Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, May 10, 2010

The Educated Guess Commerical properties finagle out of property taxes

The Educated Guess

Commerical properties finagle out of property taxes

Posted in Adequacy suit, Revenue and taxes, Student spending
With state funding of K-12 schools stuck on empty for at least several more years, school districts and teachers unions are starting to sound the call for more local authority to raise taxes.
That’s not likely to happen, however, until the Legislature has the fortitude to confront the distortions caused by Proposition 13’s stranglehold on the state’s tax system. A new study by the California Tax Reform Association and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment adds evidence to begin that discussion.
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Governor, State Board to ACLU: We’re on your side

Posted in Adequacy suit, Equity issues, Tenure
The lawsuit against Los Angeles Unified and the state over seniority-based teacher layoffs and massive cuts to state education funding has taken some strange twists.
Both Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Board of Education – defendants in the case – are taking the position that they agree with the plaintiffs. Their message: Don’t sue us. We’re on the side of kids in low-income schools whose teachers have been handed pink slips in disproportionate numbers.
The latest jockeying – unusual but not unprecedented – may be a sign that an initial settlement is near. A court hearing into a preliminary injunction has been pushed back a week, until Tuesday, at the request of plaintiffs attorneys, in order to conduct negotiations with the defendants.
(Read more and comment on this post)

Texas lawmakers discuss easing public school class size limit to cut costs News: Education | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News

News: Education | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News

Texas lawmakers discuss easing public school class size limit to cut costs

While local school boards and administrators back a change, teacher groups are gearing up to fight any tampering with the requirement.
Class size waivers: Dallas-area districts
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Mass. hunting for star teachers Education news - Boston Globe - MCAS results - latest education news - Boston.com

Education news - Boston Globe - MCAS results - latest education news - Boston.com

GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS

Franklin plays prevent

Grouped in the Globe Top 20 with undefeated, nationally ranked powerhouses, it’s easy to overlook Needham’s 8-4 record. But a closer look at its losses shows that the No. 14 Rockets are perhaps the most battle-tested team in Eastern Mass. and are prepared to make some noise come playoff time. (By Charlie Peters, Globe Correspondent)

Mass. hunting for star teachers

State education officials plan to announce today an aggressive campaign to recruit hundreds of successful teachers to work in underperforming schools in Boston and eight other troubled school districts, in hopes those teachers can spark a turnaround. (By James Vaznis, Globe Staff)

Many blame immigration pressures for young man’s suicide

MARLBOROUGH — In the grief-stricken search for answers, one thing was clear: Gustavo Rezende had hit a wall. He had dreamed of joining the military, getting a driver’s license, and becoming an American citizen. (By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff)

USDA expands after-school meal program for hungry children

BRATTLEBORO — While the other preschoolers were warming up to the vegetable pesto lasagna, Avery Bennett dived in with no hesitation. (By Lisa Rathke, Associated Press)

Metco parents want Lincoln, Sudbury to keep program administrators

To school officials in Lincoln and Sudbury, consolidating administrators within the Metco program is a way to deal with shrinking budgets and direct more services to the classroom. (By James O’Brien, Globe Correspondent)

NorthJersey.com: What private schools receive in public funds

NorthJersey.com: What private schools receive in public funds

Public funding for private schools
Monday, May 10, 2010
THE RECORD
STAFF WRITER
Josh Pruzansky is chairman of the New Jersey State Non-public School Advisory Committee, which works with the state Education Department to settle issues regarding special needs evaluations, speech therapies, record-keeping, transportation and other state services for students in private and parochial schools. He is also executive director of Agudath Israel New Jersey, which advocates for the Orthodox Jewish community.
Josh Pruzansky heads the state private schools panel.
ELIZABETH LARA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
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Josh Pruzansky heads the state private schools panel.
In New Jersey, 163,000 children attend private and parochial schools, compared with nearly 1.4 million in public schools. The state gives non-public schools $58 per child for textbooks, $77 per child for nurses and, in some districts, $884 per eligible child for transportation, plus remedial services as needed.
Some people wonder why public funds go to covering costs of students at private schools. What's the reasoning?
Families choosing to go to private schools should have the opportunity to get the education they feel is best for their children. They're still obligated to pay their property taxes and should be entitled to something. Every child in the state is entitled to a thorough and efficient education. By choosing to send them to private school, they're relieving taxpayers of almost $20,000 – the average cost of providing an education in public school. Getting a few dollars here and there should not be a source of contention.
Considering our country's separation of church and state, why should any public money go to parochial


