Portland's high-stakes school plan will be unveiled Monday night | OregonLive.com

Portland's high-stakes school plan will be unveiled Monday night | OregonLive.com

Portland's high-stakes school plan will be unveiled Monday night

By Kimberly Melton, The Oregonian

April 26, 2010, 11:00PM

View full sizeStephanie Yao/The OregonianPortland Public Schools Superintendent Carole Smith, shown here meeting with a student advisory committee in 2007, will unveil her long-awaited plan tonight to reorganize the district's high schools.On Monday night, Portland Superintendent Carole Smith is expected to recommend the most sweeping changes in the history of Oregon's largest school district.

She wants to do something almost no other big-city superintendent has done in recent years -- upend the city's high schools to end racial and income disparities without a judge forcing the district to do so.

Read previous coverage

Read earlier storiesabout the Portland school district's effort to overhaul high schools.

Smith's main goal is to help reduce the stubbornly high dropout rate -- less than 60 percent of Portland Public Schools' high school students graduate in four years -- and end glaring inequities between the curriculum offered to most of the city's white and middle-class students and its minority and low-income teens.

Her plan would affect students and families in every sector of the city, particularly east of the Willamette River. One or more high schools would close, many schools' attendance boundaries would be redrawn, and the wide-open neighborhood-to-neighborhood transfers that have been a 30-year hallmark of Portland high schools could end.

Most big-city school districts have the same sort of disparities Portland does -- big, popular, high-achieving high schools in some parts of town and

Arts & Communication Magnet Academy student organizes dance at FX to benefit critically ill Franklin High junior

by Washington County Reader Contributor

Torrey Henderson decided to make helping her senior project when she found out Nakia Hentz needed a heart transplant.

Dennis Johnson, head of Oregon Student Assistance Commission, resigns

by Bill Graves, The Oregonian

Dennis Johnson, head of the Oregon Student Assistance Commission, resigned Friday. The agency has been under fire from the governor and legislative leaders after it promised scholarships to students without having enough money to grant them

Hillsboro School District warns residents to be wary of scam

by Wendy Owen, The Oregonian

Hillsboro School District warns of a scam in which someone is posing as a Century High representative, trying to sell ads and asking for credit card numbers.

Clackamas Community College's Veteran Education & Training Center prepares for returning National Guardsmen

by Nicole Dungca, The Oregonian

The center, opened in December 2009, has become a community where veterans can help other veterans navigate the mazes of the higher education system and the transition to civilian life.

P.S. 172 in Brooklyn Scores High Despite Poverty - NYTimes.com

P.S. 172 in Brooklyn Scores High Despite Poverty - NYTimes.com

Brooklyn School Scores High Despite Poverty

Michael Nagle for The New York Times

Fourth graders at P.S. 172 in Brooklyn, which outperforms its wealthier neighbors on state tests.

By SHARON OTTERMAN

Published: April 25, 2010

New York Test ScoresTo ace the state standardized tests, which begin on Monday, Public School 172 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, finds money for coaches in writing, reading and math. Teachers keep detailed notes on each child, writing down weaknesses and encouraging them to repeat tasks. There is after-school help and Saturday school.

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But at the start of this school year, seven or eight students were still falling behind. So the school hired a speech therapist who could analyze why they and other students stumbled in language. A psychologist produced detailed assessments and recommendations. A dental clinic staffed by Lutheran Medical Center opened an office just off the fourth-grade classrooms, diagnosing toothaches, a possible source of distraction, and providing free cleanings.

Perfection may seem a quixotic goal in New York City, where children enter school from every imaginable background and ability level. But on the tests, P.S. 172, also called the Beacon School of Excellence, is coming close — even though 80 percent of its students are poor enough to qualify for free lunch, nearly a quarter receive special education services, and many

“The Best…” Lists I’ve Updated In April | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“The Best…” Lists I’ve Updated In April | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“The Best…” Lists I’ve Updated In April

by Larry Ferlazzo

I’ve begun to methodically update and revise all 450 “The Best…” lists.
Of course, I update them all the time. However, in the past I haven’t necessarily done a thorough review to ensure that links are current, etc. So, in addition to creating new lists, each month I share a compilation of ones I’ve verified and revised:

Compound Word Game

English Central Adds Tools

Planet Positive Carbon Footprint Calculator

Olympic Heroes

“Word Is”

“Monumental volcano eruptions from the past”

New Health Care Law Infographics

Schools try fundraisers to save music, sports, small classes - San Jose Mercury News

Schools try fundraisers to save music, sports, small classes - San Jose Mercury News

Schools try fundraisers to save music, sports, small classes

By Sharon Noguchi

snoguchi@mercurynews.com

Posted: 04/25/2010 07:43:12 PM PDT

Updated: 04/25/2010 10:24:59 PM PDT

The turnout was small but the enthusiasm huge as musicians — young and younger — put out their collective hats to raise money Sunday for music and other programs in the Alum Rock Union School District.

