Friday, April 9, 2010

California Revises Rules on Paid Internships - NYTimes.com

California Revises Rules on Paid Internships - NYTimes.com

California Labor Dept. Revises Guidelines on When Interns Must Be Paid




RelatedCalifornia’s labor department has issued updated guidelines on whether internships should be paid or unpaid, with the new rules giving employers slightly more latitude not to pay them.
In an advisory letter to a program that teaches information technology, the department’s top lawyer reinterpreted the criteria on compensation for internships, and, in a nod to employers, said interns need not always be paid when they do some of the same work as regular employees.
Many wage and hour regulators maintain that interns must be paid if their work is of “immediate advantage” to the employer, but the California agency’s top lawyer advised that such an advantage can be offset — and the intern not be paid — if the employer provides close supervision and lays out money for training.
Over all, the guidance from the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement was emphatic that for internships to be unpaid, they must be educational and predominantly

Your Money: Working Financial Literacy Into the Classroom

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

News10.net | Legislative analyst: State community college fees should rise

News10.net | Sacramento, California | Education Home

Education News


Legislative analyst: State community college fees should rise

Legislative analyst: State community college fees should rise

The California Legislative Analyst's Office is recommending state community colleges can help resolve their budget woes by increasing some student fees by 60 percent.

Megan Fox slams Schwarzenegger, California education

Megan Fox slams Schwarzenegger, California education

Megan Fox and her sometime boyfriend, actor Brian Austin Green, took aim at Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, protesting California school budget cuts in a new video online.

Folsom Lake College SIFE prepares for San Francisco competition

Folsom Lake College SIFE prepares for San Francisco competition

The Folsom Lake College SIFE will showcase 13 community-based business projects on April 6 in a competition in San Francisco.

Officials hope UC Merced expansion will spur jobs

Officials hope UC Merced expansion will spur jobs

Merced officials are hoping expansion plans at UC Merced will help brighten the city's employment picture.

Humboldt State may cut entire programs

Humboldt State may cut entire programs

Among the programs that could be eliminated at Humboldt State University are chemistry, computer science, fisheries biology, nursing, philosophy and physics.

California Administrators Take Aim At Activists’ Wallets � Student Activism

California Administrators Take Aim At Activists’ Wallets � Student Activism

When students at San Francisco State University took over that campus’s business school building in December, the university responded with force. Administrators brought police from campuses across the state to the scene, broke a window to gain access, and arrested eleven student activists.
In the weeks after the arrests, administrators and students worked out a deal to resolve the charges. Ten of the eleven students signed on to the agreement — admitting their participation in the occupation, accepting a semester’s academic probation, and promising to pay the university restitution for damage.
No exact figure for the restitution was agreed upon, but students were promised that the amount would be minimal. Students say they were told they would be charged for minor physical damage like scratches to walls, and that the total assessment would be no more than $50 per student.
But when the university finally billed the group not long ago, the figure was nearly fifteen times that high — $744.25 per student, $8,186.71 in total. The fee included not just cleanup from the damage done by the students themselves, but also the replacement of the window the cops chose to break and even the lodging costs for housing non-local police.
Reached for comment this week, university spokesperson Ellen Griffin acknowledged that the university had promised the students that charges

Local News | Superintendent Dorn asks forgiveness from students, state | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Superintendent Dorn asks forgiveness from students, state | Seattle Times Newspaper

Superintendent Dorn asks forgiveness from students, state

In his first interviews since his arrest March 21 for drunken driving, Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn said he hopes his mistake will prevent others from making the same one, especially students.
Seattle Times education reporter
Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn said he met with a group of high-school students Thursday and told them about his recent drunken-driving conviction as a cautionary tale.
At the end, he said he asked for their forgiveness.
On Friday, in one of his first interviews since his arrest March 21, Dorn essentially asked the state to forgive him, too.
"I don't want this to define who I am," he said.
Dorn has pleaded guilty to one count of drunken driving, even though his attorney told him he probably

“Be Niiiiiicccccceeeee” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“Be Niiiiiicccccceeeee” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“Be Niiiiiicccccceeeee”

