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Monday, July 12, 2010

Education Week: Survey: Teachers Retirement System Underfunded

Education Week: Survey: Teachers Retirement System Underfunded


Survey: Teachers Retirement System Underfunded

The Public Fund Survey, using information from the 2008 fiscal year, ranked the state's teachers retirement system as having the fourth-lowest funding ratio among the 126 state pension plans it reviewed.OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A survey that examined the Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System says its pension fund is among the most underfunded of its type in the nation.
At the time of the review, the system had a funding ratio of 50.5 percent.

Guam's Public Schools Running Out of Money

By The Associated Press
The Guam Department of Education is seeking $10 million to carry the public school system through to Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year.Hagatna, Guam
Superintendent Nerissa Bretania Underwood says if the money isn't found, the department will have to shut down.
She says part of the shortfall stems from the department's need to pay a note to the Guam Power Authority of about $200,000 a
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Huh? � The Quick and the Ed

Huh? � The Quick and the Ed

Huh?

by Kevin Carey
Valerie Strauss is confused:
Bill Gates, one of the smartest and richest guys ever in the history of smart and rich guys, told the annual convention of the American Federation of Teachers that he just realized that teaching is super important.
Really.
He told the assembled teachers (according to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation website):
“There is an expanding body of evidence that says the single most decisive factor in student achievement is excellent teaching. You’ve known this for a long time. We’re all learning it now.”
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Speaker P�rez: Budget Choices Must Help Private Sector and Local Communities Keep Californians Working | California Progress Report

Speaker P�rez: Budget Choices Must Help Private Sector and Local Communities Keep Californians Working | California Progress Report

Speaker Pérez: Budget Choices Must Help Private Sector and Local Communities Keep Californians Working

by kaldveer
By Assembly Speaker John Pérez
SACRAMENTO – In this Democratic weekly address, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) highlights comments he made to business leaders and local mayors this week that job creation must be the priority in budget negotiations and that California cannot afford another summer of ideological warfare.
Click onto the following link for the English language MP3 file. The running time is 3:03.
http://asmdc.org/newsline/20100709RadioAddressEnglishBudgetPerez1.mp3
Click onto the following link for the Spanish language MP3 file. The running time is 4:24.
http://www.asmdc.org/newsline/20100709RadioAddressSJPSPANISH.mp3
read more

All The Things The Polls Don’t Tell

by kaldveer
By Peter Schrag
Forget the headlines and all the heavy breathing generated by last week’s Field Poll results of the races for governor and U.S. Senator – Carly Fiorina closing with Barbara Boxer; Meg Whitman’s millions bringing her dead even with Jerry Brown.
What’s most notable in the numbers, despite the differences between Republicans Fiorina and Whitman (on the one hand) and Democrats Boxer and Brown (on the other) is that they seem to have less to do with voter perceptions of the four candidates than with the voters’ party affiliation, political ideology, degree of social disaffection, ethnicity and location.
With one major exception – strong voter support for Proposition 25 lowering the margin required to pass the state budget from two-thirds to a simple majority – the same seems to be true about the initiatives on the November ballot.
read more
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Free Technology for Teachers: Advice for those attending Google Teacher Academy

Free Technology for Teachers: Advice for those attending Google Teacher Academy
Free Technology for Teachers
FREE RESOURCES AND LESSON PLANS FOR TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY

Advice for those attending Google Teacher Academy

This post is part of a requirement for the Google Teacher Academy that I attended. Here's my reflection on my experience and advice for new GTA attendees.

The Google Teacher Academy is taking it's road show to the UK in a couple of weeks. For 50 lucky educators it's going to be a great experience. For those who didn't get in or are just curious about what goes on during a Google Teacher Academy, follow the Twitter hashtag #GTAUK.

Those who are attending GTA, listen up. No really, listen up, don't check your email or your iPhone/Android/ Blackberry during the day. You'll miss something important if you do check those devices. Tweet all you want though. Most importantly, talk to the people that are there with you. I did not do a good job of this during my day at GTA because I was engrossed in trying to churn-out blog posts about what I was learning. I should have tried to write less and connect more. If you got into GTA, you probably already have a pretty good handle on the basics of Google Apps and can, if given the time, on your own discover some hidden gems within Google Apps. What you can't do on your own, is make connections and brainstor
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EducationNews.org - Kids' failure is adult's 'success'

EducationNews.org - Kids' failure is adult's 'success'


Kids' failure is adult's 'success'
7.12.10 - Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott did something last week that you very rarely see in Austin: He stood up the legislative committee that controls the funding for his bureaucracy, the Texas Education Agency.

