Big Education Ape

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence.

Bright and Early: The Education Newsblitz

Local school news is skimpy today, so take the chance to read part two of this incredible series by Kelly Bennett and Dagny Salas on how -- and why -- the social safety net in San Diego County is failing. Kids fall through that gap too. I'm also loading up your newsblitz with interesting tales from California and afar:

The Associated Press sums up what to expect when Obama rewrites No Child Left Behind. The San Bernardino Sun reports on a new study that finds, yet again, thatteachers dislike the existing law. And a blogger writes that Obama is walking "a rhetorical tightrope."
Also on No Child Left Behind: A psychology professor argues in The New York Times that what schools need is to focus on fewer, deeper goals instead of "the laundry list of goals currently harnessing our teachers and students." And blogger Alexander Russo picks out a few telling details from all the reporting on NCLB and cautions that the new NCLB is just a proposal at this point.
Educated Guess blogs that there are actually

Schools Matter: Obama Budget Eliminates School Library Funds for Poor Schools

AASL President, Cassandra Barrett, is shocked that schools with large large numbers of students living in poverty are having their federal school library funds eliminated in the Oligarchs' new education budget. What she does not realize is that the new corporate charter schools for the poor have been planned with no school libraries or librarians, which neatly eliminates the need for federal library funds. When the goal is segregation, containment, and psychological neutering of the poor by highly unqualified "teachers," who needs libraries?

By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal,02/01/2010
President Obama has delivered a slap in the face to school librarians. In his FY2011 budget proposal to Congress on Monday, he completely eliminated the Improving Literacy for School Libraries grant program, designed to boost

Parents implore district: Stop tinkering, fix schools | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/02/2010

Parents at one North Philadelphia school that may be radically overhauled in the fall had a clear message for the Philadelphia School District last night: Enough is enough. Stop tinkering with our school and figure out how to help our kids.

Winifere Thornton said she wasn't sure about the announcement that, by landing in the bottom 10 percent of schools districtwide, Dunbar might be operated as a charter, or by outside management. It might remain under district control, but with big changes in staff and school day.

If chosen as a "Renaissance" school, Dunbar, on 12th Street near Temple University, would be on its third manager in eight years. Parents and students feel whipsawed by all the upheaval, Thornton said.

"Too many changes," Thornton said. "Everything failed. Different principals all the time."
Her grandson, she said, is in sixth grade but reads at a third- or fourth-grade level. Several parents in attendance said their children were also behind.

Nikia Denby, one of the 30 parents and teachers in attendance last night, went to Dunbar when it was a good school, she said, and now she's the parent of three children there.
She's undecided about Renaissance schools, but she knows she wants something better for her children.

"Why pass kids along when they don't know the curriculum? They're moving, but their brains aren't moving with them," Denby said. "When it's time for my son to compete in the real world, he will struggle."

Dunbar doesn't have enough

EducationNews.org - The School Garden Debate: To Weep or Reap?

EducationNews.org - The School Garden Debate: To Weep or Reap?

2.2.10 - Lisa Bennett - I was speaking today with a mom at my sons’ school. She was concerned about a teacher who was doing such a poor job that even his students were complaining that they weren’t learning enough.

The School Garden Debate: To Weep or Reap?

By Lisa Bennett

I was speaking today with a mom at my sons’ school. She was concerned about a teacher who was doing such a poor job that even his students were complaining that they weren’t learning enough.

“We’re all worried about the economy,” she said. In this climate, any sign that a school (even an excellent or basically good one) may be failing to absolutely and definitively prepare our children for whatever the future will bring is likely to provoke greater anxiety than usual.

This collective economic angst, I believe, is what Caitlin Flanagan played into in “Cultivating Failure,” an article that lambastes school gardens in the January/February 2010 Atlantic. But to separate the angst from the facts, it is necessary to first look at the angst and then the facts.

Mayor Newsom learns that there's more to truancy than bad schools; and a farewell

I started a new job this week, and the downside (at least from my point of view) is that I have to retire from examiner.com. It’s been rewarding, and I’ll keep following local and national education issues avidly. I plan to post sometimes on the Perimeter Primate blog, which I highly recommend.

I want to sign out by calling attention to a news item in yesterday’s Chronicle. The Matier and Ross column (not available online under the Chronicle’s too-little-too-late policy) tells us that Mayor Newsom has been calling chronic truants at home for the past couple of months, and has gotten a dose of reality.

