Tuesday, March 30, 2010

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Two new programs to help cut Philadelphia truancy

Every day, about 12,000 Philadelphia students are out of school with no excuse. Every year, the Philadelphia School District, city courts, and the Department of Human Services spend $15 million on truancy-prevention programs.

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LAUSD furlough deal sparks anger, relief

Trinidad Hernandez, who teaches fifth grade at Sunnybrae Elementary in Woodland Hills, was crushed earlier this month when she received a pink slip notifying her that her services would no longer be needed by Los Angeles Unified next year. ...

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Local Buy-In Helps Two States Win Race to Top

District and teachers’ union support, and strong data systems, were keys to victory for Delaware and Tennessee in the contest’s first round. ...

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Stimulus Aid Yanks States' Spending Leash

Badly needed federal cash requires states to maintain education funding at levels that may be tough to meet. ...

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DPS parents, kids make case for saving schools

If the decision Monday to retain the name of Charles Wright Academy is any indication, some Detroit Public Schools students rallying against closures or mergers of their buildings may have hope that their voices will be heard. ...

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Chicago PS vows to fix special ed program

District promises to eradicate systemic problems that critics say prevent kids from getting services....

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Gay student settles bullying suit against New York district

ALBANY, N.Y. — A gay teenager in upstate New York who had claimed he was relentlessly bullied by classmates while school administrators stood by settled his lawsuit yesterday against the school district. ...

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Through fencing, blind students learn skills for everyday life

NEWTON — In the final moments of the fencing match, the young men in white sat in folding chairs and shouted, “Ty-ler, Ty-ler.’’ ...

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Why DC didn't win Race, part 2

The District may well end up with a piece of the Obama Administration's Race to the Top action when the grant competition moves to its second round later this year. Especially if, as Education Secretary Arne Duncan indicated Monday...

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Valerie Strauss: Arne Duncan the heartbreaker and Race to the Top

So Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the first two winners of Race to the Top education reform money. Frankly, the process sounds a little too much like "Project Runway" to my taste. ...

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Jay Mathews: Delaware, Tennessee on hot seats

I have not been a fan of the federal Race to the Top school innovation program. I have predicted that politics and inertia will dissipate its impact, as often happens with federal money given to schools....

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A Disappointing Race to the Top

The Obama Administration yesterday awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in education grants to only two states, which we're glad to say made good on its promise to set a high bar for its $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition...

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An Education Basic

Young people can’t learn if they can’t get to class. The city, state and transit agency have to make students’ commutes as affordable as possible. ...

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New York Is Denied Grant of $700 Million for Schools

The state finished in 15th place for a competitive grant known as Race to the Top, but could improve its chances for the future. ...

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9 Teenagers Accused of Bullying That Led to Suicide

Felony indictments are a sharp legal response to the problem of adolescent bullying. ...

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In Richland Hills, priceless prom dresses for teens short on money

"I want them to look as pretty as can be," says the founder of a program that gives girls donated gowns...

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Tensions grow as schools plan more cutbacks

Ever-shrinking revenue streams are pushing backs against the wall in several metro Detroit school districts, forcing school boards and administrators to consider drastic...

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DISD educator Clayton pushes for new chapter of civility on state board

Dallas ISD educator George Clayton pulled a surprise upset in the recent primaries, snagging a Republican seat from a veteran member of the State Board of Education. ...

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Dallas-area school districts grapple with smart, effective ways to spend their stimulus funds

In an era of siphoned education budgets, school officials are more likely to hunt for money than ways to spend it. But the sudden shove of federal stimulus dollars has left some North Texas districts grappling with effective ways to use their share....

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Plano ISD mutes criticism of 'Robin Hood' as its annual funding hit declines

The Plano school district for many years led a vociferous outcry against the state's "Robin Hood" education funding plan. But it says hardly a word about it today. ...

