Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Google 'Code-In' Calls on K-12 Students To Become Open Source Developers -- THE Journal

Google 'Code-In' Calls on K-12 Students To Become Open Source Developers

By John K. Waters
10/20/10

Google wants to get middle and high school students interested in open source software, and the company is betting that a new "outreach contest" that includes cash prizes and a grand-prize trip to the Googleplex in California will appeal to budding programmers.

Google's new "Code-In" competition, which gets underway Nov. 22, presents 13- to 18-year-olds with eight tasks, ranging from refactoring code and interface design to such not-so-techie jobs as writing and editing software documentation and developing marketing materials. For every three tasks they complete, the students earn $100, up to a maximum of $500. Ten grand prize winners will get an all-expenses-paid trip with a family member to Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters. The trip includes a tour of the sprawling Googleplex facility and meetings with some of the company's engineers.

The contest is designed to introduce K-12 students to "the many kinds of contributions that make open source software development possible," Google said on the contest Web site. Carol Smith, program

Top U.S. Education Leader Stops in Rockford

Education Reform Tour Stops in Rockford.

STATELINE (WIFR) -- Superintendents, community members, and teachers from all over the Stateline are giving their opinions on education reform.

Nine years after the 'No Child Left Behind' act was established, top educators want to hear how it can be improved. A nationwide tour stopped in Rockford giving local teachers and leaders their chance to speak up on our school's challenges.

"People complain that 'No Child Left Behind' narrowed the curriculum with too much emphasis on the tested subjects. They complain it mislabeled, they complain the AYP process was unrealistic," Peter Cunningham with the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Communication and Outreach.

The act is currently being revised by the federal government. In 2001, it set higher standards for children in grade school in an effort to close gaps. And while some progress was made in the years after, the Obama administration said test results could be better if there's more competition for federal dollars.

"We are proposing to get rid of AYP. We're proposing a new system that gives a lot more flexibility from all schools and a system that also builds in rewards," Cunningham said.

Cunningham said this could mean more oversight

Obama must do better on charters - Rock The Schoolhouse's blog - Boston.com

Obama must do better on charters

E-mail|Link|Comments (3)Posted by Jim Stergios October 19, 2010 04:46 AM

It looks like voters across the country, and in a number of races possibly even in Massachusetts, may be voting out congressional leaders who breathed life into many of President Obama’s signature laws. In education, many of his priorities will likely be affected, but polling from Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance suggests that his support for charter schools is not at all affected by his plummeting

City’s data release could be first time some teachers see scores | GothamSchools

City’s data release could be first time some teachers see scores

by Maura Walz

If the city releases individual teachers’ effectiveness ratings this week, some teachers could see their own scores for the first time in the media.

Nearly 45 percent of the teachers who received teacher data reports this year have not yet downloaded them, a Department of Education spokesman said today. But some teachers told GothamSchools today that there has been confusion about how they could access their reports.

The city originally told teachers that the reports would be kept confidential between themselves and their

Michelle Rhee Offers No Comment on New Jersey Education Post, Says She Prefers Local Job - Metropolis - WSJ

Rhee Appears Unlikely for New Jersey Education Post

By Stephanie Banchero

: Getty Images; Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced her resignation last Wednesday.

Outgoing Washington D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee said Wednesday she prefers that her next job be at a district rather than state level while declining to comment on whether she’s been offered New Jersey’s top education post.

“I want to go where I will have the most impact and, to me, the most radical changes can happen at the local level,” Rhee said in a brief interview. “That’s why I am strongly considering possibilities in other districts” outside Washington, D.C.

Rumors have swirled this week that Rhee is considering an offer from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to take over as the state’s education commissioner. In the interview, Rhee said she is considering job offers in both the private and public sectors but did not say if she had been

Critical Pedagogy: One of Many Educational Paths | Lefty Parent

Critical Pedagogy: One of Many Educational Paths

by Cooper Zale

I was introduced to the educational path known as “Critical Pedagogy” by my fellow Alternative Education Resource Organization member John Harris Loflin, an activist for educational alternatives, particularly for urban, at-risk minority communities. John argues persuasively that a mostly white, privileged, middle-class alternative education movement would be benefited by finding common ground and allying with efforts in urban minority communities to challenge the conventional approach to schooling in those communities. The focus of that challenge is a curriculum, plus methods for teaching and learning known as “Critical Pedagogy”, that is designed to deconstruct the inferior position of the minority community relative to the dominant culture and identify ways to take action to change that power differential.

UFT to Sue to Prevent N.Y.C. Teacher-Rating Release - Teacher Beat - Education Week

UFT to Sue to Prevent N.Y.C. Teacher-Rating Release

by Stephen Sawchuk

The United Federation of Teachers plans to sue to prevent the New York City school district from releasing information on teachers' "value added" scores to reporters, the union said in a statement.

