Class Struggle - Should we inflate Advanced Placement grades?

Class Struggle - Should we inflate Advanced Placement grades?:

"The Rochester Community public schools in Michigan do a fine job. Their leaders often have great ideas. But according to school board member Mike Reno, they are talking about doing something to their Advanced Placement courses that could be troublesome, even though I once thought it was a good idea. (Some people who know me say that is the very definition of a bad idea.)

Here is what Reno revealed in an email to me:"

"Our district, in an effort to increase AP participation, is proposing to lower the grading scale for AP classes. The idea is based on the notion that kids in Rochester don’t want to take AP classes because they are afraid that the tougher work will lead to a lower grade, and they don’t want to damage their GPA for fear it will harm their college entrance chances. The district’s logic suggests by that lowering the grading scale, students will have a better chance of getting a better grade, and therefore be more willing to take the class.

"This is not their brainchild. They claim other districts are doing it. They are calling it internal weighting. They believe this is a better approach than grade weighting, where an A in an AP class would be worth, say, 5.0 instead of 4.0. The district argues that colleges strip off weighted grades, whereas an internal weight benefits the student during college entrance. (I believe grade weighting has value when calculating class ranking, vals, sals, top scholars, etc, but think colleges are free to recalculate anything they’d like). Am a crazy to think this is a bunch of nonsense?"

Carroll ISD considers ranking only top 10 percent of high-schoolers | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Carroll ISD considers ranking only top 10 percent of high-schoolers News for Dallas, Texas Dallas Morning News Latest News:

"Carroll ISD could soon become the latest exemplary district in the area to stop ranking all but the top 10 percent of high school students.

District officials in the northeast Tarrant County district started looking at abolishing rankings after Highland Park ISD chose to do so over the summer because of concerns that high grades in the academically competitive district don't guarantee top rankings. As a result, strong students with a low rank are at a disadvantage when applying to college.

Many students rank lower in their graduating class than administrators believe they would at a less-rigorous school."

Support for good teachers key to federal funds bid, Doyle says - JSOnline

Support for good teachers key to federal funds bid, Doyle says - JSOnline:

"Wisconsin's application for a slice of federal stimulus dollars for education reform must include provisions for getting quality teachers into more classrooms and supporting them so they stay there, Gov. Jim Doyle said this week at Alverno College.

While praising two of Alverno's alternative-track education programs that allow mid-career professionals or other people with degrees in other subjects the opportunity to become teachers, Doyle also outlined the state's progress on its federal Race to the Top application, which is due in mid-January.

'Programs like Alverno will be a major part of our application,' Doyle said Tuesday."

Teaching plan: America 'an oppressive hellhole'

Teaching plan: America 'an oppressive hellhole':

"A program proposed at the University of Minnesota would result in required examinations of teacher candidates on 'white privilege' as well as 'remedial re-education' for those who hold the 'wrong' views, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

The organization, which promotes civil liberties on the campuses of America's colleges and universities, has dispatched a letter to University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks asking him to intervene to prevent the adoption of policies proposed in his College of Education and Human Development."

Teachers begin using cell phones for class lessons

Teachers begin using cell phones for class lessons

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. - Ariana Leonard's high school students shuffled in their seats, eagerly awaiting a cue from their Spanish teacher that the assignment would begin.

"Take out your cell phones," she said in Spanish.

The teens pulled out an array of colorful flip phones, iPhones and SideKicks. They divided into groups and Leonard began sending them text messages in Spanish: Find something green. Go to the cafeteria. Take a picture with the school secretary.

Leonard's class at Wiregrass Ranch High School in Wesley Chapel, a middle-class Florida suburb about 30 miles north of Tampa, is one of a growing number around the country that are abandoning traditional policies of cell phone prohibition and incorporating them into class lessons. Spanish vocabulary becomes a digital scavenger hunt. Notes are copied with a cell phone camera. Text messages serve as homework reminders.

"I can use my cell phone for all these things, why can't I use it for learning purposes?'" Leonard said. "Giving them something, a mobile device, that they use every day for fun, giving them another avenue to learn outside of the classroom with that."

Much more attention has gone to the ways students might use phones to cheat or take inappropriate pictures. But as the technology becomes cheaper, more advanced and more ingrained in students' lives that mentality is changing.

