Monday, April 26, 2010

Transgender Student Slashed In Campus Restroom � Student Activism

Transgender Student Slashed In Campus Restroom

by Angus Johnston

Police are reporting that a 27-year-old transgender student at CSU Long Beach was slashed in a men’s room on campus earlier this month.
Although the attack took place ten days ago, the university only made it public this Friday.
The student’s assailant addressed him by name before the attack, asking him whether he was that person. The victim of the assault did not recognize his attacker, but was able to provide police with information enabling them to create a sketch.
Police have not said whether they are investigating the incident as a hate crime. The Long Beach Post has,

NP STRIKE: District, NPEA headed to court - The ReporterNews: Serving North Penn, Indian Valley and neighboring communities

NP STRIKE: District, NPEA headed to court

Published: Monday, April 26, 2010

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By DAN SOKIL

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LANSDALE - Today is the day a hearing in Montgomery County Court could send the North Penn School District's 13,000 students back to school.

And a judge could order the district's school board and the North Penn Education Association to negotiate a new deal with each other.

As of 6 p.m. Sunday evening, no new talks had taken place between the NPEA and the school board, but the union posted an update on its Web site NPennEA.org indicating the board may have been available all weekend.

According to the NPEA update, the union e-mailed school board President Vince Sherpinsky Sunday afternoon regarding a math error in the board's most recent contract offer, and heard back via e-mail within an hour.

"I find it interesting they're available to answer e-mails, but no one was available to get together and get our kids back to school tomorrow, and I'm disappointed this board seemingly wants this strike to go on for another two days," NPEA President Alan Malachowski said Sunday evening.

He reiterated statements made at Friday afternoon's union rally, that the NPEA will seek court-ordered mandatory bargaining in today's court hearing, and that the union could have called off its strike this weekend in time for school Monday had talks taken place, and had a tentative deal been reached with the board by Sunday night.

This Week In Education AM News: Internal Clashes Hinder RTTT Efforts

This Week In Education

AM News: Internal Clashes Hinder RTTT Efforts

by Alexander Russo

Unions, States Clash in Race to Top Wall Street Journal: Since the first winners were picked, spats have erupted from Florida to Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota and Colorado over demands that unions agree to proposals on merit pay and teacher evaluation to strengthen the state's chances of winning federal money... Teachers Next To Go NPR: After cutting their budgets to the bone and exhausting millions of dollars in federal stimulus funds, school districts have resorted to staff cuts to balance their budgets. New Jersey, California and Illinois are among the hardest-hit states... Education" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/education/24imagine.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(34, 68, 187); ">For School Company, Issues of Money and Control NYT: School boards and regulators are questioning how public money is spent by a commercial manager of charters.[Read below for more headlines]
Study: After genes, teachers help kids read faster USA Today: Genetics play the biggest role in determining how fast a child learns to read, but a good teacher can make a measurable difference as well, according ... NJ voters reject 59 percent of school budgets AP: The state pastime in New Jersey may be complaining about the state's highest-in-the-nation property taxes, but it's rare for voters to stand up against them....Black woman leads former whites-only Philly school AP: The private boarding school for underprivileged students now led by Autumn Adkins, who describes herself simply as "a black girl from Richmond, Virginia," would have excluded her in years past...

KYW Newsradio 1060 Philadelphia - North Penn Teacher's Strike Enters Week Two

North Penn Teacher's Strike Enters Week Two

by KYW's Mark Abrams
A strike by teachers in the North Penn School District (Montgomery County) enters its second week on Monday, keeping nearly 13,000 students out of the classroom. Both sides were scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
The union representing the district's more than 1,000 teachers sought to resume talks over the weekend with the district, but says the school board negotiator did not respond.
During an injunction hearing on Monday in Montgomery County Court, the board will seek an order to compel the teachers to return to the classroom by Wednesday, so North Penn can meet state requirements for 180 days of instruction.
The teachers union president says he will ask a judge during the hearing to order round-the-clock bargaining to resolve the contract dispute.
Teachers walked off the job after the district rejected an arbitrator's recommendations for a new contract.