We have 2,300 students in our inner-city high school, which makes it difficult to know everybody. On top of that, we’re divided into seven “Small Learning Communities” (see What Are Small Communities?) of about 300-350 each, so that makes it even more difficult to know who students are outside your SLC.
As I walk around the school, though, it’s not uncommon to see students acting inappropriately with one another, or speaking inappropriately to another student. The vast majority of time, it’s not an “office-referral worthy” action of physical violence or threat that requires strong intervention. Generally, it might be a curse word told someone in passing, some quasi-friendly verbal kidding with a “bite,” or some physical “horse-play.” It would be easy just to pretend to ignore it.
Given that most of the time it involves students with whom I have no relationship at all, I needed to figure out how


The Best Sites For Learning About The American Civil War

Today is the 145th anniversary of the ending of the American Civil War. Here’s the description fromAnswers.com:
Apr 9, 1865. At 1:30 pm General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant, commander in chief of the Union Army, ending four years of civil war. The meeting took place in the house of Wilmer McLean at the village of Appomattox Court House, VA. Confederate soldiers were permitted to keep their horses and go free to their homes, while Confederate officers were allowed to retain their swords and sidearms as well. Grant wrote the terms of surrender.








Financial Aid Rewards Those Who Do Everything Wrong (Sometimes) - Perdaily.com

Financial Aid Rewards Those Who Do Everything Wrong (Sometimes) - Perdaily.com

Financial Aid Rewards Those Who Do Everything Wrong (Sometimes)

money-fight-burns-smithers-simpsons.jpg
I was raised by a guy who graduated college the month before the Great Depression of 1929 hit. He always felt lucky to have a job and be able to support his family. My dad never quite forgot the insecurity he and his family went through during the 1930s. When we were kids during the 1950s, there was always too much food on the table, which I have come to realize was due to the fact that my father and his generation came from a time when one could not be sure of things as basic as food. My siblings and I would take this for granted.

I have always thought that my generation that came of age in the 1960s was able to ask the big questions about the glaring contradictions in our society between who we said we were and what we actually did, when it came to topics like social justice, war, and racism. We did not have to worry about the things my parent's generation did, because of the security we took for granted from the way we were raised. I didn't have a job pressing pants at 12 years of age like my father did. We had time to play, dream, and think, which allowed us to address the big

And the UFT election envelope please…. | GothamSchools

And the UFT election envelope please…. | GothamSchools

And the UFT election envelope please….


The results are in for UFT president Michael Mulgrew, who won election to his first full three-year term by a landslide. But if you’re interested to see how the other candidates for officer and executive board positions fared, the American Arbitration Association’s official vote tally is posted below.
Mulgrew won 41,521 of 45,596 votes, or 91 percent of the vote. The actual number of voters was approximately 53,500, but because about 25,000 retired members voted — surpassing the cap of 18,000 — each of their votes counted for .72 of one vote.
The participation rate this year was about 32 percent — slightly higher than in 2007, when about 30 percent of union members voted. Of 114,000 active union members, about 27,500 voted. That participation rate of 24 percent is an increase from 22 percent three years ago, but still down from 29 percent in 2004. Of the union’s 53,000 retired members, about 25,000 voted, or about 47 percent, up from 38 percent in 2007.

Remainders: FL lawmakers send merit pay bill for gov.’s signature

  • The state budget director said school aid payments due in June may have to be spread out over time.
  • Florida lawmakers passed a bill that eliminates tenure for new teachers and uses a merit pay plan instead.
  • Concerns over pay-for-grades and merit pay show business models don’t work for schools, Mr. Talk says.
  • James Merriman praises NYSUT for speaking out against proposed cuts to SUNY’s charter authorizer.
  • Where do teachers go if they need to do work alone or make personal phone calls? Here’s a photo.
  • Actress Megan Fox’s viral video protesting California school budget cuts is pretty funny.
  • But Robert Ponsiscio calls Fox’s bluff, pointing out that Fox recently said she hated school.
  • And Leonie Haimson is hosting a parent conference tomorrow; the agenda is here.

