Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The State Hornet - Obama honors Sac State ‘with distinction’

Obama honors Sac State ‘with distinction’

By Lauren Greenwood

Published: Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Updated: Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Julie Keefer - State Hornet

Allison Cauton, junior government major, tutors a student with the 65th Street Corridor. Efforts of this group and others have earned Sac State national recognition.

Sacramento State was one of more than 700 universities and colleges that were recently honored by President Barack Obama’s Higher Education Community Honor Roll.

The award recognized colleges and universities that show an exemplary amount of community service. The Office of the President defined community service as any kind of volunteering, service learning, field practicum and internships, said Sheila Macias, director of Sac State’s Community Engagement Center.

Only 115 universities and colleges, including Sac State, received the title “with distinction,” which means these schools demonstrated an extraordinary amount of community service.

“We were able to identify a spectrum of community engagement at Sac State and the honor of ‘distinction’ means that we are doing something worth more recognition,” Macias said.

According to the president’s website, the benefits of the honor roll membership include earning recognition as a service leader in the community, garnering additional community partnerships and fulfilling an institution’s civic mission.

Macias said there are additional benefits. This award shows that students are doing more than just coming to school, taking their classes and leaving. This recognition could possibly help when applying for federal grants to fund Sac State’s community service programs, she said.

“This provides an opportunity for the region to have an idea of what the university is doing. This award speaks to many

2nd Banana TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2010

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Schools Matter: Green Dot Flameout in L.A.

Green Dot Flameout in L.A.

At Green Dot Public Schools, Inc., the only things public are the public dollars that go, without public oversight, to feed the corporate welfare scammers who intend to bleed out public schools. From Howard Blume at the LATimes:

Green Dot Public Schools, a leading charter school operator, is shutting down a campus because of low enrollment, financial pressures and subpar performance, officials confirmed Monday.

The action prompted a daylong student protest Monday atAnimo Justice Charter High School, south of downtown Los Angeles.

The closure marks a first for locally based and nationally

Buffalo United Charter School Staff Rally - WBEN NewsRadio 930 : Buffalo & Niagara Falls, NY

Buffalo United Charter School Staff Rally

Teachers, aides and counselors at the Buffalo United Charter School rallied this afternoon outside the school on Manhattan St., going public with their labor woes.

"We decided to go public with our labor dispute" says Barb Coogan, a librarian at the school. The staff according to Coogan voted unanimously a year ago to unionize but the school to date has not recognized the union opting instead to hire a lawyer and take the issue to court. Coogan says "this law judge in Buffalo found that we were private employees yet the same company that manages our school manages a school in Brooklyn, found them to be public employees."

The staff according to Coogan simply wants a voice. "We don't have a voice here, we are told what to do, we are just employees, we are not respected, we are not supported." Coogan says employees are the trained educators who work with the kids and know what they need.

"Bringing Science to Life for Students, Teachers and the Community" Tri-City Voice Newspaper -

Tri-City Voice Newspaper - Whats Happening - Fremont, Union City, Newark, California

Bringing science to life

By Simon Wong
Photos By Simon Wong

New Haven Unified School District's (NHUSD) "Bringing Science to Life for Students, Teachers and the Community" program, served 128 fifth grade students and four teachers in its first year, 2006-07. Funded primarily by grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Bay-Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program, this program is gaining strength.

Union Sanitary District, Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge, Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association, Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge, Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, and Starbucks are now grant partners.

"Prior to 2008, 5th grade students at Alvarado and Cabello Elementary Schools consistently scored in the bottom 20 percent of the California State Standards Test for science. Teachers in the upper grades reported not spending enough time teaching science, due to lack of time, resources or knowledge of science," explained Kim Pratt, Science Specialist at Alvarado Elementary School, Union City.

