The DC VOICE Ostrich: DC VOICE City-Wide Reform Campaign Action Briefing

The DC VOICE Ostrich: DC VOICE City-Wide Reform Campaign Action Briefing

DC VOICE City-Wide Reform Campaign Action Briefing

| author: The DC VOICE Ostrich

On Thursday, January 28th at 12:30 pm DC VOICE is hosting a city-wide conference call and webinar to update the community about the status of the Demand Reform Demand Equality Campaign focused on Community Schools, Parent/Community Resource Coordinators, and Professional Development. Community members have demanded that community schools be a priority for education reform in the District, and DC VOICE intends to make sure we keep it a priority for policymakers during budget season.

Call toll free: 1-866-415-4341

Conference code: 634019443

Webinar: DC VOICE City-Wide Reform Campaign Action Briefing

Please join us in this movement to coordinate community partnerships within schools so we can offer our children and families the best education and comprehensive services possible. This city-wide action call and webinar will also give you a chance to ask questions and learn how you can get involved.

Mentoring: The New Activism in America - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Mentoring: The New Activism in America - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker is on the move with a call for action in the
 "education movement" in this 1:23 video below.

He is a participant in the upcoming movie "The Lottery" coming this Spring.

Booker should know.  He is a member of numerous boards and advisory committees that are committed to education including: Democrats for Education Reform, Columbia University Teachers' College Board of Trustees, and the Black Alliance for Educational Options.

"Everyone should be involved . . . in some way to help out."   Here are four ways to make a difference:

• Be a mentor only requires four hours a month.  "Everyone should be a involved in the life a child that is not your own or some way to help out".
• There are also "e-mentors" - mentoring by e-mail.
• Get involved in the local scene.  Put political pressure on changing local schools.
• Check out the organizations in every state that are fighting for change, innovation and choice.

10 Lessons Every College Student Should Learn from Mark Zuckerberg - Becoming a Computer Technician

10 Lessons Every College Student Should Learn from Mark Zuckerberg - Becoming a Computer Technician

10 Lessons Every College Student Should Learn from Mark Zuckerberg

It is a story that gets told hundreds of times over and will continue to be told a hundred times more. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, along with many of his Harvard computer science contemporaries, set up the wildly popular, time-sinking, “it’s complicated”-touting social networking site in 2004 from their dorm room. From single-school directory featuring a high-contrast male mascot with a hauntingly creepy expression to worldwide phenomenon, according toForbes it eventually led Zuckerberg to a net worth of $1.5 billion in 2008. Computer scientists and college students hoping to start their own business have a few broad lessons to learn from his success that may apply to careers and life alike.

1. Be open to change without losing sight of your goals.

Facebook grew because of Zuckerberg’s flexibility and willingness to change his product based on consumer demands and financial opportunities. “Change,” of course, does not have to necessarily indicate inherent compromise. As his brainchild expanded from a Harvard dorm room to a global community, Zuckerberg never strayed away from its two most basic premises. At no point did he charge users to take advantage of the networking service – profits came purely from advertisements. Nor did Facebook ever mutate beyond its core ideal of connecting people with one another. While the artifice grew and shifted and modified to fit requests, the social networking service never quit being a social networking service. Because of this, Facebook stands as a perfect example of exercising a great deal of adaptability without ever having betrayed its initial intentions.

Recovery School District's books are in better shape, but still flawed, audit finds | New Orleans Metro Education News - - NOLA.com

Recovery School District's books are in better shape, but still flawed, audit finds | New Orleans Metro Education News - - NOLA.com

The state-run Recovery School District's problems with overpaying employees who no longer work for it have continued for a third straight year, although to a reduced extent, according to a new report released by the state's legislative auditor Monday.

'These findings have to stop happening. That's the bottom line,' State Sen. Ed Murray said.

The report also rapped the district for making some late payments to vendors for a second straight year and for failing to adequately track equipment such as laptops, among other concerns.

RSD officials said they've made significant progress on reducing overpayments, adding that most of the problems predate current district leaders, including RSD Superintendent Paul Vallas. In general, they attributed many of the findings to the fact that, because the RSD is a state agency that was created quickly after Hurricane Katrina, it's hamstrung by financial and accounting rules that don't apply to other school districts.

