Sacramento Press / Grandmother fights for students' safety

Sacramento Press / Grandmother fights for students' safety:

"Located between a low-income housing project and an old industrial zone south of Broadway, Jedediah Smith Elementary and Arthur A. Benjamin Health Professions High School, both on McClatchy Way, attract few passers-by. Before and after school, however, a swarm of students descend upon the street, which badly strains the neighborhood's infrastructure and places the children's lives at risk.

Jean Caruthers has frequently witnessed the street's poor condition. For over two years she has walked her three grandchildren to school along McClatchy Way, and has watched children jaywalk and cars drive by unsafely. 'Kids walk out, looking at their shoes, and cars go by very fast,' she said."

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled... Principals Won't Be Evaluated with Test Scores

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled... Principals Won't Be Evaluated with Test Scores:

"Remember the fuss about including school test scores as part of principals' evaluations? It looks like that is now off the table.

This week, the San Diego Unified board approved a plan to keep using the old evaluation for principals this year, before rolling out a new version that doesn't include test scores. That version was piloted by principals last spring, before the school district altered its proposed evaluation to include school performance. That proved controversial with principals, who pushed against it."

Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton: Odd couple tackles education reform - washingtonpost.com

Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton: Odd couple tackles education reform - washingtonpost.com:

"BALTIMORE -- On a mission from the president, these special envoys for education reform know their roles and play them well: swoop into a successful school, watch kids and teachers hard at work, ask encouraging questions, maybe slip in a partisan jab at one another for the television cameras and then marvel at how amazing it is that they have teamed up on what they call the civil rights issue of the 21st century.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, liberal Democrat, and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, conservative Republican, did all that here Friday, as they have in several other cities since September. President Obama met with them at the White House in May and urged them to go on tour to promote school innovation."

Take Action: Tell the Senate: Let the Senate Debate Begin for Real Health Care Reform.

Take Action: Tell the Senate: Let the Senate Debate Begin for Real Health Care Reform.


Tell the Senate: Let the Senate Debate Begin for Real Health Care Reform.

We are further along in the process for real health care reform today than we have ever been.

The historic House bill is truly a momentous achievement, but enormous challenges remain.

To keep the process moving forward, it is critical that the Senate start to debate its health care reform bill now. Your signature will be delivered to your senators, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Educated Guess » Race to the Top criteria don’t help laggard California

Educated Guess » Race to the Top criteria don’t help laggard California:

"With the firing of the starting pistol for applying to the federal Race to the Top competition, California’s odds of winning, already low because of a lack of direction and leadership, probably grew slimmer.

Race to the Top’s four pillars of reform haven’t changed. But the feds’ priorities, as outlined in a detailed rating system, have shifted to California’s disadvantage. And other states have already moved purposefully while California has spun its wheels for months."

Those spearheading Race to the Top on behalf of the governor and superintendent of public instruction have said that the state would focus on one priority, turning the lowest achieving schools around. California certainly needs to do that; Sen. Gloria Romero’s SB 5X-1 last week, which the state Senate passed last week, would give the state more authority in that area.

SBA, Six Universities to Offer Business Training for Iraq, Afghanistan Disabled Vets | Kansas City infoZine News | USA

SBA, Six Universities to Offer Business Training for Iraq, Afghanistan Disabled Vets Kansas City infoZine News USA:

"SBA Adds New Training Tools to Increase Opportunities for Vets"

Washington, D.C. - infoZine - The U.S. Small Business Administration today announced a three-year agreement to expand and deliver entrepreneurship training for service-disabled veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.The agreement with SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development will support the expansion of the year-long Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV).

The expansion of this innovative management training and mentorship program will maximize small business programs for veterans, service-disabled veterans, reserve-component members, and their dependents or survivors.Additionally, this week SBA launched a new online contracting tutorial on http://www.sba.gov/, as part of its ongoing efforts to expand services to veterans and service-disabled veterans.

Veterans and military spouses who own small businesses can utilize this free online course to learn how to identify and take advantage of federal contracting opportunities.

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Need for creativity in classroom

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Need for creativity in classroom:

"I was happy to see the article “I only want to enjoy my childhood, ma” by Inumella Sesikala (Open Page, Nov. 8). I liked the article very much, which is a dream of every child. Creativity of children has to come out from the classroom. Some of us had such opportunities. Our children should go to primary school only at the age of six. Till then, we have to promote creativity of the children with great teachers and an innovative classroom environment.

Yesterday, when I was reading the book Spiritual Intelligence, The Ultimate Intelligence by Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall, I came across the poem, “ The Student’s prayer.”"

The Student’s Prayer
Don’t impose on me what you know,

I want to explore the unknown

And be the source of my own discoveries.

Let the known be my liberation, not my slavery.

