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Sunday, January 17, 2010

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Sacramento Press / Volunteers Celebrate the Life of Dr. King

Sacramento Press / Volunteers Celebrate the Life of Dr. King:

"“Life’s most persistent question,” Dr. King once asked, “is what are you doing for others?' This Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, American Red Cross and HOPE worldwide volunteers distributed vital fire safety information to help Sacramento residents prevent home fires, protect their loved ones and strengthen their community."

“President Obama has called on each of us to volunteer in our communities on Monday, January 18 to usher in a new spirit of service,” says American Red Cross President and CEO Gail McGovern. “Join the American Red Cross and USAService.org to learn how to save a life by participating in a CPR training, protect a life by distributing prevention and safety materials in your community or give the gift of life by donating blood.”

Home fires are Sacramento’s most prevalent disaster threat, and unlike other disasters, most home fires can be prevented. The Red Cross is committed to helping people understand how they can prevent home fires and protect themselves should they experience a fire. In the last year alone, the Sacramento Sierra Chapter responded to more than 240 fires, providing emergency shelter, food, comfort items, mental health counseling and emotional support.

Schools fear cuts to campus repairs - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Schools fear cuts to campus repairs - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee:

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to cut education by $1.5 billion next year will lean heavily on school districts' funds for campus maintenance and repairs.

The governor said he wants districts to cut central administration to avoid hits to the classroom, but a Bee analysis of the funds that Schwarzenegger considers 'central administration' shows the largest category is plant maintenance, covering everything from the salaries of electricians and plumbers to buckets of paint and boxes of nails."

School district administrators say cuts to facility maintenance and repairs would be devastating, especially for aging schools.
"Most of our schools are over 50 years old," said Trinette Marquis, spokeswoman for the Twin Rivers Unified School District. "Fifty-year-old buildings can fall apart really fast."
Education advocates say cutting facilities could reverse progress brought about by the landmark 2004 Williams v. California lawsuit settlement, which set standards for clean, safe schools.

'Race to the Top' - the view from Oakland

'Race to the Top' - the view from Oakland:

"We applaud Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums for refusing to join the Race to the Top parade by not signing the letter by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson ('Dellums ducks out of mayors coalition,' Chip Johnson, Jan. 5)."
Dellums should not be whipsawed into the frenzy just to run after more federal and state dollars that will do little to address the major issues of educational equity that we need in Oakland.
I was asked for the Oakland Education Association's opinion on the proposed letter and concurred with others that it would be a mistake to sign it. The lure of a minuscule amount of money is not justification for further decimating a compromised program in Oakland schools, especially when that money comes with serious strings attached.
Many talk about education reform but really seek to treat education like a business and students like test scores. They want to blame "failing schools" on teachers, denying the effects of poverty, language challenges, homelessness despair. They refuse to look at real funding reform that would provide the resources children and teachers need for an excellent public education. These same folks try to sell charter schools as a panacea for what's ailing our public schools, in effect setting up a separate and unequal system where students are often handpicked, dismissed if they're "not the right fit," and there is no accountability to democratically elected school boards.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/17/IN071BHUVL.DTL&type=education#ixzz0ct4ca9yn

School levies strike chord - Breaking News Highlight Story - The Olympian - Olympia, Washington

School levies strike chord - Breaking News Highlight Story - The Olympian - Olympia, Washington:

"Thurston County school districts are asking voters to continue to pay for basic programs at schools at the same time they are preparing for expected cuts to the state budget.

Seven of the eight Thurston County school districts seek voter approval for levies on the Feb. 9 ballot. Ballots are expected to be mailed to registered voters Thursday.

The levies in North Thurston, Tumwater, Griffin, Tenino, Rochester and Rainier are maintenance and operations levies, which provide revenue for more than 15 percent of the districts’ general funds. Each district determines how to spend its maintenance and operations levy money, which pays for a wide variety of programs and services, including paraeducators, computers and music programs."

