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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Decision Delayed on Struggling Schools voiceofsandiego.org

Education

Decision Delayed on Struggling Schools
The state Board of Education put off approving which low achieving schools would be awarded money for plans to turn themselves around and improve student achievement.
That leaves the fates of four county schools that applied for the funds up in the air.
"This is not a 'done deal' yet it appears," Alyson Evans wrote to me. She oversees grants at San Diego Unified, where the sole school to apply, Burbank Elementary, was not slated to win funds.
Only two of the eligible San Diego County schools were slated to get funding, under

School District Sues, Wants to Be Able to Fire Teacher
San Diego Unified School District is suing an employee firing panel that disagreed with its decision to fire a teacher who was convicted of child molestation, then freed after his convictions were overturned.
Thad Jesperson, formerly a teacher at Toler Elementary, was automatically fired when he was convicted six years ago. He was put on trial three times, but ultimately his conviction was thrown out because of jury misconduct and inadequate legal representation, the

Just Two Struggling Schools Get State Money
Two of the four struggling San Diego County schools that vied for help turning their schools around are poised to get funding, if the state follows through on its recommendations today.
Earlier this year, the California Department of Education made a list of persistently failing schools that were eligible for up to $6 million if they set forth a convincing plan to improve student achievement. Six schools in San Diego County made the list.
To compete for the money, the schools had to choose from four options, which included


Education | Protests in England over tests for 11-year-olds | Seattle Times Newspaper

Education | Protests in England over tests for 11-year-olds | Seattle Times Newspaper

Protests in England over tests for 11-year-olds

School test results for 11-year-olds were released Tuesday across England, and one result was certain: A large number of educators and parents consider the tests a waste of time.
The Associated Press
LONDON —
School test results for 11-year-olds were released Tuesday across England, and one result was certain: A large number of educators and parents consider the tests a waste of time.
The results of the Standard Assessments Tests, or SATs, revived a long-running debate about whether the government's determination to rank schools based on standardized tests does anything to improve education. The test has no relation to SATs in the United States, which are used to get into college.
The Department for Education said 4,005 of 15,515 English primary schools chose to boycott
Monday, August 2
Wednesday, July 28

Teacher pay, staffing and shrinking budgets The Education Report

The Education Report

Teacher pay, staffing and shrinking budgets

By Katy Murphy
Monday, August 2nd, 2010 at 5:28 pm in budget, teachers

File photo of a second-grade class in San Ramon, which passed a tax to reduce its class sizes.Few would argue that teachers are well paid. But because their pay and benefits make up more than half of a school district’s budget, and because those budgets are shrinking, compensation and staffing levels have become a sticking point in school systems around the state.
Given the current funding constraints and the grim fiscal outlook, what should school districts do? What are they doing? How are labor unions responding?
I spent months collecting

Two More Days of Calls to Congress | Intercepts

Two More Days of Calls to Congress | Intercepts

Two More Days of Calls to Congress

Sen. Harry Reid tabled his edujobs legislation when the Congressional Budget Office told him to redo his math. Evidently he needed

A family engagement primer | THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | dallasnews.com

A family engagement primer | THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | dallasnews.com

A family engagement primer

Here's a link to a Sunday Points interview that I did with Heather Weiss about ways in which parents can engage their children academically. She also talks about methods that districts and schools can use to reach parents. Weiss is familiar with what is going on around the nation since she studies family engagement as director of the Family Research Project at Harvard's Graduate School of Education.
I was particularly struck by the high-profile role that the Boston school district has given family engagement, including putting an assistant superintendent in charge of the effort. Weiss has made the point in previous

This Week In Education: Which Is Worse: Cheating Vs. Plagiarism

This Week In Education: Which Is Worse: Cheating Vs. Plagiarism


Which Is Worse: Cheating Vs. Plagiarism

500x_cutpasteSo apparently the Atlanta public schools aren't engaged in any systemic test cheating scheme, but kids individually and en masse are cheating on papers and such without fully appreciating what they're doing. Education" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(34, 68, 187); ">Cheating Inquiry in Atlanta Largely Vindicates Schools NYT: An independent commission found no evidence of “any district-wide or centrally coordinated effort to manipulate

The mysteries of IEA endorsements. Will any Republican do? � Fred Klonsky's blog

The mysteries of IEA endorsements. Will any Republican do? � Fred Klonsky's blog

The mysteries of IEA endorsements. Will any Republican do?