The world of your truth can be my limitation;

Your wisdom my negation.

Don’t instruct me; let’s walk together.

Let my richness begin where yours ends.

Show me so that I can stand

On your shoulders.

Reveal yourself so that I can be

Something different.

You believe that every human being

Can love and create.

I understand, then, your fear

When I ask you to live according to your wisdom.

You will not know who I am

By listening to yourself.

Don’t instruct me; let me be.

Your failure is that I be identical to you.”

I thought, there is a connectivity among young hearts even beyond ocean — “I only want to enjoy my childhood, ma” and “The Student’s Prayer.”

Kennedy, Hammond to introduce schools superintendent to constituents

Kennedy, Hammond to introduce schools superintendent to constituents

Sacramento City Unified School District Board of Education Vice President
Patrick Kennedy and Vice Mayor Lauren Hammond will sponsor a “meet and greet” to
introduce new SCUSD Superintendent Jonathan P. Raymond to their constituents on
Monday, Nov. 16 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Leonardo da Vinci Elementary School, 4701
Joaquin Way.

Raymond started as superintendent on Aug. 21. Since then, he has been on a
“listening and learning” tour and will have visited more than 60 schools. He has met with
various student, parent and community members across the district.

Raymond’s prior position was that of chief accountability officer in the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Schools (CMS). He served there from 2006 to the present. Before joining
CMS, Raymond was president and chief executive officer at the nonprofit
Commonwealth Corporation in Boston. While there, he focused on innovative education
programs, including expanding a successful program for at-risk youth and training 16
school districts in data-driven decision making. Under his leadership, the corporation
moved from a $400,000 deficit to a surplus of $750,000 and doubled its private funding.

During his three years in Charlotte, Raymond was active in civic and community
affairs. He served on the board of directors of the Urban League of the Central Carolinas
and the Mayor’s International Council.

Raymond, a native of Newton, Mass., is married and has three children.

More Oregon students are getting math | Oregon Education - OregonLive.com

More Oregon students are getting math Oregon Education - OregonLive.com:

"Oregon math teachers have moved middle schoolers far enough ahead in math that the typical eighth-grader now can do math at nearly the same level as many high school sophomores.
Middle school students in every racial, ethnic and income group show greater mastery of mathematics -- including algebraic reasoning, statistics and geometry -- than they did three years ago.

Educators attribute much of the progress to Oregon's embracing a national recommendation to drastically scale back the number of math topics covered in each grade.

View full size At the same time, more Oregon middle schools organized teachers into teams that meet regularly to discuss their students' progress and learn from one another's teaching successes and failures"

No Child Left Behind and the Brewing Fight Over Education - US News and World Report

No Child Left Behind and the Brewing Fight Over Education - US News and World Report:

"The languishing reauthorization of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is turning lawmakers into educational Michael Corleones, pulling them back into a business many fervently wish was over. Although the landmark education law is overdue for its scheduled five-year overhaul, contentiousness left the last Congress unable to even get a bill out of committee. This year other issues like the economic recovery bill, healthcare, and the 'card check' unionization bill made it easy for Congress to put off the tough work of revamping the law."

Undeterred, after a national "listening tour" Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he wants to see a new version of the law passed early next year. Duncan's challenge is to ensure that when Congress finally does finish its work, the emphasis on underserved students, accountability, and reform are maintained.

The path to success is daunting because serious fault lines lie just below the surface of the seemingly broad support for reforming America's education system. Debate over No Child reauthorization is likely where they will spill into the open on Capitol Hill.

Because of the structure of the economic recovery act, Congress had little control over what Secretary Duncan did with key parts of the $100 billion in stimulus money dedicated to education. So far Duncan and President Obama have pleasantly surprised many observers by holding a tough line on reform. That, of course, has not endeared them to education's array of interest groups. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten recently derided Duncan's policies as "Bush III" in the Washington Post.

Teacher in a Strange Land: Brave New (Charter) World

Teacher in a Strange Land: Brave New (Charter) World:

"Let’s get biases and politics out of the way first. I am a big fan of the charter school concept—defined as the rich idea that when it comes to schooling, one size does not fit all, and big monolithic districts do not and cannot serve diverse children as well as site-directed, purpose-driven, innovative schools.

If I lived in Detroit, I would choose a magnet school or charter school for my children—and even though I live in a district with fine public schools, one of my children attended a public school and the other attended a private school. Ideologically, I’m with Dewey on this one: I want the best possible education for all children, the kind of carefully chosen options my own children had."

One more thing: I think that positioning charter schools as the opposite of public schools, rather than a necessary supplement to public education, has poisoned the discourse. And—it goes both ways. It’s not just public schools and public school teachers being skeptical (or downright nasty) in their remarks about charter schools.

