Enter any bookstore today and you will likely see a sign for Mitt Romney's bookNo Apology, The Case for American Greatness. America is great if you're Mitt Romney and he's not about to apologize for how great things are for him. I don't understand why he got to write a book about it.
Go to Google and enter the words "political book deal." You will learn that the inconsequential dropout former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, recently signed another multi-million dollar book deal. You will see that Scott Brown had a been a Senator for about 30 days before getting his own book deal. Mitt Romney has a book deal. Gov. Bobby Jindal has a book deal. President Obama's half-brother George has a book deal. Yes, even Rod Blagojevich has a book deal. On and on and on. Name any politician, no matter how great or awful as a public servant. Chances are, they've got a million-dollar book deal.
I find it interesting that very few politicians actually write the book before they get the deal. I'm not a writer, but I assume that most book writers create their manuscripts in some lonely cottage in New England. Or maybe they are doing research and putting in hours within the tombs of some major library. But if you happen to be a politician, you don't have to have a particularly literary bent. Hell, you don't even have to write the book! They have people for that. You just show up to take the cover art photograph, go home with a check, and wait for the tour schedule. Must be nice to be able to get rich selling something you
Would we give (Disney) an outlet to express his creativity or, better yet, foster it? What would his school day consist of? Would he draw a sketch of Mickey Mouse, only to be ridiculed by his teacher because he should have been practicing his times tables?
I am sure that in today’s high-stakes testing environment, Disney’s creativity would be stifled by countless hours of basic reading instruction. He might not even have an art class due to funding shortfalls and a resulting budget that clearly places the arts at the bottom of the priority list.
Short-sighted administrators reject “critical thinking, creative thinking, and problem solving” as “fluff,” writes
About 50 rain-soaked students and teachers rallied Wednesday outside Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights to call for an end to the tardy and truancy ticketing policy.
Organizers said the system costs families hundreds of dollars and keeps students out of school.
Schools with large Latino populations, such as Roosevelt, have been unfairly targeted by police during early-morning sweeps near campuses, said Manuel Criollo of the Community Rights Campaign, which organized the rally.
He said students are issued tickets of about $250 for first-time offenders, $350 for second-time offenders and $900 for third-time offenders.
If offenders refuse or are unable to pay the fines, they could have their driver's licenses suspended. Many low-income students caught on their way to school are stuck with fines that are a burden to them and their families.
Steve Jobs is not a political guy. Apple Computer, Steve Jobs’s mega-corporation, is not a political company. In fact, Jobs and Apple are about as a-political as they ever could be. Apple does maintain an office in Washington, D.C., employing four lobbyists and providing them with a budget of just under $350,000 per quarter. That staff and budget barely would cover the cost of receptionists and tour guides at Microsoft’s Washington suites.
Despite his aversion to politics, Apple CEO Steve Jobs met yesterday with President Obama, their first face-to-face since a brief encounter during Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters, “They discussed American competitiveness and education, especially reforms such as the President’s Race to the Top initiative,” According to other reports, Jobs and Obama also discussed energy independence and job-creation, issues close to both of their hearts. Neither the White House nor Apple released further details of their talks, which were characterized as “friendly and productive”
Apple needs support in DC.
Despite its command of new wireless technology and American consumer electronics markets, especiall
(Second of a three-part series this week on innovative schools.)
Press releases are known for accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative in order to mold public opinion. So it came as no surprise when I received news marked for immediate release on Oct. 15 from the Alliance for Excellent Education.
Datelined Washington D.C., the Alliance reported on an MDRC study titled "Transforming the High School Experience: How New York City's New Small Schools Are Boosting Student Achievement and Graduation Rates." MDRC is a nonpartisan research group dedicated to improving programs that affect the poor. The study looked at 21,000 students, nearly half of whom attended small schools and the rest attended larger and older schools.
Despite the title of the study, the release focused almost exclusively on data about graduation rates. There was nothing about standardized test scores
CALIFORNIA, United States—Nimfa and Margaret are both special education teachers who obtained “J1” visas to teach in two different school districts in the United States.
Nimfa’s employer signed a two-year contract for a J1 visa to allow Nimfa to work, teach, and engage in other exchange activities in an elementary public school in Southern California. In the same way, Margaret was able to obtain a J1 visa to teach in a school somewhere in Maryland.
When Margaret’s visa was about to expire, she was able to change her status documents from a J1 visa to an H1B working visa. Nimfa’s employer, however, refused to change her status from J1 to H1B. She was instead asked to go home to the Philippines and obtain her visa at the US embassy in Manila. Nimfa was hesitant to leave the US. She had heard that Margaret was able to obtain a “waiver” allowing her to acquire a professional working visa without going home.
What is this waiver and why is it critical in changing a J1 to an H1B working
Category: Conservatives • Education
Posted on: October 24, 2010 10:11 AM, by Mike
A dirty secret of charter school 'success' is that they typically transfer their poorly-performing students the students they fail to educate to public schools. Consequently, charter schools are able to claim better test scores than regular public schools (clearly, ethics aren't on the charter school agenda....). It's been a problem in Boston and Bay Area charters in California.