Democrat David Miller.
I don’t have a whole lot of interest in the Illinois comptroller race. I’m not exactly sure what the comptroller does or how it is different from the state treasurer. I slept through that class.
I also don’t have a clue as to how IEA state endorsements are made or why they are made.
Pat Quinn got the IEA endorsement for governor. That I get. Quinn is nobody’s favorite. But Bill Brady is so far to

Education Week: Audit: 109 Atlanta Educators Suspected of Cheating

Education Week: Audit: 109 Atlanta Educators Suspected of Cheating

Audit: 109 Atlanta Educators Suspected of Cheating

Article Tools
Investigators say more than 100 educators should face scrutiny or punishment after they found evidence of them cheating for students on a statewide achievement test at 58 schools in Atlanta.
An investigative panel released a summary of its findings Monday to Atlanta Public Schools officials after months of probing allegations that teachers changed students' answers on standardized tests. It did not name the educators suspected of cheating, but many could face sanctions from the state — from being put on probation to losing their teaching license permanently.
The review showed that most of the teachers — 78 of the 109 listed — worked at only a dozen schools. The report says that group of schools needs systemic changes because of "school-wide institutional issues."

FROM THE WIRES

Schools Matter: The Fearsome Facts that Threaten Power

Schools Matter: The Fearsome Facts that Threaten Power

The Fearsome Facts that Threaten Power

When racists on the Texas School Board proposed last spring that the Slave Trade be changed to the "Atlantic Triangular Trade," they offered a perfect example of power, paranoia, and stupidity rolled into one smelly package. In attempting to re-write the past to minimize our ancestral crimes against humanity, America's children could grow up even dumber than their parents in dealing with history's unpaid debt to those who never even got a mule and 40 acres.

Same goes for the Texas Teabaggers' attempt to change today's poisonous moniker, "capitalism," to "free

LOSING THE RACE: Addressing America's Growing Education Deficit EducationNews.org

EducationNews.org

Daily EducationNews


LOSING THE RACE: Addressing America's Growing Education Deficit
8.3.10 - Gaston Caperton - When I was governor of West Virginia in the early 1990s, there was a ranking of developed countries based on the number of young people who had earned college degrees. Among 25 to 34 year-olds, the United States ranked third. I remember thinking that wasn't good enough. We used to be No. 1; we should lead the world in education attainment again.

Texas needs more minority teachers, experts say
8.3.10 - AUSTIN - Texas' minority student enrollment continues to surge, but the state's teacher corps isn't keeping pace. Minority teacher rolls are not keeping pace with minority student enrollment. ...

Venture Philanthropy gives $5.5M to KIPP DC
8.3.10 - A private donor hopes to double the number of students in KIPP charter schools in D.C. by 2015. It's another sign of private money shaking up public education in the District: A $5.5 million gift will dramatically help expand a network of high-performing charter schools in the city, with a goal of more than doubling the number of students enrolled by 2015. ...

Methods for detecting test bias flawed, research suggests
8.3.10 - For many years, critics of the SAT have cited a verbal question involving the word "regatta" as an example of how the test may favor wealthier test-takers, who also are more likely to be white. It's been a long time since the regatta question was used...

Commentaries

An Interview with Kelly Middleton: Simply the Best

8.3.10 - Michael F. Shaughnessy - It seems that the very best have a way of doing most of the 29 concepts. We actually went into classrooms of teachers who were considered the best by both administration and the students and asked the teacher to leave the classroom.

An Interview with Lea Hyvarinen: Conference in Dortmund, Germany
8.3.10 - Michael F Shaughnessy - It has come to my attention that there will be a major conference at the University of Dortmund in Germany. Professor Renate Walthes originally had the idea to honor Dr. Hyvarinnen and at the same time celebrate the opening of a new service for children with brain damage related vision loss. In this interview, Dr. Hyvarinen responds to questions about the conference.

An Interview with Dr. M. Maitland DeLand: The Great Katie Kate Tackles Questions About Cancer
8.3.10 - Michael F. Shaughnessy - The reason I wrote this book was that I have seen parents with their child who has been diagnosed with cancer. The child will, unfortunately, be exposed to the process of cancer diagnosis, evaluation and treatment, which is quite scary for both the child and parents to experience.