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Saturday, September 4, 2010

State appeals court blocks school drug tests

State appeals court blocks school drug tests

State appeals court blocks school drug tests

Saturday, September 4, 2010

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(09-03) 17:58 PDT SACRAMENTO -- In a ruling by California's chief justice nominee, a state appeals court has barred a school district from drug testing all students in extracurricular activities such as choir, the school band and Future Farmers of America.

The Shasta Union High School District in Northern California began the testing in 2008, saying the prospect of being disqualified from a favorite after-school activity would discourage youths from using drugs or alcohol.

The district noted that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that random drug tests of all students in extracurricular programs did not violate the constitutional ban on



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/04/BAEB1F8J2M.DTL#ixzz0yZj5M4PR
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New Arizona law: Future 3rd-graders to have to read to pass grade EducationNews.org

EducationNews.org

New Arizona law: Future 3rd-graders to have to read to pass grade
9.4.10 - All third-graders must prove they are reading proficiently by the end of the 2013-14 school year or they will be held back and not allowed to move to fourth grade under a new state law.

The decade's best education books?
9.4.10 - The magazine Education Next's poll of best education books of the past decade is showing some ironic results. ...

A fairer deal for college students
9.4.10 - Senator Tom Harkin - One of the more dramatic developments in higher education in recent years is the explosive growth of for-profit colleges. The largest for-profit institution, the University of Phoenix, has a student body of more than 440,000, far larger than all the universities in the Big Ten combined. ...

Texas schools in limbo over $830 million in federal funds
9.4.10 - Perry signs off on application, but no guarantees. A fight between Gov. Rick Perry and Washington has left local school leaders wondering whether they will see $830 million in federal funds to help plug budget holes. ...

Commentaries

Take Back the Classroom from PowerPoint
9.4.10 - Jason Fertig - Restrict PowerPoint use in teaching to pictures and videos, writes Jason Fertig. Too much PowerPoint usurps professors' authority and


Nationwide school tests coming to your local school!
Through a federal grant, California will join 43 other states in replacing oft-maligned standardized exams.

Compare and contrast: Can Detroit schools learn from Baltimore's turnaround
9.4.10 - Robert Guttersohn - When asked to compare his school district with Detroit's, Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Andrés Alonso lets loose a little laugh and tries to step around the question.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: the L.A. Times Gets It Right about Teachers' Unions
9.4.10 - Terry Cowgill - The unshackling of the MSM - and, to a lesser extent, their erstwhile brethren in the Democratic Party - from the clutches of the nation's teachers' unions continues apace.

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The meltdown in Trenton cover the education grant loss continues | mycentraljersey.com | MyCentralJersey.com

The meltdown in Trenton cover the education grant loss continues | mycentraljersey.com | MyCentralJersey.com

The meltdown in Trenton cover the education grant loss continues

BY MICHAEL SYMONS • STATEHOUSE BUREAU • SEPTEMBER 4, 2010

TRENTON — Four hundred million dollars in education reform funds up in smoke. One Cabinet member fired, then called a liar, leading him to release a meticulous chronology defending his part in the events that precipitated his dismissal.

The week-plus episode sparked by New Jersey's near-miss and unfortunate flub in the Race to the Top competition would have been remarkable political theater in any case, but it was particularly fascinating to observers this year because it marked the first significant missteps of Gov. Chris Christie's first year in office.

While the event created a political opening for Democrats, who hope to keep the story going in hearings that begin Tuesday, political analysts said the short-term headache doesn't appear likely to be a long-term, chronic condition for Christie.

Rider University political scientist Ben Dworkin called it "a speed bump" that tarnishes Christie a bit but is

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EducationNews.org - Hundreds of Evans, Oak Ridge High students want to leave

EducationNews.org - Hundreds of Evans, Oak Ridge High students want to leave
Hundreds of Evans, Oak Ridge High students want to leave 9.4.10 - More than 500 students at Evans and Oak Ridge high schools in Orange County have asked to transfer out of the academically struggling schools after the state Department of Education said every student at the two is entitled to seek a better ...
Nationwide school tests coming to your local school! Through a federal grant, California will join 43 other states in replacing oft-maligned standardized exams.
Cheers for STEM school 9.4.10 - When Kylie Sees and Sean Rich started the new school year on Wednesday at the National Inventors Hall of Fame School, the seventh-graders got a challenging assignment.
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Task force cites high dropout rates for African American, Latino students | Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/03/2010