• New Eagle Scout SUBURBAN TRENDS

Living | Parenthood: "lack" is not same as wrong | Seattle Times Newspaper

Living | Parenthood: "lack" is not same as wrong | Seattle Times Newspaper

Parenthood: "lack" is not same as wrong

Psychologist argues that school districts are too quick to label students with childhood "disorders"
McClatchy Newspapers
Over the past 40 years or so, child advocates have given a good amount of lip service to the view that adults, especially educators, should respect children's "individual differences."
In theory, this recognizes the fact that every trait is distributed in the general population in a manner represented by the bell-shaped curve. Whether the issue is general intelligence, sociability, optimism, musical aptitude, artistic ability, or mechanical skill (to mention but a few), relatively few people are "gifted" and relatively few people are disadvantaged.
Whatever the characteristic, most folks are statistically "normal." That is, they possess an adequate amount, enough to get by.
People gifted in more than a couple of areas are rare, and people gifted in one area but lacking in another are not unusual. A person with outstanding musical aptitude, for example, may be noticeably lacking in social skills, and a person with outstanding verbal skills may be mechanically inept.
The mere fact that a person is lacking in some characteristic or ability does not necessarily mean something is "wrong." That a certain 10-year-old child is shy, lacks conversational skills, and prefers solitary activity to group play does not mean something is amiss inside the child's brain. Nor does the mere fact that a child struggles with learning to read or do math mean his brain isn't working properly. Also, it is well known that the child who is "painfully" shy at ten may be outgoing at age forty-six, and a child who struggles to learn to read may grow up to be a best-selling author. Very little about a human being is set in stone.
All of this is to say that for all the prior lip service, today's educators seem to have absolutely no respect for individual differences, no respect for the fact that "lack" is not synonymous with wrong. In today's schools, the range of acceptability concerning an ever-increasing number of aptitudes has been getting narrower an

THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | The Dallas Morning News

THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | The Dallas Morning News



La Raza on the plight of Latino children

12:05 AM Mon, May 10, 2010 | | Yahoo! Buzz
William McKenzie/Editorial Columnist Bio | E-mail | News tips
The National Council of La Raza has just put out an important study about the needs of Latino children. One of the points that struck me, which I mentioned in this column, was how getting young mothers to go back to school not only helps them, but helps their children do well in school.
We've been discussing on this blog the education challenges facing Latinos, and what happens if more Hispanics don't have access to good schools and don't graduate from high school. To me, this is our most important domestic

The Educated Reporter: Mrs. Hendrix, Mme. Ver and value-added.

The Educated Reporter: Mrs. Hendrix, Mme. Ver and value-added.

Mrs. Hendrix, Mme. Ver and value-added.

Read this story. You just have to. Tissues, maybe, at the ready.

I believe there is a place for standardized testing, and I believe there is a need to reform the way teachers are evaluated and compensated. But I couldn’t read this story without puzzling over how a teacher like Mrs. Hendrix might have fared in an environment where states are racing to make sure that student test scores count for at least half of a teacher’s measured worth.

I say this as a person who is not sappy, but practical. (Okay, that article couldn’t help but make me a little sappy, and this comes from someone who groaned, “OH, PLEASE,” at the end of “Mr. Holland’s Opus.”) Forget the inspiration part—which we all know is uncountable—and just consider the logistics. Were Mrs. Hendrix’s class to exist today, a fourth grader in it would be reading at an eighth-grade level yet in many states his or her

"Ritalin Or Recess?" Are Schools Promoting The Use Of Drugs? - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

"Ritalin Or Recess?" Are Schools Promoting The Use Of Drugs? - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Check out David Katz M.D. "Activity Bursts In The Classroom"
Program In Video Below

by C.J.

One of my friends, a NYC private school parent, called Ritalin "this generation's penicillin". He questioned "When did educators become medical professionals . . .recommending Ritalin to kids?" and continued on about just how prevalent its use was in private school circles. Well, we know teachers certainly don't "prescribe drugs" but there has been a quick-fix mentality within many schools to remedy numerous issues through the use of prescription drugs.

Another friend in Washington DC talked about how kids passed around Ritalin to study for SAT's and other tests, even if it wasn't prescribed to them.