Schools Matter: Massachusetts Set to Deny Diplomas to Almost 3,000 Special Education and ELL Students

Schools Matter: Massachusetts Set to Deny Diplomas to Almost 3,000 Special Education and ELL Students

Massachusetts Set to Deny Diplomas to Almost 3,000 Special Education and ELL Students

Why, you ask? Well, the State must uphold its "world class" tests that are designed, somehow, "to better prepare high school graduates for careers in the booming health and science fields and to help them more easily navigate an everyday world more reliant on technology." Never mind that these special ed students and immigrant students will be cut off forever from any decent career without high school diplomas that are being denied them because of a learning disability or a language deficiency. And they wonder why there is a dropout problem, yes? From the Boston Globe:
With less than two months to go before high school commencements, more than 4,100 seniors across Massachusetts have not met a new state graduation requirement: passing an MCAS

Achievement growth similar in Portland K-8, elementary and middle schools | OregonLive.com

Achievement growth similar in Portland K-8, elementary and middle schools | OregonLive.com


Achievement growth similar in Portland K-8, elementary and middle schools

By Kimberly Melton, The Oregonian

April 09, 2010, 4:10PM
Achievement in Portland's K-8 schools has kept pace with achievement trends in Portland's K-5 and middle schools, according to preliminary datareleased this week. The results are the first part of a larger evaluation of the K-8 academic program and structure.

Portland Public Schools launched the K-8 reconfiguration nearly five years ago to cut costs and boost achievement by closing schools and merging many elementary and middle schools together.

These smaller schools were supposed to be better able foster relationships between the schools and families. The transition process, however, has faced several challenges. Some K-8's didn't have the proper equipment or materials, sometimes not even enough desks. Some students didn't have access counselors and others weren't offered algebra.

Portland has addressed several issues but is still trying to find ways to better support the K-8 school structure and make it successful. The achievement trends in those new K-8's, however, do show some promise.

At the middle school level, some K-8 schools are doing far better than the middle schools they replaced. As a middle school in 2004-05, 44 percent of Portsmouth students met state reading benchmarks. The district analyzed the data of middle school students in that neighborhood who would be




Oregon Trail School District offers IB program in Sandy for elementary grades

The school board approved an IB charter school last month for a fall opening. The school is offering one 25-student class per grade for kindergarten through fourth grade. A fifth-grade class will start the following year.

As foundation donations trickle in, Lake Oswego School District still faces budget troubles

Donations are slow for the Lake Oswego School District Foundation, and more cuts are on the horizon for the school district.

Salem teen, fascinated by travel since age 3, wins Oregon Geography Bee

Map-loving seventh-grader Samuel Conte will represent Oregon at the national bee after he aced questions about the state of Saxony and a peace park straddling the U.S.-Canadian border.

The Education Report A new Oakland teacher, no longer new

The Education Report

A new Oakland teacher, no longer new

By dadiletta
Friday, April 9th, 2010 at 4:26 pm in Dan Adiletta

Dan Adiletta, Explore Middle School teacherI’ve got half the class laughing at a short, overzealous attempt at direct instruction. I had just broken up a fight in the hallway, then comforted a crying teenage girl (don’t let that drama steal your future!). My students struggle with sitting still for more than two minutes, but here they are composing position papers on the Divine Right of Kings. I love my job — even with the headaches that come with it.
Time has certainly passed quickly since Ifirst started in Oakland. I was placed as a social studies teacher at Explore Middle School with the help of Oakland City Teacher Corps, (OCTC).
It’s funny: At the training program they ran for us, accountability and teacher retention were repeated ad nauseam. I was brought in from Cleveland, Ohio to help a district that desperately needed highly qualified, committed teachers. So why, then, was I hired on a temporary contract? In my ignorance and naivety, I

Beaverton third-graders among youngest in statewide Destination Imagination competition | OregonLive.com

Beaverton third-graders among youngest in statewide Destination Imagination competition | OregonLive.com

Beaverton third-graders among youngest in statewide Destination Imagination competition

By Melissa Navas, The Oregonian

April 09, 2010, 3:45PM
Imagination.15377235.JPGView full sizeStudents from McKay Elementary School in Beaverton practice a skit during a team meeting for their upcoming Destination Imagination state tournament in Corvallis Saturday. The third-graders are among the youngest to compete this year. Kelton Paul, 9, right, plays Medusa while teammates improvise a scene. From right to left, Katie Truong, 9; Rowan Fox, 9 (on floor); Dominik Vlasak, 9; Jon Bynum, 8, (sitting); and Julian Dukes, 9. Jonathan Lim, 8, is not pictured.BEAVERTON -- Before the seven third-graders entered a world of make believe, they had to hash out the details: Who would be the heroine? Who would be the narrator? Who would travel back in time?

