Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Education - The Denver Post

DPS orders gardeners to undergo criminal background checks

04/06/2010
Community gardeners who pay a small fee to grow veggies and flowers in fenced-in plots on the grounds of public schools are being told to submit to criminal background checks or grow elsewhere.

Colorado education leaders to meet today about grant
04/06/2010 -A group of Colorado's education leaders will meet today to plot the state's next step in the Race to the Top federal education grant competition.

DPS offering early retirement to some tenured teachers
04/05/2010 -Some tenured teachers facing involuntary placement into Denver schools may opt for early retirement in exchange for a year's worth of pay under a new incentive plan offered by the district this year.

Commerce City schools help parents on census forms
04/02/2010 -First-graders Aileene Paredes, Veaney Chacon and Misael Diaz showed off their homemade census forms tucked inside homemade envelopes.

Obstacles may pull Colorado out of Race to the Top
04/01/2010 -The decision of whether Colorado should apply for up to $175 million in federal education grants in the second round of the Race to the Top competition seems like a no-brainer, but state officials aren't sure.

Denver County to repay state $82,788 after audit questions spending – 04/01

CU bumps up tuition again – 03/30

CU Regents OK systemwide tuition hikes; 9 percent at Boulder, Denver – 03/29

Colorado out of first-round Race to the Top running – 03/29

As demand for state aid grows, counties' human services toil – 03/29

Increasing need for state assistance linked to underemployment – 03/28

Thomas tapped as Fort Lewis president – 03/27

Senators reject school bus seat-belt requirement – 03/27

Catholic school fights to stay open after archdiocese warns of waning grants – 03/26

DPS teacher cultivated potential – 03/24

Singapore News Alternative: Spore Teachers Pay Courtesy Call On Brunei's Education Permanent Secretar

Spore Teachers Pay Courtesy Call On Brunei's Education Permanent Secretar

BruDirect.com, 6 Apr 2010
Bandar Seri Begawan - The Permanent Secretary (Core Education) at the Ministry of Education, Datin Paduka Dyg Apsah binti Hj Majid yesterday received a courtesy call from Master Teacher Mdm Fadilah binti Isnin of the Malay Language Centre of Singapore (MLCS).
Mdm Fadilah was accompanied by six Malay Language teachers from Singapore who will attend an immersion programme of teaching attachments in various sixth form centres in Brunei Darussalam. Full Story

Press release: K-6 Teachers and Classrooms Need Stronger Focus on Science

K-6 Teachers and Classrooms Need Stronger Focus on Science

April 5, 2010

California's elementary school teachers feel much less confident in teaching science than reading or math, and there is both the need and the potential for significant improvement in elementary school teacher preparation, according to a new report by the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST).

Currently, 50% of California's students score at or below basic proficiency in science, with only Mississippi having a higher percentage of students below basic proficiency. Little science is taught in the state's elementary schools: in one recent survey, 80% of K-6 teachers reported spending 60 minutes or less per week on science; and 16% indicated they spend no time at all on science.

The Preparation of Elementary School Teachers to Teach Science in California: Challenges and Opportunities Impacting Teaching and Learning Science is an eighteen-month study funded by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. The report examines the state's process for preparing elementary school teachers to teach science.

SFSU Students Demand Competent Instructors For Teachers In Training : Indybay

SFSU Students Demand Competent Instructors For Teachers In Training

by SFSU Committee For Competent Instructors
Monday Apr 5th, 2010 11:48 PM

The administration at San Francisco State University have replaced instructors with new staff who are not trained to properly prepare the students for taking the CSET exams since they do not have social science backgrounds or experience. A petition was signed that was presented to the University but no action was taken.

SFSU Students Demand Competent Instructors For Teachers In Training
Student Petition: Adequate SS300 & SS301 Instruction

To: Robert Cherny, Dean, Undergraduate Studies, ADM 447

Helen Goldsmith, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies, ADM 216
Joel Kassiola, Dean, College of Behavioral & Social Sciences, HSS 359
Dawn Terrell, Associate Dean, College of Behavioral & Social Sciences, HSS 359

Who we are:
· Liberal Studies students/Teachers in Training.

· Our taxes and tuitions pay the salaries of SFSU staff.

Our concerns:

· In order to teach in CA public schools, we must pass all California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) licensing tests, including the CSET exam.

· SFSU Liberal Studies Bulletin promises the program will prepare students to pass the CSET exam.

