Stanford University confronts the graying of academia - ContraCostaTimes.com

Stanford University confronts the graying of academia - ContraCostaTimes.com

Education

Stanford University confronts the graying of academiaMany workers yearn for retirement — the goodbye parties, the golf course, maybe even a gold watch. But Stanford University has the opposite problem: Nobody wants to leave. On Assignment: Mt. Diablo superintendent issues statement in principal hiring ordeal Project Ready to Learn Launching July 21 Empty West Contra Costa schools to be leased, not sold Voters would back West Contra Costa parcel tax, survey shows Six Diablo Valley College sports teams saved from becoming budget casualties Grand jury: Peralta college district irresponsible, wastes tax dollars Hometown Hero: Teen fills the void when youth music programs are killed

Duncan and Murray: Together for Edujobs - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Duncan and Murray: Together for Edujobs - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Duncan and Murray: Together for Edujobs

by Alyson Klein

This week, the Senate is back and word is that lawmakers will start trying to figure out how to pay for theedujobs bill.
In fact, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spent last Friday in Washington state stumping for the edujobs bill, alongside Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a key member of Congress who hasn't always seen eye-to-eye with the administration on K-12 policy issues. (For instance, last year, she spoke out against a measure that would have increased funding for the Teacher Incentive Fund—a major White House priority—because the boost would come at the expense of the formula-based grants aimed helping states improve teacher quality.)
But if Duncan wants to get edujobs through the Senate without those "wrong offsets," he may need help from folks like Murray, who sits on both the Senate education committee and the Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees K-12 spending, and has many fans in traditional education organizations.
And, besides helping to push edujobs, Murray and other Washington state officials may also have something to

Va. teen’s case focuses on autism, race - The Boston Globe

Va. teen’s case focuses on autism, race - The Boston Globe

Va. teen’s case focuses on autism, race

Washington Post / July 12, 2010

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WASHINGTON — The mother of a Virginia teenager has launched an Internet campaign that has attracted wide public support by linking her son’s arrest to two social flash points: autism and racial profiling.

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Reginald C. Latson, 18, was sitting outside a library in Stafford County, Va., last spring, waiting for it to open. To someone, he looked suspicious. The confrontation with police that followed prompted his mother, Lisa Alexander, to start her campaign to help exonerate her son.

The effort has spread to Facebook, Twitter, and an online petition that has collected more than 1,500 signatures. Some supporters are parents of children with autism like Latson, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome in eighth grade, and others are African-Americans drawn to the story of a black teenager

LATEST EDUCATION NEWS WIRE UPDATES

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• Leader of governors group focuses on college grads(AP, 8:44 a.m.)
• UMass-Amherst raises school's Boston profile (AP, 7/11/10)
• Maine GOP gov candidate had Dickens-like childhood(AP, 7/11/10)
• Leader of governors group focuses on college grads(AP, 7/11/10)

LATEST K-12 EDUCATION NEWS

• Wyo. schools escape effects of down economy so far(AP, 10:29 a.m.)
• Va. teen’s case focuses on autism, race (Boston Globe, 5:18 a.m.)
• 2 Hungarian boat crash victims remembered in Pa. (AP, 7/11/10)
• NORFOLK, PLAINVILLE, WRENTHAM King Philip’s no-cut budget worries Norfolk, Plainville, Wrentham (Boston Globe, 7/10/10)
• US troops killed in Afghanistan and Africa (AP, 7/10/10)

LATEST HIGHER EDUCATION NEWS

• Maine college savings program hits milestone (AP, 7/11/10)
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• US troops killed in Iraq and Kuwait (AP, 7/10/10)

Less for More � The Quick and the Ed

Less for More � The Quick and the Ed

Less for More

by Chad Aldeman

The University of California is planning a new online degree program comparable in quality to its on-campus classes. It’s a good-but-not-entirely novel idea whose time is well past due, but what’s troublesome is the logic employed by the university:

Long term, the idea is to expand access to the university while saving money. Tuition for online and traditional courses would be the same. But with students able to take courses in their living

Sacramento Press / Music is a fancy word for life!

Sacramento Press / Music is a fancy word for life!

Sixth annual Operation Backpack campaign under way - The Sacramento Press

The Sacramento Press

Sixth annual Operation Backpack campaign under way The Sacramento Press “Sacramento City Unified School District serves many students who live in shelters, run-down motels, in cars, on the street, etc.,” said SCUSD program ...

