Monday, March 8, 2010

Educators weigh in on Race to the Top: Survey results - comments

Educators' comments about Race to the Top ranged from confusion and frustration to total agreement.

www.greenwavesoftware.com/ support_tb.php

(Note: This is the second of three articles presenting results from a Race to the Top survey distributed to educators over the past month. It presents educators' comments on various aspects of Race to the Top. The first article provides statistical breakdowns and graphs of the participants’ answers to multiple-choice questions (Go here). The third shares educators' responses to a specific question about linking student performance to teacher pay and evaluations (Go here). Go here to see the complete survey results and comments).

What are educators saying about President Obama’s efforts to reform our schools with his $4.35 billion Race to the Top (RT³) competition?

In a survey of 45 educators the general sentiment was – as one veteran Duval County elementary school teacher poetically put it – “Money is great, money is grand...my biggest concern is where will it land?”

39 of the educators surveyed were from Jacksonville – with the remaining six coming from another Florida city as well as California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Ohio – but they all shared the same major concerns: Can any educational reform that does not directly address community issues have long lasting impact and how exactly will money be distributed?

Resources must be used to serve the whole community and all schools

A Duval County elementary school teacher with over 11 years experience reflected the opinion of many of those surveyed:

“If you only address the school, and do not address the community, in fact the whole society, then this will be a big boondoggle.” Adding,“Start making schools the hub of a community

Putting the ‘Public’ Back in Public Higher Education: Broadening our Lens, Advocating for Change

Putting the ‘Public’ Back in Public Higher Education: Broadening our Lens, Advocating for Change
Putting the ‘Public’ Back in Public Higher Education: Broadening our Lens, Advocating for Change
Monday, March 8, 2010 @ 2:00 p.m.

UIC Professors Nena Torres and Dick Simpson
Report back presentations from faculty delegations that will have met with public officials and local stakeholders earlier in the day to make the case for the importance of public higher education in the priorities of the City and State.

Roundtable Discussion
Partial list of speakers:
Professor Nelson Maldonado-Torres is an Associate Professor in Ethnic Studies at University of California, Berkeley. A graduate of the University of Puerto Rico, and Brown University, he is author of Against War: Views from the Underside of Modernity, and a forthcoming book on aspects of the philosophy of Franz Fanon. He has been active in the campus struggles in the UC system in response to the budget crisis.

Jes Cook, UIC graduate student and representative of the Graduate Employees Organization (invited) Jitu Brown is an organizer with the respected Kenwood Oakland Community Organization on the south side of Chicago. He has organized successful campaigns to stop school closings in Black and Brown communities throughout Chicago, as well as historic efforts to increase meaningful parent and community voice in local schools. He also teaches at St. Leonard’s Adult High School, the only accredited HS in the U.S. for the formerly incarcerated.

Kevin Kumashiro is a Professor in UIC’s College of Education and interim co-director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy. He researches approaches to teaching and teacher education that challenge different forms of oppression in schools and society. He has authored or edited six books and is the founder and director of the independent Center for Anti-Oppressive Education. His most recent book is The Seduction of Common Sense: How the Right has Framed the Debate on America's Schools (Routledge; 2008).

Gary Rhoades is the general secretary of the AAUP. He is currently professor of higher education at the University of Arizona (on leave) and director of the university’s Center for the Study of Higher Education. Rhoades’ research focuses on university restructuring, and science and technology issues in higher education. In a project funded by a National Science Foundation grant Rhoades and his colleagues have been studying the

Budget cuts slash California rehabilitation program for prisoners - Sacramento Politics - California Politics | Sacramento Bee

Budget cuts slash California rehabilitation program for prisoners

By Susan Ferriss
sferriss@sacbee.com

Published: Monday, Mar. 8, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1A

California prison officials began touting a new public safety reform in January that would encourage inmates to complete a rehabilitation course and earn six weeks per year off a sentence.

Inside Folsom State Prison, though, inmates and instructors leading such courses are skeptical it will work.

In reality, they say, budget cuts approved by legislators last year, needed to cope with an unprecedented fiscal crisis, are devastating programs that are the basis for the new credit and for helping inmates stay straight once free.

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is slashing $250 million – almost 45 percent – of the $560 million it was to spend on rehabilitation this fiscal year.

That means a 30 percent trim in high school equivalency and other literacy and vocational courses – 800 out of 1,500 instructors have been let go – and a 40 percent cut in substance-abuse programs.