“It has been a real eye-opener,” Newsom told the Chronicle. “In just about every case,” Matier and Ross wrote, “the family is in crisis.” In other words, truancy isn’t all the fault of inept teachers and uncaring schools after all, Newsom learned.

R.I. getting teachers from national program | Education | projo.com | The Providence Journal

R.I. getting teachers from national program | Education | projo.com | The Providence Journal:

"PROVIDENCE — Brown University senior Drew Madden is the first Teach for America recruit selected to work in Rhode Island public schools this fall and he is bringing his energy, idealism and love of math with him.

The national alternative teacher training program will bring 30 first-year teachers to the state in August, after they complete an intense five-week training program in Philadelphia. Twenty of the recruits will apply for jobs in the Providence public school system and 10 will be assigned to positions at a regional charter school, Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley.

Teach for America has promised to recruit 30 new teachers a year for at least three years and wants to expand into other urban districts. The new teachers commit to stay for at least two years."

Penn Hills teachers to strike Thursday

Months of contract negotiations came to an abrupt halt Monday with the Penn Hills Education Association's announcement that its teachers will strike on Thursday.
The association, whose teachers have been working without a contract since Aug. 31, notified Penn Hills superintendent Joseph W. Carroll of its intent to strike Monday morning. The district released a statement on its website later that day announcing school closings on Thursday and Friday and rebuking the association's contractual demands.
"The district is challenged with high, burdensome taxes and the need to substantially improve the quality of education. The education association has rejected any effort to make contract changes which would help the district to meet the financial and educational challenges," the letter said.
But Butch Santicola, speaking on behalf of PHEA, said the union made every effort to reach concessions with the district before deciding to strike.
"Our people studied and examined every area of this, and we feel there's no alternative," he said.
Mr. Santicola said contract discussions began in October 2008.
Board President Joe Bailey, who served on the negotiating team, said PHEA rejected three viable offers, including one that would have cost the district $10 million over

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10033/1032743-56.stm#ixzz0eOUyQbki

A harassment-free school opens in L.A. - latimes.com

Aiden Aizumi almost didn't graduate from high school.

Aizumi, now 21, is one of many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young people who say they have suffered through school, enduring homophobic taunts and name-calling.

He completed his final semester of high school from home.

His mother, Marsha Aizumi, didn't want others to endure the same treatment, so she approached educators about a new school geared for such students.

The school, which serves grades seven through 12, is a collaboration between Opportunities for Learning, a charter school with 34 locations across Los Angeles and Orange counties, and Lifeworks, a mentoring program for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth sponsored by the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.

The school opened for enrollment at the center in January, but it will host an open house from 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at 1125 N. McCadden Place.

Currently the satellite campus employs one teacher. Three students will begin instruction in the upcoming weeks.

The school's independent study program is tailored to individual student needs.

Students meet with an instructor twice a week and are expected to complete between four and

At a Haiti school's reopening, a lesson in sharing - latimes.com

At a Haiti school's reopening, a lesson in sharing - latimes.com:

"The school's owner clashes with post-earthquake squatters who have no place to call home. Nearby, young students eagerly wait to regain one normal aspect of their lives."

Reporting from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti - David Saill is 10 years old, and he came to school Monday in a freshly ironed shirt and baggy black slacks to reclaim a piece of his lost life.

He couldn't have it all back. Not his home, which collapsed in the Jan. 12 earthquake. Not his very best friend, Laguer, who died when his own house fell on him. Not the sense of security he felt before he knew that the earth could shake apart his known universe.

But school -- that he could have back. Or so he was told.

Monday was the first day that schools in Haiti could reopen after the earthquake, which was centered near the capital, Port-au-Prince. The entire national school system -- already among the poorest in the world -- had been shut down, although schools in much of the country were not directly affected.

Most schools in Port-au-Prince are eyeing a March restart, at least those that can find a safe place to hold classes. An estimated 70% to 80% of the schools in the capital were damaged or destroyed, and

Education reform: Obama budget reboots No Child Left Behind / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

The Obama administration envisions big changes for No Child Left Behind.

Higher education faces greatest financial state of emergency in decades - Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun

Higher education faces greatest financial state of emergency in decades - Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun:

"For the first time in nearly 30 years, the Board of Regents today will consider declaring a financial emergency that could lead to pay reductions, furloughs and layoffs of faculty and staff.

The extent of budget cuts won’t be known until the Legislature’s special session, but the Nevada System of Higher Education is bracing for reductions of at least 20 percent, on top of the deep reductions that have already taken place.