The sparse attendance at the fundraiser, which featured the Alum Rock Jazz Band and the Funk Train Xpress, a rhythm-and-blues/soul group that includes Alum Rock band alumni, illustrated the challenges facing schools, especially those serving Silicon Valley's poor.

Although several dozen people showed up, the $20 requested donation deterred many low-income parents in East Side communities served by Alum Rock, sponsors said. And other events on a busy weekend competed for the residents' time.

From PTAs to school district foundations, groups are staging fundraisers to try to stave off the wolf at schoolhouse doors, as California schools draw up their 2010-11 budgets and face the deepest cuts in decades.

Also on the East Side on Sunday, more than 1,000 people walked and ran a 5K course to raise funds for sports in 

News > Education

Schools try fundraisers to save music, sports, small classes From PTAs to school district foundations, groups are staging fundraisers to try to stave off the wolf at schoolhouse doors, as California schools draw up their 2010-11 budgets and face the deepest cuts in decades.   School furloughs leave parents in the lurch Learning to read: Genes play biggest role but teachers matter, study says Fisher: Reading for those who can't Late SJSU prof's 'greenhouse' to go on sale National Hispanic University in E. San Jose sold to for-profit college chain Volcanic fallout: Dozens of Los Gatos High School musicians stranded in Germany Psychedelics conference describes the long strange trip to the lab California's university system: What went wrong? Forty wild horses and burros gallop into the big city to be auctioned off to the public San Jose State to lay off 76 staff and eliminate 49 positions in budget crunch To cut costs, SJSU to lay off 76 staff and eliminate 49 positions

Oakland teachers to stage one-day strike over contract dispute | California Watch

Oakland teachers to stage one-day strike over contract dispute | California Watch

Oakland teachers to stage one-day strike over contract dispute

April 26, 2010 | Corey G. Johnson

Teachers in Oakland have announced they will go on strike this week, becoming the second group of instructors to walk out of classrooms in protest to budget cuts.

The strike at the Oakland Unified School District is slated for Thursday and will last for one day, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The teachers' protest follows a controversial school board vote last week. Without teacher input, the board approved new contracts for the district's teachers that stripped instructors of salary raises.

District officials said the vote was necessary because of a $85 million budget shortfall. The ban on raises could save the district about $3 million, according to the Chronicle.

Tony Smith, superintendent of Oakland Unified, said he was committed to keeping salaries and benefits at current levels, but would seek to make up the other $82 million by instituting layoffs, cutting programs and possibly closing several schools.

The local teachers' union, Oakland Education Association, had been negotiating with the district for roughly two years over the contracts before last week's sudden turn of events.

The union accused the district of wasting millions and charged it with violating a state law

Most "Distinguished Schools" centered near Bay Area, Southern California

by Mark S. Luckie

Which California counties have the most schools designated as Distinguished Schools? Find out with our infographic.

Government questions legality of unpaid internships | The Pitt News

Government questions legality of unpaid internships | The Pitt News

Government questions legality of unpaid internships

|More

By Mollie Durkin / Staff Writer

published: Sun, 25 Apr, 2010

Attention, interns: Not getting paid for routine coffee runs and copy making might not just be a pain. It might also be illegal.

State labor officials in Oregon, California and other states are cracking down on unpaid internships. Some employers have even been fined for violating minimum wage laws for the unethical treatment of interns, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, sparking a nationwide discussion about how much unpaid work is too much.

Interns are often afraid to file complaints because they don’t want to cause trouble, Ben Bratman, an associate professor of legal writing at Pitt’s law school, said. They might also fear that getting ahead without the internship will be impossible.

“This is the reality that always exists with issues in the employment setting,” Bratman said. “Whether it’s an intern, a trainee or an applicant, employees are unlikely to complain about potential violations because they fear retaliation from superiors, or developing a reputation that isn’t going to help their long-term advancement.”

Bratman said it is important for interns to know what is legal and what is not, so they can distinguish if they are treated fairly — and legally. He said there are many gray areas when it comes to unpaid internships, but there are still a few rules for interns to keep in mind.

“If someone is labeled as an employee, then they have to be paid at least minimum wage,” Bratman said.

He added that employers can classify interns as “trainees,” and if they do, they don’t have to pay them.

To clarify the issue, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division created a set of six criteria under the Fair