Public school academies—charters—seem to be bent on repeating the worst sound bites about public schools, whether they’re strictly true or not, thereby displaying the aphorism that your mother repeated when you were seven years old: you don’t make yourself look better by tearing someone else down.

I have a number of friends now working in the charter school movement in Detroit, a city where a handful of good charter schools have begun to flourish and bear fruit. Last week, they invited me to attend a showing of “The Providence Effect,” a full-length film depicting a school success story: Providence St. Mel, a K-12 Catholic school on Chicago’s tough west side.

The Answer Sheet - Blasingame: When ‘Twilight’ author Stephenie Meyer visited my class; Why Edward Cullen & other vampires attract readers; What the next big thing is in adolescent lit

The Answer Sheet - Blasingame: When ‘Twilight’ author Stephenie Meyer visited my class; Why Edward Cullen & other vampires attract readers; What the next big thing is in adolescent lit:

"Today, I will explain why I don’t think we’ll ever see a stake driven through the heart of the young adult vampire novel (Sorry about that, but I couldn’t resist).

“New Moon” will be out soon, not a new moon, but The Twilight Saga: New Moon (the movie), and I can’t help but think back to when the book had just come out [in 2006.]
Stephenie Meyer [author of the four-book 'Twilight Saga'] was a guest in my Young Adult Literature class at Arizona State University that month (and it will be a blue moon before Stephenie can easily make public appearances like that again). She asked if we could put on the Eclipse Prom for her at ASU in a gymnasium that would look like the Forks High School gym, or at least like the gym most people would imagine as they read the book."

On Sesame Street, 'C' Is For Controversy : NPR

On Sesame Street, 'C' Is For Controversy : NPR:

"The beloved television show has been educating children for 40 years — but not without plenty of grown-up controversy. From Cookie Monster's unbalanced diet, to Elmo's bad grammar, to Grover's civil disobedience, The Week magazine explains why some days aren't sunny days on Sesame Street.

Dale Hrabi, online editorial director for The Week, walks us through the show's Top 10 Controversies.."

Listen to the Story
Talk of the Nation

Headteacher suspends pupils after being 'cyberbullied' on Facebook group attacking her dress sense | Mail Online

Headteacher suspends pupils after being 'cyberbullied' on Facebook group attacking her dress sense Mail Online:

"A headteacher has suspended three pupils after they set up a Facebook group attacking her dress sense.

Elizabeth Hitch was so incensed by comments on the social networking site that she threatened dozens of others at Beaumont School, St Albans, with disciplinary action. She then fired off letters to parents of students who had participated in the discussions, claiming that the remarks were 'offensive' and some were 'illegal.

'The education authority said that the Facebook site amounted to 'cyberbullying.'"

The drama began after a group of pupils set up a group on Facebook last week which attracted more than 200 members.

It was brought to the attention of Mrs Hitch who immediately suspended the pupils she considered to be the ringleaders.

The school also consulted with police who gave advice about how to get offensive comments removed from the website.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1227246/Headteacher-suspends-pupils-cyberbullied-Facebook-group-attacking-dress-sense.html#ixzz0WklgNKQn

Two-Year Colleges, Swamped, No Longer Welcome All - NYTimes.com

Two-Year Colleges, Swamped, No Longer Welcome All - NYTimes.com:

"Sonja Taylor applied to LaGuardia Community College this summer with every expectation of being admitted. She planned to study business, bringing her closer to her dream of owning a restaurant."

But her application arrived in August, after the college had closed the floodgates because of a surge of interest from prospective students. So Ms. Taylor, 20, became one of thousands of students shut out this fall as most of New York City’s community colleges were forced to abandon their all-are-welcome admissions policies for the first time.

“Enrollment has been growing steadily, but this was a tidal wave for us this fall,” said the college’s president, Gail O. Mellow, pointing out that the student body had risen by almost 50 percent in the past decade. “I’ve never seen anything like this. We used to pretty much be an open door.”

Historically, the city’s six community colleges, which are part of the City University of New York, have taken applications until about a week before the start of classes, allowing time for students to apply for financial aid, get immunized and register for classes.

But this year, all but one of them had to close admissions earlier.

Editorial - The ‘Highly Qualified Teacher’ Dodge - NYTimes.com

Editorial - The ‘Highly Qualified Teacher’ Dodge - NYTimes.com:

"Education Secretary Arne Duncan has been widely held in high regard since he was appointed in January, but no honeymoon lasts forever. Mr. Duncan’s came to an abrupt end earlier this week when he issued long-awaited rules that the states must follow to apply for his $4.3 billion discretionary fund, known as the Race to the Top Fund, and the second round of federal financing under the $49 billion federal stimulus package known as the state fiscal stabilization fund."

