Sen. Bennet's Mysterious Teacher Bill - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Sen. Bennet's Mysterious Teacher Bill - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Sen. Bennet's Mysterious Teacher Bill

by Stephen Sawchuk

Over at Politics K-12, Alyson Klein has a very interesting item up about Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who recently introduced a school-turnaround bill. While some folks are pouring over that, though, here In the teacher-quality universe the question on the table is: What the heck happened to Bennet's teacher bill?
For months, the senator was said to be working on a teacher-quality bill that would not doubt have generated a lot of attention, given his closeness to the current administration on education issues. As the former superintendent in Denver, he's also had a lot of experience working with teachers.
For now, this bill seems to be on the backburner. Alyson surmises, that may be because of his precarious position in the upcoming elections and a desire to avoid tension with core constituencies like teachers' unions.

Outstanding and improved students honored at Capitol - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Outstanding and improved students honored at Capitol - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Outstanding and improved students honored at Capitol

by mgutierrez@sacbee.com (Melody Gutierrez)

More than 150 local students will be honored by Senate President Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg at 5:30 tonight in a ceremony at the State Capitol.
High school and middle school graduates were nominated as "Most Improved" and "Most Outstanding" by their Sacramento area schools for the graduation event.
Nominees were selected based on achievements in academics, athletics, community service, leadership and music and art.
"This is the most personally rewarding event I attend each year," Steinberg said. "It is inspirational to hear each student's story of determination and work ethic."

Technology: Black Hat Or White Hat? - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Technology: Black Hat Or White Hat? - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.:

Technology: Black Hat Or White Hat?

Classic Content = White Hat
Technology= Black Hat
Really?
What Makes One Think You Can't Learn Classics With Technology?

- C.J. Westerberg

Lately, we've been deluged with numerous articles about how technology is ruining our ability to function like human beings, here, making us even more stupid, here, less empathetic, here, and responsible for the destruction of any sensible way of life, let alone education.

"All things are true," is what a dear mentor once told me very early on in my career life. "To what degree?" was his "jolly" rejoinder to most all-encompassing statements. Well, in this case, the degree of technology infiltrating our lives is intense. So, folks, when I read this piece by Stanley Fish, here, in The NY Times, "A Classical Education: Back To the Future," it again reinforces the closed-minded silo-like mentality in the academic sphere.

Fish entices us into believing that there are three disparate views about to be conveyed. The main premise: the need for classic education. Okay, sounds interesting. Classic is a good connotation. Who in their right mind would not want their kids exposed to and reading great classics as a part of their education? Especially those parents reading an education opinion

Education Research Report: Changes in Liability Laws Could Open Up Schools for Community Recreation

Education Research Report: Changes in Liability Laws Could Open Up Schools for Community Recreation

Changes in Liability Laws Could Open Up Schools for Community Recreation

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

Politicians can't outlaw childhood obesity, but they can tweak current laws to encourage public schools to open their recreational facilities after hours without the fear of getting sued.

So concludes John Spengler, an associate professor in the University of Florida's Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sports Management.

Spengler recently completed a national study that found that even small legislative changes could encourage public schools to open their playgrounds and other sport and recreational facilities on school property for healthy recreation after school hours.

"For children in communities with few resources, a school in the heart of their community may be the only option for physical activity when a public park is too far away or their family can't afford to join a fitness center," said Spengler. "Without this option, they are more likely to stay in the house, watch television and play video games."

Schools are ideal for community recreation because they usually are closer to home, are more safe and familiar to kids and parents, and have exercise amenities such as tracks, gymnasiums, ball fields, playgrounds and

BUILDING TEACHER QUALITY IN BALTIMORE CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS:

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

Ω

The City Must Overhaul Its Tenure Process, Do More to Support Struggling Teachers
and Increase Compensation If It Wants to Retain Effective Teachers

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has released a report on Baltimore City Public Schools policiesthat praises the district for hiring new teachers with strong academic backgrounds, but criticizes it for not doing all it can to hold onto them. Among the report’s findings:

• When it comes to giving principals authority over the composition of their schools’ faculties, Baltimore is among the most progressive districts in the country.
• Despite district rules requiring annual evaluations of all teachers, only half were evaluated in 2008-09.
• While Baltimore’s salaries can’t compete with pay in surrounding districts, across-the-board raises are not the solution. The district should develop targeted strategies for increasing talent, such as offering high salaries to its most effective teachers.

