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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Education- Everything you need to know about the world of education.














VALERIE STRAUSS
The Answer Sheet
A School Survival Guide for Parents (And Everyone Else)
Posted at 6:30 AM ET, 05/11/2010

John Lennon and Arne Duncan

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is visiting the Department of Education today, and we imagine what it would be like if Education Secretary Arne Duncan fully supported arts education.
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Breaking: Gandhi blesses teachers contract

District Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi is ready to certify the $140 million teachers contract as fiscally sound, ending nearly five weeks of interagency fingerpointing and confusion.
Sources say a financing package that closes a $10.7 million funding gap in the accord is awaiting only sign off from Mayor Adrian M.Fenty. A press conference or formal announcement is expected in the next couple of hours. More to come.
UPDATE 8:20 PM: At an early evening presser on the steps of the Wilson Building, over the din of rush hour traffic, Fenty, Gandhi and Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee offered a somewhat rambling explanation of the financial fix that allowed for certification.
In essence, it gives Gandhi exactly what he has insisted upon for weeks as a necessary condition for fiscal certification: a contract with unconditional public money. The $21 million in private foundation money Rhee wanted to use came with conditions --including no changes in DCPS leadership--that Gandhi found unacceptable.
The package boils down to a series of cuts and reshuffling of funds to close what is now described as a $38.8 million gap (the numbers have shifted a bit in the last couple of weeks). This includes a $10.7 million 


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EducationNews.org District hires law firm for fray

EducationNews.org

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Experts: Home-schooling doesn’t add up

5.11.10 - More than 22,620 Texas secondary students who stopped showing up for class in 2008 were excluded from the state's dropout statistics because
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District hires law firm for fray

5.11.10 - The Clark County School District has retained the nation's largest law firm for representing management in labor disputes as... ...
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Colorado House ready to vote on controversial teacher reform bill

5.11.10 - A controversial teacher bill took another step forward in its legislative journey Monday as it narrowly passed the House appropriations committee to set up a vote today on the...
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IRS reviewing college business income, exec compensation

5.11.10 - In more than 30 reviews the Internal Revenue Service is conducting of individual colleges and universities, it is focusing mostly on issues related to executive
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Finalists named for chancellor spot at San José/Evergreen college district Education - San Jose Mercury News

Education - San Jose Mercury News
Finalists named for chancellor spot at San José/Evergreen college district
A series of public forums to meet the candidates will be held on May 13, 17 and 18 at the District's two community colleges, Evergreen Valley College and San José City College. The new chancellor, who will start in July, will replace retiring chancellor Rosa Pérez.
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Rise & Shine: State, unions agree to tie teacher grades to scores | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: State, unions agree to tie teacher grades to scores | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: State, unions agree to tie teacher grades to scores

by Philissa Cramer
  • A new state teacher evaluation system will tie grades to test scores. (Times, Wall Street Journal, Post)
  • A new charter school, Explore Excel, says it will take in three grades of any school closed nearby. (Post)
  • Supreme Court nominee Elana Kagan is one of many illustrious alumnae of Hunter College HS. (Times)
  • Brooklyn high school students aired their movie about Dominican life at the Tribeca Film Festival. (NY1)
  • Real estate brokers are wary about advertising apartments’ proximity to individual schools. (Times)
  • Pro-charter school state senators say pressure by teachers unions won’t change their positions. (Post)
  • High school pitchers will soon have limits on how many pitches they can throw in a game. (Daily News)
  • Los Angeles will test all students in order to identify more gifted ones from minority groups. (L.A. Times)
  • The Obama administration wants $375 million over five years for non-abstinence only sex ed. (Times)
  • D.C.’s teachers contract will be approved, with some reforms for now going unfunded. (Washington Post)
  • With money tight, D.C.’s Michelle Rhee is hiring new top-level administrators. (Washington Post)
  • The proportion of students requiring remedial classes in college is at an all-time high. (AP)
  • A professor argues that ed schools should give students a full year of classroom training. (L.A. Times)
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This Week In Education AM News: Court Nominee Kagan's High School Years

This Week In Education

AM News: Court Nominee Kagan's High School Years

by Alexander Russo
11111111111newsSmart girls were the rule at Kagan's high school AP: There were a lot of smart girls at Hunter College High School, but only one of them posed for the yearbook in a judge's robes, quoted a Supreme Court justice and is remembered for playing a tough attorney in an eighth-grade trial... U.S. adviser gets an earful on test scores Daily Herald: Educators expressed resounding frustration with an increased focus on test scores as one of the only sure ways to net additional funding... State drops out of school grant race Argus Leader: The state finished last among the 41 applicants in the first round of Race to the Top... L.A. schools on sharper lookout for gifted students — and they find them LA Times: After some schools begin focusing on the issue, the number of blacks deemed gifted rises 9%...Goodbye -- and good riddance -- WASL; hello MSP Seattle PI: State Superintendent Randy Dorn's campaign promise of scrapping the 12-year-old WASL is nearing fruition as students across the state in grades three through eight gear up for the Measurements of Student Progress assessment later this month... Community Colleges An American Export NPR: Students come from all over the world to take advantage of the United States' higher education system. One aspect of that system is catching on overseas: the community college... Calif. woman pleads guilty in Sandra Cantu murder AP: A local Sunday school teacher's guilty plea in the killing of an 8-year-old girl has brought relief to residents of this small California city, even as disturbing questions remained -- including how, where and why the girl was murdered.