"It really is taking advantage of the love affair that kids have with technology today," said Dan Domevech, executive director of the nonprofit American Association of School Administrators. "The kids are much more motivated to use their cell phone in an educational manner."

Citizen's Voice: Be honest about state's test scores » Knoxville News Sentinel

Citizen's Voice: Be honest about state's test scores » Knoxville News Sentinel:

"Can education exist without all the dishonesty and lying?

When did the deceit and lying begin? Answer: When the GOP attempted to reform education using standardized test scores to make educational decisions.

What was education politics like before all the lying? Before the Tennessee Education Report Card, for example?"

Tennessee is not the only state to declare students to have grade-level mastery of reading and math when they do not, but Tennessee is a target because we have chosen to set the "state's standards at a low bar," to use the words of The Associated Press.

Our Tennessee education officials are lying to our kids when they tell them they're proficient, but they're not achieving at a level that will prepare them for success once they graduate and have to compete.

Tennesseans - parents, kids, citizens - are told that our Tennessee standardized test that is used to satisfy the No Child Left Behind's "Adequate Yearly Progress" and "Achievement Value Added" says we're in "good standing." Rubbish!

Our kids and schools do fine on the tests that only Tennesseans take, but when our kids take national tests, they end up at the bottom. Why is that?

What did the conservative newspapers of Tennessee tell their readers recently when the Tennessee Department of Education released its 2009 Report Card?

Md. improves data collection to track students' performance -- baltimoresun.com

Md. improves data collection to track students' performance -- baltimoresun.com:

"Maryland has made significant progress in assembling an educational data system that would allow the state to track every student's experience through the public school system from pre-kindergarten to post-secondary education.

In a report released this week, the Data Quality Campaign said that Maryland, which was behind 48 other states in completing its data collection system, has now given each student a unique number, an important step in collecting data that will allow it to eventually link student test data to teacher performance."

State teachers union OK with using test scores for evaluations - News - ReviewJournal.com

State teachers union OK with using test scores for evaluations - News - ReviewJournal.com:

"In dropping their opposition to student test scores being used in teachers' performance evaluations, Nevada's teachers unions appear to be essentially adopting a compromise by the Obama administration.

While it earlier emphasized that student achievement data need to be linked with teacher performance evaluations, the Obama administration has since softened its tone after months of taking policy input from the public."

JOSE DE LA ISLA: Feeling smug about education reform» Standard-Times

JOSE DE LA ISLA: Feeling smug about education reform» Standard-Times:

"SAN ANGELO, Texas — HOUSTON — A major shock to the education system came during World War II when the armed services reported an appalling degree of illiteracy among recent school graduates. They complained the typical public-school graduate had trouble writing a respectable English sentence and many soldiers were woefully ignorant of elementary facts about the nation’s history.

With the 1957 launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union, the National Defense Education Act of 1958 got the federal government involved in all levels of education that had previously been almost exclusively a state and local public-policy niche. The federal government encouraged strengthened curriculums in math, science, languages and disciplines and increased grants, loans and graduate scholarships."

In his 1959 book, “Education and Freedom,” Adm. Hyman Rickover claimed low-level knowledge impeded the United States from competing better with the Soviet Union, which was preparing its youth for a technological world. “Even the average child now needs almost as good an education as the average middle- and upper-class child used to get in the college-preparatory schools,” he wrote.

Then the mid-20th century’s focus on Cold War military and economic security led to a paradigm shift. Juan Enriquez of Harvard Business School argued in his 2000 book, “As the Future Catches You,” that nations previously needed massive agriculture and industrialization to prosper.

Now educated, entrepreneurial people were replacing natural resources as wealth. The U.S.S.R.’s gold, oil, uranium and forests could not keep it from going broke while its great scientists and mathematicians lacked freedoms that come with entrepreneurship.

Enriquez pointed out that Nigeria, Indonesia, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Congo, Mexico, Colombia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela had vast natural resources but their people were poorer than 20 years before. Small countries, lacking natural resources, often generated more real wealth per person than large, resource-rich countries.

Misleading comparisons used in school debate | greenvilleonline.com | The Greenville News

Misleading comparisons used in school debate greenvilleonline.com The Greenville News:

"In his report on private school funding, Bruce Baker (Rutgers University) establishes the context for the new study: “This report provides a first-of-its-kind descriptive summary of private school expenditures. ... Public understanding (of public funding) remains limited despite increased accountability and annual reporting of financial statistics and student outcomes in public schools. Yet even less is known or understood regarding expenditures or costs of private schools” (http://epicpolicy.org/publication/private-schooling-US)."