In partnership with the Education Reform Project of the ACLU-Maryland, NCTQ studied both city and state regulations, comparing them with those found in NCTQ’s 101-district TR3 database (www.nctq.org/tr3). NCTQ also spoke with students, teachers, parents, administrators and union leaders, to see how policies play out in

Teen automobile crash rates are higher when school starts earlier

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

Ω

Early school start times promote sleep deprivation and daytime sleepiness, which can reduce the alertness of teen drivers


Earlier school start times are associated with increased teenage car crash rates, according to a research abstract that will be presented Wednesday, June 9, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th

Anticipated shakeup turns out to be a new deputy | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Anticipated shakeup turns out to be a new deputy | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Anticipated shakeup turns out to be a new deputy Joined by Mayor Nutter at a meeting of the School Reform Commmision, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman announced a "structural change" at the District: Leroy Nunery was promoted to a new high-level post as deputy superintendent for the School District ...

PCHR participants talk about the real business of school Unlike many of the previous hearings on school violence held by the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (PCHR), Tuesday night’s gathering of parents, principals, and students at the Towey Center in North Philadelphia highlighted some positive ...

White House's Go-To Senator Introduces Turnaround Bill - Politics K-12 - Education Week

White House's Go-To Senator Introduces Turnaround Bill - Politics K-12 - Education Week

White House's Go-To Senator Introduces Turnaround Bill Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., a former Denver schools chief, who is said to be the administration's go-to guy on education issues, just dropped this bill aimed at helping states and districts build capacity to turn around low-performing schools. ...

Spellings Steps in as Head of Chamber's Ed. Programs The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which was a major force behind the stepped up federal accountability in the No Child Left Behind law, has tapped former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to serve as the new head of its education programs. ...

Eduflack: "The Incredibly Shrinking Education Commissioner"

Eduflack: "The Incredibly Shrinking Education Commissioner"

"The Incredibly Shrinking Education Commissioner"

by Eduflack

We all assume that governors and their appointed education commissioners (or state superintendents or secretaries of education) will generally get along. When the top ed job is appointed (as opposed to many states that actually elect the educator-in-chief), the gov and the ed commish tend to hail from the same party. We assume they share the same general philosophy. And we most certainly expect that the commish serves at the pleasure of the governor, and is on the same page agenda wise (at least publicly).

But then we have those great political states like New Jersey, the state dear ol' Eduflack is mostly likely to call home. After reading the political soap opera that is education policy and politics in the Garden State, a state known for bare-knuckle politics, we are now seeing the best and worst of it on the education front.

For those who haven't been turning into the telenovela, here's what you missed. Gov. Chris Christie was elected last November despite the incredible vitriol and massive campaign attacks waged by the New Jersey Education Association. NJEA expected Christie would then play ball with them, as they are a powerful labor union in a state that generally appreciates powerful labor unions, but he refused (and who can blame him, after the attacks he suffered during the campaign). On Christie's first day of office, New Jersey submitted a Phase One Race to the Top app, based largely on the wishes of NJEA. The application didn't make the cut, and NJ was not a Phase

Harvard vs. the Internet � The Quick and the Ed

Harvard vs. the Internet � The Quick and the Ed

Harvard vs. the Internet

by Kevin Carey

Donald H. Pfister, Dean of Harvard Summer School, has sent a letter in response to my recent columnand follow-up blog post. It is reprinted in full below.
Dean Pfister is right to note that Harvard Summer School has been operating successfully for a long time, since 1871. This is important context that I should have provided to readers.
That said, nothing in his letter contradicts anything I wrote. Harvard Summer School is an open admissions program taught by a combination of Harvard professors and people who are not Harvard professors. It markets itself as an opportunity to pay thousands of dollars to live in Natalie Portman’s old dorm, which is kind of creepy. And Harvard College does not accept credits earned from Harvard Summer School’s online courses.
Dean Pfister explains this last fact as simply a function of general university policy. “No online credit from any institution can be used toward graduation,” he writes. Really! That’s remarkable. Harvard believes that this particular mode of communication–one that has become an integral part of the way people in modern society live and interact, to the point where roughly one quarter of all college students take courses online–is so illegitimate

Pay-for-performance plan (surprise!) subject to racism. At that was at the Pentagon. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Pay-for-performance plan (surprise!) subject to racism. At that was at the Pentagon. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Pay-for-performance plan (surprise!) subject to racism. At that was at the Pentagon.

by preaprez

Reporting on a Pentagon study in the Washington Post:

One big problem with the NSPS (National Security Personnel System) version of pay for performance was how, and by whom, employees’ performances were evaluated. Evaluations determined their pay. In his prepared text, John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, cited an internal NSPS report, prepared by SRA International, a Fairfax consulting firm,

NCSE | National Center for Science Education - Defending the Teaching of Evolution in Public Schools.

NCSE | National Center for Science Education - Defending the Teaching of Evolution in Public Schools.

Back in late 2009, we started offering free evolution book excerpts on the NCSE web site and via Facebook. The excerpts--often complete chapters--were culled from a range of tomes, from illustrated versions of the "Origin" to textbooks (such as Douglas Futuyma's "Evolution") to kids books (such as "Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be"). This program has been very popular with visitors to our web site and our Facebook page.