"A lot of these are penny-ante things that are a product of us being subjected to rules and regulations that no other school districts are subjected to," Vallas said.

However, members of the legislative audit advisory council, made up of state lawmakers, grilled Vallas and State Superintendent Paul Pastorek for hours on Monday morning at a meeting held in the Superdome.

Teachers challenging state's raid of funds | State News | eastvalleytribune.com

Teachers challenging state's raid of funds | State News | eastvalleytribune.com:

"Two teachers are challenging a maneuver by lawmakers to balance the state budget by taking money they say legally can go only to supporting public schools.

The lawsuit filed Friday at the state Supreme Court contends legislators are violating both constitutional provisions and state law by siphoning off 10 percent of the money that is raised from the sale of state trust lands. Attorney Tim Hogan of the Center for Law in the Public Interest said the move also runs afoul of the federal law which gave Arizona the trust lands when it became a state in 1912.

Hogan wants the high court to direct the state Land Department to return the nearly $10 million already taken from the special trust fund and a prohibition against future transfers."

SAISD exploring charter school increase

SAISD exploring charter school increase:

"When James Aden relocated here from Berkeley, Calif., he wanted to live near downtown and he wanted his children in good schools, so he moved into the coveted Alamo Heights school district.

But Aden toured a school there and decided he wanted something more for his kids — including a measure of diversity he felt was lacking at his neighborhood school. Now Aden's kids attend Hawthorne Academy, a district-run charter school in the San Antonio Independent School District that is open to students who live outside the district boundaries.

Parents like Aden are one reason the San Antonio Alliance, which represents SAISD teachers and other district staff, would like to see more district schools become charters."

Literacy to be schools' top job The Post and Courier - Charleston SC newspaper

Literacy to be schools' top job The Post and Courier - Charleston SC newspaper:

"Teaching students to read is more important than anything else in Charleston County School District.

The county school board unanimously agreed Monday night that that should be the district's top priority, and their historic decision will focus current and future superintendents on the problem of illiteracy.

The final approval of the board's first-ever literacy policy will translate into roughly $8 million being directed this year toward new reading initiatives and will prevent struggling readers from being passed to the next grade without extra help.

The new policy is the culmination of reactions stirred by a series of Post and Courier stories revealing the serious illiteracy problem in local schools; nearly 20 percent of the county's ninth-graders read on a fourth-grade level or worse"

Minnesota teacher pay raises small ... and still controversial - TwinCities.com

Minnesota teacher pay raises small ... and still controversial - TwinCities.com:

"As school districts across Minnesota scrambled this month to approve new two-year teacher contracts, teachers ended up with their smallest pay raises in years.

But maybe not small enough.

Cost-of-living raises averaged less than 1 percent, but many districts will shell out millions to cover seniority raises promised in years past and rising health insurance costs.

And that has irked some lawmakers who have tried to hold education harmless despite mounting state budget deficits. When the legislative session begins in February, they have to figure out how to erase a projected $1.2 billion shortfall over the next 18 months."

Gov. Charlie Crist backs easing class-size rules - South Florida - MiamiHerald.com

Gov. Charlie Crist backs easing class-size rules - South Florida - MiamiHerald.com:

"TALLAHASSEE -- Having already spent $16 billion to reduce class sizes -- and facing a multibillion-dollar budget deficit -- leading Republicans including Gov. Charlie Crist want voters to reconsider their 2002 vote in favor of smaller classes.

Crist, who in the past has opposed tinkering with the class-size amendment, said Monday he now supports essentially freezing it where it is now -- with mandated caps calculated as school-wide averages.

State Sen. Don Gaetz, a former Panhandle schools superintendent, and Rep. Will Weatherford plan to unveil such a proposal in the coming days as a new constitutional amendment that would be put before voters in November if the Legislature approves it."

Math school leader retiring - Education - NewsObserver.com

Math school leader retiring - Education - NewsObserver.com:

"The leader of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics announced his retirement Monday, following 10 years in which the Durham campus continued to grow but questions arose about the administrators he hired and the pay they received.

Chancellor Gerald Boarman said he wants to return to his home in Maryland to spend more time with his family, who had remained there.

The announcement surprised both the school's trustees and members of the UNC Board of Governors, who oversee the elite residential high school for academically gifted students. A spokeswoman for UNC President Erskine Bowles said that Boarman first broached the retirement with him shortly before Christmas."