· SS300 and SS301 instructors must be able to adequately teach in all the areas of social science that are covered on the CSET exam.

LA Schools Cut Futures >>

LA Schools Cut Futures

By Denise Miller on Apr. 5, 2010

brandon wong | Staff Photographer
Southern California teachers march through Pershing Square in Los Angeles on March 4, 2010.

School districts had to notify teachers of their potential layoffs for next year by the deadline on March 15.

That day has come and gone, leaving many elementary and high school teachers with pink slips in hand. Layoffs have been particularly extensive in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and the LAUSD has also announced a plan to cut five days from the academic calendar this year.

“By April, the schools should know their budget and bring [teachers] back in the summer,” Christina Giguiere, the multiple subject placement coordinator in the education department at UC Irvine, said.

Teaching jobs, traditionally considered stable, often come with the cyclical nature of state funding attached. According to Giguiere, pink-slipped teachers usually can expect to be rehired during the next school year.

With the current deficit however, preliminary pink slips will have a more final ring to them this year. Each district is millions of dollars behind in their budget, and a credentialed teacher, with salary and full medical coverage, costs about $80,000 a year. As a result, teachers, whose salaries make up 80

Maywood activists' fight against new school costs L.A. Unified $20 million - latimes.com

Maywood activists' fight against new school costs L.A. Unified $20 million

Because residents don't want a campus that would displace hundreds, the school district has forfeited state funds. The school will be built anyway, officials say.

Some say this small city's struggle to block construction of a high school may be a losing battle, but a tenacious group of Maywood activists has managed to hit the Los Angeles Unified School District where it hurts -- in the wallet.

By calling on a very powerful friend in Sacramento and organizing hundreds of families who would have to vacate their homes and apartments to make way for the proposed school, Maywood officials succeeded recently in depriving L.A. Unified of $20 million in state matching funds. And that figure could grow.

"How does that old saying go? We may have won the battle, but we haven't won the war," said Tere Nuñez, one of the affected residents and mother of four.

At issue is the construction of South Region High School No. 8. The planned $141-million school in southeast Los Angeles County is intended to relieve overcrowding at Bell High School and would require the demolition of 10 single-family homes and 29 multifamily homes and apartment buildings. In all, more than 100 families would be displaced, according to the district.

Among them is Maywood City Councilman Edward Valera. He and others claim that L.A. Unified officials ignored better sites.

But school officials deny that. They say other potential sites were either contaminated or posed other

Get to Work / McAfee CEO says California falling behind as Texas, Oregon and India scoop up jobs

McAfee CEO says California falling behind as Texas, Oregon and India scoop up jobs

David DeWalt, chief executive of the security software firm McAfee, told Forbes.com he saves 30 to 40 percent in salary and benefits when he hires outside California, and has just 900 of the company's 6,500 employees in Silicon Valley.
Forbes associate editor Victoria Barret quotes DeWalt as saying: "I have watched with real disdain as California has lost its edge. ... On education, infrastructure and general competitiveness, we're falling behind."
The Forbes article talks about McAfee moving 1,000 back-office jobs to Texas, expanding research centers in Oregon and Ontario, and getting subsidies or tax credits

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/04/BUSV1CP0UH.DTL&type=jobs#ixzz0kJz9Y9LO

Craig Barrett: The Case for Common Educational Standards - WSJ.com

The Case for Common Educational Standards

In 1950, 60% of the jobs required no particular skills. The world has changed.

By CRAIG BARRETT

Recently, the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a group of 48 states organized by the nation's governors and chief state school officers, released draft K-12 education standards in English and mathematics.

As a former CEO of a Fortune 500 company, I know that common education standards are essential for producing the educated work force America needs to remain globally competitive. Good standards alone are not enough, but without them decisions about such things as curricula, instructional materials and tests are haphazard. It is no wonder that educational quality varies so widely among states.

English and math standards have so far mostly been set without empirical evidence or attention as to whether students were learning what they needed for college and the workplace. College educators and employers were hardly ever part of the discussion, even though they knew best what the real world would demand of high school graduates. Luckily, about five years ago, states began to raise the bar so that their standards would reflect college- and career-ready expectations.

