Saturday, June 5, 2010

At UMass Boston’s graduation, a vision shared - The Boston Globe

At UMass Boston’s graduation, a vision shared

Victoria Reggie Kennedy received an honorary doctor of laws degree yesterday from the UMass chancellor, J. Keith Motley. (Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

By Susan Milligan

Globe Staff / June 5, 2010

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Invoking the words and dreams of her late husband, Victoria Reggie Kennedy laid out for University of Massachusetts Boston graduates yesterday a vision for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate as a place where students from grade school to graduate school can become part of the nation’s ongoing political history.

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The institute, to be built on the UMass campus, “will not be, as some have cynically suggested, a static library or a shrine, either to my husband or even to the US Senate,’’ Kennedy said in her keynote address to thousands of UMass graduates, addressing critics’ complaints that the center would be more of a tribute than a learning tool.

Instead, she said, the center will be interactive, allowing visitors and students to reenact debates, learn the histories of each individual Senate desk and its past occupant, and study the legislative process.

“It will be a dynamic center of learning and engagement that takes advantage of 21st-century technology to provide each visitor with a unique and information-rich, personalized experience that literally will bring history alive,’’ Kennedy said in the commencement address on a warm, sunny morning.

The senator’s widow also received an honorary doctor of laws degree, an award UMass chancellor J. Keith Motley said was earned for her “strong advocacy for women, children, and families,’’ as well as her work against gun violence.

Another Bay Stater, US Representative Edward J. Markey, was given the Chancellor’s Medal for Exemplary Leadership for his three decades of work on energy and the environment. Markey, a Democrat and the dean of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, chairs the Select Committee on Global Warming and Energy Independent, coauthored the House climate change bill,

Congress: close the hedge fund loophole

Click here for a larger version of Moveon.org's chart

One of the most egregious tax loopholes is the "hedge fund loophole."

These wealthy money managers, some of whom earn more than $1 billion per year, pay just a fraction of the tax rate paid by working people.

They get away with this because they convinced an earlier Congress to call their compensation for managing money, known as "carried interest," to be investment income rather than the equivalent of a salary or wages. And they even avoid Social Security taxes on their huge incomes.

Now, Congress is moving towards fixing this by closing the "hedge fund loophole" as part of the financial reform package that has passed the House and the Senate already.

With such enormous incomes, these hedge fund titans have a lot of clout in Congress and have managed to stave off closing the loophole many times before. They will not let this loophole close without a fight and the vote will be very close. It is time for super wealthy hedge fund managers to pay as much as the rest of us.

Personalized Assessment �Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

Personalized Assessment

by Dean Shareski

Cross posted at Tech Learning
One of the current buzz words in the world of educational technology is “personalized learning” I’ve used it often and while it’s been used prior to the influx of technology in schools, the internet is making it more of a reality and possibility than ever before. If indeed we believe in the value of a personalized learning experience then I think we also need to consider what personalized assessment and evaluation might look like as well.
Trying to define or actualize the concept of personalized learning in schools is still a little fuzzy. Here are a few examples that I think exemplify personalized learning
Will Richardson shares the story of a high school Spanish teacher who decided his students would learn Spanish in the context of their passions or interests. For one student that meant finding a Spanish fashion designer and blogger to connect with and simply begin by reading her blog and leaving comments. Not only was this highly motivating for the student but as a bonus, the designer ended up asking the student to help her learn

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

Rhabdomyoma? On to the finals...

Lanson Tang, 14, of Potomac, Md., among last 10 in national spelling bee.

In Arizona, a school mural controversy

Associated Press

In Arizona, an elementary school principal is said to have ordered that the faces of some children depicted in a giant mural be lightened after receiving complaints about the ethnicity of the kids.

The Arizona Republic reports that Jeff Lane, the principal at Miller Valley Elementary School in Prescott, said he sent artists out only to fix shading.

But R.E. Wall, the leader of Prescott’s Downtown Mural Projects, said he was ordered to lighten the skin tone on the "Go on Green" mural, which covers two walls outside Miller Valley and was designed to advertise a campaign for environmentally friendly transportation.

How brain drains will save the world

In this era of rising college expectations -- more applications, more students and more university places than ever -- we Americans remain very insular. We think nothing can be better than Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford or some other moldy brick institution high on the U.S. News list. A few adventurous U.S. students are enrolling in Canadian and British schools, but nobody talks about that in the high school cafeteria or the PTA.

Our self-regard is, in some ways, justified. On most international ratings, one of the topics of Ben Wildavsky's intriguing new book "The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reshaping the World," U.S. colleges still dominate the top 10. But Wildavsky reveals that that will probably change. Students in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America are beginning to speak as knowledgeably about France's Ecole Polytechnique, the Indian Institutes of Technology and Britain's University of Leicester as they do about Columbia and Caltech. Many foreign universities are catching up with ours.

