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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

EducationNews.org - EducationNewsToday

EducationNews.org - EducationNewsToday

EducationNewsToday

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Outlook for schools seen as dire

SUMMERVILLE -- Schools will close, sports and arts programs will be dropped and class size will increase "astronomically" as student numbers increase while
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No after school help for kids: Boca Raton teachers break with the bell in salary protest

In a peaceful protest for higher salaries, most teachers at Calusa Elementary School in Boca Raton on Monday started and ended their shifts in unison — working exactly 7.5 hours as required by their ...
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1/5 of N.J. school districts report wage freezes or cuts

About a fifth of New Jersey school districts have reported staff wage freezes or reductions in their budget plans for the coming school year, the Christie administration announced Tuesday. ...
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4S RANCH: Navy SEALs turn to water polo players for possible recruits

Recruiters usually don't give water polo players the type of attention reserved for star quarterbacks or other high school athletes, but they are at the top of the list for one group that might seem surprising...
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Students will study the effects of April 19

A bill signed into law two weeks before the 15th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building stresses the need to educate Oklahoma public school students about the Oklahoma City attack. ...
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Wake schools' deficit doubles

Wake County school leaders learned Tuesday that the district's projected $20 million budget shortfall for this fall has doubled. ...
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Young students' math improves; high schoolers weaken

Wisconsin students continued to make steady gains in math proficiency in 2009-'10, boasting their best performance in five years...
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Civics lessons may be mandated

A bill in the Florida Legislature would require middle school students to show that they know a few things about government in order to get to high school -- which worries some educators. ...
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Researchers Argue Head Start Study Delayed, Ignored

The study findings, which were generally disappointing, got scarcely any mention in the national news media ...
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ELLs’ Math, Reading Proficiency Rises, Study Finds

English-language learners gained in recent years on state tests, the Center on Education Policy says, but big gaps remain ...
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Developers seek to link iPad with education »

Technology experts say Apple's latest gizmo, the iPad, won't replace students' laptops, but a menu of applications could help teach the periodic table, a range of languages, and a host of other K-12 and higher-education subjects.... ...
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Minds Matter volunteers give students a boost toward college with tutoring, mentoring

Every Saturday during the school year, 23 students from Cleveland-area high schools make their way to a downtown office building for intensive tutoring in math and writing as well as ...
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Madison Co. plans 40 fewer teachers

Madison County schools will have 40 fewer teaching positions next year, and all district personnel...
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7 Ways to Get the Texas School Board Attack You for Being Too Right-Wing

The Texas Board of Ed voted to change the state's textbooks to be more reflective of conservative ideology. Here's a few more ideas for them....
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More for Florida educators to be angry about

Florida's teachers are already outraged about legislation expected to become law that would end tenure, require the creation of more standardized tests and link teacher pay to test scores. Now there's a bill that would allow corporations contribute money to a fund that provides school vouchers and then deduct it from their taxes. ...
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Rhee gets deal with DC teachers union

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and the Washington Teachers' Union have reached tentative agreement on a new contract, ending more than two years of closely watched and often-rancorous negotiations, union and District officials said Tuesday....
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Education Dept. to give $350M to states that revamp testing

The money is designed to encourage states to develop standardized tests that accurately measure how much a child has learned each year and ensure the student is ready for college or a career after high school....
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Students learning English at U.S. schools show improvement

MIAMI (AP) — Schoolchildren who are still learning English made progress on state tests over the last three years, according to a report that may indicate tougher accountability standards have resulted in positive gains among a growing segment of the U.S. public school population....
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Federal program will help YES Prep build schools

YES Prep will use a federal bond program to build two new schools — pushing the popular Houston charter system closer toward its goal of 10,000 students by 2020....
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Study Finds More Woes Following Foster Care

Problems like unemployment, crime and poverty follow many young people after they “age out” of the foster care program...
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Best Music Sites | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Best Music Sites | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Best Music Sites

Yesterday I shared links to all “The Best…” lists related to speaking English, and today I’m sharing links to all “The Best…” lists related to music. I hope you find them helpful. Because of some technical issues that I’m too lazy to fix, these particular links might not work well if you’re subscribing to this blog via email, or viewing it on Facebook. RSS Readers feeds should be fine. If you go directly to my blog, though, they’ll all work fine.

They include:

The Best Music Websites For Learning English

The Best Sites To Learn About Genocide In Rwanda

Today marks the beginning of the sixteenth anniversary of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which killed at least 800,000 people.

You might also be interested in:

The Best Web Resources On Darfur

News10.net | Sacramento, California | Education Home

News10.net | Sacramento, California | Education Home

Education News

Folsom Lake College SIFE prepares for San Francisco competition

Folsom Lake College SIFE prepares for San Francisco competition

The Folsom Lake College SIFE will showcase 13 community-based business projects on April 6 in a competition in San Francisco.

Officials hope UC Merced expansion will spur jobs

Officials hope UC Merced expansion will spur jobs

Merced officials are hoping expansion plans at UC Merced will help brighten the city's employment picture.

Humboldt State may cut entire programs

Humboldt State may cut entire programs

Among the programs that could be eliminated at Humboldt State University are chemistry, computer science, fisheries biology, nursing, philosophy and physics.

Left in the 'white room?' Parents question son's 'manhandling' by Olivehurst school staffers

Left in the 'white room?' Parents question son's 'manhandling' by Olivehurst school staffers

Terra and Jeffrey McDonald accuse an Olivehurst school of manhandling their son and exiling him to the "white room." The school, however, says that's not what happened.