A letter to Diane Ravitch from a Los Angeles school prinicipal documents just how dishonest and harmful this practice is (italics mine):
I received an email from Dr. DeWayne Davis, the principal of Audubon Middle School in Los Angeles, which was sent to several public officials. Dr. Davis said that local charter schools were sending their low-performing students to his school in the middle of the year. He wrote:"Since school began, we enrolled 159 new students (grades 7 and 8). Of the 159 new students, 147 of them are far below basic (FBB)!!! Of the 147 students who are FBB, 142 are from charter schools. It is ridiculous that they can pick and choose kids and pretend that they are raising scores when, in fact, they are purging nonperforming students at an alarming rate--that is how they are raising their scores, not by improving the performance of students. Such a large number of FBB students will handicap the growth that the Audubon staff initiated this year, and further, will negatively impact the school's overall scores as we continue to receive a recurring
TRENTON, N.J.—He says she’s a “greedy thug” who uses children as “drug mules.” She says he’s a “bully” and a “liar” who’s “obsessed with a vendetta.”
Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, and Barbara Keshishian, president of the state’s teachers union, say they want to improve public schools. That’s where agreement ends. In speeches, mailings and multi-million dollar TV ads, they’ve battled over teacher salaries, property taxes and federal education grants. They have met once, an encounter that ended when Mr. Christie threw Ms. Keshishian out of his office.
For Mr. Christie, 48 years old, the fight is part policy, part personality. He quickly has positioned himself as a politician in tune with an angry and impatient electorate, and he’s already mentioned as a 2012
By Tom Marshall, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, October 22, 2010
Michelle Rhee, the outgoing chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools, speaks to urban school administrators during a panel on teacher evaluations at the Council of Great City Schools conference in Tampa on Thursday. |  |
TAMPA — Call her a one-woman wrecking crew, a miracle worker, or the quintessential "mean girl" in American education reform. Call her what you want; Michelle Rhee doesn't mind.
"Be prepared to be Ms. or Mr. Unpopular," the outgoing chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools told an audience of urban school administrators here Thursday. "I am really good at this one right now."
Three years ago, Rhee launched a whirlwind of change: a tough evaluation system and teacher contract that resulted in 241 firings this spring, and ultimately may oust 25 percent of the district's teachers from their jobs. Those forces led to her resignation last week, following the election defeat of her boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty. But they brought applause from her audience at theCouncil of Great City Schoolsconference.
On another panel in the adjoining room, Hillsborough County superintendent MaryEllen Elia was describing a kinder, gentler strategy to reach what is rapidly becoming a
For OpEdNews: Michael Babich - Writer
With a new school year underway and yet another election season upon us, let's remind ourselves how these two events are linked. Aside from the obvious issue of funding education, there are also regulations, mandates, and controls passed by our elected officials. Unfortunately, the report card continues to disappoint.
According to studies from the Pacific Research Institute, the National Center for Educational Statistics, California State University, and other educational agencies, 40% of US students must enroll in remedial classes to provide skills in reading, writing and math.
The numbers are worse for California. A CSU report showed that only 44% of incoming freshmen were sufficiently proficient in reading and math. In addition, even though 60% of incoming freshmen have earned a "B" or better grade average in a college preparatory curriculum, about 60% of college-bound students still require some form of remediation.
Why aren't we demanding an explanation, and eventual solution, for the discrepancy between
MANATEE COUNTY - A local teachers union is taking on the Manatee School District over its plan to restrict how teachers use the Internet and social networking sites like Facebook in their personal time.
Manatee Education Association leaders this week filed a complaint with the state asking it to rule against the proposed policy.
They are also threatening to sue the district in civil court if the policy is enacted, arguing that the rules violate a teacher's right to privacy and free speech.
The proposed policy prohibits teachers from communicating with students through sites like
Here is the footage of our Oct. 5 forum on ed reform: “Race to Where?” featuring Dr. Diane Ravitch (Skyped in from her home in New York), Wayne Au of Rethinking Schools, Jesse Hagopian, teacher and founder of Social Equality Educators (SEE), and Seattle Ed’s own Dora Taylor. Seattle University’s Dr. Jodi Kelly introduces the event, while I moderate. The panel discussion is followed by a Q&A with the audience.
The footage of the 90-minute forum, held at Seattle University’s Pigott Auditorium, is divided into 7 parts of roughly 14 minutes each.
It was a terrific event that attracted over 250 parents, teachers and administrators for an engaging, if sometimes
Here's the profoundly disturbing fixed-grin photo of NJ Gov Chris Cristie, Oprah Winfrey, Cory Booker, and the Facebook guy (Mark Zuckerburg) accompanying this WSJ article rehashing the fight between Cristie and the teachers union (and making a big bolt-on deal out of his supposed presidential ambitions). What makes it interesting is the thought that, in a post Michelle Rhee world, Cristie is reformers' unchosen new champion -- their loudest voice against the status quo, etc. Awkward, no, to be tied to a big blustering white guy -- even if
The New Yorker on bullying, drug sniffing dogs for rent, Reform™, and more to come: Behind the anti-gay bullying New Yorker: The problem is a culture of exposure that is far more advanced than any efforts to combat online cruelty. Bullying feeds on weakness, anger, and, lately, the systematic undervaluing of privacy. There’s such a thing as violating your own privacy, too... Wanna be a School Reformer? You Better do Your Homework! Gary Stager: In public education today, unqualified is the new qualified. The celebration of inexperience and lack of preparation is particularly disconcerting when it comes to education policy. When you allow billionaires, ideologues, pop singers and movie viewers to define reform, you get Reform™... Company Renting Drug-Sniffing Dogs to Insane Parents [Parenting] Gawker: A Maryland company is renting out trained drug-sniffing dogs for $200 an hour. The target customer: Parents who want to find their
