Thursday, December 9, 2010

UCI administration is out for blood « occupy california

UCI administration is out for blood

by mtd

We have just learned that 19 students and supporters have been charged by the District Attorney of Orange County for participation in the February 24 sit in.

Each person is being charged on average with 3 misdemeanors, though 1 person each is being charged with 2 and 4 counts. The charges include: false imprisonment, obstruction of a public place, being a public nuisance, trespassing, disturbing the peace, and refusal to disperse. Arraignment will be December 29.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Emanuel blowing more smoke on Chicago school reform

Emanuel blowing more smoke on Chicago school reform

by Mike Klonsky

Here's the latest Rahm bomb

He promises even more arbitrary school closings in black and Latino communities, turning them over to private management companies under the failed Race To The Top policies he helped engineer in Washington.

The so-called "turnaround" process, handing neighborhood schools over to operators like Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), has only served to widen the city's achievement gap and expand the two-tier school system we have always known in the Windy City.

While Emanuel won't commit to sending his own children to any AUSL-run schools, or to any other public school period, he giddily promised, at a press conference on Tuesday, to "turnaround" and hand over to companies like AUSL 35 more local public schools. Where did he get the number 35. Has he studied each school (he doesn't name them) to see what their specific needs; are they really "failing"; or what impact the turnaround process

Hechinger Report | What can we learn from Finland?: A Q&A with Dr. Pasi Sahlberg

What can we learn from Finland?: A Q&A with Dr. Pasi Sahlberg

by Hechinger Report

Pasi Sahlberg

Justin Snider of The Hechinger Report sat down today with Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, Director General of the Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation in Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture. An edited version of their conversation follows.

Sahlberg, who has trained teachers, coached schools and advised policymakers in more than 40 countries, is also a former Washington-based World Bank education specialist. Earlier this week, Finland was once again

Education Secretary Arne Duncan's High Hopes For Cathie Black

Education Secretary Arne Duncan's High Hopes For Cathie Black »

BY CELESTE KATZ

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan joined Mayor Bloomberg and outgoing Schools Chancellor Joel Klein this morning for a presser on the GED, and, of course, was asked about Klein's controversial replacement, former media exec Cathie Black, with whom he was slated to meet. Here's what Duncan had to say:

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan

Q: What do you think about Cathie Black?

Duncan: "I'm a huge fan of Joel Klein. He's done an amazing job. And her challenge and the opportunity is to take public education here to the next level. And I'm going to do whatever I can to be supportive of her in doing that, and I, there's a lot of easier things she could have chosen to do. For her to have the courage to step up and do this work, I think tells you something about her character."

Q: What about bringing in someone with such an unconventional background who hasn't worked in either the public sector or education? What are the challenges for them?

Duncan: "There are challenges whether you're conventional or unconventional. Anyone coming to this job has a huge learning curve. I will say in Chicago I worked for the previous superintendent before I got the job for 2-1/2 years. I sort of thought I knew it, and I got there, I had no idea how big my learning curve was. So she like anyone else has a, has a, you know, a learning curve. She's smart. She's committed. She's going to have a great team. And this is a, is not just about Cathie, it's about the entire city rallying to make this the best urban

District restructures debt amid concerns about future | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

District restructures debt amid concerns about future

by Dale Mezzacappa on Dec 09 2010

A few hours before the marathon afternoon meeting on Wednesday dominated by passionate discussion of minority contracting, the School Reform Commission held a short, businesslike session to approve a resolution restructuring its debt. And while everything was presented as routine, pro-forma, and in the District's best interest, it drew attention to some jaw-dropping information that is hardly secret but is not often discussed.

For instance, the District carries $3 billion in debt, and 10 percent of its operating budget goes to debt service - its annual pricetag has soared to $253 million of $2.4 billion. State law guarantees that the District pay off this debt no matter what; it has no option to delay doing this so it can, say, keep qualified teachers in every classroom.