Shocking: High School Grads Twice As Likely To Be Jobless Than College Grads – and Right-Wingers are Profiting From Their Pain | Politics | AlterNet

Shocking: High School Grads Twice As Likely To Be Jobless Than College Grads – and Right-Wingers are Profiting From Their Pain Politics AlterNet:

The economic meltdown has hit non-college grads much harder than the educated. And conservatives are very good at exploiting their anger and unease.

"You know how bad the economy is, right? Maybe your 401(k) has tanked. Perhaps you were out of work for a few months. You could have a mortgage under water. Or your health insurance has an impossibly high deductible. Yeah, we're all singing the blues.

I've gotten out my violin to play a mournful accompaniment to our collective angst.

Wait, what's that I hear in the distance? A dissonant, thundering chord someone just hammered on the piano -- a harsh interruption of my languid dirge. Now it repeats, getting louder and nearer."

2010 Isn’t Soon Enough for California « DC Progressive

2010 Isn’t Soon Enough for California « DC Progressive:

"Today a prominent celebrity news site, TMZ, reported that one of the world’s most well known movie stars failed to pay his taxes in 2004 and 2005 and now owes the government nearly $80,000 in back taxes. This celebrity also happens to be the governor of the state of California."

The story has since been confirmed by the Governor’s office and the problem has been blamed on a “a minor paperwork tracking discrepancy.”

51 UCD Protesters Won't Be Charged - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento

51 UCD Protesters Won't Be Charged - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento:

"WOODLAND, Calif. -- Fifty-one people who were arrested at UC Davis earlier this month in connection with a protest regarding student fees won't be charged, according to the Yolo County District Attorney's Office.

'Based on my discussions with Chancellor Katehi and Police Chief Spicuzza, the District Attorney's Office will not be filing criminal charges at this time. While criminal charges may be filed for up to one year after the date of the alleged violation, it is our hope that future student demonstrations will comply with the law and eliminate any need for the District Attorney’s involvement at all,' Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig said in a statement."

Pinoy student at UC Berkeley released after campus standoff - Pinoy Abroad - GMANews.TV - Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs - Latest Philippine News

Pinoy student at UC Berkeley released after campus standoff - Pinoy Abroad - GMANews.TV - Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs - Latest Philippine News:

"A Filipino doctorate student at the Rhetoric Department of the University of California in Berkeley heaved a sigh of relief when he and 40 other students were recently released by County police after their involvement on a recent standoff at the campus.

Filipino student Paul Nadal joined a group protesting the privatization of the University of California in Berkeley.

Paul Nadal on Friday joined fellow students protesting UC's privatization and the approval of a 32-percent tuition increase across the university system starting next year.

Nadal said their group and some UC staffers started to occupy the Wheeler Hall building at 4:30 a.m., Friday."

In weighing universal pre-kindergarten, Delaware monitors test model in Md. | delawareonline.com | The News Journal

In weighing universal pre-kindergarten, Delaware monitors test model in Md. delawareonline.com The News Journal:

"ELKTON, Md. -- Since beginning pre-kindergarten a month ago, 4-year-old Emilie Beal has started asking to help make the family grocery list. She points out words and asks mother Stephanie Beal how to spell them."

"She's more excited, I think, because the class is doing more activities she wants to do," Beal said. "It's just gotten her more involved in wanting to learn."
Emilie's pre-kindergarten classroom at the Family Education Center in Cecil County is one of 10 in a pilot program testing the feasibility of offering pre-kindergarten to all Maryland 4-year-olds, not just those in low-income or special-needs situations.

As Emilie and her classmates play games that teach basic reading and math, they are taking part in a national initiative to better prepare children for elementary school.

"They are not napping in kindergarten; it is academic all day," said Susan Banker, program coordinator for Cecil County's Judy Center, another pilot classroom. "It's the new first grade."

Education through Music program eyes music, play in learning | Muskegon News - - MLive.com

Education through Music program eyes music, play in learning Muskegon News - - MLive.com:

"SPRING LAKE — A symposium featuring the director of an innovative education program promoting the use of music and play to advance learning will be presented 6:30-8 p.m. Dec. 2, at Lake Hills Elementary School’s Media Center.

