Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Special Late Nite Cap #SOTU EXTRA 2-12-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2



Nite Cap EXTRA

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School Hit List Released Soon; Act Today!


Action Alert

School Hit List Released Soon; Act Today!

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Board of Education has threatened to shutter more than one hundred of our neighborhood schools. Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett is expected to release the hit list soon. 


CPS is currently holding “community hearings” underwritten by the Walton Family Foundation (Wal-Mart) to sell these school closings to the public. Concurrently, charter school profiteers have been pushing their message of replacing neighborhood schools with charter operations through the so-called “School Choice Week.”
The public did not buy what the saboteurs and privatizers were selling and thousands attended these meetings to save all schools from closing. CTU members, parents, clergy, and community-based, grassroots organizations have organized summits, knocked on doors, visited El stops and phoned elected officials in an attempt to stop school closings and ensure neighborhood schools get the resources they need.


The Chicago Teachers Union members and allies must be prepared for the release of the hit list by staying organized and vigilant. 

In this short video, CTU President Karen GJ Lewis explains what we all must do to save our schools.

Popout

Thirteen Ohio School Districts "Scrubbing" Low Scoring Students

From CantonRep.com:
Four more Ohio districts, including Canton City Schools, removed poor-performing students from their rolls, state Auditor David Yost said Monday in the final step of his investigation into a practice whereby schools attempted to improve performance ratings. 
More than 70 schools or districts also had attendance reporting errors, though these didn’t appear to be purposeful, Yost said. 
The four districts bring to nine the number that Yost has identified in his investigation of the data withdrawal practice known as “scrubbing.” 

Jack KImble's Response to the State of the Union



Tonight, our country has come together once again to hear our President give the State of the Union address.  Make no mistake about it.  This is a historic night and following any Presidential election, the State of the Union is a celebration of the principles our country holds dear.

President was eloquent, as always, in putting forth his beliefs for what America should be.   I hope you will allow me a chance to speak for those beliefs that brought me into public service and guide the Republican Party to this day.  Tonight, we celebrate the birth of Republican President Abraham Lincoln, so this is a truly special night for our party.

Unlike both President Obama and Marco Rubio, my parents were both born in this country as were my 


Behind Obama's SOTU Remarks on Vocational Education, Germany, and American High Schools

In his State of the Union address, President Obama promised to create a new federal funding stream to help high school students prepare for the workforce, perhaps by supplementing the traditional high school curriculum with the sort of job-specific learning Americans typically associate with community colleges. This is promising. As I've reported, during the first term, President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan talked about vocational education almost exclusively in the context of post-secondary schools. That allowed the administration to dodge controversial, historically-freighted debates over "tracking," a practice that, throughout the twentieth century, pushed non-white students, girls, and the intergenerationally poor into lower-paid professions. But it also ignored some important research and innovation at the K-12 level.
For one thing, surveys of high school drop-outs show a leading cause of their leaving school is the 

Four Reasons Pre-K Faces An Uphill Climb

President Obama made a big call for a federal – state partnership on early-childhood education in his State of the Union speech. As education initiatives go pre-K has substantial research behind it. The mixed results that are observed in many pre-K initiatives, and Head Start, owe more to execution shortcomings than the underlying value of quality pre-K education.  And it’s also common- sense that preparing students for school, and closing the gaps that exist before they start school, is a smart way to get kids off to a good start in school.  The issue is also ripe for a federal-state partnership.
Still, it’s a long way from here to there.  Doesn’t mean the President can’t get something done, but here are four 

LAUSD approves $50M for computer tablets

Los Angeles Unified took the first step Tuesday in closing the digital divide with the school board's approval to spend $50 million to provide computer devices to students at nearly four dozen campuses this fall.

Obama cites Georgia as proof that pre-k works. Calls for College Scorecard and redesigned high schools. Real goals or rhetoric?

President Obama praised Georgia for its pre-k program in his speech. (AJC)President Obama praised Georgia for its pre-k program in his speech. (AJC)
In his fifth State of the Union address, a buoyed President Obama called for making “high-quality preschool available to every child in America. Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on – by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime.”
Citing Georgia as an example, the President said states that have treated early childhood as a priority have children who “grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, and form 

Obama’s SOTU: Victims of gun violence ‘deserve a simple vote’ from Congress

President Obama addressed a wide range of issues during his State of the Union on Tuesday, including immigration, the minimum wage, gun control — and fatherhood. On immigration, a topic which has gained much traction since the November election — in which over two thirds of Hispanic...