Among options facing the regents: tapping student-generated funds for operating costs that had been set aside for capital improvements; adopting new surcharges for student tuition and fees; and reducing personnel costs through furloughs, pay reductions, hiring freezes, layoffs and terminations or restructuring of programs."

EducationNews.org - An Open Letter to Arne Duncan

EducationNews.org - An Open Letter to Arne Duncan

2.2.10 - Sandy Kress - Mr. Secretary, first, I want to congratulate you for a superb year. You pushed solid reforms intelligently and effectively. In doing so, you helped President Obama nobly carry the baton he received from Presidents Clinton and Bush

An Open Letter to Arne Duncan

Sandy Kress
National Journal
Former Senior Advisor on Education to President George W. Bush, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP

Mr. Secretary, first, I want to congratulate you for a superb year. You pushed solid reforms intelligently and effectively. In doing so, you helped President Obama nobly carry the baton he received from Presidents Clinton and Bush in the effort to improve education for all students, particularly the disdvantaged.

But, I must confess to being baffled by today's story in The New York Times about the direction you're headed. If it is inaccurate, I apologize in advance for assuming it to be true. If it is true, however, I am disappointed.

Braille illiteracy is a growing problem - JSOnline

Braille illiteracy is a growing problem - JSOnline:

"Ronnay Howard is 9 years old and legally blind with cornrows in her hair and a smile on her face.

She sits in front of a keyboard in the resource room for the visually impaired at Engleburg Elementary School, her small hands moving methodically over six large keys.

She is writing in Braille, spelling out a single word - furious.

'I know I'm really good at it,' she says.

This is how Braille is learned and how it is preserved, one student at a time, one word at a time.

Technology has been a great leveler, a blessing in this modern age for those with visual impairments. It has enabled tens of thousands of people to access written material quickly, to hear what they cannot see.

But there is an underside to the use of technology, to all the cassette tapes and digital recordings of everything from romance novels to textbooks to government forms.

It is called Braille illiteracy."

Source: City's Oldest Catholic Elementary School To Close - NY1.com

Source: City's Oldest Catholic Elementary School To Close - NY1.com:

"A battle is underway to save the city's oldest Catholic elementary school from closing.
An official announcement from the New York Archdiocese has not yet been made, but the Federation of Catholic Teachers says they've been informed of a plan to close Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral School in Little Italy.

Sources say letters will soon go out to parents and students soon.

'They have all kinds of after school programs and the kids are doing a lot better. So it would be really a big shame if they closed,' said one parent.

'I'm surprised. I really haven't heard anything about it. I'd be concerned because my younger son has been here for a while. But we'll see. It's a great school and my kids really enjoy it,' said another parent."

Four schools with speciality curriculums chosen to replace three Queens schools being phased out

The city has selected the four schools that are to replace the three Queens high schools being phased out - and each has its own outside-the-box curriculum.

"We want to draw people to these schools," said Debra Kurshan, director of the Education Department's Office of Portfolio Planning.

The Hillside Arts and Letters Academy and the High School for Community Leadership are to open their doors in the Jamaica High School building in the fall.

Rockaway Park High School for Environmental Sustainability will replace Beach Channel High School and the Cambria Heights Academy will take the place of the Business, Computer Applications and Entrepreneurship High School.

The Panel for Educational Policy voted last Tuesday to phase out the three schools one year at a time, despite community opposition.

A third school is slated for Jamaica and a second one is planned for Beach Channel the following year.

Hillside plans to focus on visual arts, music and writing. The Community Leadership

City announces broad outlines of a special education overhaul | GothamSchools

School officials outlined a plan to change the way city schools serve students with disabilities at a closed-door meeting this morning with special education advocates.

The plan’s first step: Telling schools they have to accept, and “embrace,” students with special needs.

“For too long, educating students with disabilities has meant separating them from their general education peers,” Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said in a statement. “Today we are building on the premise that every school must be able to educate the vast majority of these children.”

That premise represents a badly needed advance for the city schools, according to special education advocates.

“The principles in [the plan] are wonderful, but they’ve been law forever,” said Maggie Moroff, who coordinates the ARISE Coalition but was not speaking on the coalition’s behalf. “The overarching goals are exactly what they ought to be, it’s just that in my mind they’re not so novel.”

In a statement, Laura Rodriguez, the department’s first deputy chancellor in charge of special education, explained that under the plan, schools will get more flexibility to design new programs for students with special needs; will collaborate more with parents; and receive a toolkit to help them improve instruction. They’ll also be held accountable for meeting students’ special education needs, she said.

