Sunday, April 11, 2010

EducationNews.org - EducationNewsToday

EducationNewsToday

Minnesota teachers union is being hit from all sides

Republicans love to bash Education Minnesota, claiming the statewide teachers union and its powerful lobbying force essentially control the Democratic Party.

Full story

Science is gaining momentum in American schools

4.11.10 - It has taken prodding by industry, business, and government leaders - alarms going off, even - but science education is getting an upgrade in many classrooms across the region. ...

Full story

For homeless kids, Portland school and its buses are constants in a world of chaos

The Community Transitional School in Northeast Portland sends four buses each morning to pick up kids at shelters and motels, cars and corners. ...

Full story

Living hell in HS that won't shut down

A Manhattan judge has voided the city's decision to close 19 schools for poor performance, ruling in favor of the teachers union . The schools will now... ...

Full story

State schools chief may get more power

The focus of a new proposal aimed at invigorating efforts to improve low performing schools drops any effort to give power over MPS to the mayor of Milwaukee and focuses on giving Tony Evers, the state superintendent of public instruction, an array of new tools for taking on the problems of the schools...

Full story

Julia Steiny: Teaching “work-ready” skills to students who are falling between the cracks.

4.11.10 - Some kids aren’t going to college. Blasphemous perhaps, but true. ...

Full story

Schools say stadiums about more than football

GALVESTON — School districts across the state are opting for pricier, high-end facilities for both sports and entertainment events....

Full story

Teaching Handwriting: West Hartford Switches Styles

The monkey tail is dead. It sounds morbid and sad, but there is no mourning here in Kristi Burton's first-grade classroom at Duffy School. Teacher and students have moved on....

Full story

Memphis-area schools use yoga, other tactics to reduce TCAP stress

Students will take a tougher TCAP this week, the first year the test will reflect Tennessee's new, higher academic standard. ...

Full story

Wis. teachers, students mystified by sex education warning

MAUSTON, Wis. — Mike Taake has taught sex education for 30 years, and he says he knows what doesn’t work: just telling students to wait. ...

Full story

Sex education in Arizona varies by district

Sex education in Arizona varies by district Sex education in Arizona schools varies widely, from describing what constitutes sexual intercourse to pushing abstinence only. ...

Full story

Schools brace for teacher `sickout'

In protest of a contentious bill affecting pay, many Miami-Dade teachers are planning not to be at school Monday...

Full story

Teacher tenure bill is in Gov. Charlie Crist's hands

As the sign-or-veto countdown began for Gov. Charlie Crist, opponents of a controversial teacher pay bill directed their efforts his way. ...

Full story

Working Financial Literacy in With the Three R’s

While more states are beginning to require personal finance instruction, there aren’t enough that do, experts say, and the quality is inconsistent. ...

Full story

Sorry Geoffrey Canada, but failure IS an option, a reality, and even a boon

Calling for more school choice, Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, began a recent newspaper op-ed with the following: "Visitors to my public charter school often...

Full story

Schmoke was key to D.C. teachers contract deal

Former Baltimore mayor brought feuding sides back together ...

Full story

Gates grant and earlier changes put Hillsborough schools in sweet spot

Teachers all over Florida are watching in anger as state lawmakers upend their profession, but not teachers in Hillsborough County. They alone have been given an exception....

Full story

New law planned to boost Pa. charter oversight

Full story

Harvard-based pay-for-study experiment shows students incentivized to actions, not results

The Harvard-based study led by former city Education Department consultant Roland Fryer examined the program he spearheaded, which poured $6.3 million in private funds into 261 schools in four cities....

Full story

Panel hears ideas on next S.D. schools chief

Some parents, teachers and others who have been tapped to help craft a want ad of sorts for the next San Diego schools chief know what they don’t want more than anything else. ...

Full story

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: 'Jeb Bush's Waterloo'--A Florida teacher speaks out

'Jeb Bush's Waterloo'--A Florida teacher speaks out

by Mike Klonsky

I received this in the mail this morning. Definitely worth a read.

M.K.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Be careful what you set your heart upon--for it will surely be yours.

When he wrote the above line the great James Baldwin, who’s A Talk to Teachers should be required reading in every school of education, was doing a riff on the age-old warning to be careful what you wish for because you might just get it.

Jeb Bush has dreamed his whole political life of plunging a dagger in the heart of public education. His fond hopes were probably best confessed in his second inaugural address as Florida's governor in 2003. Bush told the rapt crowd gathered to hail him, "There will be no greater tribute to our maturity as a society than if we can make these buildings around us empty of workers; as silent monuments to the time when government played a larger role than it deserved or could adequately fill." Bush could already see it in his mind’s eye. Yes, school buildings empty of teachers, monuments to an abandoned American crusade for universal public education.