"I just hope someone up there has a brain and can see what the impact of this will be," said Folsom State Prison school Principal Jean Bracy.

"You cannot take people and throw them in a cage," she said, "and expect them to be OK when they get out without rehabilitation."

Vocational courses cut

Bracy applauds the new six-week credit as a

Epoch Times - California School Debates Merit of Confucius Classroom Program

A recent decision to implement a curriculum from mainland China in a southern California school has provoked a debate over the motives behind the program, and what should and should not be taught in American classrooms.

The Hacienda La Puente Unified School District committee voted 4-1 in late January to approve the Confucius Classroom program at Cedarlane Middle School, beginning this September. With no cost to the school district, the instructors and teaching materials are provided directly by the Office of Chinese Language Council International, called “HanBan.”

HanBan presents itself as a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization, but it is affiliated with the Ministry of Education in China and is composed of members from 12 state ministries and commissions.

'You Can’t Indoctrinate Our Children'

Those opposed to introducing the curriculum in the United States argue that as a product from mainland China, Confucius Classroom curriculum is a means for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to maneuver into free societies under the false pretext of promoting the benign philosophy of Confucius, while the real agenda is propaganda—to foster good will and acceptance of the communist regime, despite its continued record of massive human rights abuses.

Mary Ann King, the former host of the popular children’s television series “Romper Room” for almost a decade, is among those who do not support the Confucius Classroom program.

“Children are so vulnerable. They are little sponges that absorb everything. We have to be very careful what we present to them, so that they will not lose their allegiance to America,” she said. “I’m not against cultural

Daniel Reimold: Education News: 100% of the Student Journalism Beat

Student journalist Cameron Burns was recently manhandled by police, handcuffed, tossed to the ground, and bussed off to jail. But he got the story. Late last week, the eighteen-year-old multimedia producer for The Daily Californian at the University of California, Berkeley, joined a large group of anarchists marching roughly eight miles from Berkeley to Oakland to protest public education funding cuts. His mission: capture video and eyewitness observations for a Daily Calreport.

At one point, without warning, a splinter faction of protesters veered onto an interstate highway, suddenly enmeshing Burns in the mother of all journalistic dilemmas: covering a riot without getting caught up in it. He did not have his press pass with him. He did not know what the group had planned. He had no assurances of personal safety. He hesitated only a split second. As his editor shouted into his cell phone, "Go get the story -- go get it!"

A few minutes later, he was under arrest. He spent 20 hours in jail, worried his parents and editors, and now faces a fight to clear his name from a criminal record. But he got the story -- no less than what student journalists across the country are accomplishing daily, often without fear, for little to no pay, and at times in between classes.

The tale of Burns's dogged reporting has ironically arrived at the same time as a newChronicle of Higher Education report bemoaning the lack of higher education coverage in the professional press- especially among the old standbys, local newspapers. "Faced with declining advertising revenues and circulation, many newspapers are combining higher

Getting the ax at Central Falls | SocialistWorker.org

Getting the ax at Central Falls

Brian Chidester, a member of the Bristol-Warren Education Association, looks at the background to the latest in a series of Washington-driven attacks on teachers' unions.

March 8, 2010

Nearly 100 teachers and support staff were fired from Central Falls High School (Paul Hubbard | SW)

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I.--population 19,000, living in just over a one-square-mile area--has become the latest battleground in the war on teachers and public education in the U.S.

The smallest municipality in the smallest state made national headlines when Superintendent Fran Gallo announced the firing of all 74 teachers plus 19 other support staff and administrators from Central Falls High School (CFHS) last month.

Members of the Central Falls Teachers Union (CFTU) and their supporters--prominent among them, parents and students--responded with a protest that drew hundreds of people February 23. The rally saw broad solidarity from many other teachers' union locals, notably the East Providence and Cranston teachers, whose unions have been attacked as budget crises exploded in the past year.

Unfortunately, the rally didn't dissuade Gallo--or the Central Falls School District Board of Trustees, which voted 5-2 later that night to uphold the decision to fire the teachers. In an emotional meeting, teachers sat in the audience wearing red, and stood up as their names were called one by one to approve their firing.

This action, known as "school turnaround," allows teachers to reapply for their jobs--but no more than 50 percent of them, and quite possibly less, will be rehired for the next school year.

Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and federal Education Secretary Arne Duncan have zealously supported Gallo's extreme action. Duncan said, "I applaud Commissioner Gist and Superintendent Gallo for showing courage and doing the right thing for kids."

Even President Obama joined the attack on teachers, saying, "If a school continues to fail its students year after year after year, if it doesn't show signs of improvement, then

PSLweb (Party for Socialism and Liberation): Across the country: militant student protests against budget cuts

Across the country: militant student protests against budget cuts
Saturday, March 6, 2010
By: PSL Report

Reports from March 4 actions

On March 4, students all over the country walked out of class and took to the streets to defend education. Actions took place in over 30 states.

In California many schools were effectively shut down for the day and numerous cities were the scene of street and school building takeovers. There were reports of sit-ins, police repression and arrests in California, New York, Maryland, Arizona, Wisconsin and beyond.

The national day of demonstrations follows on the heels of massive statewide protests in California in December against budget cuts at the state’s colleges. Both statewide university systems voted to criminally increase tuition by over 30 percent. Budget cuts, layoffs, fee increases and tuition hikes, many drastic, are taking place in virtually all U.S. public schools. Public education is under a nationwide assault.

Reports were filed by: Andrew Castro, Chris Gonsalves, Dylan Wilkerson, Marcel Cartier, Nicholas Powell, Sarah Carlson and Sean Pavey

Northern California

March 4, the national day of action against sweeping and deep cuts to education was expected to be a fairly successful day in terms of size, but no one really knew what would happen. Across the bay area the day started of with planned pickets and protests on individual college campuses as well as teach-ins, leafleting and sign-making on K-12 campuses (who were largely granted early-release by school administrators).

San Francisco

"They say 'Furlough', we say 'Hell No!'" was carried to all the passersby from the picket line at the entrance of San Francisco State University. More than 500 students, faculty, and supporters gathered to demand an end to the state's budget cuts to education in the form of tuition hikes, mandatory furloughs, and layoffs. Many saw the connection of the state's priorities of supporting prisons, bank bailouts, and military recruitment with the massive cuts to primary and secondary education.

For several minutes, students blocked the intersection at 19th Ave and Holloway chanting "Rise Up, SF State! Shut it down like '68!"

Similar actions took place at City College of San Francisco, Ocean campus where the noontime rally was kicked off with food and a drum circle to energize the gathering students. At its peak, the rally held over 300 students. One by one the speakers stepped up to the mic to demand that the government, on a state and federal level, use its money and resources to fund education, healthcare, public transportation and jobs. The writer spoke on behalf of the ANSWER Coalition, calling on all to

The Daily Aztec - Hundreds turn out to protest budget cuts

Hundreds turn out to protest budget cuts

By Kristina Blake, Assistant City Editor

Published: Sunday, March 7, 2010

Updated: Monday, March 8, 2010

Glenn Connelly / Photo Editor

San Diego State joined other local universities and organizations on a march from Balboa Park to the governor’s downtown office. The local rallies were part of a statewide protest against budget cuts to education.

Students, faculty members, teachers, parents and other supporters took to California campuses and streets last Thursday to protest fee increases and funding cuts.

Countywide demonstrations culminated in a march from Balboa Park to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office downtown. Students and supporters wedged between two intersections on Front Street carrying dozens of banners, flags, signs and even a large skeleton with movable arms that read “Cuts kill.” Police escorted an estimated 1,200 protesters down the blocked off street as they chanted “Whose schools? Our schools!” Noisemakers, drums, cow bells and shouts of “Shame on you!” grew louder once the crowd reached the governor’s office.

A number of speakers addressed the energized crowd at the rallies.

Among the speakers were representatives from UC San Diego’s Black Student Union. The crowd cheered even louder to offer support to the group because of the recent racial tensions at UCSD. But no differences divided the crowd. With fists raised in solidarity, protesters young and old cheered the speakers and booed the government in unison.

Adam Osorio, who is a Chicana and Chicano studies graduate student and a member of Frente Universitario en Lucha at San Diego State, addressed the crowd at the rally in Balboa Park.

“I know that education isn’t just an individual thing; it’s for the whole society,” Osorio said after the rally.

Osorio also said he is worried that his brother, who is in high school, won’t have the same opportunities he had.