Female teachers may pass on math anxiety to girls, study finds - latimes.com

Female teachers may pass on math anxiety to girls, study finds - latimes.com:

"Girls have long embraced the stereotype that they're not supposed to be good at math. It seems they may be getting the idea from a surprising source -- their female elementary school teachers.

First- and second-graders whose teachers were anxious about mathematics were more likely to believe that boys are hard-wired for math and that girls are better at reading, a new study has found. What's more, the girls who bought into that notion scored significantly lower on math tests than their peers who didn't.

The gap in test scores was not apparent in the fall when the kids were first tested, but emerged after spending a school year in the classrooms of teachers with math anxiety. That detail convinced researchers that the teachers -- all of them women -- were the culprits."

City Department of Education to shutter problem-plagued Brooklyn charter school - NYPOST.com

City Department of Education to shutter problem-plagued Brooklyn charter school - NYPOST.com:

"The city is about to pull the plug on a Brooklyn charter school that's rife with financial mismanagement, The Post has learned.

East New York Preparatory, which has booted low-performing students and shortened its year by a dozen days, would be only the fourth city charter school ever shuttered and the second to have its charter revoked by the chancellor, who authorized it to open in 2006.

The school, which yesterday received a 30-day notice of the city's intention to close it in June, was put on probation last February, after city officials caught wind of sky-high staff turnover and the dissolution of the school's board of directors.

In November, state Education Department inspectors documented a host of violations that led city officials to drop the hammer."

Panel To Vote On School Closings; Heavy Turnout Expected - NY1.com

Panel To Vote On School Closings; Heavy Turnout Expected - NY1.com:

"A citywide education panel is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to allow the DOE to shut down some city schools based on their performance rates. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed the following report.
With 20 schools on the chopping block, and people energized by a new process that encourages public comment, Department of Education officials expect to face a large and unfriendly crowd at Tuesday night's public meeting.

Last summer, the state Legislature continued mayoral control of the schools but stripped the DOE of its power to close them. That's now the responsibility of the Panel for Educational Policy, whose members are picked by the mayor and the five borough presidents.

Since school closure decisions are no longer made behind closed doors, the PEP is required to vote in front of the public while also allowing them an opportunity to be heard.

'The participation that I've seen in this school closure issue this year has really been extraordinary and something that we really haven't seen a lot before,' said Kim Sweet of Advocates for Children of New York."

Rubber Rooms: NYC Teachers Paid To Do Nothing - wcbstv.com

Rubber Rooms: NYC Teachers Paid To Do Nothing - wcbstv.com

NEW YORK (CBS) ― 

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CBS 2 HD's cameras witnessed firsthand as teachers who were waiting to hear charges sat around in rubber rooms and literally did nothing for days, all while being paid.

Hundreds of New York City teachers removed from classrooms on a wide range of allegations are sent to offices that are called "rubber rooms." 

Many stay there for years, waiting for determinations of their guilt or innocence. 

But while they wait they do nothing at all. And they're still paid -- with your tax dollars. 

CBS 2 HD takes you "inside … the rubber rooms." 

CBS 2 HD's hidden cameras recently got a rare look inside the rooms, which are located in every borough of New York City. As many as 530 teachers are paid to do nothing while the Department of Education investigates various charges against them. Many teachers say it's a nightmare -- being forced to sit in a room all day and not teach. 

"The saddest thing is that there are some people doing nothing. Not even that," teacher Leevert Holmes said. 

They're officially called "temporary reassignment centers."

Big New York High Schools Fall Hard but Are Not Going Quietly - NYTimes.com

Big New York High Schools Fall Hard but Are Not Going Quietly - NYTimes.com

As the Department of Education sent fewer students to Columbus, enrollment began to decline, but so did the academic level of its entering student body. By 2005, only 6 percent of the entering eighth graders were reading at grade level, and the proportion of special education students rose to nearly a quarter. Another reorganization led the school to create small clusters with names like “Equality” and “Justice,” and to form work-study and other structured programs that give students on the verge of dropping out a second chance.



The school stabilized, but its four-year graduation rate remained stubbornly low, and struggles continued. As measured by the city’s “peer index,” which takes into account over-age and special education students and the academic level of its entering class, Columbus had the eighth-lowest ranking among 380 high schools in 2008-9.

