Education - latimes.com

Education - latimes.com:

Showcasing student talents in 'Peter Pan,' downtown's arts school concludes its first year. By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times Overcoming a few roadblocks during the first year, administrators and students of Central Los Angeles High School No. 9 School of Visual and Performing Arts remain optimistic. Cal State Stanislaus dinner patrons cheer Sarah Palin By Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times Protesters chant outside before her arrival. In her speech, she chides Jerry Brown and jokes about the controversy surrounding her contract. Villaraigosa backs charter school bids, rips Cortines By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times The mayor says L.A. Unified didn't give charters a fair chance in an earlier bid for control of new and low-performing campuses. L.A. Unified hires Gates Foundation official as deputy superintendent By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times The appointment raises speculation that John Deasy could replace Supt. Ramon C. Cortines within two years. UC Irvine protest case raises questions about discipline practices By Larry Gordon and Raja Abdulrahim, Los Angeles Times Campus suspends Muslim Student Union for allegedly planning to disrupt Israeli diplomat's speech, and then denying it. Experts say it's unusual for a whole group to be sanctioned in civil disobedience cases. 'Hip Hop High' charter school in its closing days By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times Hawthorne's Academy for Recording Arts, known for giving troubled students access to a recording studio, shuts Thursday. Neither its online curriculum nor its teacher-led classes could save it.

EDUCATION Headlines from L.A. Now Former Newport Beach high school employee accused of stealing student body funds06/26/2010, 8:14 a.m. Protesters, backers turn out in advance of Palin's talk06/25/2010, 8:34 p.m. Parents brawl at kindergarten graduation; officials lock down campus06/24/2010, 7:24 a.m. San Diego Unified chooses Kowba, a retired Navy admiral and insider, as superintendent06/22/2010, 8:58 p.m. Final L.A. Unified budget deals especially hard blow to non-teaching employees06/22/2010, 8:18 p.m. Paramount High School stabbing leaves student in critical condition06/22/2010, 12:04 p.m. More ...

Local News | Mount Si High assault will get state, federal reviews | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Mount Si High assault will get state, federal reviews | Seattle Times Newspaper

Mount Si High assault will get state, federal reviews

State and federal officials are looking into whether students' civil rights were violated in the wake of an assault last November at Mount Si High School.

By Lynn Thompson

Times Snohomish County reporter

State and federal officials are looking into whether students' civil rights were violated in the wake of an assault last November at Mount Si High School.

The assault left a 14-year-old freshman with a broken eye socket and raised questions about whether the Snoqualmie school had adequately addressed bullying and harassment.

The Community Relations Service of the U.S. Department of Justice will assess the school climate for gay

Retired, then rehired: How college workers use loophole to boost pay

A Seattle Times investigation has found that at least 40 university or community-college employees in Washington retired and were rehired within weeks, often returning to the same job without the position ever being advertised. That has allowed them to double dip by collecting both a salary and a pension.

Schools Matter: Rotten to the Common Core: When Will Parents and Teachers Revolt?

Schools Matter: Rotten to the Common Core: When Will Parents and Teachers Revolt?

Rotten to the Common Core: When Will Parents and Teachers Revolt?

by Jim Horn

Below is a letter from Georgia teacher, Cindy Lutenbacher, reprinted from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Business Roundtable's national standards movement is on Go, and coming along with it is the national testing movement, as announced last week, with two groups of corporate interests vying for control by leading two groups of governors by the nose to the $160 million that will pay the corporations to develop the national tests from which they will then profit mightily: "Two big coalitions of states are competing for federal dollars to create a series of new national academic tests to replace the current patchwork

Mitch Daniels Wants Public Schools to Give Away Property to KIPP

by Jim Horn

If you think that that the apartheid charter chain gangss of KIPP, Inc. and the KIPP wannabes get special treatment by conservatives in search of a solution to the inevitable browning of America, you would be right, of course. And even though KIPP, Inc. sits on a billion dollar empire with unlimited corporate foundation backing in the future, Gov. Mitch would like to see cash-starved public schools give away their property to

How Segregation Cheats Learners

by Jim Horn

The 100 million dollar PR machine behind KIPP could almost make you forget that KIPPsters attend schools that are black enough to get a George Wallace seal of approval.

I came across the work of Scott Page again this evening, and when I checked, I had somehow forgotten to post this interview article in the NYTimes back in 2008. As the lunatic segregationists take center stage in

Process is More Important than Content | Lefty Parent

Process is More Important than Content | Lefty Parent

Process is More Important than Content

by Cooper Zale

An engraving of a Quaker meeting in Colonial America

Our fellow travelers on the conservative side of the political spectrum are generally great champions of the principle of liberty, though it seems they often advocate for applying this principle inconsistently in favor of the rich and powerful and their rights to use property and conduct business as they wish, even at the expense of the rest of us. Unfortunately, we on the progressive side are just as guilty of inconsistency in applying humanistic principles like the Golden Rule.


We on the left are quick to tar those on the right with believing in the bastard corollary of that Rule which is sometimes stated as, “He who has the gold makes the rules”, yet we are guilty of forgetting that how we attempt

The next best thing to being there… | Reflections on Teaching

The next best thing to being there… | Reflections on Teaching

The next best thing to being there…

by alicemercer

Given how crazy this last school year has been, I opted to skip the ISTE conference (formerly NECC) this year. It’s just as well, because I have an ugly summer cold coming on. While I miss all the great folks, I’m happy to be sitting home in bed, BUT this doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the conference from afar. I’ve been following it on twitter,

Fantasia gives free concert in Newark park to support school choice bill | NJ.com

Fantasia gives free concert in Newark park to support school choice bill | NJ.com

Fantasia gives free concert in Newark park to support school choice bill

Published: Saturday, June 26, 2010, 5:08 PM Updated: Saturday, June 26, 2010, 5:08 PM

David Giambusso/The Star-Ledger
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Mitsu Yasukawa/The Star-LedgerFormer American Idol Fantasia sings as one of the spokespeople in Newark to rally for school choice.