Randy McChesne is executive director of Education through Music, a program made available through the Richards Institute, a California nonprofit organization. It advances the use of music, in particular, English language folk songs and 'song-experience games,' to create real-life situations for children. It uses songs to open 'learning ports' and to encourage an 'integrated response to the environment' by participating children.

The program encourages language development, listening skills, intellectual growth, literacy, physical coordination, sensory integration, social skills, self-concept, music development and imagination."

Turlock Journal - California steps up competition for education grant

Turlock Journal - California steps up competition for education grant:

"Education cuts are coming at state governments left and right leaving local school districts with little to nothing to teach the students of the future. No one has much money and the students of America are suffering.

“It’s time to stop just talking about education reform and start actually doing it,” said President Barack Obama on Nov. 4 in Wisconsin. “It’s time to make education America’s national mission."

Daisy Lee, Galt's new superintendent, a 'team builder'

Daisy Lee, Galt's new superintendent, a 'team builder':

"Daisy Lee, currently an associate superintendent for a Modesto school district, has been named the new superintendent of the Galt Joint Union High School District after an extensive search by an outside firm. The announcement was made to staff on Nov. 13, although the board is not scheduled to officially hire Lee until its Dec. 8 meeting.

She will start Jan. 4, after wrapping up a few projects in her current position.
Nearly two years ago, Lee followed Modesto Superintendent Arturo Flores from the Sacramento City Unified School District. He recently congratulated Lee on her appointment in a letter to administrators, and told the Modesto Bee he was working on a plan to reassign her duties."

I Guess They Don't Actually Want A 2/3 Majority | California Progress Report

I Guess They Don't Actually Want A 2/3 Majority California Progress Report:

"'The 2/3 requirement that we have in this state. I know it's a tired old saw. But when you really think about, that is the cause of so much of the dysfunction in the legislature. you have a minority party that obviously worked in tandem with the governor that cost the state 6-7 billion dollars tonight for no good reason. To somehow improve your negotiating position.
It is without question the most irresponsible act that I have seen in my 15 years of public service...I hope that the significance will truly capture enough attention that the people will decide it is time to change the system that allows the minority to essentially rule the day. That's not just the Senate Republicans, it was the Governor too, who was apparently out to prove a point. And he proved a point.'"

State Senate leader casts doubt on lieutenant governor nominee Abel Maldonado | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

State Senate leader casts doubt on lieutenant governor nominee Abel Maldonado L.A. NOW Los Angeles Times:

"State Sen. Abel Maldonado’s nomination as California’s next lieutenant governor may already be in trouble.

Minutes after a Los Angeles event this morning, with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hailing the moderate Santa Maria Republican as his pick for the office, state Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) released a statement expressing “grave doubts” about the choice. Maldonado needs the approval of the Democratic-dominated Legislature to take the post."

Get Schooled | ajc.com Handing out Bibles at a high school: Why do we keep doing this in Georgia?

Get Schooled ajc.com:

Handing out Bibles at a high school: Why do we keep doing this in Georgia?

"The zest with which Georgia schools test the church-state divide never fails to stun me.

I wonder if other states grapple with this issue or is this unique to the Bible Belt?

With the threat of litigation, public schools ought to think very carefully about allowing any religious group access to students and the possible charge of proselytizing on school grounds."

L.A. Unified school choices are a confusing maze -- latimes.com

L.A. Unified school choices are a confusing maze -- latimes.com:

"Pamela Krys, who moved to Woodland Hills a year ago, made a confession during a school fair this month at Sutter Middle School in Canoga Park.

'I don't understand the points,' she said, referring to one aspect of the application process for magnet programs. 'They don't do points in Florida.'"

Understanding the points system is just one of the complications surrounding school choice in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Although its "choices" website is improving, the school system provides no central location -- online or off -- to help parents manage all their options if they don't want their children to attend their neighborhood school.

Separate programs have different application forms, processes and deadlines. Nor does the district supply some key information, such as student test scores for most magnets. Budget cuts led to the cancellation of districtwide magnet fairs, although some regional administrators have staged smaller events.

The district's "choices" application brochure offers bare-bones magnet descriptions. It does, for example, classify a magnet as a police academy or a math-science-technology program but doesn't go into detail. It also includes how many students applied last year, along with the number of openings this year.