How any of this will happen is not yet clear. A PowerPoint presentation given this

Officials in process of gathering information on public school lunch ingredients for online list

Parents who want to know what's lurking in their kids' lunch soon will be able to find the information online.

School officials told the Daily News they are working to upload ingredient lists of foods served in public school cafeterias by summer.

"We are in the process now of collecting all the labels," said Department of Education nutritionist Herman McKie.

"We will probably have that by the end of the school year."

The Department of Education's Office of School Food posts menus and nutrition information online, but not ingredient lists.

The News reported Monday that despite promises by the Bloomberg administration to overhaul school lunches, many cafeterias stock highly processed foods that are loaded with preservatives and other chemicals.

A spot check of ingredient lists obtained by The News found that staples such as ketchup, bread and breakfast cereals still contain high fructose corn syrup, even though school officials have said they are eliminating it.

Possible $1B funding for schools cause dispute between UFT and education officials

Education department and union officials praised President Obama's proposed changes to the way the feds fund education Monday - but each said the other could weaken New York's chances.

Obama wants to make an additional $1 billion available for school improvement if Congress passes sweeping changes to the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law.

The proposal has not been spelled out in detail, but states likely would have to compete for the additional cash. Schools would be rewarded for the progress students make on exams, not simply for the number of children who pass.

States that have merit pay for high-performing teachers may be eligible for more money. There would also be cash for schools that improve performance of the poorest students.

Education Department officials and the union squabbled over whether the city will be in the running for the extra money. Merit pay has been a hot-button issue with the union, and contract talks have ground to a halt.

"We'll do anything we can to win more money," said Education Department

Ohio School District Seeks New Tax Levy - WSJ.com

Ohio School District Seeks New Tax Levy - WSJ.com:

"MORROW, Ohio—The housing boom has left the sprawling school district based in this former rail town on the Little Miami River with gleaming new buildings and a dilemma over how to keep them funded.

Three times in the past 15 months, voters have rejected levies that would have kept the Little Miami School District in the black. Each time, the district fell further behind and had to ask for more. On Tuesday, voters will face the biggest request yet—a new real-estate tax that amounts to $519 per $100,000 of assessed value, nearly twice the rate rejected in November.

Backers say the levy, combined with already deep cuts, is the only way to prevent a fiscal emergency that would force a state takeover of the schools. 'It's the downturn of an entire community. People are going to start looking at moving and your property value is going to go through the floor,' said Julie Salmons Perelman, a 44-year-old part-time veterinary technician with three children in the schools, who sat stuffing bags filled with campaign literature one morning last week."

Editorial : The Game Was Right: The Education System Is a Booby Trap (And More)

“Kicked out of Brooklyn Tech, focusing on looking fresh/

Bright kid accepted to the schools that only took the best/

Bounce like a check, yes, without no hesitation/

I went to college, then I left—that's when I got my education/”

—Talib Kweli, “Over the Counter,” Liberation, 2007.

Sometimes it takes the stinging critique of Hip-Hop artists to wake society up from its slumber; and it is in line with this tradition that I hope the comments made by The Game one week ago would travel further down into offices of government and school boards. On his Twitter page last Monday, Game questioned the sincerity of the education system in educating young people toward a future of self-governance. He asked, “After you learned how to read & do addition, what else did we need school for that we use in everyday life as an adult?” Game was especially concerned about the teach-to-test formula currently in use in most public schools nationwide (NCLB), and whether parents aren’t willingly—albeit unknowingly—handing their kids over to a system set up to preserve the status quo, rather than empower them to change it: “up at 7, out at 3pm five days a week. caught in the matrix but as a parent, I just dropped my kids off @ school & [I get a] break from em’.”

Game pondered if “school was a government's plot to keep track of us & program our lives,” and, like educator John Gatto suggested two decades ago (Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling), concluded many parents aren’t equipped emotionally to challenge the pedagogical models used to educate kids because “school is a babysitter.” Don’t wanna upset her!

For this, Game has been chastised by bloggers and fans, accused of encouraging kids to drop out. That 7,000 students already quit school every day—and only 70% graduate with High School diplomas—is less a concern to his critics. That in the 50 largest cities only 53% graduate on time is another ignored reality. It’s easier, you see, to blame rappers for their “anti-intellectual” comments and content, than to confront the truth.

The education system today is not only a sham, but also, as Game alluded, a booby

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