The draft common core state standards build on this effort and are a significant improvement over most current state standards. The reaction to them has been positive from across the political spectrum, from teachers unions (the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers) to conservative governors such as Georgia's Sonny Perdue and Indiana's Mitch Daniels. They provide a grade-by-grade progression from kindergarten to high

Foreign-Student Applications Rise 7% at American Graduate Schools - International - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Foreign-Student Applications Rise 7% at American Graduate Schools

By Karin Fischer

Applications by international students to American graduate schools are up 7 percent over last year, reversing a three-year trend of slowing growth in overseas applicants, according to a reportreleased on Tuesday by the Council of Graduate Schools.

The admissions data in the report are welcome news after first-time enrollments of foreign students were flat last fall, raising questions about the reliance of American universities on international talent at the graduate level.

But while the report's author calls the figures "an encouraging sign," he cautioned that admissions data often are not a strong indicator of enrollment trends. Last year applications were up 4 percent, but enrollments remained unchanged, said Nathan E. Bell, director of research and policy analysis at the Council of Graduate Schools.

"In this survey, we're counting applications, pieces of paper," Mr. Bell said, "not actual students who enroll."

A variety of factors could influence enrollments, Mr. Bell said, including continuing worldwide

Appeals Court sides with state in parents' attempt to end Furlough Fridays - Breaking - Starbulletin.com

Appeals Court sides with state in parents' attempt to end Furlough Fridays

By Associated Press

POSTED: 10:14 a.m. HST, Apr 05, 2010

A federal appeals court has sided with the state in a lawsuit brought by several special education students and their parents who sought an end to school furloughs.

A three-judge panel ruled today that a federal district court was correct in November when it refused to halt the state school district from implementing furlough days this school year and next year.

Lawyers for the students and parents had argued that furloughs violate the pupils'

Al Rodda, a sweet man, left a legacy - Capitol and California - fresnobee.com

Dan Walters: Al Rodda, a sweet man, left legacy

Posted at 01:04 AM on Tuesday, Apr. 06, 2010

By Dan Walters - dwalters@sacbee.com

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It's not often that one can describe a prominent politician as "sweet." But it's the word that comes to mind when one thinks of Al Rodda, a former state senator from Sacramento who died Saturday at age 97.

Rodda was a genuinely sweet man – modest, even diffident, in demeanor, high-minded and learned, painfully sincere – who nonetheless not only survived two decades in the rough-and-tumble ambience of Capitol politics, but rose to power.

A former teacher, Rodda championed public education as chairman of the Senate Education Committee and later the Finance Committee. He fashioned legislation that responded to the historic Serrano v. Priest decision on school finance, chaired the committee that crafted the bailout of schools and local governments after Proposition 13's passage in 1978, and wrote legislation creating a state community college chancellor's office and board of trustees.

The quintessential Rodda moment – one perfectly reflecting his all-too-rare traits – came in

SB campus shows difficulty of fixing failing schools - ContraCostaTimes.com

SAN BERNARDINO - Few were surprised when Davidson Elementary School landed on a list of the state's worst five percent of public campuses last month.

Since being named a California Distinguished School in the late 1990s, Davidson's test scores have been among the poorest in the San Bernardino city school system, which had more failing schools than every district in the state except Los Angeles.

For more than a decade, district and schools officials have thrown every potential solution they could muster at Davidson, from extra teaching aides and individualized attention, to new technology and data-tracking methods.

Then last year, the school's standardized test scores - already far below state standards - fell another

Sergio Cusimano of San Bernardino picks up his son Gabriel, 5, from kindergarten at Davidson Elementary School in San Bernardino on Monday. (Gabriel Luis Acosta/Staff Photographer)

17 points.

In many ways, Davidson's experience illustrates the excrutiatingly difficult task faced by the teachers and administrators whose job it is to figure out why a school is performing poorly and get things fixed.

"I don't want to get anyone in trouble, but it's pretty obvious to me there should be more changes at this school if they are not doing well on test scores," said Kerrie Oestreich, whose 8-year-old son attends Davidson.