North Penn teacher's strike limited by PA law | WHYY News and Information | WHYY

North Penn teacher's strike limited by PA law

Monday, April 26th, 2010

By: Tom Dreisbach
tdreisbach@whyy.org

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Teachers at North Penn School District in Montgomery County remain on strike this morning. But they'll have to go back to work Wednesday according to Pennsylvania law.

The limited strike is a byproduct of changes to the state's strike laws.

Ron Cowell is now President of the Education Policy and Leadership Center, a professional development program in Harrisburg. But in 1992, Cowell, as a state senator, co-authored Act 88, which said teachers could not strike for so long that it would shorten the school year.

“There were concerns about – particularly from a student standpoint – the students' schedule being disrupted and, in some cases, being shortchanged,” says Cowell, “that is, not getting 180 days of school."

Cowell says the limited strike time was a compromise, allowing teachers some avenue for exerting leverage while limiting disruption for students. He says that system has been fairly successful.

But, he says, in the absence of a binding arbitration process, the law means teachers can sometimes work for years without a contract.

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Teacher strike resumes Monday | teachers, district, union - News - The Orange County Register

Teacher strike resumes Monday

Teachers across the Capistrano Unified School District will return to the picket lines Monday morning for a third day of striking, after district officials and teachers union leaders failed to reach a settlement Sunday in a bitter pay cut dispute.

Talks ran from 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday, with a dinner break in between. Negotiations were scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. Monday.

The early morning sun casts shadows of striking teachers at Aliso Viejo's Aliso Niguel High School as they walk the picket line on Friday, the second day of a Capistrano Unified strike that has crippled student programs and services districtwide.

FILE PHOTO: MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Capo teachers strike: An overview

Capo strike Q&A: What parents should know

Database: Capistrano teacher salaries

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"Talking is more positive than not talking," the union said in a statement Sunday.

District and union bargaining teams have met for four consecutive days – about 22 hours in all – even as hundreds of Capistrano teachers walked the picket lines in front of their schools Thursday and Friday.

Capistrano's teachers union says the district – Orange County's second largest, with 2,200 teachers – has failed to make a "clear, unambiguous offer" to settle some final terms of a 10.1 percent pay cut imposed on teachers last month.

Capistrano's teachers union isn't fighting the imposed pay cut itself, but is demanding that it have an automatic expiration date and that it be restored if the district receives additional, "unforeseen" funding over the next 15 months, among other demands.

The school district has offered to discuss the demands, but argued it couldn't legally agree to them upfront.

The strike has crippled programs and services across Capistrano Unified and pushed student attendance rates down to about 30 percent, including as low as about 10 percent at the high schools.

Contact the writer: 949-454-7394 orsmartindale@ocregister.com

The Educated Guess Trouble ahead for new stimulus bill

The Educated Guess

Trouble ahead for new stimulus bill
Tags: Harkin
Posted in Finance, State Budget

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa has proposed spending an additional $23 billion to prevent thousands of teacher layoffs across the country.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan blessed the idea in testimony before Congress earlier this month, warning of an “educational catastrophe.” Last December, the U.S. House approved the money and has been waiting since for Senate action.
But if Dianne Feinstein’s conditional support is any indication on how the Senate may lean – and her position often is a telltale sign – then school districts shouldn’t bank on getting the money.

Feinstein issued a one-paragraph statement last week, in which she called for offsetting any additional spending with cuts in other parts of the federal budget. That requirement will further complicate chances for Harkin’s bill.
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By John Fensterwald on April 26th, 2010

Spending flexibility, yes, but at whose expense?
Tags: Public Advocates, SB 1396
Posted in Advocacy organizations, Education Excellence Committee, Finance,Student spending

