Friday, December 3, 2010

Boy in school beating sues for right to education - Florida AP - MiamiHerald.com

Boy in school beating sues for right to education

Wayne Treacy was charged with attempted murder.

NAACP: NC county is example of US school problem

By Tom Breen

Associated Press / December 3, 2010

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RALEIGH, N.C.—The country's most prominent civil rights group has come to Raleigh to draw attention to what it calls a growing erosion of the gains made since a 1954 Supreme Court decision made segregated schools illegal.

Using Wake County's ongoing debate over school diversity as a backdrop, the NAACP is holding a national conference on education in Raleigh to argue that schools around the country are, in essence, returning to Jim Crow-era patterns of segregation.

"Resegregation is on the rise," said the Rev. William Barber, chairman of the state NAACP chapter. "The rates now are worse than in the 1970s."

Wake County has been the scene of acrimonious dispute since the school board voted to scrap a decade-old policy that used busing to achieve socio-economic

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: THE ‘HIGHLY QUALIFED’ GAP+ Report: NOT PREPARED FOR CLASS + Letters + smf’s 2¢

THE ‘HIGHLY QUALIFED’ GAP+ Report: NOT PREPARED FOR CLASS + Letters + smf’s 2¢

The 'highly qualified' gap: No Child Left Behind mandates such teachers in all U.S. schools. A new study shows that little progress has been made in meeting that requirement.

LA TIMES EDITORIAL

November 26, 2010 - While states and school districts hotly debate the issue of whether student test scores should be used to evaluate teachers, the nation has been virtually ignoring a more basic question: whether those teachers are even qualified in the first place. Too many of them aren't.

The No Child Left Behind Act mandated that all students be taught by "highly qualified" teachers. And although we disagree with many elements of that 2001 federal school reform act — its rigidity, its use of the wrong measurements to assess student progress — this provision always made more sense.

Among other things, a highly qualified teacher in the secondary schools is supposed to have expertise in the subject he or she teaches, whether that means having majored in the subject in college or having a credential to teach it. Ample research has found that students learn better when their teachers have such formal expertise. Yet a new report by the Education Trust, a nonprofit organization devoted to improving the

NYC Public School Parents: Patrick Sullivan on the core principle of the Bloomberg administration

Patrick Sullivan on the core principle of the Bloomberg administration

by Leonie Haimson

Popout

"I represent the borough of Manhattan on what the mayor calls the Panel for Educational Policy but what is in the law the Board of Education of the City of New York. I see here today parents and their elected leaders and I see teachers from every borough. I see them from every race and I see them from every income level and from every political party. Why is that?

Because I've learned from talking to people is that every parent wants to the same thing for their kids: they want

Shanker Blog » A Matter Of Time

A Matter Of Time

by Matthew Di Carlo

Extended school time is an education reform option that seems to be gaining in popularity. President Obama gave his endorsement earlier this year, while districts such as DCPS have extended time legislation under consideration.

The idea is fairly simple: Make the school day and/or year longer, so kids will have more time to learn. Unlikemany of the policy proposals flying around these days, it’s an idea that actually has some basis in research. While, by itself, more time yields negligible improvements in achievement, there is some evidence (albeit mixed evidence) that additional time devoted to “academic learning” can have a positive effect, especially for students with low initial test scores. So, more time might have potential benefits (at least in terms of test scores), but the time must be used wisely.

Still, extending schools days/years, like all policy options, must of course be evaluated in terms of cost effectiveness. Small increases, such as adding a few days to the school calendar, are inconsistently and minimally effective, while larger increases in school time are an expensive intervention that must be weighed

» Gov. Christie to NJ Teachers Union: ‘You Punch Them, I Punch You’ - Big Government

Gov. Christie to NJ Teachers Union: ‘You Punch Them, I Punch You’

by Kyle Olson

It’s not every day you hear a governor laying the smack down on a group of thugs like the New Jersey Education Association, but that’s precisely what Gov. Chris Christie did before a stuffy crowd of education reformers recently.

Christie didn’t mince words. He said when he was elected and “arrived on the playground,” he found the administrators and school board laying on the ground bleeding. “That meant there was a bully,” he said.

So his message was simple:

“You walk onto the school yard and you say punch them, I punch you.”

Here’s a governor who is impatient with awful schools and the snail’s pace the Education Establishment travels because adults’ perks and comfort may be disrupted.

But he’s on a mission to explain to his citizens the state of the education system. He’s telling them about

Arizona’s death panels. Where’s the outrage now? « Fred Klonsky's blog

Arizona’s death panels. Where’s the outrage now?

by Fred Klonsky

This morning’s NY Times has a very disturbing story about poor people in Arizona being unable to receive live-saving organ transplants because of cuts to the state’s version of Medicaid.

Hundred have needlessly died already. Others will follow.

Francisco Felix, 32, a father of four who has hepatitis C and is in need of a liver, received news a few weeks ago that a family friend was dying and wanted to donate her liver to him. But the budget cuts meant he no longer qualified for a

Damn Good Education Daily

The 2010 Edublog Awards | Burcu Akyol's Blog

burcuakyol.com - My picks for the 2010 Edublog Awards: Best individual blog: Teacher Reboot Camp by Shelly Terrell Best individual tweeter: Shelly Terrell Best new blog: Reflections of a Teacher and Learner by Dave...

tomwhitby

The Best Articles & Posts On Education Policy — 2010

larryferlazzo.edublogs.org - I’m continuing to “roll-out” my “Best of 2010″ series. Today, it’s “The Best Articles & Posts On Education Policy — 2010.” You might also be interested in these previous editions: The “Best” Articl...

Larryferlazzo

New Study On “The Influence of Positive Framing”

larryferlazzo.edublogs.org - Dec 03 2010 Larry Ferlazzo A new study has recently come-out – primarily focused on health messages and consumer advertising — and has found that “loss framed messages” (if you do this, then someth...

Larryferlazzo

The Answer Sheet - Rhee joins Florida governor

voices.washingtonpost.com - Former Washington D.C. Schools chancellor Michelle Rhee is turning her attention to Florida, where Gov.-elect Rick Scott, a Republican, just hired her as a key member of his education transition te...

valeriestrauss

New overseer for charters urged

toped.svefoundation.org - State board too consumed by charter petitionsBy Charter schools have become a time sink for the State Board of Education, with a third of its time spent dealing with schools serving 5 percent of Ca...

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Friday, December 3, 2010