Task force cites high dropout rates for African American, Latino students | Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/03/2010


SRC member Johnny Irizarry chats with Mayor Nutter before presenting the report on African American and Latino high school dropouts. SRC Chair Robert L. Archie Jr. is at left.
LAURENCE KESTERSON / Staff Photographer
SRC member Johnny Irizarry chats with Mayor Nutter before presenting the report on African American and Latino high school dropouts. SRC Chair Robert L. Archie Jr. is at left.
Posted on Fri, Sep. 3, 2010



Task force cites high dropout rates for African American, Latino students

By Martha Woodall
Inquirer Staff Writer
Calling the high school dropout rate for city students one of the most serious problems facing Philadelphia, Mayor Nutter said Thursday his administration would work with the School District to address it.
"There is nothing less at stake here than the future of this city," Nutter told an audience at the district's administration building following release of a blueprint for stemming the dropout rates for African American and Latino males.
After studying the dropout problems of African American and Latino males in Philadelphia for 10 months, a task


Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20100903_Task_force_cites_high_dropout_rates_for_African_American__Latino_students.html#ixzz0yZdnqLlx
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else

Fewer Philly schools deemed dangerous, report says The School District of Philadelphia this year had a 20 percent reduction in the number of its schools defined as "persistently dangerous" under federal law, according to a preliminary report obtained by The Inquirer.
Business group pledges $4 million in grants to aid 7 urban Catholic schools' endowments A business group has pledged $4 million in matching grants to help seven urban Catholic schools create endowments during the 2010-11 academic year.
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N.J. Democrats push ahead with hearing to 'dissect' Race to the Top error | NJ.com

N.J. Democrats push ahead with hearing to 'dissect' Race to the Top error | NJ.com

N.J. Democrats push ahead with hearing to 'dissect' Race to the Top error

Published: Saturday, September 04, 2010, 7:44 AM Updated: Saturday, September 04, 2010, 8:24 AM
Statehouse Bureau Staff Statehouse Bureau Staff
bret-schundler-home.JPGAdena Stevens/For The Star-LedgerFormer education chief Bret Schundler at his home in Jersey City Friday, Aug. 27, 2010 .

TRENTON — Assembly Democrats have called upon nearly everyone in the state who might have laid a hand on the failed Race to the Top application — from the governor’s chief of staff down to the person who hand-delivered it to Washington, D.C. — to testify at a hearing Tuesday.

The hearing is an attempt to "dissect" an error that cost the state $400 million in federal education funding and "avoid future missteps," according to a press release the Democrats issued late Friday.

That session, as well as one planned by Senate Democrats, will prolong an issue Gov. Chris Christie had declared over.

Former education commissioner Bret Schundler, who said he made the error while editing the state’s application, was invited to

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Hindus upset over mishandling of Hinduism in school textbooks in USA

Hindus upset over mishandling of Hinduism in school textbooks in USA
 
Hindus have criticized the lopsided view of Hinduism provided by many school textbooks across USA.
 
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, urged the United States Department of Education to form a committee of Hindu leaders and scholars to go through the Hinduism part of the content before the publishers brought out the book.
 
It was not healthy to feed the highly impressionable minds of teenagers with the biased view of the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents; Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, argued. Moreover, it could hurt the feelings of devotees, he added.
 
Rajan Zed further says that one such book, elaborating a “Cooperative Learning Activity” suggests the teacher for a “Role Play” by organizing the class into the four varnas and the “untouchables”. It also wants each group to discuss how its members should react to the following hypothetical situation: In ancient India, a cow from a small herd dies in a crowded street in front of a Hindu temple or shrine.
 
Zed points to another textbook, which talking about Hindu Beliefs, says: Many Hindu shrines are literally covered with stone sculptures of nymphs, dwarfs, serpents, and demons. Sometimes these figures represent one of the principal gods, often Vishnu or Siva.
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Friday, September 3, 2010

Schools Matter: Yong Zhao on Arne

Schools Matter: Yong Zhao on Arne

Yong Zhao on Arne

by Jim Horn
From Zhao's blog:
Master of Myth: What Arne Duncan Says and Does
3 SEPTEMBER 2010

The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.

—John F. Kennedy


U.S. Secretary of Education has been called the most powerful education secretary in history.
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