather than have everyone walk out during a statewide demonstration in March, organizers at California State University, Stanislaus, would like to see folks come in to the campus.

A group calling itself Warriors Fight Back met Friday to discuss plans for the Strike/Day of Action set for March 4. The statewide event was scheduled after students at the University of California at Berkeley in October protested budget cuts and increased fees throughout the state's higher education system.

'March 4 is one part of the fight to save public education, and a part of the protest against the tuition increases, layoffs, and cuts to our classes,' student Nikki Boudreau said in an e-mail message."

Willows student's expulsion for gun possession draws national attention - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Willows student's expulsion for gun possession draws national attention - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee:

"Folks in the rural community of Willows remember the days, not long ago, when teenagers would go duck hunting on autumn mornings and then park their pickup trucks on the Willows High School campus with shotguns displayed in racks.

That's why many residents were upset when school officials in November expelled 16-year-old Gary Tudesko for parking his pickup on a street next to campus with shotguns in the back seat after a morning hunting waterfowl."

More students refuse to state race - Local - Fresnobee.com

More students refuse to state race- Local- Fresnobee.com: "

SACRAMENTO -- Martin Luther King Jr. would be pleased by how students in Laguna Creek High School's 'unity class' embody his dream of 'a nation where they will be not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.'

The 37 students in teacher Jeanne Kirchofer's classroom span many combinations of race and ethnicity. About half said they would rather be identified as Americans, erasing race from the boxes.

They reflect a trend in California schools, where growing numbers of students and parents decline to state race on forms and tests."

The Educated Guess � Common-core standards under fire

The Educated Guess � Common-core standards under fire

When the man overseeing the common-core standards initiative in math admits that the deadlines for completing the work are “insane,” you know we may be headed for trouble.
And if a panel discussion at a national mathematicians conference in San Francisco over the weekend is an indication, William McCallum and a group of 45 mainly mathematicians drawing up K-12 national math standards are in for withering criticism.The panelists, who included two elementary school teachers and an author of two college textbooks on elementary math, were blunt. They complained that the draft standards were obtusely written, that they expected too much of students in early grades, that they would encourage the same kind of bureaucratic enforcement of state standards that has already damaged math education.
Most of all, they pleaded with McCallum not to rush the standards into

Google Support Disaster Relief in Haiti

Google Support Disaster Relief in Haiti

Free Google Voice Calls to Haiti
To help US families reach relatives in Haiti, for the next two weeks, Google Voice is offering free calls to Haiti.
If you don't have a Google Voice account, you can request an invitation at www.google.com/voice.

Support Disaster Relief in Haiti

Donate via Google Checkout
Other ways to help
News and Updates
Post-earthquake imagery
Upload/View Haiti videos

On January 12, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti. Join recovery efforts mobilizing around the world to assist earthquake victims. Your donation will help disaster victims rebuild their lives and their communities. Google will also donate $1 million to help organizations provide relief.

Watch Michelle Obama on Haiti Relief

Donate to UNICEF

UNICEF is deploying clean water and sanitation supplies, therapeutic foods, medical supplies and temporary shelter to Jacmel and Port-au-Prince. UNICEF will also be focusing on children who have become separated from their families to protect them from harm or exploitation.

DONATE TO CARE

CARE plans to start food distributions using stocks of high-protein biscuits from CARE warehouses in Haiti. CARE has 133 staff who are on the ground coordinating with U.N. agencies and other aid organizations to gather more detailed information about the damage and will rapidly scale up response based on those assessments.

Free Technology for Teachers: 15 TED Talks for Teachers to Watch Before 2010

Free Technology for Teachers: 15 TED Talks for Teachers to Watch Before 2010

15 TED Talks for Teachers to Watch Before 2010

TED Talks provide viewers with insightful and thought-provoking commentary and ideas. The contents of many TED Talks can be directly or indirectly applied to your classroom practices. While you're on holiday break, you may want to watch one or all of these TED Talks. If you're interested in learning more about using TED Talks in your classroom, check out Teaching With TED.

TED Talks directly about education.
1. John Wooden on Winning vs. Success.
What strikes me most about Coach Wooden's talk is his emphasis on teaching and developing character over winning. One of his three most important rules, "no criticizing of teammates, I'm paid to do that," is a great rule that translates well to the classroom and the workplace.

2. Clifford Stoll Teaches Physics to Eighth Graders.
Clifford Stoll has done many cool things in his life including catching a KGB spy, but the coolest thing he's done is teaching college level physics to 8th graders. What I like about Clifford Stoll is that instead of just talking about ways to teach and improve education he is actually getting on the front line and trying his ideas. (Stoll has definitely done enough things and made enough money to sit back and be a "consultant" but instead he's actually teaching, something I have tremendous respect for). In this talk he gave at TED in February 2006 Stoll talks about and demonstrates measuring the speed of sound with an 8th grade class. Stoll also makes a very profound, but somewhat obvious, statement about the future. He says, "if you want to know what the future generation will be like, ask a Kindergarten teacher."