Quotes: Duncan's "Zero" Opposition View Of Reform

by Alexander Russo
Quotes2"There’s just an outpouring of support for the common-sense changes and the unprecedented investments we’re making.” - Arne Duncan comment highlighted in Valerie Strauss blog entry "Say what, Secretary Duncan?"

Media: Hechinger Report Launches (Sans Kantrowitz)

by Alexander Russo
12ol-style-dating_3_518996aLast week I wondered aloud whether The Hechinger Report had launched and if it was shaping up to be all that it was touted to be (Has The Hechinger Report Launched?). Today, the folks at Hechinger sent out an email to education journalists (but not me) confirming that the report (THR, they like to call it) was indeed officially launched. Still no news on the whereabouts of former Newsweek writer Barbara Kantrowitz, who was touted as a big hire for Hechinger but hasn't been seen since. So it's not exactly clear who's going to be doing all the great journalism that foundations are paying Hechinger to do. Hechinger's Richard Colvin has so far refused to answer questions about her role or share the organization's annual report or 990. No response
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Local News | Average students shine with help from AVID program | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Average students shine with help from AVID program | Seattle Times Newspaper:

AVID teacher Ian Duncan gives Sammamish High student Flavino Vizcarra, 16, a playful pat on the head. Vizcarra, who failed all of his sixth-grade classes, earned straight A's last semester. Average students shine with help from AVID program

AVID — Advancement Via Individual Determination — is part supercharged study hall, part motivational seminar and part time-management training. It motivates kids in the academic middle to aim for college.


It's hard to imagine that Bruna Afonso was once apathetic about her studies, unsure if she'd finish high school, much less go on to college.
She now earns good grades, takes tough courses and almost always speaks up in class, as she did recently during a spirited debate over the United States' role in Bosnia.
A few years ago, she disliked school and didn't try to do well.
Now? "I'm busting my butt," she said.
She credits her transformation to a program with a mouthful of a name: Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID.
Part supercharged study hall, part motivational seminar and part time-management training, AVID plucks students such as Afonso — with C or low-B averages — and turns them into college material.
Outside of AVID, average students often aren't encouraged to take challenging classes, especially if they're students not putting out a lot of effort.

Seniority cuts state's newer teachers first

It's just after 2:05 p.m., and the halls at Tacoma's Mount Tahoma High School are emptying fast as students rush for freedom.
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School districts lack $1 billion to pay retiree health benefits, Education - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Education - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

School districts lack $1 billion to pay retiree health benefits, grand jury says
By Diana Lambert - Updated: 12:16 am
Twelve of Sacramento County's 13 school districts don't have enough money in their coffers to pay the health benefits promised future retirees and are not setting aside money to pay for them, according to a grand jury report released Monday.
Redevelopment agencies turn $1.7 billion over to state
By Loretta Kalb - Published: 12:00 am
Redevelopment agencies in the Sacramento area reluctantly ponied up millions of dollars Monday reserved for fighting blight – surrendering it for local education.
Twin Rivers votes on teacher layoffs
By Melody Gutierrez - Published: 4:49 pm
The Twin Rivers Unified School District school board will vote Tuesday night to issue final layoff notices to 203 teachers.
Students from region can enroll in virtual school
By Diana Lambert - Updated: 7:47 am
Elk Grove Unified School District has opened enrollment for its first-ever virtual school.


Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/education/#ixzz0ncdshhUs
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Empowerment schools to switch literacy texts | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Empowerment schools to switch literacy texts | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Empowerment schools to switch literacy texts

by Paul Socolar on May 10 2010 Posted in Latest news
Six years after standardizing the textbooks and instructional programs for all of its schools, the District is now planning a switch in its literacy texts for grades K-8, but only in its Empowerment Schools - the schools that have repeatedly failed to meet performance targets.
The District's 2010-11 budget, presented to City Council on Monday, includes a $10 million budget line for new textbooks, and the District plans to purchase theImagine It! series by SRA for grades K-6 and literacy materials by Glencoefor grades 7-8, according to a District spokesperson
SRA is also the publisher of the Corrective Reading and Corrective Math remedial programs now used in Empowerment Schools. Both Glencoe and SRA are now subsidiaries of textbook giant McGraw-Hill.
Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said that the Empowerment Schools need to make a change and focus more on skill development. "The young people in our Empowerment Schools at every grade level lack strong basic skills. We've found that to go to a curriculum that's much more structured - much more teacher-directed - has been successful."
In speaking to City Council, Ackerman referred to the proposed new curriculum materials by the name "Open Court," which is actually another literacy series produced by SRA. Some describe Imagine It!, released in 2008, as a successor to
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“A Moment In Time” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“A Moment In Time” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“A Moment In Time”

by Larry Ferlazzo
“A Moment In Time” is the compilation of photos that the New York Times organized. Thousands of people from all over the world took a picture at the same moment on May 2nd.
It’s an amazing collection. The photos can certainly be used in class to have English Language Learners describe and discuss them. Also, teachers can have their students use the same idea on a smaller scale and develop their own “moments in time.”

“War Games: Seeing Iraq Through The Eyes Of Its Children”


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