In our comfortable spot at the top of the world's higher ed pyramid, we are ignoring one of the most powerful trends of the 21st century -- a

Trolling the charters for 'master educators'

While some charter school officials are concerned that the lucrative new teachers contract will trigger an exodus of talent, DCPS is recruiting aggressively right now from its charter neighbors. That includes enlisting instructors to serve as so-called "master educators" to evaluate public school teachers under the new IMPACT system. DCPS plans to expand its corps of about three dozen master educators with 10 new hires.

Here's a recent pitch from program coordinator Kathy Choi to a teacher at KIPP DC: AIM Academy:

From: Choi, Kathy (DCPS-OOC) [Kathy.Choi@dc.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 1:23 PM
To:XXXXX
Subject: Interest in the DCPS Master Educator Position

Dear XXXXX,

I hope this message finds you well. My name is Kathy Choi, and I am one of the Program Coordinators for the Master Educator Program here

Matthew Zisi, 13, of Fredericksburg, celebrates Thursday on spelling a word correctly in the third round of the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington (AP)

Free Technology for Teachers: Lessons from John Wooden - Coach and Teacher

Lessons from John Wooden - Coach and Teacher Hall of Fame basketball coach and player John Wooden passed away yesterday at the age of 99. Wooden is best known for leading UCLA to ten basketball national championships in twelve years. But if you watch and read interviews with his former players ...

Posterous Adds Static Pages Free blogging platform Posterous started out offering no more than a simple way for people to quickly start blogging. Over the last year Posterous has slowly added some great enhancements including themes and multimedia posts. Today, Posterous added ...

Most Popular StumbleUpon Sites | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Most Popular StumbleUpon Sites As I’ve explained in earlier pieces, I periodically post “most popular” lists of websites (and books) that I think educators might find useful. Of course, there are a number of ways to gauge “popularity.” I just view these lists as opportunities to ...

World Cup Update Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The World Cup: NBC Sports has a special World Cup page. CNN also has a special World Cup page.

“Educational Leadership” Archives Now Available — Free ASCD’s journal Educational Leadership appears to have made its past issues available to the public for free online. I’m always impressed by the quality of its articles. Thanks to Kathleen K. Manzo for the tip.

What is a “Student Issue”? � Student Activism

What is a “Student Issue”?

by Angus Johnston

For the last couple of months I’ve been helping to facilitate a weekly Twitter discussion on student government called #sgachat. This week’s chat (details here) was on the “student issues” issue — the question of which topics are appropriate for student governments to take on. Should student governments confine themselves to working on “student issues” only, and if so, what is a student issue anyway?
The whole chat is well worth reading, but as I was looking it over I realized that my own contributions to it, posted from the @studentactivism Twitter account, added up to a sort of mini-essay, written in 140-character bursts. Not the most eloquent thing I’ve ever written, but for those who are interested in the subject, it may have some appeal, so here goes…

The “student issue” debate has been around for 75+ years, and activists have answered it in a variety of interesting ways.

Most major student movements have arisen from students addressing big social issues through campus channels.

ROTC in NYC in 1930s. Free (political) speech at Berkeley 1964. Community relations Columbia 1968.

No agreement on education fix [Education Report]

No agreement on education fix

Fri., June 4, 2010

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. - Fixing education would go a long way toward fixing the Michigan economy, education officials said Thursday, but there appears to be little consensus on how to fix education, according to a report at mlive.com.

Speaking at the Detroit Regional Chamber 2010 Mackinac Policy Conference, charter public school founder Doug Ross said entrenched bureaucracies stand in the way of education reform in Detroit, while Detroit Public Schools emergency fiscal manager Robert Bobb said the district is willing to compete with public charter schools, the report said.

Meanwhile, Carol Goss, CEO of the Skillman Foundation in Detroit, called for mayoral control of Detroit schools, while Art VanElslander, founder of Art Van Furniture, said he can't find qualified candidates to fill the 100 sales jobs he has open, mlive reported.

Ross, who founded the University Preparatory Academy network, said the key to teaching urban students is to put them in small schools where they have meaningful relationships with educators under a principal who has control of the school, mlive reported.

He said the current public school model may be beyond reform, according to mlive, while Bobb said he believes reform is possible by setting aggressive goals.

VanElslander, representing the business community on the education panel, said, "I'm looking to hire one hundred salesmen right now, and I just can't find them. ... I must

Education and New Jersey's budget Education | New Jersey Real-Time News - - NJ.com

Education | New Jersey Real-Time News - - NJ.com

Education and New Jersey's budget

By Letters to the Editor/The Star-Ledger

June 05, 2010, 5:44AM

The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie's budget proposals have come under criticism.
Cuts weren’t necessary
Kevin Manahan’s column “Big blunder cost teachers their good will” (May 27) is all wrong.

Manahan assumes Gov. Chris Christie’s budget cuts are necessary. They are not necessary at all. Christie has chosen to address the state budget with drastic cuts in essential services instead of raising taxes in a progressive manner. He makes the working people of New Jersey, instead of those who earn higher incomes, take the pain.
This is wrong, fiscally and morally. We should reject this so-called plan to enrich the rich at the expense of the rest.