Music is a fancy word for life! - The Sacramento Press

The Sacramento Press

Music is a fancy word for life! The Sacramento Press ”This drum program is unique in that there isn't another program like it in the Sacramento City Unified School District," he continued. ...

Notes from the news, July 12 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, July 12 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, July 12

by Erika Owens

Philadelphia: After decades of effort, a decade of progress Hechinger Report
The Washington Monthly focused an edition on the dropout crisis, and this piece by Dale Mezzacappa tells Philly's story.
In a district not far away… WHYY (opinion)
An audio essay on the positive work of adults in the Philly schools.
Schools can't avoid tax hikes The Inquirer
Many Philadelphia-area districts will need to raise taxes to make up for budget shortfalls.
A candid conversation with Gregory Thornton Journal Sentinel
Thornton was just sworn in as Milwaukee's new superintendent.
The Power of Words Philly Teacher blog
Philly Teacher challenges readers to stop themselves and try to phrase statements in a positive way.
In case you missed it: Funding, study time, internships, dropout rate The Notebook blog
Weekly roundup of national stories finds more reporting and blogging on the fight between Congress and the White House over RttT funding.
Painting Parents With a Broad (Offensive) Brush A Very Public Education blog
Brainstorm: Reading A Year in the Life of a Teacher blog
Penn State board approves tuition increase The Inquirer
Small Nonprofit Philadelphia Business Journal
Are libraries unnecessary? The Inquirer
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

Hindus push for change in Ireland’s education system

Hindus push for change in Ireland’s education system

Hindus are asking for either opening-up of multi-religious schools or making the education more secular in Ireland.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Irish society and the world had changed so much, and thus education in Ireland should also keep pace with the society.

Currently, according to an estimate, Roman Catholic Church runs about 90 per cent elementary schools and 50 percent high schools in Ireland. According to reports, Church still writes many rules in schools and has a say in recruitment and enrolment. Religious icons of majority religion can be seen on school walls.

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that Ireland’s education system needed an urgent change. Ireland government should step in to take a higher role in education. As now diversity of religious faiths was growing, the near monopoly of patronage of one denomination in education should go.

Ireland is known for James Joyce, Robert Boyle, William Butler Yeats, Saint Patrick, U2, Undertones, shamrocks, pubs, 40 shades of green, Emerald Isle, etc. Mary McAleese is the President.

Beyond Rosetta Stone: 20 Free Online Resources for Learning a Foreign Language

Beyond Rosetta Stone: 20 Free Online Resources for Learning a Foreign Language

Beyond Rosetta Stone: 20 Free Online Resources for Learning a Foreign Language

Whether you’re looking to get in tune with your heritage, traveling to an exotic locale or looking for a simple way to keep your mind sharp, learning a foreign language is skill that will always come in handy (or at least look impressive). With online resources for nearly every language under the sun, with time and effort, you can learn a new language while sitting in front of your computer screen.

Many sites offer lessons for download, which means you can put a foreign language on your MP3 player and implement the new language between computer sessions. As is always the case with learning something new, consistency is key when mastering a new language. Though the resources are free, you want to make the most of your time by keeping up with lessons and utilizing the language anytime you can such as in a restaurant or while traveling

Free Foreign Language Resources for Mastering a New Language

These sites provide help for beginners looking to master a new language. While learning a new language online is not impossible, keep in mind it will take time especially if you are busy with school and work. The great thing about free online foreign language resources is you can keep up with them as much or as little as you’d like, but it’s best you visit the language and practice at least three times a week to truly master it for the long haul.

1. Babel Nation : This interactive site is like being in a classroom learning a new language, only it’s free! Babel Nation offers French, German, Italian, Portugese and Spanish lessons, including oral help and exams that are submitted and automatically graded by the website. To enhance comprehension skills, there Babel Nation has picture games that ensure this site works for every type of student.

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence.

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence.