Class Struggle - Too hard to pick the right high school

Class Struggle - Too hard to pick the right high school:

"Near the end of her struggle to find the right high school for a son who did not always share her tastes, Tracey Henley was overjoyed to discover that some of her son’s best friends had endorsed her choice, and his resistance had vanished. “So now we don’t have to forge his signature on the form, always a plus,” she said.

Where had this painful sifting of options occurred? Was it some struggling urban district? No, Henley lives in Montgomery County, like much of suburban Washington a mecca for those seeking the best in public education. Her story illustrates that in even the best possible circumstances, parents often have to work very hard to find the place that fits their child. I, like Henley, wonder if there is a better way to do this."

Sacramento Press / Hmong New Year celebration

Sacramento Press / Hmong New Year celebration:

"Thanksgiving Day usually means eating turkey. But for thousands of local Hmong, it means eating Hmong sausage, grilled pork and sticky rice while attending the Sacramento Hmong New Year celebration at Cal Expo.

More than 40,000 people are expected to attend the four-day celebration which begins Thursday and ends Sunday, said John Thao, Hmong New Year Committee board member. The board formed six years ago and consists of one representative from each of the 18 Hmong clans which make up Sacramento's community of approximately 26,000 to 28,000 Hmong. Hmong come from the mountainous regions of China and other countries Southeast Asia."

City Hall Memo - Bloomberg and Teachers Wrestle Over 4% Pay Raises - NYTimes.com

City Hall Memo - Bloomberg and Teachers Wrestle Over 4% Pay Raises - NYTimes.com

As he sought to persuade wary voters that he deserved a third term as mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg sold himself as a no-nonsense financial watchdog who was ready to swing the budget ax.

The powerful union is asking the city for 4 percent annual raises for its 87,000 teachers, the same pay increase that the Bloomberg administration gave municipal workers throughout the mayor’s second term.

A year ago, the teachers’ raises seemed inevitable. In fact, the city has already set aside enough money to give teachers 4 percent increases over the next two years.

But the economic landscape has changed drastically, and Mr. Bloomberg is grappling with a tricky question: In a severe economic downturn, can the city justify giving $700 million in raises to teachers?

The decision is rich in symbolism, and will reveal much about how Mr. Bloomberg intends to govern in his third term.

If he snubs teachers and hurts their morale, he risks jeopardizing his signature policy initiative: overhauling the city’s once-troubled schools. If he demands no serious concessions, organized labor may decide he is weak and resist his spending cuts for the next four years. If he is overly combative, he could alienate unions that paved the way for his re-election, either by endorsing him or staying neutral, as the teachers’ union did.

Chicago News Cooperative - To Pay for Longer School Days, Some Parents Try Raising Money - NYTimes.com

Chicago News Cooperative - To Pay for Longer School Days, Some Parents Try Raising Money - NYTimes.com:

"After raising $35,000 for gym mats, musical instruments and other extras last year, parents at Disney II Magnet School in Chicago now face a more daunting price tag — $100,000 — to keep their children in class an extra hour each day."

The city’s public school students have some of the shortest days in the country, as both President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are encouraging educators to extend school time. The Obama administration is even dangling $4 billion in new education money in front of states that innovate in different areas, including class schedules.

Historically in Chicago, the conversation about extending the school day has been short. To do so for all 417,000 students in the Chicago Public Schools would cost around $280 million, said a system spokeswoman, Ana Vargas, making such a move virtually impossible at a time when the school system faces a deficit that could reach $900 million in the 2010-11 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

“Most people would absolutely say more time is better,” said Erica L. Harris, head of the school system’s Office of Extended Learning Opportunities. But, Ms. Harris added, “That conversation ends before it starts.”

The $100,000 fund-raising drive at Disney II shows how parents at one magnet school are scrambling to make it happen. The cost estimate runs to $385 per student at the 260-student school, but the hours add up to an extra month of school over the course of an academic year.

The Signal - Santa Clarita Valley News - Film bus poses possibilities

The Signal - Santa Clarita Valley News - Film bus poses possibilities:


"With a smile on his face, Clifton Parish stood in front of about 20 Bowman High School students and called on them to give him their best Facebook and MySpace poses.

“What would that look like?” Parish asked the students Tuesday as a fast-paced dance song pumped through the packed RV-sized mobile classroom parked outside the continuation high school.

The students turned to their Apple workstations and channeled their inner models — out came smiles and giggles, pouted lips, hand signs and funky poses."

