Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show - NYTimes.com

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show - NYTimes.com:

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Say

WASHINGTON — Education was historically considered a great equalizer in American society, capable of lifting less advantaged children and improving their chances for success as adults. But a body of recently published scholarship suggests that the achievement gap between rich and poor children is widening, a development that threatens to dilute education’s leveling effects.

Multimedia

It is a well-known fact that children from affluent families tend to do better in school. Yet the income divide has received far less attention from policy makers and government officials than gaps in student accomplishment by race.

Now, in analyses of long-term data published in recent months, researchers are finding that while the achievement gap between white and black students has narrowed

What This Teacher Means By Whole Child Education | The Jose Vilson

What This Teacher Means By Whole Child Education | The Jose Vilson:

What This Teacher Means By Whole Child Education

On Monday, I finally handed in my second quarter grades, still dizzy from the desultory amounts of sleep I got the night before. Gasses in a baby don’t have an appointment, so I spend nights either patting my baby’s back or listening to my fiancee do this. As I start looking at my online gradebook, I put in my grades on the Excel spreadsheet in a swift manner. I quickly took note of some of the data I knew about the students and thought about their progress throughout the semester. I discerned some patterns in their exams and homework with a mix of their participation and enthusiasm for the class. From there, I gave them a grade based on what and how I felt they did throughout the

NYC Public School Parents: Thursday night massacre

NYC Public School Parents: Thursday night massacre:

Thursday night massacre

Panel for Education Policy votes to close all 23 schools despite thousands of protesters.

photo: Ben Chapman, Daily News

School Tech Connect: The Time Is Now For Crane

School Tech Connect: The Time Is Now For Crane:


The Time Is Now For Crane

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) Feb 9, 2012 7:40 PM - Show original item
...to hit the phones.
1-713-553-1500


Ask for Jean Claude Brizard. Tell him to read the hearing officer's report, and keep Crane open. And get over to the feeder schools as well, because Crane belongs to them, too.


Don't forget Ayodeji Griffin's words at the community hearing:


A couple of years ago, I questioned an elementary counselor who attended our articulation breakfast and asked her why did she always send her students with stanine scores of four, five, and six to Crane.
Simply put, she stated, "Because I know that Crane will graciously receive our students, will educate them, and make sure that they graduate and attend college."
After thinking about it, I said to myself, "Well, isn't that our claim to fame? If I don't know this, then no one else knows--- we will accept any student no matter how low their test scores are. We educate and we graduate.


This notion of welcoming students no matter who they are--- it's something we need to fight for. It's an idea that'

Daily Kos: Applying the Success of NCLB to the Improvement of Interscholastic Football

Daily Kos: Applying the Success of NCLB to the Improvement of Interscholastic Football:

Applying the Success of NCLB to the Improvement of Interscholastic Football

NCLB: The Football Version
1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. If after two years they have not won the championship, their footballs and equipment will be taken away UNTIL they do win the championship.

2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time even if they do not have the same conditions or opportunities to practice on their own. NO exceptions will be made for lack of interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or disabilities of themselves or their parents. ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL

Asthma and Indoor Air Quality in Schools - Letters (CA Dept of Education)

Asthma and Indoor Air Quality in Schools - Letters (CA Dept of Education):

Asthma and Indoor Air Quality in Schools

Joint letter from the California Department of Education and the California Department of Public Health regarding asthma and indoor air quality in California schools.

CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
TOM TORLAKSON
, State Superintendent of Public Instruction
1430 N Street, Sacramento, CA, 95814-5901
916-319-0800

CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
RON CHAPMAN, MD, MPH
, Director
1615 Capitol Avenue, Sacramento, CA, 95814
916-558-1700

February 9, 2012

Dear County and District Superintendents and Charter School Administrators:

ASTHMA AND INDOOR AIR QUALITY IN CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS

The health of students is closely associated with academic achievement. On many occasions, we have cited asthma as a health problem that significantly affects our students. Statewide, over 13 percent of California students have been diagnosed with asthma. In some counties, nearly one in three students has been diagnosed with asthma. The impacts of asthma include missed school days, disruption of sleep and daily activities, lower academic performance, urgent medical visits for asthma
exacerbations, and even death.

