Thursday, June 24, 2010

Calif. gets $416M to turn around failing schools - Boston.com

GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS

Chief empathy officer

WATERTOWN — With red masks covering their eyes, the executives fumbled for spoons and tried to guess what they were eating. (By Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff)

‘Healing place’ in Roxbury reopened

Weeks after James P. Timilty Middle School students faced a second peer death in as many years, the Roxbury community yesterday celebrated the reopening of what one parent described as a “healing place’’ next door, the Clarence “Jeep’’ Jones Park. (By Sydney Lupkin, Globe Correspondent)

Condoms, secrecy for Provincetown pupils

Students in Provincetown — from elementary school to high school — will be able to get free condoms at school under a recently approved policy that takes effect this fall. The rule also requires school officials to keep student requests secret, and ignore parents’ objections. (By Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent)

Theological schools’ partnership could reshape clergy training

Leaders of Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre and Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, which will become partners in a yet-to-be-named interreligious institution next summer, say the new school has the potential to revolutionize the training of clergy by offering a more sustainable financial model that fits a more religiously diverse society. (By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff)

At Wentworth, survivors learn to build a stronger Haiti

Charles-Edouard Jean was in the middle of an afternoon shower in his Port-au-Prince home when the floor began to tremble beneath him and his wife let out a scream. The most destructive earthquake in Haiti’s history had struck. (By Alex Katz, Globe Correspondent)

Calif. gets $416M to turn around failing schools

June 24, 2010

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SAN FRANCISCO—State education officials say the federal government has awarded $416 million to California to turn around dozens of its lowest public schools.

Jack O'Connell, the state superintendent of public instruction, said Thursday that California received the money from the U.S. Department of Education's School Improvement Grants program.

School districts can apply for grants of $50,000 to $2 million to turn around 188 "persistently lowest achieving schools" that state education officials identified in March.

To get the grants, districts will have to take drastic measures to reform the struggling schools, such as converting to a charter school, replacing the principal, firing half the staff or closing entirely and sending the students to another school.

Budget cuts put Oregon in jeopardy of losing a half billion dollars | OregonLive.com

Budget cuts put Oregon in jeopardy of losing a half billion dollars

Published: Thursday, June 24, 2010, 5:29 PM Updated: Thursday, June 24, 2010, 5:53 PM

Bill Graves, The Oregonian
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Gov. Ted Kulongoski's order for state budget cuts this week puts Oregon in jeopardy of losing a half billion dollars in federal stimulus money for education.

State leaders say they will make sure that doesn't happen. But that means they either must get a waiver from federal rules or raise at least $14 million for the state's community colleges and universities and about $3 million for public school special education.

Under the U.S. Department of Education's State Fiscal Stabilization Fund Program, Oregon received $570 million for three years ending in June 2011.

To keep that money, the state must maintain its financial support for public schools and higher education at or above 2006 levels – what government calls a sufficient "maintenance of effort" or MOE.

The governor on Tuesday ordered 9 percent across-the-board budget cuts to adjust to a $577 million hole in the budget resulting from the recession and declining state revenue. His order shaves state support for higher education in next year's budget below 2006 levels by about $32 million.

State funding for special education also dropped about $3 million below federal requirements, said Rep. Peter Buckley, D-Ashland.

State higher education funding this year topped the 2006 federal minimum by about $18 million so the state may be able to shift that much money into next year's allocation for colleges and

NYC Public School Parents: Assembly member Gottfried on the pro-charter mailing sent out by ERN without his consent

Assembly member Gottfried on the pro-charter mailing sent out by ERN without his consent

See Assembly Member Gottfried's response to Jan Carr's email to him, about the pro-charter school flyer she received in the mail sent by the charter lobbyists Education Reform Now in his name:

I am appalled about the "Education Reform Now" mailing, because it utterly misrepresents my position.

I do not support charter schools, and have spoken out frequently against them. I support a long list of proposals to rein them in, make them treat teachers and students more fairly, provide transparency, prevent crowding out public schools, etc. etc. I voted for the charter school bill because it includes many of those important changes. For me, the part of the bill that increased the limit on the number of charter schools was a regrettable price to pay for the valuable parts of the bill. I felt we were destined to lose the fight to keep the number down anyway.

The "Education Reform Now" people supported the bill for the opposite reason. I understand they have sent out these dishonest mailings in the districts of many legislators who voted for the bill for the reasons I did.

The implication of what you wrote above is that these flyers were mailed out without his permission; AM Gottfried, is that an accurate interpretation of your statement?

Yes. I understand that the mailer was sent in the name of ERN, not in my name. The prominence of my name and photo give the

Progressives at War in Schools and Classrooms* � Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Progressives at War in Schools and Classrooms*

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Making most teachers superb artisans in their classroom craft and individualizing instruction for 30-plus students have eluded policymakers, academics, and practitioners for well over a century. With the publication of Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College and the prototype “School of One” in New York City, progressive dreams of better teaching and personalized learning once again confront the realities of public schooling in the U.S.