And both Chief Financial Officer Michael Masch and the commissioners said it is likely that the District's overall revenues will decline precipitously next year, given the expiration of the federal stimulus funds and Harrisburg's takeover by Repubicans promising more austerity and no new taxes.

I will not pretend to have read the resolution, which is more than an inch thick. Masch said, in an understatement, that the restructuring was a "complicated

The Answer Sheet - Teachers: What we need to do to fix schools

Teachers: What we need to do to fix schools

This is the companion piece to the previous post, in which teachers expressed their frustrations about the attacks on their profession. This piece is about a new report by 14 teachers from high-needs urban schools around the country about how to effectively improve conditions in these schools. The following was written by Larry Ferlazzo, an English teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif. He is the author of several books on education policy and practice, including English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work, and maintains a popular resources blog for teachers. This appeared on the Teachers Magazine space at Education Week's website. By Larry Ferlazzo Few things in our world are helped by looking through an either/or lens. Reality, in my experience at least, is far too ambiguous to be seen as all one color or another. Unfortunately, many “school reformers”—often with little teacher consultation—come across as having

Teachers: How much more can we take?

This powerful piece and the one that follows will give flip sides of what teachers are living with today: deep frustration at being scapegoated, and determination to continue to find ways to improve schools and educate children. The post was written by John Norton, co-founder of the Teacher Leaders Network and first published on Teachers Magazine’s space on Education Week’s website. Norton, a former education journalist and vice president of the Southern Regional Education Board, is currently a communications consultant for the Center for Teaching Quality and the Alabama Best Practices Center. This is long but well worth the time to read every word. You can find more comments from teachers at the site. By John Norton During a recent chat in the Teacher Leaders Network daily online discussion group, it became apparent that many established, expert teachers who once planned to teach well into their 60s are now rethinking

Tuition fees: government wins narrow victory | Education | guardian.co.uk

Tuition fees: government wins narrow victory

• Plans to raise cap on tuition carried by 323 votes to 302
• Protesters clash with police outside parliament
• Read how the day's student protests unfolded
• All the day's political developments as they happened

Hélène Mulholland, political reporter
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 9 December 2010 19.40 GMT
Article history

The motion on student funding passed narrowly with majority of 21, with six Tories and 21 Lib Dems rebelling Link to this video

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat business secretary, insisted tonight that his party remained united despite a 21-strong rebellion by backbench MPs in a crucial vote over plans to allow universities to raise the cap on tuition fees to £9,000.

The coalition plans faced bitter criticism not only from Labour MPs but from Lib Dem and Tory backbenchers too before the move was carried by 323 votes to 302 in what has proved to be the most testing

"Parent Trigger Law" Could Trigger Change Around The Nation | Education | Change.org

Parents at McKinley Elementary are fed up. Their children have gone to a dismal school for years, they say, and the district has done nothing about it. So they're taking matters into their own hands with help from a new California law that allows parents to take control of a failing school.

It's called the "Parent Trigger law," and it was narrowly passed by the California legislature earlier this year. It applies to the lowest performing schools in California, allowing parents to make drastic changes to a school if they can get over 51 percent of all the parents to sign a petition.

Marlene Romero is one of those parents who's trying to change McKinley, where only 19 percent of 3rd graders read at grade level.

"We are completely fed up," said Romero. "We’ve been told to wait every year and nothing changes."

Sixty-one percent of McKinley's parents voted to have the school taken over by a local charter school, just one of the options the Parent Trigger law allows. In addition, parents can vote to have the school closed, have it "transformed" by hiring a new principal, do a "turnaround" where much of the staff is hired and

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: The Arts Academy

The Arts Academy *6 CHARTER SCHOOLS SPONSORED BY ASHE CULTURE CENTER DECLARED UNAUDITABLE*; November 24, 2010; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) The financial records of six Cleveland-area charter schools are in such bad shape that the Ohio auditor's office says they ...

Marcus Garvey Academy *6 CHARTER SCHOOLS SPONSORED BY ASHE CULTURE CENTER DECLARED UNAUDITABLE*; November 24, 2010; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) The financial records of six Cleveland-area charter schools are in such bad shape that the Ohio auditor's office says they ...