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NEWARK — After winning American Idol, starring on Broadway, and making a platinum album, soul singer Fantasia Barrino said one of her proudest accomplishments was getting her high school diploma.

"I take it with me everywhere I go," she said today before performing to a crowd of over a thousand at Newark’s Washington Park. "At the end of the day, I still need that education."

Fantasia joined a roster of hip-hop stars including Kurtis Blow, Terrence J and Erick Sermon at the free concert held in support of the Opportunity Scholarship Act, a bill currently before the state legislature that would create a scholarship fund for kids in failing schools.

The bill, introduced in March by State Sen. Ray Lesniak (R-Union) and Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-Union), would provide scholarships for students in failing schools allowing them to attend private, parochial or alternative public schools.The group Excellent Education for Everyone, or E3, put the concert together to garner support for the bill and explain to parents what it entailed.

"We tried to get a feel for what the parents wanted," said Dana Rone, a former Newark councilwoman and the event’s organizer. She said the group canvassed households throughout the state, explaining the bill and gauging public support. "All of our polls came in over 64 percent,

Sunday in the Post — what's holding up the FCAT scores?

Sunday in the Post — what's holding up the FCAT scores?

For students and their parents, the wait for FCAT scores has been endless.

Results of this year's writing tests were due in April, but the state Department of Education has yet to release them.

The same goes for the reading, math and science scores that the state had expected to release by late May for fourth graders through high school juniors. So far, only third graders have received their math and reading results.

Even with the DOE finally planning to issue the scores early next week, people want to know: What went wrong?

The answer centers on Pearson Plc., a giant London-based media and education company that last year won a $254 million, multiyear

CA cities vote to pay more taxes to help schools - San Jose Mercury News

CA cities vote to pay more taxes to help schools - San Jose Mercury News

CA cities vote to pay more taxes to help schools

By TERENCE CHEA Associated Press Writer

Posted: 06/26/2010 09:16:25 AM PDT

Updated: 06/26/2010 09:16:25 AM PDT

ALAMEDA, Calif.—To help protect their schools from California's unrelenting budget crisis, some communities are voting to pay more property taxes to preserve teacher jobs, smaller class sizes and electives such as art and music.

So far this year, more than 20 districts have held elections for school parcel taxes, which are levied on individual parcels of property, and at least 16 have approved them. More districts are trying to place such measures on the ballot later this year.

But the tax measures, which require a two-thirds majority to pass, are mostly winning approval in smaller, wealthier districts, according to education experts, raising worries about growing inequality between schools in rich and poor communities.

"It's a story of widening disparity," said John Rogers, who heads the UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education and Access. "Across the state, the pain is felt everywhere, but because of the unequal distribution of wealth, some areas are able to respond."

Some California lawmakers and education advocates are pushing legislation that would lower the percentage of the vote needed to pass a school parcel tax to 55 percent.

The two-thirds threshold was just out of reach for Alameda, a San Francisco Bay area city that failed to pass a school parcel tax Tuesday even though nearly 66 percent of voters approved it.

Hundreds of volunteers staffed phone banks and knocked on doors to campaign for Measure E, which would have

given the city some of California's highest school taxes, with homeowners paying $659 annually. But it was fiercely

NYC Public School Parents: More on Anthony Rotunno and the culture of "empowerment" at DOE

NYC Public School Parents: More on Anthony Rotunno and the culture of "empowerment" at DOE

More on Anthony Rotunno and the culture of "empowerment" at DOE

by Leonie Haimson

See the comment below our previous posting, from a student at Pleasantville high school in Westchester; where Anthony Rotunno was recently hired to be principal.

As reported yesterday in the Daily News, Rotunno was the subject of a scathing new audit from the NY State Comptroller's office, accusing him of allowing his staff to raid thousands of dollars of funds from student bake sales and more when he was principal of JFK HS in the Bronx. More on this in today's Daily News:

“Pleasantville School District officials said it wasn't until they saw the Daily News' front-page

At Some High Schools, Multiple Valedictorians - NYTimes.com

At Some High Schools, Multiple Valedictorians - NYTimes.com

How Many Graduates Can Be No. 1? Ask the 30 Valedictorians

Richard M. Hackett/The Longmont Times-Call

Ten students at Lyons High School in Colorado shared top ranking this year as co-valedictorians.

By WINNIE HU

Published: June 26, 2010

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There will be no valedictory speech at Jericho High School’s graduation on Sunday. With seven seniors laying claim to the title by compiling A-plus averages, no one wanted to sit through a solid half-hour of inspirational quotations and sappy memories.

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Darvin Yi, one of nine valedictorians at Cherry Hill High School East in southern New Jersey. The school picked one graduation speaker by lottery and printed speeches from the others.

Instead, the seven will perform a 10-minute skit titled “2010: A Jericho Odyssey,” about their collective experience at this high-achieving Long Island high school, finishing up with 30 seconds each to say a few words to their classmates and families.

“When did we start saying that we should limit the honors so only one person gets the glory?” asked Joe Prisinzano, the Jericho principal.

In top suburban schools across the country, the valedictorian, a beloved tradition, is rapidly losing its singular meaning as administrators dispense the title to every straight-A student rather than try to choose the best among them.

Principals say that recognizing multiple valedictorians reduces pressure and competition among students, and is a more equitable way to honor achievement, particularly when No. 1 and No. 5 may be separated by only the smallest fraction of a grade from