The rules for the Race to the Top Fund, which is designed to reward states that embrace reform and bypass those that do not, are generally sound and have been greeted with enthusiasm. But some school reform groups and some in Congress have reacted with dismay to the part of the stabilization fund that was supposed to require the states to end the longstanding and reprehensible practice of shunting unprepared and unqualified teachers into the schools serving the poorest students.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 was clear in requiring states to remedy situations in which high poverty schools were being disproportionately staffed by teachers who were inexperienced, unqualified or teaching in fields that they had not majored in.

The country would be much further along on the reform trail had the Bush administration followed the law. Instead, it allowed the states to define away the problem by re-labeling the existing, inadequate teacher corps as “highly qualified.”

America's Top College Professor - WSJ.com

America's Top College Professor - WSJ.com:

"Elliott West doesn't seem like the coolest guy on campus. With his tweed coat and thinning hair, he appears to be the stereotype of a studious professor, only truly at home among library stacks or in a dusty archive. But Prof. West, who teaches American history at the University of Arkansas, is in the midst of a heated public competition: He is one of three finalists in a contest that will confer a prize on the best college teacher in America. In the highest sense of the word, Prof. West is a competitive performer."

The prize itself—sponsored by Baylor University and called the Cherry Teaching Award, after the late alumnus whose donation made it possible—is one of the biggest money awards that an American professor can win ($200,000). And its measure of merit is not scholarly output but classroom performance—that crucial aspect of the teaching mission that is so often overshadowed, these days, by the arcana of specialized research and the mad race for publication and tenure.

The Cherry award seeks out college teachers who, according to both students and fellow teachers, are especially good at making clear, forceful, inspiring, knowledge-rich classroom presentations that actually help students to learn. The finalists this year include, in addition to Prof. West, Roger Rosenblatt of Stony Brook University and Edward Burger of Williams College. Each has been asked to deliver a public lecture at Baylor and another lecture on his home campus. The winner—chosen by a panel of Baylor-appointed judges—will have the privilege of spending a semester teaching at Baylor (as well as cashing that hefty award-check).

D.C. school uneasy about Rhee's plans for it - washingtonpost.com

D.C. school uneasy about Rhee's plans for it - washingtonpost.com:

"For much of the past decade, Rose L. Hardy Middle School has been a small gem in the District's public education system, a place where large numbers of sixth- seventh- and eighth-graders have found academic success.

Nearly three-quarters of its students are proficient in reading, according to last spring's standardized test. Its acclaimed fine arts and instrumental music program, built by longtime Principal Patrick Pope, draws students from across the city and has helped develop artists such as bassist Ben Williams, winner of the 2009 Thelonious Monk jazz competition."

Final Rules On Charter Schools In $4 Billion Federal Grants Criticized | AHN

Final Rules On Charter Schools In $4 Billion Federal Grants Criticized AHN:

"Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The Education Department's final rules on its 'Race to the Top' competition for states is being both praised and criticized for its de-emphasis on charter schools and student achievement to measure teacher performance.

The $4.35 billion program announced in July awards grants to states that show a record of undertaking reforms and a plan for further improvements, such raising caps or changing laws that prohibit charter schools, supporting merit pay and using student test scores to evaluate teachers, and establishing effective data systems for students. The funds are part of the $100 billion set aside for education in the administration's stimulus, or $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

But the final rules released by the Education Department on Thursday put less emphasis on the use of test scores and the expansion of charter schools. 'Multiple measures' will now be used to evaluate teachers but these measures 'includ[e] a strong emphasis on the growth in achievement of students.'"


The agency said it made the changes after reviewing comments from more than 1,100 people. "The comments helped us clarify that we want states to think through how they will create a comprehensive agenda to drive reform forward," announced Education Sec. Arne Duncan.

The changes seemed to assuage teachers.

"The Department of Education worked hard to strike the right balance between what it takes to get systemwide improvement for schools and kids, and how to measure that improvement," the American Federation of Teachers said in a statement. "Policy is made in Washington, but reform happens where students are taught-in the classroom. Race to the Top creates a real opportunity, but it will work only if all stakeholders come together to make it work."

Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7016985939?Final%20Rules%20On%20Charter%20Schools%20In%20$4%20Billion%20Federal%20Grants%20Criticized#ixzz0WkcXiGMs

A Key Step for California’s Youngest Learners | California Progress Report

A Key Step for California’s Youngest Learners California Progress Report:

"Earlier this week, early learning advocates were excited to see Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger take a critical step forward for California’s youngest learners by signing an executive order to create the California State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care.

Establishing the council is critical because it positions California to receive millions in federal funds for early education programs.

The new council will ensure efficiency, effectiveness and accountability in California’s early childhood education system. It will lead efforts to develop a high-quality, comprehensive system and strengthen state-level coordination and collaboration among California’s early learning and child care programs."