Sit-in has students fearing Hotel California | theVARSITY.ca

Sit-in has students fearing Hotel California theVARSITY.ca:

"Seventy UC Santa Cruz students occupied an administrative building last Thursday after the university approved a 32 per cent increase in student fees. In June, UC’s board of regents had raised fees by 9.3 per cent effective immediately, after an earlier 10 per cent hike in the same fiscal year.

The University of California is the fourth largest public university system in the U.S. Its 10 campuses have suffered massive budget cuts, resulting in tuition hikes and reduced student services."

The Militant - December 7, 2009 -- Education and the working class

The Militant - December 7, 2009 -- Education and the working class:

"Thousands of students and workers across the University of California system are protesting the imposition of a 32 percent tuition hike and the refusal of the university to negotiate a contract with the campus workers’ union. They deserve the support of all working people.

In the current capitalist economic crisis many of the attacks on the living standard of working people are being carried out by state and city governments. Four months ago California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a “budget balancing” package that included unpaid furloughs for state workers, closing of parks, and massive cuts in health and welfare programs."

Capitalist politicians in the state—Democrats and Republicans—are preparing a new round of cuts, which they justify on the basis of a budget deficit. From the Schwarzenegger administration in California to that of Gov. David Paterson in New York this is a fake and a fraud to protect the wealthy holders of the states’ bonds. The government in California

paid out $41 million in cash in July to its bondholders, who by law are the first creditors to be paid. In June the California treasurer promised that short of “thermonuclear war” the bondholders would be paid in full.

The sweeping tuition hike at the University of California system highlights the fact that the capitalist rulers don’t think that workers need, much less have a right to, education. The broader access to a college education by the working class was a concession wrenched from the rulers by mass social struggles— most recently as part of the fight for Black civil rights in the 1960s and ’70s.

Under capitalism there can be no meaningful education. As Socialist Workers Party national secretary Jack Barnes explains in the pamphlet The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning: The Fraud of Education Reform Under Capitalism, “The purpose of education is to give ‘the educated’ a stake in thinking they are going to be different—slightly better off, slightly more white collar—than other people who work all their lives. In the process, the rulers hope to make those who manage to get a college degree more dependable supporters of the status quo.”

The opposite is the case for workers. “They need us to be obedient, not to be educated,” Barnes says.

As the U.S. capitalist rulers face the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, they aim to resolve it on the backs of working people around the world. They must roll back the social wage won by our class, from schools to Social Security to Medicare and Medicaid and to health care more broadly. This is the logic of the rule of the billionaire families, the dictatorship of capital. We must answer their dictatorship by taking political power out of their hands and establishing the dictatorship of the working majority where education is a universal right, a human activity from cradle to grave.

My View: 'Race to Top' funds would carry strings - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

My View: 'Race to Top' funds would carry strings - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee:

"Beware educrats bearing gifts. The U.S. Education Department is dangling up to $500 million in 'Race to the Top' grants in front of a cash-strapped California. That has desperate legislators debating a bill that would enact certain reforms in exchange for the money. But though the reforms may be laudable, and a half-billion dollars isn't something to scoff at in tough fiscal times, some skepticism is in order."


Popular Comment

Raising the cap on charter schools is BAD idea. These charter schools are run by corporate interests with one thing in mind - hand picking their students while leaving others behind. These charter school boards are also not accountable under the Brown act and do not have to hold public meetings, therefore transparency is non exisistent. It is shameful that so called Democrats like Al Sharpton and others side with Newt Gingrich in the name of so-called choice when in fact the only thing on the agenda is to dismantle public education. This one time shot in the arm is not worth risking our public education system over. Furthermore, all you have to do is take a look at St. Hope. Hear the sound of the toilet flushing? It is the sound of 4.3 billion dollars going right down the commode in the name of reform SB x5 should be rejected by the Assembly Education in california is going to end up like being employed at wal mart low wages no benefits with no future.

-- The_Ghost_of_Belle_Cooledge

California faces $20.7 billion deficit, again | billion, california, deficit - Local News - Victorville Daily Press

California faces $20.7 billion deficit, again billion, california, deficit - Local News - Victorville Daily Press:

"SACRAMENTO • Four months after closing a $26 billion budget shortfall, California lawmakers are faced with another $20.7 billion budget gap through 2011 — and tens of billions of dollars more until revenue rebounds in 2014, according to a recent report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

“Our problem is, rather than making the hard decisions 18 months ago, we keep putting it off and so it only makes it that much more difficult,” said Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster. “Hopefully we’ll just get a plain, old reality check, because we’re running out of options...”"