Their conversation on a recent afternoon sounded more like executives duking it out around a conference table than children playing. But in the end, the flickers of squabbling, frustration and stage fright subsided. And the kids at McKay Elementary School in Beaverton got back to being, well, kids.


Destination Imagination
What: A creative problem-solving competition for elementary, middle and high school students. Teams will compete for a chance to advance to the Global Finals in Tennessee in May.

When: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Crescent Valley High School,4444 N.W. Highland Dr., Corvallis

Information:oregondi.org oridodi.org
Team T3G will use their theater skills and more Saturday when they compete at theDestination Imagination state tournament, a competition highlighting creativity, teamwork and problem-solving. The event takes place at Crescent Valley High Schoolin Corvallis.

About 600 students from 75 teams will participate in the day-long competition in various challenges, including tasks with homemade robots or skits using homemade puppets or props made of recycled newspaper.

State finals winners will be invited to compete at the Global Finals in Knoxville, Tenn. in May.

McKay's Team T3G will be among the youngest in the tournament with participants ranging from third grade to high school.

Team T3G chose the "DIrect DIposit" challenge, which asked them to deliver objects to targets they could not see. This project requires them to focus on engineering, technical design and construction, math and theater arts.

Team manager Blanka Vlasak, who formed the team this year because the program sounded interesting, said she was skeptical of her students'

Milwaukee Vouchers are Only a Failure if By “Failure” You Mean “Failure” � The Quick and the Ed

Milwaukee Vouchers are Only a Failure if By “Failure” You Mean “Failure” � The Quick and the Ed

Milwaukee Vouchers are Only a Failure if By “Failure” You Mean “Failure”

Rick Hess offers this spin on the newly-announced failure of the Milwaukee voucher program to improve student learning:
[The study found that] when it comes to test scores, students with vouchers are performing no differently than other kids. (It is worth noting that [voucher] students are being educated more cheaply than are district school students). What to make of the results? First off, 20 years in, it’s hard to argue that the nation’s biggest and most established voucher experiment has “worked” if the measure is whether vouchers lead to higher reading and math scores. Happily, that’s never been my preferred metric for structural reforms–both because I think it’s the wrong way to study them (see “Science and Nonscience“) but, more importantly, because choice-based reform


STUDENT Loan Reform

Education Sector’s student loan guru, Ben Miller, sat down with The Nation’s Christopher Hayes to talk federal student loan reform. Ben explained how the changes that come with these reforms will impact students — past, present, and future. Take a listen.

Vote for Cordova High Girls Group in Contest to Win $1500 — The Rancho Cordova Post

Vote for Cordova High Girls Group in Contest to Win $1500 — The Rancho Cordova Post

Vote for Cordova High Girls Group in Contest to Win $1500

by ANNE LOWE on APRIL 9, 2010 · 0 COMMENTS
Post image for Vote for Cordova High Girls Group in Contest to Win $1500
Voting is open until April 23 for an online contest in which Cordova High School is a finalist. If Cordova High wins, the school will be awarded $1,500 to go toward their Girls Group.
The contest is held by Apperson Print Resources, a supplier of educational products and services based out of Washington. Apperson holds the contest six times per year, and Franklin Elementary of Loomis, Calif. was announced the winner of the most recent contest. Cordova High is the only local school nominated for the current contest.
Cordova High Principal Jacky Levy said the Girls Group is a program they started to help support girls who are facing challenges in their lives. “The money will be used for field trips to colleges, volunteer activities, and for an end-of-the-year recognition ceremony,” she said in an email.
The contest rules state only one vote per email address will be accepted, and even if Cordova High doesn’t win first place, the school may still qualify for the second place prize of $750 or