To put together the list - which included 188 schools statewide and 11 in San Bernardino - the California

California Community Colleges May Raise Fees | California College News

California Community Colleges May Raise Fees

by the California College News Team

Fees have risen across the state at colleges and universities over the last few years, and this trend may soon carry over to the community colleges in California. Currently the UC and CSU systems are still relative bargains for higher education when compared to other colleges in the country. California community colleges are also a bargain, currently costing students $26 per unit, which is quite low compared to other U.S. colleges. Recently the Legislative Analyst’s Office provided a recommendation to the Legislature to increase fees to $40 per unit. Luckily the Legislative Analyst’s Office only gives non-partisan advice to the Legislature, but with the current budget issues, an increase in fees is likely to occur. However students who are struggling to pay the current fees and get into the classes they need are not very happy about a possible increase next school year.
Summer school classes at California colleges are already being reduced, which is making it more difficult for students to further their education and graduate. If students are going to

Obama's "Race to the Top" Rewards Disappointing

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WRITTEN BY RAVEN CLABOUGH

MONDAY, 05 APRIL 2010 13:52

President Obama’s Race to the Top program was intended to award states that implement “coherent, compelling, and comprehensive education reform.” Governors from a variety of states were excited at the prospect of competing for a share of the $4 billion set aside for the program, but the excitement very quickly transformed into disappointment when Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that only two states would be receiving a share of the money: Delaware and Tennessee.

Some school districts view Race to the Top as a wise and generous federal investment that will outdo the No Child Left Behind program, whose promises of federal money were unfulfilled. The purpose of Race to the Top is to award states who advanced reform in four primary areas:

· Adopting standards and implementing assessments that would enable students to succeed in the workplace and compete in the global economy
· Creating data systems that measure student growth and success that can be utilized by teachers and principals to help foster instruction
· Recruiting, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals where they are needed most
· Bringing about turn-around in the lowest achieving schools

According to the White House website, Race to the Top “will go to States that are leading the way

California state pension funds going broke, Stanford study finds

New calculations by Stanford graduate students show that California's three main public employee pension funds are in more dire financial trouble than previously believed.

L.A. Cicero

Students Howard Bornstein and Lisha Wang spoke with reporters after a news conference where they and the other members of their research group announced their findings about the state retirement system.

BY GWYNETH DICKEY

California public employee pension systems are worse off than anyone previously projected, according to a new report generated by five graduate students in Stanford's Graduate Public Policy Program. The result could be greater pressure on the state budget and a shortage of pension funds in the future.

"This is a really dire situation," graduate student Howard Bornstein said today at a press conference at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, which is publishing the students' findings. "If we don't do something now, we're going to have major issues in just a few years."

Bornstein and his fellow graduate students examined public records of past performance of three pension funds – the California Public Employee's Retirement System (CalPERS), the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS), and the University of California Retirement System (UCRS), which together administer pensions for approximately 2.6 million Californians.

The students ran computer simulations to predict the unfunded liabilities of the pension funds over the next 16 years.

Major investment needed

"The simulation shows that the state would need to invest more than $200 billion, and possibly as much as $350 billion, today to return the fund to a minimum responsible level of funding," said Bornstein, who noted that the figure is approximately four times the current state budget.

"It's an enormous number," said Joe Nation, a public policy lecturer at SIEPR and the advisor for the research team. He said it's important to look at the shortfall relative to state resources. Pension funds fluctuate with market performance, but state employees are guaranteed a fixed pension

Monday, April 5, 2010

Schools Matter: Arne Duncan appoints Dolores Umbridge as New Test Czar

Arne Duncan appoints Dolores Umbridge as New Test Czar

from Schools Matter by skrashen

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today that famed educator Dolores Umbridge will be heading up a new effort to create national tests based on national standards, as outlined in the recently published Blueprint for Reform.

Mr. Duncan noted that Ms. Umbridge's philosophy of education is quite similar to that his administration, which has claimed that the top priority in education today is the creation of rigorous standards and tests to enforce the

I Am a Teacher in Florida � Tangerine, Florida

I Am a Teacher in Florida

I rise before dawn each day and find myself nestled in my classroom hours before the morning commute is in full swing in downtown Orlando. I scour the web along with countless other resources to create meaningful learning experiences for my 24 students each day. I reflect on the successes of lessons taught and re-work ideas until I feel confident that they will meet the needs of my diverse learners. I have finished my third cup of coffee in my classroom before the business world has stirred. My contracted hours begin at 7:00 and end at 3:00. As the sun sets around me and people are beginning to enjoy their dinner, I lock my classroom door, having worked 4 hours unpaid.

I greet the smiling faces of my students and am reminded anew of their challenges, struggles, successes, failures, quirks, and needs. I review their 504s, their IEPs, their PMPs, their histories trying to reach them from every angle possible. They come in hungry—I feed them. They come in angry—I counsel them. They come in defeated—I encourage them. And this is all before the bell rings.