The Columbus student body is in constant flux. Because the school has unscreened admissions, it takes children expelled from charter schools, released from juvenile detention, and others on a near-daily basis: last year, 359 of its 1,400 students arrived between October and June. Even after the city proposed the school’s closing in December, it received 27 more students. Lisa Fuentes, the Columbus principal

More schools require students to learn personal finance - USATODAY.com

More schools require students to learn personal finance - USATODAY.com:

"MIAMI — Each day after school, 17-year-old Phyllis Quach goes to a warehouse filled with silk flowers, stuffed animals and other gift items her parents sell through their South Florida wholesale business.

The recession hit the family hard and they can no longer afford the building. Quach helps pack the goods for a move to a cheaper location. On weekends, her mother often goes door to door, hoping to find new retail customers.

'I never want to go through what they go through,' Quach said, tears gathering in her eyes."

'Race to the Top' won't get there | schools, school, student - Opinion - The Orange County Register

'Race to the Top' won't get there | schools, school, student - Opinion - The Orange County Register:

"As California and other states scramble for shares of Barack Obama's $4 billion pot of 'Race to the Top' education funds, it's easy to overlook the recent dagger to the heart dealt by the president and the Democratic-controlled Congress to the successful and popular Washington, D.C., school-choice voucher program. The voucher program's death sends a clear signal that Washington won't push states to increase competition in the education marketplace, ensuring that RTTT-funded 'reforms' will likely fail to produce dramatic improvements in student achievement.

RTTT funds are to be awarded to states that enact reforms, such as crafting data systems to measure and connect student achievement growth over time and the quality of individual classroom instruction; turning around low-performing schools; increasing the number of effective teachers and principals; and adopting common academic content standards and assessments agreed upon among the states. California has enacted laws designed to meet these requirements, which will allow the state to become eligible for up to $700 million in federal funds."

Who’s Getting Financial Aid? >>

Who’s Getting Financial Aid?:

"A revealing new study on financial aid at public research universities could cast a nasty shadow over school administrations nationwide. The study, “Opportunity Adrift,” from the non-profit research group, The Education Trust, finds that public universities, rather than award financial aid primarily to poor and/or minority students who could not otherwise afford college, actually give inordinate amounts of aid to students from wealthier families who could afford school anyway (and could likely afford to attend more expensive private schools).

Public universities, the study finds, have shifted their aid priorities from need-based aid to so-called “merit-based” financial aid. “So-called” because “merit” is defined in very narrow terms like performance on standardized tests and participation in advanced placement programs. That is, “merit” means attending a well-resourced school and being able to afford expensive SAT prep courses or tutors. Even then, though, merit-based aid is disproportionately denied to equally qualified poor and black or Hispanic students.� According to the study, the shift of priorities has taken place, to a large extent, at the level of individual school administrations, which decide what criteria are used for allocating financial aid."

The True State of the Union: A Politics Daily Sampler -- Politics Daily

The True State of the Union: A Politics Daily Sampler -- Politics Daily:

"It has evolved into a national exercise, one that invites participation from all Americans and not just the president of the United States. What is the state of our nation? Barack Obama will provide his vision Wednesday night in a stylized exercise known as the State of the Union address. If he follows the scripts of previous presidents, he will say it is 'strong.' And he will tell us how to make it stronger. He will be following a venerated pattern dating to the earliest days of the republic.

Section 3 of the Constitution is tucked unobtrusively into Article II, coming right after the Framers' brief and opaque language about impeachment, and right before the longer"

Pitt professor turns education executive | The Pitt News

Pitt professor turns education executive | The Pitt News:

"In late August 1961, Jerlean Daniel hopped on a plane in Sacramento, Calif., with nothing but a few suitcases of clothes and books. Four hours and 2,200 miles later, she arrived at the Pittsburgh International Airport, collected her bags and immediately boarded a bus bound for Oakland.

As the bus entered town, emerging from the semi-darkness of the Fort Pitt Tunnel, Daniel found herself assailed by doubt.

The sight of Pittsburgh, a city still dominated by steel mills and smog, shocked the California native, barely two months out of high school. She wondered whether she had made the right decision to attend Pitt and study political science."