If you've missed my past messages about this or that excerpt, fear not! The excerpts are still accessible...and here, for your (and your readers') delectation:

Charles Darwin's On the Origin Of Species: A Graphic Adaptation (Rodale)
by Michael Keller
http://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/Illustrated Origin--Darwin--small--credit.pdf

The Tangled Bank (Roberts and Company)
by Carl Zimmer
http://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/Zimmer--Tangled Bank--chapter 10--with notice---FB.pdf

Evolution, Second Edition (Sinauer Associates)
By Douglas J. Futuyma
http://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/Evolution--Futuyma--chap11--fb.pdf

Evidence of Evolution (Abrams Books)
by Susan Middleton and Mary Ellen Hannibal
http://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/Evidence_combined--fb.pdf

Evolution: The story of life (UC Press)
by Douglas Palmer
http://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/Evolution--StoryofLife--fb.pdf

Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be (Kids Can Press)
by Daniel Loxton
http://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/Evolution--KidsCanPress--FB.pdf

Rapture Ready! (Scribner)
by Daniel Radosh
http://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/Excerpt--formatted--footnotes--FB.pdf

Evolution vs. Creationism, 2nd edition (Greenwood)
by Eugenie C. Scott
http://bit.ly/bmtqJd

Announcing The Great May Giveaway Winner The Women’s Conference

Announcing The Great May Giveaway Winner

Announcing The Great May Giveaway Winner

• Architects of Change

06/9/10 | The Women's Conference | 0 Comments

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Just last week we announced the recipients of the2010 Minerva Award®. This week we want to share with you the many, many more Minervas among us in The Women’s Conference community.

On May 1st we asked you to tell us when you first realized that you could make a difference --What was your Minerva Moment?

Hundreds of you have had Minerva Moments and recognize the power you wield in your day-to-day lives. Many of you have started foundations and nonprofits to answer a need in your communities and the world; others have used your time and skills to raise money or awareness on behalf of others. Some of you have stood up to abusive partners, and still others of you have taught your children the value of giving back.

Explore The Women’s Conference community’s many Minervas and Minerva Moments here, My Minerva Moment.

Below is The Great May Giveaway winning response, as well as the three honorable mentions. These women found the strength – sometimes in the face of adversity – to help the women in the Congo who had been brutally raped, to remember that giving back is something we can do every day, to reach out to AIDS patients, and to help other women who have been in abusive relationships.

Winner:

Kate

My Minerva Moment occurred when I was a senior in high school. My mother was watching the Oprah Winfrey show as she normally did after work. One night she called me into the room

Never Underestimate the California Teachers Association | Intercepts

Never Underestimate the California Teachers Association | Intercepts

Never Underestimate the California Teachers Association

by Mike Antonucci

There was a lot of excitement in the California education community this week, anticipating the election for state Superintendent of Public Instruction. All of the major candidates were Democrats, but the contest was widely viewed as a faceoff between Tom Torlakson, the choice of the California Teachers Association, and Gloria Romero, the choice of the reform crowd.
Some people felt this was the time for CTA comeuppance, particularly after a May 28 e-mail from a Southern California UniServ director was leaked. The memo revealed, “The polling data on our own members has Gloria Romero ahead of Tom Torlakson by a healthy margin, about 31-21…. Most of our members have no idea who Tom Torlakson is and what he stands for.”
The Latino Politics Blog, which posted the e-mail, opined, “This is a primer in how unions mobilize their base, but in this case, there seems to be a disconnect between who the leadership wants to see in the state superintendent role vs. the sentiment of the rank and file teachers.”
You’re reading this blog, so you know this is hardly an unusual circumstance. When CTA leaders and

BP destroys lives. Congress protects it from liability. � Fred Klonsky's blog

BP destroys lives. Congress protects it from liability. � Fred Klonsky's blog

BP destroys lives. Congress protects it from liability.

by preaprez

“My name is Diane Wilson. I am a fourth generation shrimper from the Gulf. With this BP disaster, I am seeing the destruction of my community and I am outraged. I am also seeing elected representatives like Senator Lisa Murkowski blocking BP from being legally responsible to pay for this catastrophe. She stopped the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act and wants to keep the liability cap at a pitiful $75 million. This is outrageous. How dare she side with big oil over the American people who have been so devastated by this manmade disaster.”

For four generations, Diane Wilson‘s family has shrimped the Gulf coast. At a Senate Energy Committee hearing

Notes from the news, June 9 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, June 9 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, June 9

by Erika Owens

In West non-vote, did the SRC violate the Sunshine Act? The Notebook blog
The Sunshine Act requires that decision-making take place in public, but it's unclear where the decision was made to delay the vote on West's Renaissance Schools provider.