Asthma exacts a serious annual financial toll on California schools. Asthma-related absences result in over $30 million in lost revenue each year. While there is no cure for asthma, with appropriate medications and proper management, students can control symptoms and experience minimal disruption of their daily lives.

The California Schools Environmental Health and Asthma Collaborative, of which the California Department of Education (CDE) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) are founding members, addresses asthma and indoor air quality in California schools. The Collaborative is developing valuable resources for school staff that will help to reduce the burden of asthma. These include brief online modules on asthma emergency care, the California asthma medication self-carry law, and indoor and outdoor asthma trigger management. The Collaborative also plans to disseminate user-friendly resources on managing asthma and improving indoor air quality in schools.

We are pleased to support the important work of the Collaborative and urge the entire kindergarten through grade twelve school community to use and benefit from its resources. Resource information can be found on the CDPH California Breathing Web site at http://www.californiabreathing.org/ and the CDE Guidelines for the Management of Asthma Web page athttp://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/hn/asthmaguidelines.asp.

If you have any questions regarding this subject, please contact Linda Davis-Alldritt, School Nurse Consultant, CDE Coordinated School Health and Safety Office, by phone at 916-319-0284 or by e-mail at ldavisal@cde.ca.gov; or Scott Kessler, Programs Director, CDPH Environmental Health Investigations Branch, by phone at 510-620-3643 or by e-mail atscott.kessler@cdph.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Tom Torlakson
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
California Department of Education

Ron Chapman, MD, MPH
Director & State Health Officer
California Department of Public Health

TT/RC:lda

Modern School: Tech Giants Take On Publishers for Control of Education

Modern School: Tech Giants Take On Publishers for Control of Education:

Tech Giants Take On Publishers for Control of Education


Collage by Modern School (with Images from Flickr, sucello and mikebaird)
In a rare moment of lucidity and honesty, the Los Angeles Times published a piece last week criticizing tech giants’ play for billions of federal and state K-12 public education tax dollars. Reporting for the Times, Michael Hiltzik attended a Digital Learning Day Town Hall meeting sponsored by Google, Comcast, AT&T, Intel and others, with speakers that included Education Secretary Arne Duncan and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

Duncan and Genachowski called for laptops for every child because textbooks will ostensibly soon become a thing of the past. While there are certainly benefits to switching to digital textbooks, like allowing students to “write” in the margins or to interact with multimedia presentations, the real driving force, not surprisingly, is the huge profits to be made by tech

Arne Duncan Supports Using Student Portfolios To Evaluate Teachers? | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Arne Duncan Supports Using Student Portfolios To Evaluate Teachers? | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:

Arne Duncan Supports Using Student Portfolios To Evaluate Teachers?

| 0 comments

I support using alternative methods to student performance on standardized tests to evaluate teachers. In fact, I have a long list of “tried and true” alternatives at The Best Articles Describing Alternatives To High-Stakes Testing.

One of those alternative measures worth considering, I believe, are student portfolios.

Well, this week, Arne Duncan gave a speech where he endorsed that view:

Just last week I met with Dru Davison, a fantastic music teacher in Memphis. Arts teachers there were frustrated because they were being evaluated based solely on school-wide performance in math and English. So he convened a group of arts educators to come up with

Big Education Ape: 2-9-12 PM Who will turnaround the turnarounds? EDition #CORPWELFARE #EDREFORM

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now:
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Published by Coopmike48 – 7 news spotters today

Who will turnaround the turnarounds?

michaelklonsky.blogspot.com - "We note with continued dismay that Chicago's unelected school board members continue (to) drain millions of public dollars from regular neighborhood schools while they instead invest in charters...

mikeklonsky

City schools get $4m arts programs boost

articles.boston.com - A study in 2009 said that the availability of arts instruction varied greatly from school to school, with opportunities dwindling as students moved to higher grades. Since the district launched the...

arneduncan

Common school program reduces signs of bullying

reuters.com - By Kerry Grens NEW YORK | Wed Feb 8, 2012 2:17pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A widely implemented school program aimed at improving kids' behavior helps to slow the increase in bullying during ...

arneduncan

Good Reasons and Bad Reasons « School Finance 101

schoolfinance101.wordpress.com - Current reformy rhetoric dictates that we MUST CLOSE FAILING SCHOOLS! That we must close those schools that are dropout factories or have persistently low achievement levels on state assessments. A...