NYC Educator: Close Public Schools, Fire Teachers, Open Charters and Make Big Bucks!

NYC Educator: Close Public Schools, Fire Teachers, Open Charters and Make Big Bucks!

Well, when they told Jed Clampett Cali-for-nee-ah's the place you oughta be, they weren't kidding. Movie star/ politician Arnold Schwarzenegger's got a deal for parents in La-La Land, giving them all sorts of options to "improve" their schools:

Some of the options parents would have to choose from include: replacing the existing administration with a charter school, closing schools and replacing some or all of the existing staff.

What the other options may be I have no idea, as the article didn't deem them worthy of mention. I can't help but notice that there's nothing there about supporting or improving the schools. Apparently they must either be closed, replaced, or the staff must be gotten rid of. I have to also assume that when the schools are closed or replaced with charters, it's bye-bye staff. There is no possibility, therefore, that the school's problems could emanate from anywhere but the schools unionized employees.

So this makes being a parent much easier. If my kid flunks out, there's clearly something wrong with the school and it must be closed or replaced by a charter. At the very least, we need to fire all the staff.

The Washington Teacher: The Washington Teachers' Union Can Do Better ! Nathan Saunders Runs For WTU President 2010

The Washington Teacher: The Washington Teachers' Union Can Do Better ! Nathan Saunders Runs For WTU President 2010

Last Saturday, 120 people gathered together at the invitation of Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) General Vice President Nathan A. Saunders to celebrate his graduation from the National Labor College in Baltimore, Maryland. What was significant about this event was that Nathan announced that he would run for the WTU President seat when elections are held in May 2010.

With a campaign slogan of "We Can Do Better," Nathan shared his vision of building an organizing union that is proactive and embraces members ideas, encourages the participation of teachers, parents and community working collectively to improve teaching and learning conditions.

The gathering included not only community members, parents, and teachers/school personnel many of whom remarked throughout the night that there were excited and interested in working collaboratively to fight for meaningful education reform that doesn't exclude critical stakeholders. Nathan's speech focused on the obvious that teachers have not had a contract for three years and many of our members have lost their jobs in part due to our union's being reactive to Chancellor Rhee's education plan which seeks to terminate a significant share of the teaching force. In a recent press release, Nathan A. Saunders stated "Teachers are more besieged today than ever," The collective bargaining agreement is expired by three years, working conditions have deteriorated, and teachers are working harder for less money under greater pressure."

Nathan's announcement for WTU President 2010 was covered by Washington Post writer Bill Turque on the DC Wire blog in which he wrote"Saunders' candidacy raises at least the possibility that if Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee fails to secure a new contract with the WTU before spring, she could be dealing with a union president who qualifies as her worst nightmare. " After all many remarked at the recent campaign 

This Week In Education: Millot: Where I'm Headed With These Series On Abuse in the Charter Market

This Week In Education: Millot: Where I'm Headed With These Series On Abuse in the Charter Market

Millot: Where I'm Headed With These Series On Abuse in the Charter Market

Markets don’t work very well for society if participants can’t trust the information provided by research, sellers are prepared to bend and then break the law in pursuit of their business plans, buyers lack the capacity or motivation to pursue quality outcomes, regulators can’t be expected to base decisions on objective facts, and the people managing the hundreds or thousands of market actors don’t take their duty of loyalty seriously. Public markets, funded by the taxpayer and even more reliant on good faith and transparency, work even less well.

The market for public charter schools isn't working well enough to scale.

Most people, most firms, most institutions in the charter market are not bad actors. They may not succeed as well as we would like, but they are trying to balance their own interests with those of students, teachers, taxpayers and society. Most people - yes, even most in the for-profit sector - lean towards students.

This is good, but not good enough. The financial crisis taught us that if bad actors are tolerated too long, they gain a competitive edge that forces everyone else to follow suit, creating an ethical race to the bottom that will eventually, inevitably destroy the market. There are reasons to believe the highly fragmented “national” charter market is poised to follow suit.

Over the last several months, I've used academic fraud at think tank Education Sector and CMO Imagine's disregard for the statutory independence of charter schools to draw attention to serious shortcomings in the charter market's research and provider sectors. Monday, I'll begin to analyze how political pressure from Massachusetts' Secretary of Education led its Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education  to see that a charter was approved by a state board "in violation of the provisions of law, regulation, and procedure.... never validly awarded and should be deemed void ab initio."