"The NOAA B-WET grant and funding from our grant partners address these concerns and instill a sense of stewardship in our students. This program engages and energizes students in learning science and the protection of the SF Bay Watershed, provides staff-

Under Senate plan, city schools would lose more than $400M | GothamSchools

Under Senate plan, city schools would lose more than $400M

by Maura Walz

https://gothamschools.org/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=35165

Source: NYS Division of the Budget; NYC DOE

The budget plan that the Senate passed yesterday essentially preserves the $1.1 billion in cuts to school aid statewide that Governor David Paterson proposed in January. That would mean a cut of over $400 million to the New York City schools for the next fiscal year, according to the state’s Division of the Budget. And that figure doesn’t even include cuts from the city that are likely to soar above $300 million.

Under the Senate plan, state funding to the city schools would drop to $7.95 billion,

Local News | Fees to rise after GET enrollment closes next week | Seattle Times Newspaper

Fees to rise after GET enrollment closes next week

The enrollment period for Washington's prepaid tuition program closes next week. And when enrollment reopens again in the fall, fees are expected to be about 14 percent higher.

By The Associated Press

OLYMPIA — The enrollment period for Washington's prepaid tuition program closes next week. And when enrollment reopens again in the fall, fees are expected to be about 14 percent higher. That's how the Guaranteed Education Tuition or GET program keeps in step with rising tuition at Washington's four-year colleges.

Washington families have opened more than 113,000 GET accounts worth over $1.2 billion to send their children to college.

Parents buying GET units until March 31, will pay $101 a unit o

Folsom Lake College Introduces Regional Visual and Performing Arts Center Executive Director — The Rancho Cordova Post

Folsom Lake College Introduces Regional Visual and Performing Arts Center Executive Director

by SCOTT CROW on MARCH 23, 2010 · 0 COMMENTS

in FOLSOM, VIEWPOINTS

Dave Pier has joined Folsom Lake College as Executive Director for the college’s regional Visual and Performing Arts Center, which is currently under construction and set to open in late 2010. Pier brings a rich background in arts administration, including higher education, to his new position.

“Folsom Lake College is thrilled to have Dave Pier on board for our regional Visual and Performing Arts Center,” said Folsom Lake College President Dr. Thelma Scott-Skillman. “Dave is the perfect person to build a solid foundation for the Center, a foundation that will benefit the communities of our region for many years to come.”

Dave brings an incredible wealth of experience and knowledge of the performing arts field. He has a very diverse educational background, has worked for over 25 years with various community arts organizations, and is a very talented and passionate musician. In addition to his leadership and management experience, Dave has an extensive work history in performing arts production – including sound engineering, house managing, and managing/directing. Before entering the arts management field, he worked as a research scientist in the private sector.

Small Schools gain in Reading, Writing and Math

http://www.e3oregon.org/newsletter/September2009.html#HighSchool

Small Schools gain in Reading, Writing and Math

Every year at this time the Oregon Department of Education releases the results of state standardized tests. They are referred to as OAKS (Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills). They are a closely watched indicator of student achievement. In high schools, these math, reading and writing tests are administered to 10th graders.

The newest report released Monday captured results for the ’08-’09 school year. Looking at four-year trends, results for Oregon high schools were disappointingly flat. In math, the percent of students with passing OAKS scores declined from 56% to 54%. Reading results improved slightly, increasing from 65% to 66%. Writing dropped half a percentage point to 55%. The front page story in The Oregonian reflected this flat trend in high schools and similarly in elementary schools. The good news for Oregon is in middle schools, where student scores are “hitting historic highs.”

Despite disappointing statewide trends in high schools, there’s reason to be encouraged by the results for students at schools in the Oregon Small Schools Initiative. For example, the Initiative schools composite shows a four-year gain of ten percentage points in writing, with 55.7% of 10th graders in small schools earning passing scores in the ’08-’09 school year. This exceeded Oregon’s average of 55%. In reading, the Initiative schools’ composite reflects a four-year gain of five percentage points to reach 64.8%. Initiative school composite gains in math were nearly four percentage points..