In slashing education spending over the past two years, Gov. Schwarzenegger and the Legislature have given school districts more authority to choose how to spend their dwindling dollars. Sacramento has untied the strings on many “categorical programs” – those funded for specific purposes, such as buying textbooks and teaching civics education.
But, to an extent, equity has been sacrificed for flexibility: In many districts, programs primarily benefiting low-income, minority students – summer school, high school exit exam tutoring, community day schools – have been sacrificed to prevent further layoffs and keep the lights on for everyone.
Now there’s an opportunity to really get it right.
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By John Fensterwald on April 23rd, 2010

All agree on value of EAP
Tags: California Diploma Project, EAP, Early Assessment Program
Posted in Community Colleges, UC and CSU, Uncategorized

Seven years ago, the California State University system developed a test in math and English language arts to help inform high school juniors whether they are on track to attend one of their campuses. The Early Assessment Program – EAP – has become a national model, and many high school students use the results in deciding whether to seek extra math and English help in their senior year.
Now, the heads of the state community colleges and the University of California have gone on record in agreeing that EAP is a solid measure of college readiness. And they’ve pledged to promote its use among their potential students. While that may not seem like a big deal, it’s a strong signal that the state’s staunchly independent higher ed institutions plan to unite in more assertively working with K-12 schools to prepare students for graduation – not simply remediate them once they show up as freshmen.
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By John Fensterwald on April 22nd, 2010

The California Master Plan: History � The Quick and the Ed

The California Master Plan: History

by Chad Aldeman

50 years ago today the California Legislature signed into law the 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education. In honor of the anniversary of this seminal document, I’ll be doing a series of posts on important Plan elements, starting today with a brief history.
In the late 1950s, California higher education leaders knew they were facing a student enrollment boom unlike any they had ever seen. The Baby Boom generation was on the precipice of college age and, while only 4 percent of college-age Americans actually went to college in 1900, that figure had soared to 39 percent by 1960. The best demographic projections available at the time predicted enrollment in California public colleges and universities was going to triple between 1960 and 1970.
They were wrong: It quadrupled. In a single decade, California colleges and universities added more than 600,000 students to their halls. Through a miraculous combination of good leadership, timely planning, and a common understanding that what was good for young people was good for the state, California was ready for this “Tidal Wave” of students.
Things could have worked out differently. In the 1950s the state was racked with in-fighting among its public institutions, plagued by parochial political interests directing resources from seats of power in the Legislature, and lost in looking for a leader who could unite disparate warring factions. The state had commissioned blue

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky

Maybe they mean this Dewey...

Newbie instructors too often emerge from ed school stuffed with the ideas of everyone fromThomas Dewey to Brazillian Marxist theorist Paulo Freire (author of "Pedagogy of the Oppressed") - but clueless about how to help kids learn. (N.Y. Daily News editorial bashing schools of education)

Mass. testing madness

MCAS has a decidedly negative effect on the humanities and the arts. With the excessive

Ship of fools

by Mike Klonsky

Here's the latest from the Ownership Society

Even as Arne Duncan is predicting 300,000 teacher layoffs in what he describes as an "education catastrophe," OS cheerleaders Jay Mathews and Mike Petrilli are breaking out their pom-poms.

Schools Matter: School For Sale!

School For Sale!

by Kenneth Libby

Now that a major news outlet has finally paid attention to the business practices of Dennis Bakke and his management company (with a well-deserved round of applause for Stephanie Strom), reporters and school districts may begin to more carefully scrutinize the company's dealings.

Someone in Arizona might want to keep their eyes on an Imagine School currently listed for sale in Sierra Vista. The asking price is $6.3 million, with 5 years left on the lease. The listing also claims Imagine makes $456,968/year in income from the tenant

Virginia Demands More Failure from Disabled: Cancels Portfolio Assessments

by Jim Horn

From WaPo:

Virginia education leaders moved this week to introduce a standardized test for students with disabilities and phase out a widely used alternative that many officials say is undermining the state's accountability system.
The modified multiple-choice test is expected to be more objective than the flexible, portfolio-style exam that thousands of students in Northern Virginia are assessed with now. The online test will be implemented statewide in the 2011-12 school year in math and the following year in reading. A

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