I am a teacher in Florida.

I am told that every student in my realm must score on or above grade level on the FCAT each year. Never mind their learning discrepancies, their unstable home lives, their prior learning experiences. In the spring, they are all assessed with one measure and if they don’t fit, I have failed. Students walk through my doors reading at a second grade level and by year’s end can independently read and comprehend early 4th grade texts, but this is no matter. One of my students has already missed 30 school days this year, but that is overlooked. If they don’t perform well on this ONE test in early March, their learning gains are irrelevant. They didn’t learn enough. They didn’t grow enough. I failed them. In the three months that remain in the school year after this test, I am expected to begin teaching 5th grade curriculum to my 4th grade students so that they are prepared for next year’s test.

I am a teacher in Florida.

I am expected to create a culture of students who will go on to become the leaders of our world. When they exit my classroom, they should be fully equipped to compete academically on a global scale. They must be exposed to different worldviews and diverse perspectives, and yet, most of my students have never left Sanford, Florida. Field trips are now frivolous. I must provide new learning opportunities for them without leaving the four walls of our classroom. So I plan. I generate new ways to expose them to life beyond their neighborhoods through online exploration and digital field trips. I stay up past The Tonight Show to put together a unit that will allow them to experience St. Augustine without getting on a bus. I spend weekends taking pictures and creating a virtual world for them to experience, since the State has determined it is no longer worthwhile for them to explore reality. Yes. My students must be prepared to work within diverse communities, and yet they are not afforded the right to ever experience life beyond their own town.

I am a teacher in Florida.

I accepted a lower salary with the promise of a small increase for every year taught. I watched my friends with less education than me sign on for six figure jobs while I embraced my $28k starting salary. I was assured as I signed my contract that although it was meager to start, my salary would consistently grow each year. That promise

Campus Overload - Changing definition of sex

Changing definition of sex

So, does oral sex count as sex?

That's the question University of Kentucky researchers asked nearly 500 college students in 2007. Only 20 percent of them said oral sex was sex -- which is a steep drop from the 40 percent in similar studies in 1991 and 1999-2001.

The study was of 477 college undergraduates (328 women, 149 men) enrolled in a human sexuality course at a large state university. The question on the survey was: "Would you say you 'had sex' with someone if the most intimate behavior you engaged in was..." then listed 11 behaviors. Students could answer "yes" or "no" (and couldn't skip any).

The behaviors included vaginal intercourse (98 percent say it's sex),

Portland's International School offers Oregon's first elementary International Baccalaureate program | OregonLive.com

Portland's International School offers Oregon's first elementary International Baccalaureate program

By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

April 05, 2010, 3:21PM

courtesy of The International School
The International School, a private Portland school that teaches students exclusively in Japanese, Chinese or Spanish, has become the first in Oregon approved to offer the rigorous International Baccalaureate program in the elementary grades.

Five Oregon schools, including two public schools in Beaverton, already offer approved middle grades IB programs. And a growing number of Oregon public high schools -- 18 so far -- offer the IB diploma program.Among them are Beaverton, Gresham, Tigard, Tualatin and Hillsboro high schools, Lincoln and Cleveland of Portland, Sunset and Southridge of Beaverton and Putnam High in Milwaukie.

The International Baccalaureate Program is an international non-profit organization that works with schools and governments around the world to establish rigorous academic programs that meet its standards for high-level, inquiry-based education that promotes international understanding.

Schools get tentative approval to begin offering an IB-level program, then

Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

K-6 Teachers and Classrooms Need Stronger Focus on Science

Maywood activists' fight against new school costs L.A. Unified $20 million

Because residents don't want a campus that would displace hundreds, the school district has forfeited state funds. The school will be built anyway, officials say.

The Case for Common Educational Standards

In 1950, 60% of the jobs required no particular skills. The world has changed.

By CRAIG BARRETT

Foreign-Student Applications Rise 7% at American Graduate Schools

Appeals Court sides with state in parents' attempt to end Furlough Fridays

Dan Walters: Al Rodda, a sweet man, left legacy

Posted at 01:04 AM on Tuesday, Apr. 06, 2010

California Community Colleges May Raise Fees

California state pension funds going broke, Stanford study finds

Monday, April 5, 2010

Changing definition of sex

Portland's International School offers Oregon's first elementary International Baccalaureate program

By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

April 05, 2010, 3:21PM