Landfill Juggling

You might have heard last week about the mayor of San Diego's plans to largely remove the city from the landfill business.
That's in stark contrast to a story from April we did about the city -- or at least one of its top officials -- flirting briefly with the exact opposite type of deal. Reporter Liam Dillon had pieced together the bizarre tale wherein a top city official, Elmer Heap, who's now no longer with the city, had submitted a bid on behalf of City Hall to help operate two landfills in Mumbai, India.
Now we've learned Heap actually took a trip to Mumbaiabout which he didn't disclose the details, raising even more questions in this strange tale.
In other news:
» Reporter Kelly Bennett, who has followed the saga of the gigantic Vantage Pointe condo complex for years, has aninteresting update. Vantage Pointe is a 679-unit project that came of age right when the nation's housing bubble burst. Buyers, who once got in fistfights for the privilege of purchasing a space there, were stuck wondering if the building would ever get completed.
Well, it's been finished for a while yet no one lives there. Now, after hitting the first stage of foreclosure, the developer and the development itself are in limbo. While downtown property owners and brokers wait to see what might happen when, and if, those hundreds of empty condos reach the market, "the building is being treated like a giant hot potato," Bennett writes.
But there are also signs that the rest of downtown may have hit bottom after years of plummeting property prices.
» In a related note, Rich Toscano, our housing analyst, writes that the boost in the number of home sales, prompted perhaps by government incentives, has fizzled. He says we may now see an indication of what the housing market is like without government giveaways to new home buyers.
» If you have never quite understood what happened to San Diego's housing market over the last few years, you should check out Bennett's fantastic edition of San Diego Explained last week. I don't think she could have found a more perfect home to illustrate the madness.
Elsewhere:
» Last week, the LA Times published a story about e-mails that "offer a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the tactics lobbyists employ while representing major projects before" the California Coastal Commission. The major project in this case was San Diego's North Embarcadero Visionary Plan and the lobbyist was Susan McCabe. The e-mails may not have indicated anything illegal happened but they seemed rather condescending of the Coastal Commissioner in question, Pat Kruer, and talk about "spoon feeding" him information. The U-T has posted a follow up and finds that the port will not be renewing McCabe's contract.
» San Diego Congressman Brian Bilbray appeared on ABC's This Week debating immigration issues with U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez on Sunday.
» The U-T reports that there have been no enforcement actions or any cleanup on "one of the county's largest sewage-related accidents in the past decade," whichoccurred in early June when millions of gallons of sewage drained into the Tijuana River Valley.
» Former Assemblyman Juan Vargas, who battled with fellow Democrat Mary Salas for the chance to succeed Denise Ducheny in the state senate, may be close to sealing the deal in the race that has come down to a photo-finish. City News Service reports that he now has a 23-vote lead over Salas. I will not issue the obligatory "see-how-one-vote-actually-can-make-a-difference" speech. But, wow. The Republican blog SDRostra.com, by the way, has done a good job following the vote count.
Quote of the Day: "I think this is the new normal. People who are waiting for a return to a market tempo like we had in 2004 or 2005, I think, are waiting in vain," downtown realtor Jim Abbott, on the state of that neighborhood'shousing market.
» Finally, there was news Sunday that federal authorities had arrested the leader of a "pot ring" that was illegally distributing the drug to medical marijuana dispensaries. This news broke on the same day I heard, for the first time, a radio advertisement for a "medical cannabis" dispensary that was offering a "free edible" to new customers.
Is marijuana legal or not? Is it legal to sell and consume but illegal to distribute and grow? What's the deal? It is not a simple question. We did our best to explain the basics in this edition of San Diego Explained. But of all the interesting questions to consider this fall, the most complex of all might be what happens if California voters actually just legalize the drug outright?
It would still be an illegal controlled substance according to the federal government. Maybe California would consider seceding, as its finance chief imagined last year.
I suppose that will probably never happen. We better not insult the rest of the country -- after all, we may need it to bail out the state in coming years.
-- SCOTT LEWIS

eVERYONE IN THE WORLD KNOWS THAT PARENT ENGAGEMENT WORKS, WHY DO WE CONTINUE TO PUSH CHARTER SCHOOLS? | Herald Sun #EDU

Parents vital to pupils' success | Herald Sun

Parents vital to pupils' success

• Lucie van den Berg
• From:Herald Sun
• July 13, 2010 12:00AM

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Homework time: Penelope and Dean Anastasiadis help their children with their homework. Picture: Craig Borrow Source: Herald Sun

PARENTS who help their children with homework and are strict about sickies give their children the best start in life.

Parents who let their children stay home from school only when they are "really sick" have sons and daughters who perform better in maths and vocabulary, an Australian study has shown.

It shows that even in the most disadvantaged areas, parental involvement can have a significant impact on children's education.

Melbourne mum Penelope Anastasiadis regularly helps her nine-year-old daughter Elizabeth with school work. But she knows when to stop.

"It's great to help out, but doing their homework for them, I'm completely against. How are they supposed to learn?" she said.

Instead she makes sure her daughter makes a start on it herself. "We let her try it, but we'll look