Letter From the National Association of Secondary School Principals Urging Congress to Oppose U.S. Department of Education’s Misguided Models for School Reform � Larry Miller's Blog

Letter From the National Association of Secondary School Principals Urging Congress to Oppose U.S. Department of Education’s Misguided Models for School Reform � Larry Miller's Blog

Letter From the National Association of Secondary School Principals Urging Congress to Oppose U.S. Department of Education’s Misguided Models for School Reform

Filed under: NCLB — millerlf @ 7:23 pm

Attached and pasted below is a state organization sign-on letter from the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), urging Congress to oppose any expansion of the U.S. Department of Education’s misguided models for school reform. Instead of these models, we encourage Congress to embrace meaningful middle level and high school reform strategies during the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as detailed by the bills in this letter, and NASSP’s Breaking Ranks framework.

The Honorable George Miller The Honorable John Kline

2181 Rayburn House Office Building 2101 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington , DC 20515 Washington , DC 20515

March 26, 2010

Dear Chairman Miller and Ranking Member Kline:

On behalf of the nation’s middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and other school leaders, the undersigned organizations urge Congress to oppose an expansion of the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) misguided models for school reform and instead embrace meaningful middle level and high school reform strategies during reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

When the School Improvement Grants (SIG) guidance was first released in August 2009, we urged ED officials to reconsider the four proposed models for education reform that would all require the principal’s replacement as a condition for receiving SIG funds. We believed that the Transformation Model provided the greatest hope for promoting genuine school improvement as it was built around the continuous use of data to inform instruction, developing

Epoch Times - Cuts to Adult Education May Hurt NY Economy

Epoch Times - Cuts to Adult Education May Hurt NY Economy

Cuts to Adult Education May Hurt NY Economy

Aloysio Santos/The Epoch Times
Anthony Ng, deputy director of Policy and Advocacy at the New York Coalition for Adult Literacy, stands in front of city hall on Tuesday in opposition to cuts proposed by lawmakers that would remove $2.6 million from the state's Adult Literacy Education p (Aloysio Santos/The Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—The Adult Literacy Education program will be taking a big hit due to drastic budget cuts proposed by lawmakers, according to a coalition of adult literacy advocates, teachers, students, and City Council members. Cuts were also proposed for GED (General Education Development) testing sites across New York.

The program would lose approximately $2.6 million during the next fiscal year on top of a $612,000 cut during the 2009-2010 Fiscal Year. GED testing sites would suffer a $1.15 million cut.

“Education is a right,” said Antony Ng, the deputy director of Policy and Advocacy at the New York Coalition for Adult Literacy. He added that the cuts would deprive people seeking to take the GED test throughout New York City and will negatively impact the local economy.

The programs, when they're fully funded, can help create a workforce, said Ng. People who are dependent on the program “need these jobs to help the economy recover.”

Bruce Carmel, the deputy executive director for the Brooklyn-based adult education school Turning Point, said

State may sit out second round of Race to the Top | California Watch

State may sit out second round of Race to the Top | California Watch

State may sit out second round of Race to the Top

The proverbial "Fat Lady" has not sung yet on California's second attempt at the $700 million prize offered in the Race to the Top reform contest.

But if you listen closely, you might hear some practice "Me, Me, Me, Meee" yodels, buzzing in the background.

According to Tuesday's Sacramento Bee, Rick Miller, the deputy state superintendent largely responsible for developing and shepherding the first application, left the Department of Education this week for a consulting job.

And top state education officials, including State Superintendent Jack O'Connell, were "noncommittal" on whether California would even reapply by June 1 for the contest's second round. O'Connell told the Bee he was asking for staff recommendations before making a decision.

We are in the evaluative process," O'Connell told the Bee. "We want to thoughtfully

Waging political campaigns on the taxpayer dime | California Watch

Waging political campaigns on the taxpayer dime | California Watch

Waging political campaigns on the taxpayer dime

As we wrote yesterday, on Thursday the Fair Political Practices Commission will address petitions from several local government groups, which are arguing that commissioners did not have the authority to pass two 2008 regulations that keep them from spending tax money on political campaigns for bond issues.

But we thought you might appreciate seeing what a publicly financed bond campaign actually looks like.

Take a look at some of the ads we dug up from past municipal campaigns. Cities are allowed to send informational material, as long as it doesn't explicitly advocate for a position. But as with other political campaigns, the wordsmiths who craft these things walk a pretty fine line.

Latina Lista: Education report reveals less than a quarter of Florida Latinos have bachelor's degrees

Latina Lista: MediaCasts

Education report reveals less than a quarter of Florida Latinos have bachelor's degrees

LatinaLista.net -- When it comes to higher education, Latinos always seem to lag behind the pack. Recent reports reveal that only 10 percent of Latinos have earned a bachelor's degree, while Latinas are outpacing Latinos in college enrollment.

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This disparity in genders and graduation rates among ethnicities serves as a window into what the future holds for this nation's economy since Latinos will be the majority in the labor force. It's a scary situation if something isn't done to get more Latinos and Latinas to go to college and earn higher degrees.

Florida is already seeing the impact of a Latino population with low education.

In a new report titled Florida: Policy Options to Accelerate Latino Student Success in Higher Education, released by Excelencia in Education, researchers say that if things continue as they are Florida's economy won't be able to remain economically competitive.

In 2008, 37 percent of Floridans 25 to 64 years of age had earned an associate's degree or higher. Given that a large portion of the demographic growth in Florida through 2030 will be Hispanic, the state's economic competitiveness will be highly dependent on the educational attainment of this population. However, the educational attainment of Hispanics in Florida is low. In 2008, about 23 percent of Hispanics 25 and over in Florida had earned a bachelor's degree or higher.
It's a scenario that could easily be repeated in Texas, California, New Mexico, etc. -- anywhere