Educational Results Partnership Welcome

Educational Results Partnership Welcome:

"Welcome to EdResults.org

A free school improvement system
for actionable data and
best practices to raise student
achievement and close achievement gaps."

Welcome to EdResults.org A free school improvement systemfor actionable data and best practices web site -

My Word: Awful school funding formula plagues Alameda County - Inside Bay Area

My Word: Awful school funding formula plagues Alameda County - Inside Bay Area:

"CALIFORNIA'S FISCAL outlook continues to worsen.

Concern is mounting over the impact the state's budget deficit will have on education funding.

The California Teachers Association (CTA), along with state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, claims California's per-pupil funding now ranks 47th nationally. In reality, most experts agree California is around the middle of the pack when it comes to school funding, including the CTA's own parent organization, the National Education Association.

But what matters to most California parents isn't how much other states are spending — it's the results their children's school districts are getting compared to other school districts in California."

On that front, California must do better. It's not because there's too little funding. It's because the state's school financing system is illogical and inequitable.

The California School Finance Center database — a new project from the Pacific Research Institute and the Educational Results Partnership (formerly Just for the Kids-California) that compiles data from a dozen California Department of Education sources — helps shed some much-needed light on this reality.

The data show some troubling discrepancies among similar school districts.

GOODMAN: Education cuts spur student organization

GOODMAN: Education cuts spur student organization:

"California campuses have been rocked by protests this past week, provoked by massive student fee increases voted on by the University of California Board of Regents. Following a year of sequential budget cuts, faculty and staff dismissals and furloughs, and the elimination of entire academic departments, the 32 percent fee increase proved to be the trigger for statewide actions of an unprecedented scale.

As President Barack Obama's anticipated Afghanistan war strategy is soon to be announced, which, according to one leak, will include a surge of 35,000 troops, the juxtaposition of education cuts and military increases is incensing many, and helping to build a movement."

Cassidy: Elmo and Intel, helping kids learn - San Jose Mercury News

Cassidy: Elmo and Intel, helping kids learn - San Jose Mercury News:

"Anytime you recruit both Elmo and Craig Barrett to help you with a problem, you know you've got a big problem.

And so it is with the poor performance of American school kids when it comes to math, science and technology. The Obama administration this week announced that the world's most lovable Muppet and the former CEO of the world's largest chipmaker would be among those joining in a vast effort to keep the United States competitive when it comes to building the world's future."

Op-Ed Columnist - The Other Education - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - The Other Education - NYTimes.com:

"Like many of you, I went to elementary school, high school and college. I took such and such classes, earned such and such grades, and amassed such and such degrees.

But on the night of Feb. 2, 1975, I turned on WMMR in Philadelphia and became mesmerized by a concert the radio station was broadcasting. The concert was by a group I’d never heard of — Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Thus began a part of my second education.

We don’t usually think of this second education. For reasons having to do with the peculiarities of our civilization, we pay a great deal of attention to our scholastic educations, which are formal and supervised, and we devote much less public thought to our emotional educations, which are unsupervised and haphazard. This is odd, since our emotional educations are much more important to our long-term happiness and the quality of our lives.

In any case, over the next few decades Springsteen would become one of the professors in my second education. In album after album he assigned a new course in my emotional curriculum."

BBC News - War of words over teacher numbers

BBC News - War of words over teacher numbers:

"Scotland's education secretary has clashed with local authorities over a drop in the number of teachers north of the border.

The figure fell by 1,348 over the past year, a drop which was described as 'unacceptable' by Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop.

However, her claims were rejected by local authority umbrella body Cosla, which expressed 'surprise and disappointment' at her comments.

Here are their statements in full."

Half of Scotland's councils have delivered improvements in primary school class sizes.

Half have not. What is more, there has been a sharp fall in the number of teachers. That is simply unacceptable.

Letters: On retooling of education | Viewpoints, Outlook | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Letters: On retooling of education Viewpoints, Outlook Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

"In response to professor Charles Meisgeier's article about the need to retool education to teach how children learn (“America must make effort to retool education system,” Page B7, Saturday), if he looked around his community he would know there is a highly reputable and successful tool right here in Houston, The Neuhaus Education Center. NEC has taught thousands of teachers a method of teaching any subject, called Multi-Sensory Training."