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The Educated Guess Race to Top judges give state low score

The Educated Guess

Race to Top judges give state low score

Posted in Race to the Top

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has left plenty of money on the table for the second round of Race to the Top, with the selection of only Delaware and Tennessee as first-round winners. But California will have to elbow its way past a slew of states promoting more far-reaching reforms to get a penny of the untouched $3.5 billion. Without a major rewrite of its proposal and vigorous support from skeptical teachers unions, California’s chances at the moment look slim.
California ranked 27th out of the 40 states in the first round rankings released on Monday. Based a 500-point scale, California rated a measly score of 337 – way behind Delaware’s top 455 and Tennessee’s 444. Just to move up to the top 15 states and edge out New York, which also will be competing for upwards of a $500 million share, would require an additional 73 points – and a leap of expectations. It would require stronger commitments to evaluate teachers more effectively and use data systems more powerfully – two of the Obama administration’s priorities.
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By John Fensterwald on March 30th, 2010

Parent, charter activist nominated to State Board of Education

Tags: Alan Arkatov, Ben Austin, David Lopez, Jeannie Oropeza, Ted Mitchell
Posted in Charters, State Board of Education

Gov. Schwarzenegger isn’t backing down from nominating reform advocates and charter school supporters to the State Board of Education.
On Monday, Schwarzenegger announced three nominations to the 11-member board. Two – Ben Austin and Alan Arkatov – are charter advocates. Arkatov is a board member of the Alliance for College Ready Public Schools, which runs 16 highly-respected charter schools in Los Angeles, although that’s just one of his roles. Well-connected in Los Angeles Unified, he was president of eEducation Group earlier in the decade and founder and chairman of OnlineLearning.net before that.
As executive director of the Los Angeles Parents Union and Parents Revolution, Austin was a force behind the “parent trigger” that the Legislature adopted in its Race to the Top legislation in January. It empowers a majority of parents at low-performing schools to petition their local school board for a change in their school’s leadership and governance, including conversion to a charter school. Austin was a consultant at Green Dot Public Schools, a charter organization in Los Angeles, before that.
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Schools Matter: Angry New Orleans Parents Not Nearly So Thankful for Katrina as Duncan

Angry New Orleans Parents Not Nearly So Thankful for Katrina as Duncan

Paul Vallas, the man who taught Arne Duncan everything he doesn't know about schools, now runs the discriminatory corporate chain gang charters that have replaced public school.s in New Orleans. Parents have seen their children neglected, abused, and pushed out long enough to know that they want their schools back. From the Times-Picayune:

A crowd openly hostile to Recovery School DistrictSuperintendent Paul Vallas used a state board of education meeting to raise concerns about whether charter schools are leaving the most vulnerable children behind.

When Vallas stated at Monday's meeting that charters are doing "a heck of a job" educating public school students, the mostly African-American audience responded with jeers. Many speakers called for the return of neighborhood schools and expressed fears that many charters accept only students with high test scores.

Ellis Lucia, The Times-Picayune archiveRecovery School District Superintendent Paul Vallas
"Charters don't want anything to do with our children. They're sending them away," said Brenda Valteau, who identified herself as a 1961 graduate of George Washington

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Storm brewing in New Orleans

Storm brewing in New Orleans

Arne Duncan has back-tracked, sorta, from his claim that Hurricane Katrinawas the best thing that happened to New Orleans education. But the post-Katrina two-tiered school system he endorses,continues under another former Chicago schools CEO, Paul Vallas.

It's a system that is drawing more and more heat from the city's disenfranchised. Yesterday a crowd openly hostile to Recovery School District Superintendent Vallas, used a state board of education meeting to raise concerns about whether charter are leaving the most vulnerable children behind.

When Vallas stated at Monday's meeting at Joseph S. Clark High School, that charters are doing "a heck of a job" educating public school students, the mostly African-American

Candidates compete to fill Assembly seat vacated by Paul Krekorian - Los Angeles Times

Candidates compete to fill Assembly seat vacated by Paul Krekorian

In a contentious race, three Democrats and one Republican will be on a special election ballot April 13 for the district representing Burbank, Glendale and parts of Los Angeles.

March 29, 2010|By Jean Merl

In Burbank, Glendale and parts of Los Angeles, four candidates want the state Assembly seat vacated after Paul Krekorian was elected to the Los Angeles City Council.

