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Friday, July 30, 2010

Education Week: Ala anti-bullying policy omits sexual orientation

Education Week: Ala anti-bullying policy omits sexual orientation

Ala anti-bullying policy omits sexual orientation

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ANNISTON, Ala. (AP) — Under an anti-harassment policy passed by the Anniston Board of Education, students are explicitly protected from bullying based on their race, gender, religion or disability.
Sexual orientation? Not so much.
With Wednesday's unanimous vote, Anniston joined school systems across the state in passing an official policy for dealing with bullying and harassment. The move is required by the Student Harassment Prevention Act, passed by the Alabama Legislature in the wake of a wave of bullying-related suicides across the country.
Shortly after the law was passed, the state released a model anti-harassment policy that has since been adopted almost word-for-word in many school districts. The model policy explicitly bans harassment based on race, disability and religion, but is silent on anti-gay bullying.
That's a big problem for anti-bullying advocates, who say that anti-gay slurs and violence make up a significant portion of the bullying most students — gay or straight — experience in school.
Reviews Find ELL Programs Lacking in Four Districts
In their defense, educators say more federal guidance is needed on how to apply civil rights laws to programs for English-language learners. (July 30, 2010)
Least-Disruptive Model for Turnaround Proving Popular
Educators in a number of states are opting for "transformation" in deciding how to use their federal School Improvement Grant money. (July 29, 2010) | Comments (4)
THE SCHOOL LAW BLOG
Appeals Court to Weigh Race in Admissions
(July 29, 2010)
Diversity Differences May Hobble 'Controlled Choice' in N.C.
(July 30, 2010)
Detroit Council Says No to Mayoral Control of Schools
(July 30, 2010)
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President Barack Obama addresses the National Urban League 100th Anniversary Convention in Washington, D.C., on July 29.
—Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Obama Defends Race to Top
The president told members of the National Urban League that his signature education initiative holds promise for poor and minority students in low-performing schools. (July 29, 2010)
TEACHER BEAT BLOG
NEA's Brand of School Improvement
(July 30, 2010)
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Thompson: Collective Instructional Leadership Is Better This Week In #Education

This Week In Education

Thompson: Collective Instructional Leadership Is Better

Post_full_127474001404_EducationTechnologyThe true beliefs of some principals around the issue of instructional leadership are eye-opening, as revealed in Kirsten Olson's recent EdWeek Commentary. One good example: "Being out in classes, I just don’t know what I’m supposed to be seeing. ... " Fortunately, EdWeek's Christina Samuels reports


Research: Whitehurst Addresses Criticism Of "Zone" Report

Screen-shot-2010-07-22-at-11.34.52-AMBrookings' Russ Whitehurst put out a followup to his report on the Harlem Children's Zone that includes some new data and revised calculations as well as an attempt to clarify the focus of the report and correct our (mis)interpretations of its findings:

Technology: Beware "Analog Nostalgie"

Quote-mark"The fact that you spent hours in the college library writing papers doesn't necessarily mean that a student who spends those hours in her room writing papers (or crafting multimedia presentations) has had an education less rich than yours."


AM News: Senate Dems Revive $10B Edujobs Bill [image: News2]Senate Moves EduJobs and FMAP Funding Washington Independent: This evening, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) attached an amendment with funding to preserve teachers’ jobs and to provide much-needed Medicaid funding to states to a Federal ...
Research: Whitehurst Addresses Criticism Of "Zone" Report [image: Screen-shot-2010-07-22-at-11.34.52-AM] Brookings' Russ Whitehurst put out a followup to his report on the Harlem Children's Zone that includes some new data and revised calculations as well as an attempt to clarify the focus of the report and ...
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It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's... Supersecretary! :: Frederick M. Hess

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's... Supersecretary! :: Frederick M. Hess

Frederick M. Hess's Blog

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's... Supersecretary!

by Frederick M. Hess • Jul 30, 2010 at 9:28 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

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Every time our earnest Secretary of Education speaks of late, he seems to unearth new things that Washington can and should do to schools. Earlier this month, he promised the NAACP that the administration would see that NCLB reauthorization required turnaround schools to obtain parent and community input as well as lead an "honest, open discussion." Of course, Duncan is ardently pushing "state-led" national standards and watching his Department of Education flag 19 (!) states as impressive enough to merit being Race to the Top finalists. Earlier in the year he promised Congress a billion dollar bonus if they reauthorized NCLB this year (though this one kind of ran afoul of the U.S. Constitution).