Battle of the ages: Boomers vs. the young :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Personal Finance

Battle of the ages: Boomers vs. the young

March 8, 2010

BY TERRY SAVAGE Sun-Times Columnist

We've just seen the first pitched battle in the next war -- The War Between the Generations. It will be a war that divides America in a way we haven't seen since the Civil War. Unlike the recent political battles between red states and blue, or the liberals vs. the conservatives, this battle will not be a matter of choice. It will draw its lines of distinction based on age -- and wallets.
I first wrote about this topic exactly six years ago in a column titled "Medicare Drain Heralds Generation Warfare." In it I pointed out the growing conflict between the generations -- the huge number of baby boomers who have been promised benefits in their retirement years -- and the smaller, but equally vocal generation that will be taxed to pay for those promises.
Until now, the focus has been on the federal government, but now the battle has moved to the state, city, and local level. Unlike the federal government, states cannot simply "print" or create the money, or run budget deficits. So they're forced to raise taxes, or make spending cuts -- or both. The pain is starting to be felt.

First skirmish: education

The first pitched battle was staged last week -- at college campuses across the country. The younger generation -- college students, high school students, and some in grade school -- joined to protest the rising cost of college tuition, along with cuts in resources at all levels of public schools.
In Chicago, the public school district is cutting back some spring non-varsity sports and eliminating lacrosse and water polo and facing other funding decisions because of its budget crisis.
Across the nation, from New Jersey to California, after-school activities

“Defend Education”: The Usual Suspects Behind California Unrest | NewsReal Blog

“Defend Education”: The Usual Suspects Behind California Unrest

2010 MARCH 7

tags: Defend Education, Higher Education, News, Politics

by Nichole Hungerford

As predicted yesterday in my post about bourgeois Berkeley brats bemoaning tuition hikes, far from being a genuine student upswell, these poor saps are, in fact, being orchestrated by an extensive coalition of neo-communist networks. How wonderful it must be to have a readymade mob of dopey, emotionally driven, undereducated idealists filling the roles anew each year who will skip class and throw themselves at Riot Control at the very thought of fulfilling their flower-power fantasies.

Let’s be clear about one thing: The California school system spends lavishly on public education, as they do most every other social service imaginable. As the Wall Street Journal Notes:

Despite the budget cuts, California will this year devote $3 billion to the U.C. system. That’s about $13,000 per student—more than the $10,000 per student that Illinois devotes to the University of Illinois and better than double the $6,000 per student that New York devotes to the SUNY system.

California to list 187 chronically low-performing schools - San Jose Mercury News

California to list 187 chronically low-performing schools

By Sharon Noguchi

snoguchi@mercurynews.com

Posted: 03/08/2010 12:00:00 AM PST

To align with the Obama administration's push to reform failing schools, California today will release a controversial list of the state's 187 "persistently lowest-achieving schools."

The schools will be forced to close or adopt other drastic measures to improve.

Release of the list has been delayed, partly because of its sensitivity. Because of the complicated criteria used to develop the list, it omits a host of low-scoring schools and includes some higher-performing ones.

While superintendents and the principals of schools on the list have been informed, the list is being kept secret until 10 a.m. today.

Schools on the list must take one of four measures by the start of the next school year:

Replace the principal, rehire no more than 50 percent of the staff and change the instructional program.

Close and reopen as a charter school.

Close and reassign students to other higher-achieving schools in the district.

Replace the principal, increase instructional time and make other changes.

Schools on the list may apply for government grants, ranging from $50,000 to $2 million per school, to carry out the reforms.

Local school officials found out about the list on Feb. 22, and a preliminary list of schools was identified several days later. But to their consternation, details of how penalties will work remain hazy, and administrators dispute the fairness of

how the list was compiled.

"We have major concerns with the calculations," said Superintendent Don Iglesias of the San Jose Unified School District, which is expected to have at least one school on the list.

"I'll take my lumps if we deserve it, but we were surprised."

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News � Time to Mobilize on State Budget Reform

Time to Mobilize on State Budget Reform
by Paul Hogarth‚ Mar. 08‚ 2010
Review it on NewsTrust

The March 4th statewide education protests had their positive impact – sympathetic media attention on the plight of California’s public schools. But education’s not the only thing under siege – Schwarzenegger has eliminated state funding for public transit, as we see San Francisco’s Muni collapse in front of our eyes. Health care has been slashed, and in-home supportive services are under assault. Anyone reliant on state government in any way is in crisis mode, as California is falling further down a cliff. Progressives have talked about getting rid of the “two-thirds rule” for years, but it must be done in a way that can win. And in this recession, voters won’t make it easier for Sacramento to raise taxes – no matter how fair and well thought out they are. Voters only support taxes if they know they won’t be paying them – which is why we should pass specific measures like the oil severance tax at the ballot box. As for getting rid of two-thirds for passing a state budget, theCalifornia Democratic Party has just made it easier to collect signatures – everyone must get involved now.