On August 9, 2010 at 2:26 a.m., the Florida House of Representatives voted Jeb Bush closer to his life’s dream

Thoughts on Liberty for Youth - Lefty Parent

Thoughts on Liberty for Youth

by Cooper Zale

As I have said many times before (from my reading of human history), the development of our species for the past five millennia has been all about the transition from patriarchal institutions based on the rule of strength to more partnership ones based on the rule of law. This transition involves more people becoming stakeholders with the liberty to chart their own course, check the power of their leaders, and contribute their two cents to the growing collective wisdom that has brought us such breakthroughs as the 2008 election of Barak Obama as President of the United States.

For me, a logical step still ahead of us in this progression is conferring more liberty upon our young people so they can be greater stakeholders in their own development, prior to their reaching adulthood.

These thoughts about the importance of liberty were triggered by my partner Sally posing a rhetorical question the other day. It was the starting point for the typical kind of philosophical conversation we often have around our kitchen table at dinnertime. I recall many such discussions with our two kids present and contributing, but now that the nest is empty, most these days include just Sally and me.

Sally’s question was how the American colonies were blessed with such a brain-trust of individuals, who helped found a country on such egalitarian principles (as far as they went) and enshrine those principles in a well written constitution and its initial amendments (The Bill of Rights).

My initial thought was that the resources, strength of will, and ingenuity it took to uproot oneself from ones homeland and make the perilous journey to a new land tended to select people with broad vision and practica

New law planned to boost Pa. charter oversight | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/10/2010

New law planned to boost Pa. charter oversight

By Martha Woodall

Inquirer Staff Writer

Leaders of the state Senate Education Committee said Friday that they would introduce a bill in Harrisburg to address the latest allegations of fiscal mismanagement that have rocked the Philadelphia charter school community.
Speaking at a long-scheduled hearing on a bill introduced in December to overhaul the 13-year-old charter law, Sen. Jeffrey E. Piccola (R., Dauphin) said he and his cochair, Sen. Andrew E. Dinniman (D., Chester), were putting that measure aside to focus on a new bill that would deal solely with increasing oversight of the state's 127 charter schools.
"As a result of the allegations and the outrages of the last few weeks, our focus will be solely on accountability and oversight," Piccola said during an afternoon hearing at Widener University in Chester. "We must clean up and weed out the bad actors from the charter school community before we adopt measures to promote more charter schools in Pennsylvania."
He said he was shocked by 6ABC reports that the Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School in West Philadelphia was used as a nightclub on weekends. And he said he and his colleagues were angered by an investigation by Philadelphia City Controller Alan Butkovitz that found excessive salaries, rubber-stamp boards,

Students compete in a geography bee

Christopher Niemann, an eighth grader at West Deptford Middle School, recalls being about 4 when he started keeping a notebook of imaginary roads.

Phila. archdiocese to close two more schools

Two more Catholic schools will close in June, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Friday. St. Joseph in Collingdale and Stella Maris in South Philadelphia will shut down because of low enrollment, officials said in a statement.

VAR Partners � Blog Archive � Why Great Teachers Matter to Low Income Students

Why Great Teachers Matter to Low Income Students

Here’s a great op-ed in WaPo by Joel I. Klein, Michael Lomax and Janet Murguía:

In the debate over how to fix American public education, many believe that schools alone cannot overcome the impact economic disadvantage has on a child, that life outcomes are fixed by poverty and family circumstances, and that education doesn’t work until other problems are solved.

This theory is, in some ways, comforting for educators. After all, if schools make only a marginal difference, we can stop faulting ourselves for failing to make them work well for millions of children. It follows that we can stop working to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (currently known as No Child Left Behind)and stop competing in the Obama administration’s Race to the Top initiative, which promises controversial changes.

Problem is, the theory is wrong. It’s hard to know how wrong — because we haven’t yet tried to make the changes that would tell us — but plenty of evidence demonstrates that schools can make an enormous difference despite the challenges presented by poverty and family background.

Consider the recent national math scores of fourth- and eighth-graders, which show startling differences among results for low-income African American students in different cities. In Boston, Charlotte, New York and Houston, these fourth-graders scored 20 to 30 points higher than students in the same socioeconomic group in Detroit, Milwaukee, Los Angeles and the District of Columbia. Boston fourth-graders outscored those in Detroit by 33

History of education, teacher training, teaching, teacher | Expat … | Educational New York

History of education, teacher training, teaching, teacher | Expat …

by Educational America on Saturday, April 10th 2010 No Comment

in Primary Education Tags: Both Sexes, Both Theoretical, Offers The, Opportunity,Philadelphia, Salle, Teachers, Teachers College