Three Democrats and one Republican are on the April 13 special election ballot for the unexpired term that will last only a few months. Candidates hoping to also win a full two-year term in November must run in two elections at once

Democratic candidates are Mike Gatto, a lawyer and part-time night school teacher who once worked for an area congressman; Chahe Keuroghelian, a small-business owner and former spokesman for the Glendale Police Department; and Nayiri Nahabedian, a board member of the Glendale Unified School District. The Republican is small-business owner Sunder Ramani.

In the special primary, voters will choose among all the candidates, regardless of party affiliation. If, as expected, no one wins a majority April 13, the Democrat with the most votes will face Ramani in a June 8 runoff. That is the same date as the statewide primary election, and all four candidates will be on their party's ballot then, regardless of the April outcome.

The race has been contentious in the 43rd Assembly District. Teachers aligned with Nahabedian, for example, publicized a letter they sent to Gatto objecting to his description of himself on the ballot as an "educator" (along with "attorney") because his teaching is limited. His primary occupation is as a lawyer.

Someone else filed a complaint with the state Fair Political Practices Commission contending Gatto violated election laws by allegedly mixing campaign accounts. The Gatto campaign called the filing "a total red herring" and said it has done nothing wrong. The commission does not comment on possible investigations.

During a candidates forum in which contenders were allowed to question each other, Gatto asked Keuroghelian

Sacramento Press / Sacramento Marches for Cesar Chavez

Saturday morning, Cesar Chavez Park came alive with 1,500 marchers participating in the 10th Annual Cesar Chavez March.

Cesar Chavez Park marked the finishing point for the marchers, who initially began at Arteaga's Supermarket in West Sacramento. Al Rojas, first vice president of the California State Employees Association and executive board member for the Sacramento Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, said he believes the march had "a lot more enthusiasm, spiritually, compared to last year." The march has local significance dating back to 1965, when Chavez led grape pickers on a 340-mile march from Delano, Calif. to Sacramento.

Jobs, education and immigration reform were some of the issues addressed throughout the day. Moreover, Rojas explained the march expanded to Yolo County this year in response to a perceived increase in recent oppression and racial profiling by judicial law enforcement in the county.

The festival in the park that followed the march was a much lighter side of the event as a whole. It featured traditional Mexican cuisine, classic cars and live musical entertainment, covering crowd favorites such as Santana.

Informational booths, like the Latino Democratic Club's, were set up to discuss current politics affecting the Latino community and ways to get involved. Other booths contained information on subjects like drug

March’s Best “Tweets” — Part Two | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Larry Ferlazzo

March’s Best “Tweets” — Part Two

Filed under best tweets

Every month I make a short list highlighting my choices of the best resources I shared through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. Now and then, in order to make it a bit easier for me, I may try to break it up into mid-month and end-of-month lists. I’m trying that for the first time this month.

I’ve already shared in earlier posts this month several new resources I found on Twitter — and where I gave credit to those from whom I learned about them. Those are not included again in this post.

If you don’t use Twitter, you can also check-out all of my “tweets” on myTwitter profile page or subscribe to their RSS feed.

Here are my picks for March’s Best Tweets — Part Two (not listed in any order):

This is a great story from NY Times “‘Next Year in the White House’: The Obama Seder”

Five Reasons to Stop Saying “Good Job!” by Alfie Kohn (thanks to Judie Haynes)

Butns lets you create multiple web links to one word

Should schools chief have known? | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/29/2010

Should schools chief have known?

A diversity component for magnet admissions was floated, scuttled. Ackerman? Unaware.

By Susan Snyder

Inquirer Staff Writer

Did Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman know her staff was preparing a proposal that would include a controversial "diversity" component in the admissions process for the district's highly competitive magnet schools?

Ackerman, her chief of staff, and her chief operations officer all say no. And they say no emphatically and unequivocally.

But political leaders and educators say there's another equally important question: Should Ackerman have known?

There, the answer is more ambiguous.

In a November report given to Ackerman, a district committee charged by her with shortening the timeline for the admissions process recommended including "a gender and racial balance component" for citywide and special-admission schools, such as Masterman and Central - two of the state's highest performers.