The Full Text of Marco Rubio's State of the Union Response

Per custom, a member of the President's opposing party delivers a response shortly after the State of the Union address. The past three were delivered by Mitch DanielsPaul Ryan, and Bobby Jindal, each to varying levels of success. This year's rebuttal to President Obama's speech was delivered by Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is rumored to be considering a 2016 run for President. "Despite our differences, I know that both Republicans 


Dads

One of the reasons I like President Obama is that he’s clearly a Dad.  I don’t just mean that he has children; I mean that he’s obviously an involved parent.  (If you haven’t seen the video of the two-year-old at the Medal of Honor ceremony, check it out.  Obama responded as a seasoned parent would.)

That isn’t always easy. I smiled in rueful recognition at this piece from the Washington Post about the prices that involved Dads pay at work.  In brief, fathers who take time to be with their kids are penalized at work even 


Bill Introduced: S.216 Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act of 2013

A bill to prevent harassment at institutions of higher education, and for other purposes.


Excerpts of the President’s State of the Union Address

The White House at White House.gov Press Office Feed - 18 minutes ago
“It is our generation’s task, then, to reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth – a rising, thriving middle class. It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country – the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or who you love. It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few; that it encourages free enterprise, rewards individual initiative, and opens the doors of opportunity to every child... more »

Presidential Policy Directive -- Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience

The White House at White House.gov Press Office Feed - 18 minutes ago
*PRESIDENTIAL POLICY DIRECTIVE/PPD-21* SUBJECT: Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience The Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience advances a national unity of effort to strengthen and maintain secure, functioning, and resilient critical infrastructure. *Introduction* The Nation's critical infrastructure provides the essential services that underpin American society. Proactive and coordinated efforts are necessary to strengthen and maintain secure, functioning, and resilient critical infrastructure – including assets, networ... more »

President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address

The White House at White House.gov Press Office Feed - 18 minutes ago
*Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery* *State of the Union Address* *Tuesday, February 12, 2013* *Washington, DC* Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, fellow citizens: Fifty-one years ago, John F. Kennedy declared to this Chamber that “the Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress…It is my task,” he said, “to report the State of the Union – to improve it is the task of us all.” Tonight, thanks to the grit and determination of the American people, there is much progress to report. After a decade ... more »

The President’s Plan for a Strong Middle Class and a Strong America

The White House at White House.gov Press Office Feed - 18 minutes ago
The President’s Plan for a Strong Middle Class and a Strong America can be found HERE.

FACT SHEET: PRESIDENTIAL POLICY DIRECTIVE ON CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AND RESILIENCE

The White House at White House.gov Press Office Feed - 18 minutes ago
To complement the Cyber Security Executive Order issued today, the Administration is also issuing a Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) on critical infrastructure security and resilience that updates the national approach from Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7, issued in 2003, to adjust to the new risk environment, key lessons learned, and drive toward enhanced capabilities. The Nation’s critical infrastructure provides the essential services that underpin American society. Proactive and coordinated efforts are necessary for us to strengthen and maintain secure, function... more »

Executive Order on Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity

The White House at White House.gov Press Office Feed - 18 minutes ago
Today, President Obama signed an Executive Order to strengthen the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure by increasing information sharing and by jointly developing and implementing a framework of cybersecurity practices with our industry partners. - *Defense Industrial Base Information Sharing Program Now Open to Other Sectors*: The Order expands the voluntary Enhanced Cybersecurity Services program, enabling near real time sharing of cyber threat information to assist participating critical infrastructure companies in their cyber protection efforts. ... more »

Executive Order -- Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity

The White House at White House.gov Press Office Feed - 18 minutes ago
EXECUTIVE ORDER - - - - - - - IMPROVING CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE CYBERSECURITY By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: *Section* *1*. *Policy*. Repeated cyber intrusions into critical infrastructure demonstrate the need for improved cybersecurity. The cyber threat to critical infrastructure continues to grow and represents one of the most serious national security challenges we must confront. The national and economic security of the United States depends on the reliable funct... more »