First, Teach Like a Champion. A former Teach for America alumnus, Lemov studied and video-taped TFAers and veteran teachers in largely poor and minority schools who were successful in managing their classes and raising students’ test scores. He distilled what he learned from hundreds of teachers he observed into 49 techniques–he is explicit about the word “techniques,” making clear that teaching is a craft that can be learned and that these tools are associated with teacher success in urban schools.

Now, “School of One.” It is a one million dollar pilot after-school math program aimed at low-income minority middle school students that individualizes

On Changing One’s Mind about Schooling

by larrycuban

1 person liked this

In Diane Ravitch’s new book (The Death and Life of the Great American School System), she tells of her recent switch from championing school reforms (testing, accountability, and choice) as a federal policymaker, educational historian, and pundit to rejecting these policies. Ravitch’s turnaround got me thinking about what I had believed earlier in my career and believe now fifty years later.
I began teaching high school in 1955 filled with the passion to teach history to youth and help them find their niche in the world while making a better society. At that time, I believed wholeheartedly in words taken from John Dewey’s “Pedagogic Creed” (1897): “… education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform.”

And I tried to practice those utopian words in my teaching in Cleveland (OH) and Washington, D.C. between the early 1960s and mid-1970s. While in retrospect I could easily call this faith in the power of teaching and schooling to make a better life and society naïve, I do not. That passionate idealism about teaching and the role that schooling plays in a democratic, market-driven society gave meaning and drive to those long days working as a teacher, getting married, starting a family, and taking university classes at night.
That confident belief in the power of schools to reform society took me to Washington, D.C. in 1963 to teach Peace Corps returnees how to become teachers at Cardozo High School. I stayed nearly a decade in D.C.

Remainders: “Critical injury triage” at a closing high school | GothamSchools

Remainders: “Critical injury triage” at a closing high school

by Elizabeth Green

Inside Tilden High School during its last days, a “triage” atmosphere. (Huff Post)
The city Dept of Ed launched a sustainability website today. (Insideschools)
A tearful end to eighth grade — because they will miss it. (Miss Eyre)
The Chicago schools district will lay teachers off based on performance. (Sun Times)
Nationwide, fewer students are getting diagnosed with learning disabilities. (Flypaper)
Is talking about teaching “techniques” at odds with progressive education? (Larry Cuban)
Nearly 1,000 neighborhoods will compete for Promise zone money. (NPR)
Randi Weingarten, Michelle Rhee, and Davis Guggenheim share the red carpet. (WashPost)
Four ways to have a difficult conversation with a teacher. (ACSD)
A roundup of ways to use cell phones in the classroom — productively! (Innovative Educator)

Why the high school counselor issue is important to elementary teachers � SCUSD Observer

SCUSD Observer

Why the high school counselor issue is important to elementary teachers

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: 15,000 of us in Detroit

15,000 of us in Detroit

by Mike Klonsky

If you're looking for lots of energy and hope for the future, the US Social Forum in Detroit is the place to be. 15,000 registered, the woman at the registration desk tells me. And there lots more without orange wrist bands.
Lots of educators and school activists. Ed workshops (some 50) line up bumper to bumper. Our's bumps heads with some of my favorite folks. Then there's the big assemblies that break down into smaller discussion groups. One today was introduced by Bill Ayers and featured the venerable

City, union agree to merit pay deal for struggling schools | GothamSchools

City, union agree to merit pay deal for struggling schools

by Anna Phillips

The city and the teachers union have struck a performance pay deal that will tie some teachers’ salaries to a range of measures of their effectiveness, including their students’ test scores.
The deal is part of a federal grant program to “turn around” the city’s most struggling schools. It also builds on ateacher evaluation agreement reached between the union and state education officials last month. According to the deal, 34 schools that have been designated as persistently lowest achieving will be able to pay model teachers significantly more money to take on greater responsibilities. Deemed the best-of-the-best, these teachers will mentor their colleagues, write curriculum, and open their classrooms to teachers who want to watch a lesson.
City officials have decided that 11 of these 34 schools will undergo the transformation model beginning next September. This means they can get support services, have an extended school day or an entirely new schedule, and can keep the teachers they have. In some cases, the city may decide to replace these schools’ principals.
The other 23 schools will experience one of three other plans offered by the federal government: turnaround (in

HISD board approves $1.6 billion budget | School Zone | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

HISD board approves $1.6 billion budget

The Houston school board voted 7-0 this evening to approve a $1.6 billion spending plan that, as we reported in today's paper, includes modest raises for some teachers. Trustees Harvin Moore and Larry Marshall were absent. Moore is out of the country. I'm not sure about Marshall.

Before the vote, Andy Dewey, the vice president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, told the trustees and the administration that their comments about not having enough money in the budget to fund raises for all employees were unfounded. He noted, for example, that the district is spending $29.5 million for the ASPIRE performance bonuses. Some of that money, he said, could go toward across-the-board salary bumps. A 1 percent raise for non-teaching employees would cost between $15 million and $17 million. Some of the ASPIRE money comes from grants dedicated to performance pay, so it's unclear how much of it could have covered traditional raises. It didn't matter though because none of the board members offered to amend the budget.

Wretha Thomas, the president of the Houston Educational Support Personnel union, said

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Thursday, June 24, 2010