Yesterday, Duncan told the National Urban League, "We will ensure that all schools--public, private and charter-

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NEA's Brand of School Improvement - Teacher Beat - Education Week

NEA's Brand of School Improvement - Teacher Beat - Education Week

NEA's Brand of School Improvement

by Stephen Sawchuk
The National Education Association's $6 million Priority Schools Campaign got a bit lost last year in the wake of all the Race to the Top action. Other reporters, myself included, had a hard time distinguishing this effort from all of NEA's other initiatives.
Fortunately, while covering the NEA convention in New Orleans recently, I had a chance to sit down with Sheila Simmons and Steve Snider, the director and associate director, respectively, of the campaign.
A 2009 mandate of the union's 9,000 delegate Representative Assembly, the campaign is funded through the union's strategic plan. It will focus on four core tenets for improving low-performing schools: increasing staff effectiveness; developing family and school partnerships; increasing district and local-union collaboration; and leveraging community assets.
Those tenets aren't groundbreaking in and of themselves, the directors noted. What's new is that they are being put together in a comprehensive reform approach. As Simmons told me, "It's clear that none of this is really
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Cherry Hill students, parents brace for school activities fee | NJ.com

Cherry Hill students, parents brace for school activities fee | NJ.com

Cherry Hill students, parents brace for school activities fee

Published: Friday, July 30, 2010, 8:55 AM Updated: Friday, July 30, 2010, 8:55 AM
The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk
cherry-hill-high-saturday-class.jpgGoogle MapsStudents at Cherry Hill's high schools will pay a student activities fee in the fall.
Details about the fee are still vague, the report said. The board is hoping to collect $85,000 at the three middle schools and $135,000 to $140,000 at the district's two high schools, according to the report.The full details of the fee will be presented to the Board of Education in August.
More coverage:
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This Week In Education: Media: New Host Invites Duncan On "This Week"

This Week In Education: Media: New Host Invites Duncan On "This Week"

Media: New Host Invites Duncan On "This Week"

by Alexander Russo
image from www.latimes.comSounds like Arne Duncan may be one of Christiane Amanpour's first guests in her new gig hosting one of those Sunday talk shows: "On Tuesday, her second day working in Washington for ABC News, where she debuts Sunday as anchor of "This Week," Amanpour went to hear U.S.
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Weblogg-ed � Open Mic #3: Rethinking Leadership

Weblogg-ed � Open Mic #3: Rethinking Leadership

Open Mic #3: Rethinking Leadership

by Will Richardson

So last night we had about 40 people join us for Open Mic Night to talk about leadership, and I have to say, it was a really interesting conversation. The key question that stuck out for me, at least, is whether or not effective leaders have to have a strong vision for the uses of social tools and technology in general in the learning process, or whether it’s more important to be open to facilitate that vision as a community. (At least that’s what I took away.) Both would be great, but it seemed like those types of leaders aren’t very easy to find. Anyway, I’ve posted the chat in below, (full doc format is here) and here is a link to the Elluminate archive if you’d like to listen.

It’s been interesting to moderate these Open Mic nights over the past few weeks. Shelly Blake-Plock, my co-moderator, said after last night’s session that they seem to be getting better and better, and I have to agree. As

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Queens Teacher: Kids are big losers in Mayor Bloomberg, Joel Klein's school test scores game

Queens Teacher


Queens Teacher: Kids are big losers in Mayor Bloomberg, Joel Klein's school test scores game

Kids are big losers in Mayor Bloomberg, Joel Klein's school test scores game

by Queens Teacher
Kids are big losers in Mayor Bloomberg, Joel Klein's school test scores game
Juan Gonzalez - News

So all those glowing school test results were a fraud, after all.
For years, Mayor Bloomberg, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and top education officials in Albany touted big jumps in math and reading scores statewide - and skyrocketing results among New York City's pupils.

The scores, they said, were proof that mayoral control and Klein's data-driven version of school reform had succeeded.

Schools were winning the "civil rights battle of our time," the chancellor claimed, by closing the racial "achievement gap."

To promote his reforms nationwide, Klein even founded a nonprofit group last year with the Rev. Al Sharpton
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Today's Big Education Ape Posts on Parents 4 democratic Schools #education #news

Parents 4 democratic Schools

Today's Big Education Ape Posts on Parents 4 democratic Schools



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Texas schools to get accountability ratings today | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Texas schools to get accountability ratings today | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Texas schools to get accountability ratings today



12:42 AM CDT on Friday, July 30, 2010

By TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning News
thobbs@dallasnews.com
Texas schools will find out how well they performed last year when state accountability ratings are released today.
The Texas Education Agency plans to release the results at 1 p.m. The ratings are mostly based on passing rates on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exam.
Schools that continuously don’t perform well, receiving the state’s lowest rating — academically unacceptable — for four or more consecutive years, risk being sanctioned or closed by the state.
TEA also is expected to include information on campuses that were helped by the controversial Texas Projection Measure, which allows schools to count as passing any student who failed a TAKS test but is projected to pass future tests. Last year, the new measure helped 2,000 schools earn higher school performance ratings.
Some critics of Texas Projection Measure have questioned its accura
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