What Is “Cage Busting”? EduShyster Explains It All to You

EduShyster wants to help promote Rick Hess’ new book, Cage Busters….or does she?
It is a ritual. Every author of a public policy book must launch it with a panel discussion at a think tank in DC. It’s a way of showcasing the book and branding it
Hess runs the education program at the American Enterprise Institute so he chose his panel. Hess branded his 


Report: Higher Education Funding Proposal Too Lax

LOS ANGELES — California Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to increase higher education funding lacks mechanisms to ensure the extra money will result in improved graduation and enrollment rates, according to a report by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office released Tuesday.
The 40-page report also criticized Brown’s plan, contained as part of his proposed state budget for 2013-14, as taking key education policy decisions out of the state Legislature’s hands.
The report said funding increases to the University of California, California State University and the Community Colleges of California should be allocated to pay debt and employee pension costs, and fully fund community 


How Medicaid Expansion Strengthens Communities

[Cross-posted from the Rio Arriba Community Health Council Blog.]
Recently, after months of silence, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez became one of several Republicans to blur the Right’s anti-socialist line in the sand by adopting Medicaid expansion. As New Mexico is surpassed only by Texas in its ranks of uninsured, and leads almost every list of scary medical conditions known to humanity, adding 170,000 insured out of a population of 2,000,000 is obviously good for our statewide health.
But health wasn’t the primary reason Martinez bucked her party. Her decision is rooted in New Mexico’s 


Six great education tweets from Obama's SOTU


#SOTU Want to promote innovation in America? Stop crushing creativity with non-stop standardized testing. @teachersabrina @jerseyjazzman
— Ted Chambers (@TedChambers) February 13, 2013



More Race to the Top means more job security for @politicsk12. Bring on a new contest!blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaig
— Politics K-12 (@PoliticsK12) February 13, 2013

Read full article >>

Special Late Nite Cap #SOTU UPDATE 2-12-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2


Nite Cap UPDATE

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE


On Edu-Blogging While Negro [We Ain't Even Supposed To Be Here]


Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
A couple of months ago, in the middle of a few good conversations, Leonie Haimson reminded me that I was one of the first NYC edubloggers to do “it.” By it, we all understood “it” to be using a blog to speak up and out about educational issues. People like NYC EducatorNorm’s NotesJD2718Pissed Off Teacher, and the now defunctEduWonkette, informed my early thinking about how best to approach writing to what seemed like everybody and nobody at once, namely the thousands of NYC teachers needing a voice. Yet, as is often the case, I saw a gaping hole in the middle of this conversation surrounding education (activism or pedagogy), so vacuous in fact, it might frighten anyone less persistent.
When it comes to race, or any marginalized group, those most affected (or disaffected, as it were) have to teach 


State Of The Union Proposes Major Preschool Expansion

President Barack Obama proposes a major initiative to expand preschool opportunities for 4-year-olds in Tuesday's State of the Union address.

The Huffington Post reported last month the White House was considering such a plan. A fact sheet circulated Tuesday by the White House as a supplement to the State of the Union outlines the proposal:

The President is proposing to work with Congress to provide all low- and moderate-income 4-year-old children with high-quality preschool, while also expanding these programs to reach hundreds of thousands of additional middle class children, while also incentivizing full-day kindergarten policies, so that all children enter kindergarten prepared for academic success.


The initiative comes after states have cut preschool budgets by an average of $700 per child over the last decade and as mounting evidence shows the importance of quality preschool in closing the achievement gap for low-income students. 

Breaking News: Riverbank Charter School Of Excellence Withdraws Expansion Application

Earlier this evening the following letter was posted on the Facebook page of the Riverbank Charter School of Excellence by Lead Person/Principal Beth Kelley:

February 12, 2013
Dear Parents,
It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that the Board of Trustees voted to withdraw the application for expansion of our school.
This was not decided upon lightly and rest assured that all avenues 




school1Here is the part of President Obama’s State of the Union address related to education (from a transcript provided by the White House):

…These initiatives in manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, and housing will help entrepreneurs and small business owners expand and create new jobs.  But none of it will matter unless we also equip our citizens with the skills and training to fill those jobs.  And that has to start at the earliest possible age.

Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road.  But today, fewer than 3 in 10 four year-olds are enrolled in a high-



Obama on education in State of Union address


Here is the part of President Obama's State of the Union address related to education (from a transcript provided by the White House):


These initiatives in manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, and housing will help entrepreneurs and small business owners expand and create new jobs. But none of it will matter unless we also equip our citizens with the skills and training to fill those jobs. And that has to start at the earliest possible age.

Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than 3 in 10 four year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program. Most middle-class parents can't afford a few hundred bucks a week for private preschool. And for poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool education can shadow them for the rest of their lives.

Tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America. Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children, like Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, and form more stable families of their own. So let's do what works, and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind. Let's give our kids that chance.

Let's also make sure that a high school diploma puts our kids on a path to a good job. Right now, countries like Germany focus on graduating their high school students with the equivalent of a technical degree from one of our community colleges, so that they're ready for a job. At schools like P-Tech in Brooklyn, a collaboration between New York Public Schools, the City University of New York, and IBM, students will graduate with a high school diploma and an associate degree in computers or engineering.
We need to give every American student opportunities like this. Four years ago, we started Race to the Top a competition that convinced almost every state to develop smarter curricula and higher standards, for about 1 percent of what we spend on education each year. Tonight, I'm announcing a new challenge to redesign America's high schools so they better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy. We'll reward schools that develop new partnerships with colleges and employers, and create classes that focus on science, technology, engineering, and math the skills today's employers are looking for to fill jobs right now and in the future.

Now, even with better high schools, most young people will need some higher education. It's a simple fact: the more education you have, the more likely you are to have a job and work your way into the middle class. But today, skyrocketing costs price way too many young people out of a higher education, or saddle them with unsustainable debt.

Through tax credits, grants, and better loans, we have made college more affordable for millions of students and families over the last few years. But taxpayers cannot continue to subsidize the soaring cost of higher education. Colleges must do their part to keep costs down, and it's our job to make sure they do. Tonight, I ask Congress to change the Higher Education Act, so that affordability and value are included in determining which colleges receive certain types of federal aid. And tomorrow, my Administration will release a new "College Scorecard" that parents and students can use to compare schools based on a simple criteria: where you can get the most bang for your educational buck.

To grow our middle class, our citizens must have access to the education and training that today's jobs require. But we also have to make sure that America remains a place where everyone who's willing to work hard has the chance to get ahead.

Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants. And right now, leaders from the business, labor, law enforcement, and faith communities all agree that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform .

Read full article >>




Washington state legislators $1 billion apart on school reform

Lawmakers from both parties say the differences are not so far that they won’t be able to work out a compromise before the Legislature goes home this spring.


Oregon education czar Rudy Crew demands another, tougher set of education goals -- this time for himself

Crew and the Oregon Education Investment Board say they aim to have 15 percent more third-graders read at grade level, 10 percent more low-income and minority students go to college and 15 percent more middle schoolers proficient in math and science by 2015


The Full Text of President Obama's 2013 State of the Union Address

On Tuesday evening President Obama delivered the State of the Union address, focusing on the economy — particularly job creation, by way of manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, and housing — and a broader theme of citizenship that echoed but perhaps centered his rhetoric at the end of the campaign trail. He also proposed raising the minimum wage to $9.00 and acknowledged the apparent North Korean nuclear test. He did not call upon Congress to bring an assault-weapons ban to a vote. Above all, the President called on Washington to make itself work again: "It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few," Obama said, according to remarks released beforehand, "that it encourages free enterprise, rewards individual initiative, and opens the doors of opportunity to every child across this great nation of ours."
The full text of Obama's address, as prepared for delivery, can be found below, and you can follow our State of the Union live blog right here. The speech comes in at 6,513 words — these words:


Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery:
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, fellow citizens:
Fifty-one years ago, John F. Kennedy declared to this Chamber that “the Constitution makes us not rivals for 



Cyberbullying Expert Says School Climate Makes All the Difference

Dr. Sameer Hinduja speaks frequently at schools. A new book of his, especially for teenagers, will come out in 2014, he says.
Sameer HindujaBOCA RATON, Fla. – Dr. Sameer Hinduja, an associate professor in the school of criminology and criminal justice at Florida Atlantic University, has studied cyberbullying since 2002. The now-co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center admits being bullied himself as a boy, and says building a good school “climate” gets to the root of the problem.
“Create a climate related to connectedness, belongingness, safety, school spirit, good morale,” says Hinduja, 35, an associate professor of criminal justice at Florida Atlantic University who has co-authored several books