(La Salle College in Philadelphia was a teacher of education .) New York , Teachers College, founded in 1888, has in the University of Columbia was incorporated in 1893, the establishment of their vocational teacher announced: “The purpose of the College of Teacher Education offers the opportunity both theoretical and practical training for teachers of both sexes, for kindergartens and primary schools, secondary schools, principals, supervisors and school superintendents, …

Continue reading here:
History of education, teacher training, teaching, teacher | Expat …

Virtual Schooling In The News � Virtual School Meanderings

Virtual Schooling In The News

Filed under: cyber school, education, high school, news, virtual school — mkbnl @ 9:37 am
Tags: cyber school, education, high school, news, virtual school

Beginning with the T.H.E. Journal’s Collaboration 2.0.

Indiana Virtual Public School To Serve Elementary Students

Elementary and middle school students in Indiana will have an online alternative beginning in the 2010-2011 school year. More

Now the semi-regular ASCD SmartBrief.

Online option planned for Indiana students in elementary, middle school
A statewide virtual elementary and middle school is expected to launch in Indiana for the 2010-11 school year. The Indiana Connections Academy Virtual Pilot School will provide a free education to students in first through eighth grades, but it will not generally provide computers or pay for Internet connections. The virtual public school is a partnership between the online education company Connections Academy and Rural Community Academy. T.H.E. Journal (4/6)

Best Technology Sites | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Best Technology Sites

by Larry Ferlazzo

Here, again, are several of my “The Best…” lists that relate to a specific topic. Today, the focus is on Technology. As I’ve mentioned before, the links to these list might not work if you’re subscribing to this blog via email, or if you’re reading it on Facebook. There won’t be any problems if you’re reading it off an RSS Reader. And if you go directly to the blog post you’ll be able to access them, too.

The Best Sites For Learning About Possible Life On Other Planets

by Larry Ferlazzo

The Wall Street Journal came out today with an article and a multimedia presentation on the potential for life on other planets. That topic is always an engaging one for students, and getting their interest is a big part of the learning equation.
Here are my choices for The Best Sites For Learning About Possible Life On Other Planets (and are accessible to English Language Learners):

The Problem With “Bribing Students”

by Larry Ferlazzo

1 person liked this

You may have heard about the study that was just released about paying students for increased academic performance (see TIME Magazine’s article Should Kids Be Bribed to Do Well in School? and their slideshowPaying For Kids For Grades: Does It Really Work?)
I found this article to be very disturbing — disturbing enough, in fact, to decide to take the time to begin reading

“Images mark 20 years of Hubble telescope”

by Larry Ferlazzo

This month is the twentieth anniversary of the Hubble Telescope.
According to The Telegraph:
to mark the observatory’s 20th anniversary, scientists at Nasa have selected the most dramatic and scientifically-important images it has taken.

Hunger Infographic

by Larry Ferlazzo

Supreme Court Resources
from Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo

pressofAtlanticCity.com: Atlantic County - Breaking News plus Local, Business, Sports, Entertainment & Video News for Southern New Jersey

Christie shows up at LoBiondo fundraiser, so do angry Atlantic County teachers

Print this Article Share this Article

By DIANE D'AMICO Education Writer | Posted: Saturday, April 10, 2010 | 130 comments

Font Size:: Default font size; Larger font size

Protesters chant at the entrance to the Mays Landing Country Club Gov. Chris Christie arrives for a GOP fundraising dinner.

Photo by: Ben Fogletto

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP — More than 200 public school employees protested state school funding cuts Friday with a noisy picket line outside the Mays Landing Country Club where Gov. Chris Christie attended a fundraiser for Republican U.S. Congressman Frank LoBiondo.

Chanting “Save Our Schools” and holding signs saying “Support Our Schools” and “We are the solution, not the problem,” teachers from districts throughout Atlantic County, some of whom have received layoff notices, said they want to make the public aware that a $820 million shortfall in state school aid will affect teachers, programs, and children.

“The message to voters is ‘Please vote for the (local school) budgets and support our schools,’” said John Carlson, an Egg Harbor Township teacher and vice president of the Atlantic County Council of Education Associations, which organized the event.

A small group of teachers stood on the corner of Route 40 to get the attention of afternoon rush-hour traffic.

The rest lined up outside the country club, chanting at arriving guests, most of whom were surprised to see them. The only minor disturbance came when one woman opened her car window and made a comment about hoping teachers did lose their jobs.

The teachers booed loudly but remained outside the parking lot. There was no police presence

Latest News and Comment from Education

Sunday, April 11, 2010

EducationNewsToday

New law planned to boost Pa. charter oversight

History of education, teacher training, teaching, teacher | Expat …

Christie shows up at LoBiondo fundraiser, so do angry Atlantic County teachers