I took time last Thursday to watch the education rally in front of San Francisco City Hall, which was being replicated all over the state. The usual suspects were out in full force, but what was truly inspiring was to see so many high school and college kids out there – many of whom had never gone to a political protest before. I had the same thought one week earlier, when hundreds of angry bus riders swarmed City Hall to protest Muni fare hikes – prompting the MTA spokesman to say: “I’ve never seen anything like this. We should all get on buses and go to Sacramento.” Clearly, California’s at a tipping point.

But going to Sacramento probably won’t cut it. Our state’s political institutions have failed us miserably – and a vocal Republican minority in the legislature (along with our arrogant Governor) are not likely to be swayed by another Day of Action. It reminds me of what George Bush said back in 2003, when we saw unprecedented protests against going to war in Iraq – an estimated two million people taking to the streets on a single day. “I don’t listen to focus groups,” he said. Will these Republicans be any different?

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News � Education Activists Need Strategy Beyond Marches

Education Activists Need Strategy Beyond Marches
by Randy Shaw‚ Mar. 08‚ 2010
Review it on NewsTrust

Mass protests last week against school funding cuts and tuition hikes spoke powerfully about California’s misplaced priorities. As occurred with campus protests last fall, the media gave overwhelmingly sympathetic coverage (other than to the self-indulgent group who blocked an Oakland freeway, diverting television coverage away from legitimate protests). But activists’ strategy for achieving their goals is far from clear. There is no measure on the November 2010 ballot that raises significant new money for education. Activists can use mass action to pressure legislators and the Governor to redirect excessive spending on prisons and other wasteful programs to education, but there is no chance this year of getting enough Republicans to win the necessary 2/3 legislative votes. It appears activists need a three-part strategy; pass a November ballot measure i ending the 2/3 vote requirement, continue building a movement that can force a new Governor and Legislature to hike the vehicular license fee in 2011, and at the same time prepare a game-changing ballot measure for the 2012 ballot that ensures adequate education funding once and for all.

The students, teachers, school employees, labor unions and parents who organized the tremendously successful March 4 statewide education protests achieved what they set out to do: bring the education crisis to newspaper front pages, and the lead stories on television, radio and online news. I cannot recall ever previously seeing such a broad one-day event around education in California, as event organizers brought together an extraordinarily diverse coalition.

Memphis Daily News - Angry Students Protest Cuts to Schools, Colleges

Angry Students Protest Cuts to Schools, Colleges

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TERENCE CHEA | Associated Press Writer

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Anger over rising tuition and school budget cuts boiled over as students across the country staged rowdy demonstrations that led to clashes with police and the rush-hour shutdown of a major freeway in California.

Students, teachers, parents and school employees rallied and marched at college campuses, public parks and government buildings in several U.S. cities Thursday in what was called the March 4 Day of Action to Defend Public Education.

In Oakland, protesters evaded police and walked onto Interstate 880 near downtown Oakland just before 5 p.m., forcing the closure of the freeway in both directions for more than an hour and causing traffic to back up for miles.

Police arrested more than 150 people who blocked the freeway after breaking off from a peaceful rally at Oakland City Hall, said Officer Sam Morgan, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

One protester suffered serious injuries after jumping from the elevated freeway while officers were making arrests, authorities said.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee police arrested at least 15 people protesting tuition hikes after demonstrators tried to enter an administrative building to deliver petitions to the chancellor. When police turned them away, some protesters threw punches and ice chunks, university spokesman Tom Luljak said.

Faced with plunging tax revenue and massive budget shortfalls, states have slashed funding to K-12 schools and universities. In response, school districts are laying off teachers, expanding class sizes and scrapping academic programs, while many colleges have cancelled classes, furloughed instructors and raised tuition.

Experts say schools and colleges could face more severe financial problems over the next few years as they drain federal stimulus money that temporarily prevented widespread layoffs and

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