Most promising of all, though, were results from our Initiative schools that serve disproportionate percentages of students of color and students on free and reduced lunch. These schools experienced double digit gains in all three subjects over five years: 21 percentage points in writing, 13 in reading and 10 in math.

The Oregon Small Schools Initiative has been generously funded by Meyer Memorial Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With its two-year extension grant, Meyer Memorial Trust recognized the importance of time for the Initiative to capture meaningful comparative data on student performance. The ’08-’09 OAKS report provides another valuable year’s worth of data for analysis. Given the relatively small portfolio of schools and students, fluctuations and swings can be expected from one year to the next. Nevertheless, the OAKS results reflect the strong promise of small schools in creating conditions for improved focus on teaching and learning, and therefore student achievement.

Bite-Size Edits: Bite-Size Edits is a game where players get points for editing.

Bite-Size Edits:

Schools Matter: Jacksonville Principal Takes KIPP's Canned Lies Door to Door

Jacksonville Principal Takes KIPP's Canned Lies Door to Door

The corporate media of Jacksonville is doing its part in perpetuating the KIPP sales pitch aimed at filling KIPP desks this summer at the renovated dog kennel that will serve as KIPP, Inc.'s Store #83. In just a few months now, the summer KIPP-notization will begin, the three-week behavioral breakdown session where students receive alternating shocks of learned helplessness and learned optimism on their way to earning their "Work Hard, Be Nice" tee-shirts and full-fledged acceptance into the total compliance cult of KIPP. By the time school is ready to start then

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

Bright and Early: The Education Newsblitz

A friend whose kid is yet to be born asked me yesterday which high school they should go to. I'm flattered to be considered an expert -- but it might be a little early. Take a deep breath, relax and read the newsblitz:

We blog that San Ysidro schools have warned the state that they're in financial danger in the coming years. Part of the problem? They had to backtrack on some of their planned budget cuts.
North County second graders invented a technological sign language interpreter, the Union-Tribune writes.
Also in the UT: Seven students were arrested at a Scripps Ranch middle school after a student brought unloaded guns and ammunition to school. Nobody was hurt.
The North County Times reports that Escondido fifth graders wrote and shared their personal stories through a literacy program.
The Contra Costa Times lays out the details of a proposed state law that would lower the threshold for passing parcel taxes for schools. The San Diego Unified school board backs this idea.
A leading charter school operator is closing one of its Los Angeles schools because of lagging enrollment and test scores, the Los Angeles Times writes.
Despite budget cuts, the music didn't die in Davis schools. The Sacramento Bee explains

The California Majority Report // Should the FPPC Regulate Tweeters, Facebookers?

Should the FPPC Regulate Tweeters, Facebookers?

March 23, 2010 @ 9:46 AM

In the Age of the Internet, when campaigns, advocates, consultants and engaged citizens are using all forms of social media - Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Gmail Buzz, etc. - to communicate about politics, the Fair Political Practices Commission is struggling to figure out what in all that constitutes political communication that ought to be regulated - like paid advertising - and what is purely a function of free speech.

It's a fair question.

Last week, I testified (and Tweeted) before the FPPC's Subcommittee examining electronic communication in political campaigns as part of a panel of political consultants (also at the table was Julia Rosen, the Courage Campaign's Online Political Directorm and Bryan Merica from ID Media and Fox & Hounds Daily). We were followed by Kim Alexander of the California Voter Foundation, Derek Cressman of Common Cause, Tiffany Mok of the ACLU and Professor Barbara O'Connor, Sacramento State University.

The subcommittee wanted to hear from us if it should develop, in the words of Chairman Ross Johnson, "appropriate responses to new political realities."

My advice was straightforward: do no harm. Don't regulate independent bloggers. Don't do anything that will stunt the growth of the Internet to attract and involve voters. But do provide clear guidelines for disclosure if there's campaign money involved. And while you're

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