But John Frangipani, the administrator who wrote the report, says now that the language did not refer to a change in admissions criteria.

Ackerman said Saturday that she did not recall that wording in the document or even the document itself.

"The lesson learned here is, I obviously didn't pay enough attention to it," she said. "My big initiatives are in the strategic plan, and that's where I tried to keep my energy."

Chief of staff Tomas Hanna and Frangipani also accepted blame for the miscommunications, which resulted in a proposal to add a diversity component to the high school admission process - which ultimately was squelched by

Response split on call for pay freezes | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/29/2010

Response split on call for pay freezes

By Rita Giordano

INQUIRER STAFF INQUIRER

Like practically every school district in New Jersey, Willingboro is looking at tough times - possible layoffs and cutbacks from a projected loss of nearly $3.5 million in state aid.

So last Monday, interim Superintendent David Hespe, acting on a statewide request by Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, asked the district's three unions to freeze their pay next year to save money.

The next morning, one of the unions, the Willingboro Professional Educators Association, a 13-member unit representing department heads and other managers, voted unanimously to forgo a 4.5 percent contracted raise next year.

"We were trying to be Good Samaritans," said William Hurley, local president and district facilities director.

Districts across the state are having tough conversations like the ones in Willingboro, where the superintendent and the business administrator also agreed to a wage freeze. A new survey by the New Jersey School Boards Association finds many districts seeking givebacks from teachers' current contracts.

Meanwhile, a forceful Gov. Christie and the state's largest and most influential educators' union, the New Jersey Education Association, remain locked in a war of words for taxpayers' hearts and minds.

On Tuesday, Christie appealed to school boards and districts' unions to freeze salaries in collective bargaining agreements for the coming fiscal year and to have members contribute to their health benefits.

The school boards association supported the call, but the NJEA lashed back.

Union president Barbara Keshishian, in a written statement, accused Christie of bullying and attempting "to coerce

News: AP: Good but Oversold? - Inside Higher Ed

AP: Good but Oversold?

March 30, 2010

The Advanced Placement program is becoming more and more popular, with 25 percent of high school graduates taking at least one AP examination, elite colleges expecting to see applicants’ transcripts full of the courses, and politicians demanding that more and more high schools offer them. The program has become “the juggernaut of American high school education,” according to the introduction to a new book, AP: A Critical Examination of the Advanced Placement Program.

The book, about to be released by Harvard Education Press, is the result of a 2007 conference at Harvard University that brought together leading education researchers to consider the evidence about AP. Despite the immense popularity of the program, the research evidence on its value is minimal, the book argues. The College Board, the program’s sponsor, publishes or promotes its own research (favoring the program) and promotes “glowing accounts” of AP. But is this really the consensus?

Sorting Out Prop 13's Impact On Education | KPBS.org

Prop 13 has had a profound impact on California. We'll examine the huge savings to property owners and the negative impacts on education.

BY MAUREEN CAVANAUGH, NATALIE WALSH

March 29, 2010

Maureen Cavanaugh: Tracing the source of California's fiscal problems is not easy. Our state has developed a particularly complicated way of both collecting revenue and allocating funds. But there is one date in California's budgetary history that is often cited as a watershed. It was the passage of Proposition 13. When that initiative was approved by voters in 1978, it capped property tax at one-percent of purchase price and limited yearly increases to 2-percent.

The results of that measure have affected our schools, local governments and homeowners, both positively and negatively ever since.

Guest

Joanne Faryon, KPBS reporter.

Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

EducationNewsToday

Candidates compete to fill Assembly seat vacated by Paul Krekorian

In a contentious race, three Democrats and one Republican will be on a special election ballot April 13 for the district representing Burbank, Glendale and parts of Los Angeles.

March’s Best “Tweets” — Part Two

Should schools chief have known?

A diversity component for magnet admissions was floated, scuttled. Ackerman? Unaware.

Response split on call for pay freezes

AP: Good but Oversold?

Sorting Out Prop 13’s Impact On Education