A third friend told me how her second grader was recommended by the private school teacher to have her son consult a doctor for tests and recommendations for the son's "issues". The parent asked if and how her son was distracting the class or what exactly the problem was in question. The teacher responded that her son "was not disruptive to the class but had to go to the back of the class from time to time to stretch, unlike the other kids." Stretching for a

Education News - The New York Times Guest-Teaching Chinese, and Learning America

Education News - The New York Times

Zheng Yue, who has been teaching Chinese in MacArthur High School in Lawton, Okla., working with a student, Raymond Veal.
Matt Nager for The New York Times
Zheng Yue, who has been teaching Chinese in MacArthur High School in Lawton, Okla., working with a student, Raymond Veal.
A program brings teachers from China to the U.S. to teach language and culture, but the learning goes both ways.

Charter Schools’ New Cheerleaders: Financiers

Financial heavyweights are spending freely in an unlikely crusade to expand charters in New York, in opposition to the teachers unions.
Natalie Randolph is the new coach at Calvin Coolidge Senior High School. “She's harder on the players than I am,” one of her assistants said.

A Football Coach Used to Tests Insists Her Players Pass Theirs

Natalie Randolph, the football coach of Calvin Coolidge Senior High School in Washington, has emphasized helping players in the classroom.
Max Pauson spent the first 19 years of his life without an official first or middle name. Now he has both, along with an identity as an art student.

What’s in a Name? A Lot, as It Turns Out

Max Pauson’s strong sense of self was hard-earned, forged in an unstable childhood with no legal name. His birth certificate read “(baby boy) Pauson.”
David E. Apter

David E. Apter, Yale Political Scientist, Is Dead at 85

Professor Apter wove his expertise in political science and sociology into influential treatises on the often-tortured birth of developing nations.
SUNDAY ROUTINE | DAVID LEVIN
FREE David Levin with his wife, Nikki Chase-Levin; their son, Max; and their dog, Athena, in Riverside Park.

Six Days of School, and Then a Day Not of Rest

David Levin, co-founder of the KIPP charter school network, spends Sundays with his wife, their 1-year-old son and friends and family.

Darfur Resources | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Darfur Resources | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Darfur Resources

I’ve just updated The Best Web Resources On Darfur.
Suggestions for additions to the list are welcome.

Today’s Oil Spill Resources

Overcrowded Schools and Student Learning � InterACT

Overcrowded Schools and Student Learning � InterACT

Overcrowded Schools and Student Learning

At this time of the year, schools in my district begin planning the teaching assignments for the following year. As we worked on the teacher matrix we took into account the complexities around which year-round schools must maneuver: the number of English Learners on each track, equity and access to all programs, a balance of teacher experience across tracks, etc. “I’m glad it’s the last time we have to deal with this,” commented one department chair. Then it hit me; as of 2012, there would be no more year-round schools left in Los Angeles, this being the legacy of Governor Roy Romer and his school construction program.
For as long as I can remember, I have attended or worked in year-round schools. The memory of carrying boxes for my teacher, from one room to the next, as a 4th grader, is indelibly recorded in my mind. The majority of my 15 years of teaching has involved a careful choreography of rooms between two other teachers and myself, as to who gets which cabinet to store their materials, which visual aids should be left on the wall, and how we prefer our chairs to be arranged. All of this, of course, has an impact on student learning.
Setting up a classroom is something that takes weeks to do. Most teachers in a year-round school rarely have the luxury of time in setting up their rooms. In Los Angeles, teachers get exactly half a day, because students from the outgoing track are dismissed at 12:30 pm. The teachers are given access to their rooms shortly


Thank You Notes

A few weeks ago, I came home from a particularly long day at school to find a wonderful surprise in my mailbox. One of my advisory students, a young woman I had as a student for seven years, sent me an unsolicited two-page letter. She attached a short note to the letter saying that, after all the letters of recommendation I wrote for her, she wanted to write one for me because “you can never have too many letters of recommendation.”
Her letter included the following: “What makes Ms. Kovacic such an amazing teacher is that she acknowledges every situation, whether good or bad, can be used as an opportunity to learn. She does not settle on textbooks or worksheets to do her teaching, but rather recognizes she is a vessel that can be used to have a lasting impact. Her lessons reach far beyond the classroom. She has taught me to believe in myself, even in the