Lion of Judah Academy *6 CHARTER SCHOOLS SPONSORED BY ASHE CULTURE CENTER DECLARED UNAUDITABLE*; November 24, 2010; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) The financial records of six Cleveland-area charter schools are in such bad shape that the Ohio auditor's office says they ...

Elite Academy of the Arts *6 CHARTER SCHOOLS SPONSORED BY ASHE CULTURE CENTER DECLARED UNAUDITABLE*; November 24, 2010; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) The financial records of six Cleveland-area charter schools are in such bad shape that the Ohio auditor's office says they ...

Arts Academy West *6 CHARTER SCHOOLS SPONSORED BY ASHE CULTURE CENTER DECLARED UNAUDITABLE*; November 24, 2010; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) The financial records of six Cleveland-area charter schools are in such bad shape that the Ohio auditor's office says they ...

Greater Heights Academy *CLEVELAND CHARTER SCHOOL GREATER HEIGHTS ACADEMY ABRUPTLY CLOSES*; November 17, 2008; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) CLEVELAND -- About 750 students were left scrambling on Monday after money troubles -- including a lawsuit over payments owed to a ...

Central PA Digital Learning Foundation Charter School *U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TAKES A DIM VIEW OF CYBERSCHOOL DIPLOMAS*; November 28, 2010; The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, PA) All diplomas awarded to Pennsylvania public school students are not equal in the eyes of the military. Students attending any ...

Arizona charter schools (attendance tracking problems) *AZ’S CHARTER SCHOOLS OVERSTATE ENROLLMENT*; September 4, 2007; The Arizona Republic Steve Chavez tried for four years to get an accurate count of the 250 or so students attending his five small charter schools in northern Arizona. He can’t say ...

Minnesota charter schools (authorizers getting out of business) *ONE-THIRD OF STATE'S AUTHORIZERS ARE GETTING OUT OF CHARTER SCHOOL BUSINESS *; December 1, 2010; Minnesota Public Radio St. Paul, Minn. — Dozens of charter schools in Minnesota are looking for new homes. Not physical homes, but homes with an ...

Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley *5 TEACHERS AT CUMBERLAND CHARTER SCHOOL NEED EMERGENCY CERTIFICATION*; November 26, 2010; Providence Journal (RI) Five teachers at Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley, a public charter school in Cumberland, have received “emergency” teaching permits ...

BlueSky Charter School *STATE THREATENS SANCTIONS AGAINST CHARTER SCHOOL*; November 2, 2010; Minnesota Public Radio St. Paul, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Education is threatening significant fines against an online charter school if it doesn't fix problems with its ...

Harlem Village Academies *CATHIE BLACK CLAIMS TO HAVE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH CHARTER SCHOOL BOARD POST, BUT IT'S MOOT*; November 28, 2010; NY Daily City schools chancellor nominee Cathie Black insists she's connected to public education via a highly touted charter ...

West Houston Charter School *PROBLEMS CONTINUE TO MOUNT FOR BELEAGUERED WEST HOUSTON CHARTER SCHOOL, HEADMASTER CALLED ‘PUPPET’* ; June 23, 2010; Instant News Katy (Houston, TX) First of a Two-Part Series Problems for the beleaguered West Houston Charter School continue to ...

School of Tomorrow *WITHOUT WARNING, CHARTER SCHOOL SUDDENLY CLOSES; PARENTS, KIDS, TEACHERS SAY IT BREAKS THEIR HEART; TEACHERS WHO LOST JOBS LEFT STUNNED*, October 8, 2010, WEWS5 (Cleveland, OH) Parents, teachers and students were left stunned and searching for a ...

CARE Charter School of Excellence *CHARTER SCHOOL APPEAL SHOT DOWN BY STATE COMMISSION,* November 4, 2010, WCTV News (Tallahassee, FL) A Jefferson County charter school is fighting to stay open, but today they experienced a setback when a state commission shot down their request ...

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