School districts slow to tap into federal stimulus funds
7.12.10 - Federal authorities are encouraging school districts to spend education stimulus money to save jobs and blunt the effects of statewide budget cuts, but districts have been slow to draw their share of the funds. ...

College orientation grows up
7.12.10 - A generation ago, college orientation lasted little more than a day. If parents were needed, it was mostly for their wallets. Now schools are putting more emphasis on orientation, hoping it will boost student success and avert problems during the school year. ...

A Chosen Few Are Teaching for America
7.12.10 - MICHAEL WINERIP - Teach for America has become an elite brand that will help build a résumé, and in a bad economy, it's a two-year job guarantee with a good paycheck.

Commentaries


Grading Diane Ravitch's education ideas
Diane Ravitch was for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) before she was against it. NCLB became law in January 2002, and Ravitch - a former assistant secretary of education - says her support for it "remained strong" for nearly five years, until Nov. 30, 2006. ...

It is easier to promise shiny schools than better teaching
The Coalition has gone for the difficult option on education - and Labour's taunts have strengthened its resolve, says Matthew d'Ancona. It is hard to improve upon the words of Rick Nye, the former head of the Conservative Research Department, and an unsung hero of Tory modernisation. According to Nye, New Labour's instinctive response to failing schools and educational decline was to "throw carpet tiles at the problem".

Islamic curriculum one sided and biased
Imagine the howls of outrage from the secular non-believers if the Catholic Church argued that every school subject had to include a Catholic perspective and that understanding Christianity is a vital part of our state education system.

The Dropout Nation Podcast: Abandon Edujobs to Build Parent Power
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, RiShawn Biddle examines the debate between congressional Democrats, President Barack Obama and centrist Democrat school reformers over the edujobs bill. ...

The 'Aftershock Economy'
A new book details the next stages in the financial collapse of our economy, including the bursting of the enormous U.S. government debt bubble. The International Monetary Unit - the IMU - is coming. Gold is going up, and the dollar is going down. The New World Order is ascendant.

Siberian Education
by Nicolai Lilin - Siberian Education is a memoir about the criminal socialisation of young people from a traditional Urka community, displaced into the small republic of ......

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School gardens provide access to fresh produce | EdNewsColorado

School gardens provide access to fresh produce | EdNewsColorado

School gardens provide access to fresh produce

by Rebecca Jones

From left, Rudy Ornelas, Jirah Lawrence and Savanna Pino work in the garden at Denver's Fairview Elementary School.
The tip-off to the presence of some unwanted visitors at Denver’s Fairview Elementary School were the holes in the cabbage leaves.
Immediately, Judy Elliott had her work crew on their knees, combing through the other plants in the school garden.
“The first thing we do is find the caterpillars,” said Elliott, education and community empowerment coordinator for
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School Tech Connect: The Coming Tsunami

School Tech Connect: The Coming Tsunami

The Coming Tsunami

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)
Everyone knows this except Bill Gates.
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16 Underwater Webcams Of Oil Spill On One Page | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

16 Underwater Webcams Of Oil Spill On One Page | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

16 Underwater Webcams Of Oil Spill On One Page This site has sixteen underwater webcams of the Gulf Spill — all on one page. It’s pretty amazing to watch. I’m adding the link to The Best Sites To Learn About The Gulf Oil Spill.
“Why We Travel” Why We Travel 2009 is a good New York Times interactive that highlights the best of reader contributed photographs from around the world. And they’re now inviting contributions for their upcoming 2010 edition.
Final World Cup Resources With the World Cup coming to a close earlier today, this will probably be my last additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The World Cup: World Cup Final is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal. Spain Is A Fiesta is a slideshow from The ...
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Education Week: N.J. Property Tax Cap Sparks Funding Concerns