Ruling on D.C. Teacher Layoffs Raises Broader Issues - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Ruling on D.C. Teacher Layoffs Raises Broader Issues - Teacher Beat - Education Week:

"A Washington superior court judge has backed Chancellor Michelle Rhee in a dispute with the Washington Teachers' Union over layoffs. The union sought a preliminary injunction that would essentially have required Rhee to reinstate teachers who were laid off supposedly due to budget cuts while other legal claims worked their way through the District of Columbia school system.

In essence, the union said that Rhee hired hundreds of young teachers over the summer, more than the district could pay for, thus forcing a later need to make cuts. Because of a series of administrative rulings in the late 1990s, layoffs in D.C. are done not only by seniority but also by performance. In this case, principals laid off many veteran teachers. That precipitated protests, allegations from the WTU that Rhee was bypassing termination procedures in the contract, and hearings with the D.C. Council."

Alaska’s Rural Schools Fight Extinction - NYTimes.com

Alaska’s Rural Schools Fight Extinction - NYTimes.com:

"NIKOLSKI, Alaska — This distant dot in the Aleutian Islands needed just 10 students for its school to dodge a fatal cut from the state budget. It reached across Alaska and beyond but could find only nine."

Built by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1939, the little Nikolski School will not be the last in Alaska to close. Four others have closed this fall and at least 30 more are at risk because of dwindling enrollment; one school in remote southeast Alaska survived only by advertising on Craigslist for families with school-aged children.

“We lose one or two every year,” said Eddy Jeans, the director of school finance for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.

As Alaska celebrates its 50th anniversary of statehood amid new political prominence and urban aspirations, it is confronting a legacy of loss in rural communities that are unlike any others in the United States.

Flypaper: Education reform ideas that stick, from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Flypaper: Education reform ideas that stick, from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute:

"Despite the rainy weather, early morning start, and day-before-Thanksgiving scheduling, the CAP event with Secretary Duncan and NYC Mayor Bloomberg was standing room only. Going in it wasn’t at all clear what the actual purpose of the event was (Ed Trust’s Kati Haycock was on the panel as well). As it turned out, it was a stage for Bloomberg to make some important announcements.

Secretary Duncan’s opening speech was generally his ARRA/RTT talking points—not bad by any means, just not hot-off-the-presses new. Of note, he once again name-checked Louisiana for its strong use of data. He also said that RTT isn’t so much about states competing with one another as it is about each state building consensus within its borders for major change."

Accountable Talk: The Surgeon's Knife

Accountable Talk: The Surgeon's Knife:

"Looks like I'm going to lose my bet that the teachers' contract would be announced right before Thanksgiving. Unless you let me count Thanksgiving, 2o10.

Mayor4Life Bloomberg launched an attack on the UFT today, asking for the moon and trying to run an end-around through the state legislature. He wants to tie test scores to tenure, have the right to fire ATRs and in the event of layoffs, to get rid of teachers based on test scores rather than seniority. (All of you who believe that good teachers with high salaries won't get laid off, raise your hands.)"

Blather, Rinse, Repeat at The Core Knowledge Blog

Blather, Rinse, Repeat at The Core Knowledge Blog:

"In a debate on the Education Next website, Joe Williams of Democrats for Education Reform and Pedro Noguera of New York University wrestle with the question, “Should school reformers pay more attention to the non-academic needs of poor children?” The more pertinent question might be which of the two groups Williams and Noguera speak for–the Education Equality Project (Williams) and the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education (Noguera)–is paying attention to the academic needs of poor children. Based on the evidence, it’s hard to say."

CN&R > Local Stories > California meltdown > 11.26.09

CN&R Local Stories California meltdown 11.26.09:

"The meltdown went positively volcanic this week, as UC students by the thousands protested steep tuition hikes, dozens were arrested, and we learned the state again faced a huge budget deficit that would last for at least five years.

Nov. 11: The Sacramento Bee reports that, according to the Pew Center on the States, nine other states are facing “some of the same pressures that have pushed California toward economic disaster.” With California, they represent one-third of the nation’s population and economic output.

Nov. 12: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warns that the state budget deficit could swell to more than $14 billion, and that deeper spending cuts will be needed to close it."