See also: While controversy swirls, life goes on for many at West The Notebook blog
Turmoil at West Philadelphia High could leave 50% teaching posts empty WHYY

Phila. teacher reassignment put on hold The Inquirer
The forced transfer of more than 500 teachers has been put on hold due to confusion and complaints of contract violations.

Schools set to pick new deputy chief Philadelphia Tribune
Leroy Nunery will likely be named deputy superintendent at today's SRC meeting.

S. Philly High 6 months later: What still needs work The Notebook blog
The statistics District officials have cited during a recent media blitz do not reflect the reality of ongoing harassment and violence, or stats on the District's own site, writes Helen Gym.

How one Phila. school diffused a recent conflict The Inquirer
At the seventh of 11 hearings on school violence before the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission, the principal of Kensington Business High School described how a proactive approach helped defuse a potentially explosive situation.

Show the love: Become a Notebook Member The Notebook blog
We need your help to reach our goal of 500 Members. Meet other Notebook readers and Members at our event next Tuesday!

One Week Away Practical Theory blog
One week till Science Leadership Academy graduates its first class.

Graduación de escuela charter virtual en PA Al Día

Dud grenade found at S. Phila. elementary school The Inquirer

Kindergartner missing from school had walked home The Inquirer

As education level rises, unemployment rate falls The Inquirer

Kids squeezed out of school programs Roxborough Review

Area schools taking bigger economic hit Courier Times News

Students Hurt in SW Philadelphia School Bus Ax KYW

Tech Tool vs Learning Tool Philly Teacher blog

Please email us if we missed anything today or if you have any suggestions of publications, email lists, or other places for us to check for news.

Click here to get Notes from the news in your inbox every day.

Notes from the news

The Educated Guess � Parent activists come together

The Educated Guess � Parent activists come together

Parent activists come together

Posted in Advocacy organizations, Revenue and taxes

Cupertino parents’ success in raising $2.5 million in eight weeks to save 100 teachers’ jobs and small classes is providing a model for parents in other communities distraught over budget cuts threatening their schools.
The huge, time-consuming effort also taught a lesson to Cupertino parents, which they are happy to share: Once is plenty; don’t count on doing this every year to bail out your budgets.

The outgrowth of the Cupertino experience is a new, as yet unnamed Silicon Valley organization of parents with a two-prong goal: grass-roots organizing to save local schools and regional and state activism to reform education funding.
“Ours was a band-aid solution so the next logical step is long-term solutions,” said Hoi-Yung Poon, one of the parent organizers in Cupertino. “We need to look at the larger revenue and funding structure.”
Last month, a forum to discuss Cupertino’s fund-raising tactics drew 50 parent leaders from the Bay Area. Since then, parent leaders from 10 districts have met to lay out steps to create their organization over the summer. They have created a Yahoo group, parentsforaction, and plan to hold candidates’ forums on education and on Proposition 13 in the fall. Some of the organizers are interested in Close the Loophole, a campaign organized by San Francisco assessor Phil Ting to fix tax loopholes benefiting owners of commercial real estates.
The statewide PTA does advocacy and has joined the state school boards and administrators associations in Robles-Wong v. California, challenging the state’s level of school funding. But on a local level, most PTAs are focused on raising

National Journal Online -- Education Experts -- What Effect Will D.C. Teachers' New Contract Have?

National Journal Online -- Education Experts -- What Effect Will D.C. Teachers' New Contract Have?

No Model, Pointless Anyway

Diane Ravitch

Research Professor Of Education, New York University

The DC teachers contract has no lessons for other districts. At this time of budgetary constraint, no district could afford to pay big bonuses or salaries to the teachers who produce the highest test scores. Where would the district get the money to pay bonuses while handing out pink slips to hundreds or thousands of other teachers? Perhaps the Gates Foundation and a few other foundations with lots of money would like to underwrite similar plans for other districts, but it is hard to see the point.

After all, there is now a solid body of research demonstrating that teacher effects are unstable; that teachers whose students get high test scores one year may not produce the same results consistently year after year because students are not randomly assigned to classes. So teacher A may get a big bonus or salary one year, then fall to the middle of the pack the next year.

And to what purpose? To produce higher scores on standardized tests with multiple-choice questions in which students are not asked to demonstrate knowledge or understanding. To do this at the same t...

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For-Profit Colleges Fight Limits On Student Loans : NPR

For-Profit Colleges Fight Limits On Student Loans : NPR

For-Profit Colleges Fight Limits On Student Loans

by CLAUDIO SANCHEZ

Listen to the Story

Morning Edition

[1 min 22 sec]

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June 9, 2010

For-profit colleges are lobbying to kill new regulations designed to hold down student debt loads. The Department of Education is expected to formally propose rules that would cut off federal aid to colleges whose graduates don't earn enough to pay back their loans. A draft of the regulations was released in February.