DianeRavitch

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coopmike48 Big Education Ape: Life in Rahm’s Chicago: Thursday edition. « Fred Klonsky - http://t.co/6s0QObecabout 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 O.C. students who stay out of gangs will get Chivas soccer tickets -http://t.co/r6oZgtii -http://t.co/so9mq1pO5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

The Test Generation

prospect.org - On exam day in Sabina Trombetta's Colorado Springs first-grade art class, the 6-year-olds were shown a slide of Picasso's "Weeping Woman," a 1937 cubist portrait of the artist's lover, Dora Maar, w...

DianeRavitch

You deserve better

us1.campaign-archive1.com - Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Florida Politicians have hit our public schools hard this session. Here are two special-interest driven bills that are making committee stop...

leoniehaimson

Schools plan closely eyed | Home

theadvocate.com - State Superintendent of Education John White’s plan to overhaul the way public schools and students are evaluated is sparking questions, concerns and some praise, officials said Wednesday.“I know t...

DianeRavitch

SocietySee all

AMERICAblog News: CPAC to host white nationalist leader

americablog.com - CPAC to host white nationalist leaderMighty white of them.Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, along with several Republican senators and congressmen, ar...

mikeklonsky

PoliticsSee all

Libya Struggles to Curb Militias as Chaos Grows

nytimes.com - TRIPOLI, Libya — As the militiamen saw it, they had the best of intentions. They assaulted another militia at a seaside base here this week to rescue a woman who had been abducted. When the guns fe...

mikeklonsky

Democrats for Education Reform

dfer.org - February 9, 2012More Dem Guv BoldnessBy Joe Williams, DFER Executive Director Re: This post from the other day on Gubernatorial Mojo, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy continues to flex in what has been ...

leoniehaimson

StoriesSee all

Blog posts on this issue

whitehouse.gov - The White House Office of the First Lady For Immediate Release February 09, 2012 Wells Fargo Arena Des Moines, Iowa11:17 A.M. CST MRS. OBAMA: This is so cool. Hey! (Applause.) Well, hello, ev...

coopmike48

I Tried One Of Robert Krulwich’s Ideas In Class Today…

larryferlazzo.edublogs.org - Yesterday, I posted NPR’s Robert Krulwich Provides Another Excellent Idea For A History Lesson. I didn’t try that idea out today, but tried another one that I had previously posted (“Let’s Play ‘Hi...

coopmike48

BusinessSee all

K12 4Q profit tumbles 46 pct as costs rise

businessweek.com - HERNDON, Va. Educational software provider K12 Inc. said Tuesday that its fiscal second-quarter net income fell nearly in half on higher costs. Profit was less than half of what analysts expected a...

DianeRavitch

The Harris Claim: Side Deals and Numbers

news.firedoglake.com - “Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Secures $18 Billion California Commitment for Struggling Homeowners,” the headline blares. But wait: the foreclosure fraud settlement is only a total of $25 billi...

coopmike48

Poll: Optimism up in California - Tim Mak

politico.com - Two-thirds of Californians believe their personal financial situation in one of the hardest-hit states will improve over the next 12 months, a new report shows, a promising sign in the context of d...

coopmike48

HealthSee all

Take action now! « MomsRising Blog

momsrising.org - Donnicia Venters, a mom from Houston, TX, lost her job in 2009 simply for following medical advice to breastfeed her infant. When Donnicia told her boss about her pregnancy, he assured her that he...

coopmike48

#corpwelfareSee all

You deserve better

us1.campaign-archive1.com - Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Florida Politicians have hit our public schools hard this session. Here are two special-interest driven bills that are making committee stop...

leoniehaimson

#edreform”See all

Democrats for Education Reform

dfer.org - February 9, 2012More Dem Guv BoldnessBy Joe Williams, DFER Executive Director Re: This post from the other day on Gubernatorial Mojo, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy continues to flex in what has been ...

leoniehaimson