The GothamSchools news service reported today on its website that the district would this week provide the ratings to reporters who filed open-records requests. The news service said the district is still debating the details, such as whether it will redact individual teachers' names to the ratings, which are based on growth on student tests over a year or more.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew had some tough words abouts the district's plans.

"First, after years of boasting by the Department of Education about our kids' progress, the state declares that

The Answer Sheet - New data on bullying: 17% report regular abuse

New data on bullying: 17% report regular abuse

New data on bullying released today show that 17 percent of American students report being bullied two to three times a month or more within a school semester, with girls and boys having similar rates. The information was gleaned from an anonymous survey of 524,054 U.S. students in grades 3 through 12, and it comes when bullying is in the news because of a series of suicides by young gays who had been bullied. The survey was conducted by Dan Olweus (pronounced Ol-VEY-us), who is considered the founding father of research on bully/victim issues. It is being released by the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program.

City release of teacher ratings would break 2008 deal with union | GothamSchools

City release of teacher ratings would break 2008 deal with union

by Anna Phillips

The city’s decision to release teacher evaluation data this week represents a departure from an agreement officials made with the teachers union two years ago.

In a deal made in 2008 between then-president of the United Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten and Department of Education Deputy Chancellor Christopher Cerf, the city and union agreed to keep the reports private. The reports assign scores to teachers based on how much they improve their students’ test scores.

“It is the DOEs’ [sic] firm position and expectation that Teacher Data reports will not and should not be disclosed or shared outside of the school community, defined to include administrators, coaches, mentors and other professional colleagues authorized by the teacher in question,” Cerf wrote.

“In the event a FOIL request for such documents is made, we will work with the UFT to craft the best legal

The Answer Sheet - Threats to school reform ... are within school reform

Threats to school reform ... are within school reform

This was written by Mike Rose, who is on the faculty of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and is the author of “Possible Lives: The Promise of Public Education in America" and "Why School?: Reclaiming Education for all of Us.” By Mike Rose Here’s an all-too-familiar storyline about reform, from education to agricultural development: The reform has run its course, has not achieved its goals, and the reformers and other analysts speculate in policy briefs or opinion pages about what went wrong. The interesting thing is that the reform’s flaws were usually evident from the beginning. As someone who has lived through several periods of educational reform and has studied schools and taught for a long time, I see characteristics of the current reform movement, as powerful as it is, that could lead to unintended and undesirable consequences. But when reform is going strong it can

Teachers as Performers and Pay-4-Performance Plans* � Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Teachers as Performers and Pay-4-Performance Plans*

by larrycuban

Teaching makes teachers into classroom actors. But their classroom performance is thoroughly divorced from the reform du-jour of “Pay-4-Performance.” These schemes call for teachers to be evaluated and paid, in part, on the basis of their students’ test scores. I want to unpack the idea that “good” teaching is, in part, artistic performance and the ways that “Pay-4-Performance” plans strangle that notion.

First, classroom performance. I begin with the two imperatives facing all teachers whether they teach high school physics, middle school social studies, or kindergarten on Cleveland’s East Side or in Beverly Hills: know your subject (the academic role) and know your students (the emotional role). These competing demands upon teachers require both distance from students (the academic role) and closeness to students (the emotional role).

In teaching first graders to read, 9th grade Algebra or Advanced Placement courses, teachers must convey knowledge and cultivate skills of students. Then they have to judge the degree to which students achieve

Queens Teacher: NYCDOE Wants To Release Teacher Scores To Public

NYCDOE Wants To Release Teacher Scores To Public

by Queens Teacher

The United Federation of Teachers has filed a lawsuit to prevent the Department of Education from releasing internal report cards on more than 12,000 city teachers.

For three years, the DOE has confidentially assigned ratings to teachers, and today the city planned to release that information.

The release of this data would be explosive. These are the supposedly confidential reports that assign each teacher a performance grade and percentile ranking, supposedly based on how much students improve while in their classroom. Almost all elementary and middle school math and English teachers get these scores.

Stand for Children? � Fred Klonsky's blog

Stand for Children?

by preaprez

A few weeks ago I received an inquiry from a blogging friend out west. He wanted to know if there was any sign of a group called Stand for Children in Illinois?

I checked around. There was a web site. Other than that I couldn’t find out much.

Then yesterday…boom.

Progress Illinois, the SEIU connected web site, did an extended story on their site.

Alexander Russo referenced the PI post.

So did the pro-charter Supermen at Education Equality Project in a Tweet.