Education Week: N.J. Property Tax Cap Sparks Funding Concerns

N.J. Property Tax Cap Sparks Funding Concerns
Some local officials in New Jersey worry that a lower cap would erode revenue for already stretched K-12 budgets. (July 12, 2010)
State Adoptions of Common Standards Steam Ahead
Nearly half the states have already adopted the English and math standards, with little opposition or public fanfare. (July 9, 2010) | Comments (5)
Scholars Target Arizona's Policies for ELL Students
(July 8, 2010) | Comments (3)
STATE EDWATCH BLOG
Top Model for School Intervention: Transformation
(July 9, 2010)
TEACHER BEAT
Weingarten Faces Competing Political Demands Within the AFT
(July 9, 2010)
LOGIN, REGISTER OR SUBSCRIBE FOR GREATER ACCESS.
A class at Tacoma, Wash., Community College called Men of Distinction, taught by Eric Davis, standing second from left, gives young, at-risk African-American men an academic boost before they enter college.
Dean J. Koepfler/Tacoma News Tribune/MCT
Program Aims to Help Black Men Succeed in College
The Men of Distinction summer program is designed to give young black men a booster shot of academics to help them prepare for college in the fall. (July 9, 2010)
Texas School Asked Students to Withdraw, Obtain Diplomas Online
(July 9, 2010) | Comments (2)
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Results of D.C. principal's controversial methods need to outweigh criticism

Results of D.C. principal's controversial methods need to outweigh criticism

Results of D.C. principal's controversial methods need to outweigh criticism



By Jay Mathews
Monday, July 12, 2010

Dwan Jordon, more quickly than any principal I have ever known, has made a name for himself in D.C. public schools.
On July 6, he was the hero of a front-page Washington Post story by my colleague Stephanie McCrummen. Jordon arrived at Sousa Middle School in 2008 and in his first year produced the biggest achievement gains of any D.C. middle school. He was a fiend for data, urging teachers to identify each student's weaknesses. The portion of Sousa students testing proficient in reading jumped from 23 percent to 39 percent and in math from 17 to 42 percent.
His name has also spread quickly through the ranks of educators because, after that great year and the hard work of his staff, almost all of his teachers left,
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For kids with special needs, camp comes with valuable therapy, higher price tag

For kids with special needs, camp comes with valuable therapy, higher price tag

At camp kids with special needs find fun, therapy


Children with special needs can find summer fun and therapy, for a hefty price tag.
MORE ON EDUCATION


Rhee: 'No obligation of any kind' to funders


Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee told the District's Office of Campaign Finance on Friday that she gained nothing financially from the private foundations that are underwriting part of the new teachers contract, nor did she have anything to do with a provision allowing donors to reconsider their support if DCPS leadership changed hands.
Her signed declaration comes in response to an Office of Campaign Finance investigation, launched after a complaint filed by Robert V. Brannum, president of the D.C. Federation of Civic Associations. He is a vehement critic of Rhee and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and a supporter of Fenty's Democratic primary opponent, D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray. Brannum charged that Rhee contrived to protect her job by accepting the leadership clause as a condition of the private funding -- constituting a direct personal financial benefit.
"I did not obtain any financial gain from the funders' reservation of the right to reconsider their commitments if there is a material change in
The Leaps and Bounds Occupational Therapy day camp serves kids with autism, learning disabilities and other special needs (TWP).
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The One Place NEA Would Welcome Teach for America | Intercepts

The One Place NEA Would Welcome Teach for America | Intercepts

The One Place NEA Would Welcome Teach for America

by Mike Antonucci
I made a small joke last week:
“There are, by my count, 50 items left for tomorrow, including those on the war in Afghanistan and getting rid of Arne Duncan. I think there would be a clear majority to combine the two and send Arne Duncan to Afghanistan.”
That didn’t happen, though something similar was proposed. While introducing New Business Item 42, which
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Most Public Colleges Face Budget Cut Threats in 2011 - US News and World Report

Most Public Colleges Face Budget Cut Threats in 2011 - US News and World Report

Most Public Colleges Face Budget Cut Threats in 2011

Map shows which state university systems are more likely to suffer budget cuts.

Posted July 12, 2010
As signs of a tentative economic rebound hearten students and parents in states such as North Dakota and Arkansas, continuing high unemployment and state budget crises could lead to funding cuts to public colleges and universities in Nevada, Louisiana, Illinois, and many other states. Unless officials in troubled states find new tax dollars to support their colleges, administrators will have little choice but to impose hefty tuition increases or reduce the number of classes and services offered on campus.

To help parents and students understand what they can expect from public colleges around the country,U.S.News & World Report has combined data on the economic and budgetary strength of each state with funding for each state's public university system to show which state systems will likely face budget
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