Manahan claims teachers should take pay cuts because other citizens have taken pay cuts, lost their jobs, etc. This too is absurd. Has Manahan taken a pay cut because many of his readers have lost jobs?

Local News | Mount Si High School beating raises concern over treatment of gay students | Seattle Times Newspaper

Mount Si High School beating raises concern over treatment of gay students

A student was badly beaten at Mount Si High School, which had been the scene of a 2008 clash over an event highlighting the harassment of gay students. The recent attack has renewed questions about the climate at the school.

By Lynn Thompson

Times Snohomish County reporter

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Peggy Johnson's son was badly beaten at Mount Si High School.

ERIKA SCHULTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Peggy Johnson's son was badly beaten at Mount Si High School.

Help for bullying

State Education Ombudsman

The Washington State Office of the Education Ombudsman provides third-party conflict resolution for families and schools to help address bullying, harassment and other problems that affect public-school students.

The office provides information, consultation and coaching over the phone. The services are free and confidential.

To contact the OEO call: 1-866-297-2597.

Safe Schools Coalition

The Safe Schools Coalition provides support and advocacy for students being harassed because of gender expression or perceived sexual orientation. Help is available to the students, families or school staff of K-12 public and private schools. The organization also provides training to schools.

To contact the Safe School coalition, e-mail:intervention@safeschoolscoalition.org. Messages will be returned within 24 hours. Or call 1-877-SAFE-SAFE. Calls are answered 24/7 by staff at the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center who forward messages to a Safe Schools Coalition intervention specialist.

Hundreds of protesters and counter-protesters clashed outside Mount Si High School in the Snoqualmie Valley in 2008 over The Day of Silence, an annual event meant to call attention to the harassment of gay students.

Now, a brutal assault in the boys' locker room is raising questions about the climate for gay students at the school and whether administrators are doing enough to respond to bullying.

The November attack was the culmination of several weeks of taunts about the perceived sexual orientation of a freshman boy, his mother said. The assault victim was another 14-year-old boy who told Snoqualmie police that he was tired of his friend being picked on.

The assault broke his eye socket, two teeth and left him with a concussion. Medical assistance wasn't called for almost an hour, and the boy continues to have problems with dizziness and concentration, according to medical records.

A 16-year-old student, who knew neither of the boys, has been charged with second-degree assault in King County Superior Court and no longer attends the high school. His family declined comment. Another student, who allegedly led the taunts and was seen talking to the assailant immediately before the attack, told police that he didn't know the assailant and hadn't told him to assault the victim.

The Seattle Times is not naming the students because they are minors.

Late Thursday afternoon, the Snoqualmie Valley School District released the report of an independent investigation into the assault and the school's response. The report concluded that administrators

Parents step up fight to save school programs �| ajc.com

Parents step up fight to save school programs

By Gracie Bonds Staples

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

This year, education cuts have been bone-deep; and school officials warn there is no end in sight.

Enlarge photo

Joel Dallow, a cellist with the Atlanta Symphony, works with his daughter, Jenna, 10, on the violin, at their Roswell home. Dallow has for the second time in four years led the effort to convince the Fulton County school board to reinstate the elementary band and orchestra program. Four years ago it was a slam dunk. This time they haven't fared as well.

Curtis Compton, ccompton@ajc.comJoel Dallow, a cellist with the Atlanta Symphony, works with his daughter, Jenna, 10, on the violin, at their Roswell home. Dallow has for the second time in four years led the effort to convince the Fulton County school board to reinstate the elementary band and orchestra program. Four years ago it was a slam dunk. This time they haven't fared as well.

More Atlanta area news »

School boards and parents expected to deal with deficits. But as the budget season progressed, property values continued to fall. Metro area school officials revised their spending plans downward more than half a billion dollars, and the blade sank closer to home.

After fighting budget cuts this year, many parents say they are just beginning to make their voices heard.

In Fulton County, a parent group raised $8,000 to try to save the elementary school band and orchestra program. In Clayton, they protested a plan to end bus transportation to charter school. And in DeKalb, they turned back a threat to close neighborhood elementary schools.

"This is probably the first organized fight I've had with the board, but that's how important this is to me," said Deidra Williams of Jonesboro.

Even though her children weren't affected, the 43-year-old mother of three regularly attended Clayton County board meetings to argue against cutting bus service to charter schools in the district.

"I feel strongly that they needed to continue bus service because not everyone has the luxury of taking their kids to school," said Williams, who also sent e-mails to board members. "It really felt good getting involved in such a big way."

She intends to continue her efforts, even though Clayton officials still plan to reduce the bus service to charter schools. Williams is most proud, perhaps, of her daughter, Aris Williams, who spoke in English and Spanish at a recent board meeting on behalf of f