Schools Matter: Sanity Will Not Be Restored Quietly

Sanity Will Not Be Restored Quietly

by Jim Horn

A couple of vets recently walked across the country as an act of protest against the Oligarchy that now owns Washington, DC. With Oprah, Inc. now behind the March to Restore Sanity and with the big O, himself, scheduled on Comedy Central to pump the cause, it is important that the hundreds of thousands who show up on Oct, 30 show up sane, yes, but loudly making a point that resistance and more resistance will be required to reclaim the democracy, rather than sitting on the sofa with Oprah, smiling.

By David Swanson
Remarks at the Lincoln Memorial, October 20, 2010
http://democrats.com/we-the-plutocracy

It's an honor for me to help welcome Robin Monahan and Laird Monahan to this city, not because I can take any pride in this place, but because we can all take pride in what they've done and

Worthy proposes jail for parents who skip kids' school conferences | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Worthy proposes jail for parents who skip kids' school conferences

Prosecutor wants to punish those who skip kids' school conferences

Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News

Detroit — Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is pushing for a law that calls for jail time for parents who skip parent-teacher conferences, a plan some call inspired and others consider the nanny state run amok.

Worthy pitched her plan Tuesday to the Detroit City Council and is shopping it to the Wayne County Commission and state Legislature. Drawing a link between parental involvement and youth crime, Worthy wants a sponsor to guide the idea to law.

Her plan would require parents to attend at least one conference per year or face three days in jail. Parents of those excelling in school would be exempt, as would those whose health issues make travel difficult and those "actively engaged" with teachers through e-mail, phone calls or letters.

"We have to find any means necessary to get parents involved," Worthy told the council. "We have to start

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20101020/METRO/10200350/Worthy-proposes-jail-for-parents-who-skip-kids#ixzz12v4tdfHd

UPR Humanities Occupied � occupy california

UPR Humanities Occupied

by *

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Humanities Dept. in UPR reoccupied!

Before the warmth of the morning sun came, the students of the Humanities Action Committee (CAH) of the University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras campus, blocked passage to the classrooms of the Humanities Department with trash cans, desks, chairs and even plant pots to interrupt administrative labor and give way to humanistic and educational expression against the $800 fee that will be implemented on January 2011.

As the sun came up, and the physical occupation and paralization of the administration was guaranteed, some classes were given outside at Antonia Plaza, meanwhile the cultural activities of the day began with a web of

Labor Relations at the Ohio Education Association, or Don’t Call Your Ex-Boss a Slimebag | Intercepts

Labor Relations at the Ohio Education Association, or Don’t Call Your Ex-Boss a Slimebag

by Mike Antonucci

For a labor union, the Ohio Education Association has had its share of labor unrest with its own employees. Last month’s staff strike is only the latest example. OEA also sued its staff unions in 2005 and settled a $3.75 million class action lawsuit brought by retirees.

Those were big battles, but OEA also knows how to build mountains out of molehills, as evidenced by the years-long lawsuit it brought against former assistant executive director and general counsel Christopher A. Lopez. Lopez resigned his position in 2005, and OEA subsequently sued him for breach of his severance agreement, which stipulated he would not “at any time disparage, defame, or otherwise derogate Employer’s Officers, Executive Committee Members, employees or agents.”

When reformy ideologies clash… � School Finance 101

When reformy ideologies clash…

by schoolfinance101

Summary of Reformy Ideology

Reformy Ideology #1: Teacher quality is the one single factor that has the greatest effect on childrens’ life chances. Get a bad teacher or two in a row, and you’re screwed for life. The “best possible” way to measure teacher quality is by estimating the teacher’s influence on student test scores (value-added). Hiring, retention and dismissal decisions must, that is, MUST be based primarily on this information. This information may be supplemented, but value-added must play the dominant single role.

Reformy Ideology #2: Charter schools are the answer to most of the problems of poor urban school districts. Take and poor, failing urban school district, close its dreadfully failing schools and replace them as quickly as

In wake of Tyler Clementi suicide, Facebook teams with support groups to combat cyberbullying | NJ.com

In wake of Tyler Clementi suicide, Facebook teams with support groups to combat cyberbullying

Published: Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 11:54 AM Updated: Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 11:56 AM

The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk
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FacebookFacebook is teaming with several organizations to combat cyberbullying after Tyler Clementi's death.

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Less than one month after Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi committed suicide after his gay sexual encounter was transmitted over the Internet,Facebook is partnering with MTV and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to form a “Network of Support” for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teens, according to a report on Mashable.com.

The network aims to combat cyberbullying by providing gay teens and their parents with information, resources and support on how teens can protect themselves online, block bullies and report harassment, the

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