The four 'R's' - a charter school that works

The four 'R's' - a charter school that works:

"'Good audience skills are imperative,' Danielle Johnson reminds her restless 10th-graders as one, Raquel, nervously fiddles with her laptop before holding forth on her project portfolio at City Arts and Technology High School (known as CAT), a charter school of 365 students on a green knoll above the blue-collar southern reaches of Mission Street in San Francisco."
"I decided to use the story of my mom getting to this country as an immigrant," Raquel says, moving into her personal-memoir segment, sniffing back tears as a blurry photo of her mother at age 18 appears on the screen. "I had never asked my mother about how she got here."
CAT exemplifies President Obama's push to seed innovative schools that demand much from all students, echoed by Sacramento's $700 million reform plan that goes to Washington this week. How to bottle the magic of CAT teachers like Johnson - listening carefully to each teen, strengthening each voice with basic skills and motivating ideals - is the challenge facing would-be reformers.
Moving to a team project, Raquel clicks on a futuristic image of her apartment building, which has been transformed into an energy-efficient structure with vegetables sprouting on the roof. Then, Raquel reflects on the hazards of group-work with classmates, both timid and articulate as her lecture unfolds.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/17/IN9C1BGRJ0.DTL&type=education#ixzz0csx0Xwo2

Gov. Paterson calls Legislation into session in effort to raise state's charter school cap to 460

Gov. Paterson calls Legislation into session in effort to raise state's charter school cap to 460:

"ALBANY - A frustrated Gov. Paterson will order legislators back to the Capitol tomorrow night in a last-ditch effort to lift the state's cap on charter schools before Tuesday's deadline.

As much as $700 million in federal education grants hangs in the balance.

Paterson decided to call the Legislature back into session on Martin Luther King Day after negotiations yesterday failed to make any progress toward an agreement on lifting the cap beyond the current 200-school limit.

'The clock is ticking and we need to reach an agreement with the Senate and the Assembly on a bill,' Paterson's top aide, Larry Schwartz, told the Daily News last night.

The 8 p.m. session will force lawmakers to return to Albany a day earlier than planned and is certain to exacerbate the already frosty relationship between Paterson and members of the Legislature.

Paterson wants lawmakers to raise the state's charter school cap to 460 schools - just over 10% of the schools in the state."

JCPS less than half way to diversity goal | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal

JCPS less than half way to diversity goal | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal:

"Halfway into the first year of Jefferson County Public Schools' new student-assignment plan, less than half of the district's elementary schools are in compliance with new diversity guidelines aimed at keeping schools integrated.

According to statistics released by the district, 48 of the district's 90 elementary schools have failed to meet the diversity goal of having between 15 percent and 50 percent of students coming from neighborhoods where the average household income is below $41,000; the average education levels are less than a high school diploma with some college; and the minority population is more than 48 percent.

While officials have said they fully expected that it would take time to bring all schools into compliance, figures show that some schools are not close to reaching that goal."

Experts Divided Over Internet Changes to Language | Education | English

Experts Divided Over Internet Changes to Language | Education | English:

"Since the first web browser appeared on computer screens in 1994, the Internet has radically changed global communication. With instant access to messaging and email, the ability to circulate commentary and opinion has revolutionized the way people communicate. This has had an affect on language and writing, but people still debate the scope of these changes, and whether or not they're for the better.

Eleanor Johnson is a professor in the English and Comparative literature department at Columbia University who attributes a growing misuse of language to the explosion of electronic communication.

'I think that text messaging has made students believe that it's far more acceptable than it actually is to just make screamingly atrocious spelling and grammatical errors,' she said."

All Beverly Hills students soon may be required to prove their residency - latimes.com

All Beverly Hills students soon may be required to prove their residency - latimes.com:

"One student enrolled in Beverly Hills High School this year using a virtual address obtained on the Web. Other Beverly Hills students have falsely claimed to live with grandparents or cousins who reside in the city. Unethical owners of Beverly Hills properties have even sold mailing addresses to out-of-area students.

The use of fraudulent addresses to enroll in the city's acclaimed schools is an age-old problem, according to officials with the Beverly Hills Unified School District who recounted these examples.

But such deceptions soon may be harder to carry out under a proposed plan to recertify every family in the 4,900-student district and expel those who have been lying about where they live."

Editorial - Walking the Walk on School Reform - NYTimes.com

Editorial - Walking the Walk on School Reform - NYTimes.com:

"The American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest teachers’ union, has been working hard to distance itself from its competitor, the National Education Association, which tends to resist sensible reforms."

The federation’s president, Randi Weingarten, set the contrast quite effectively with a speech last week in Washington, in which she offered a proposal to reform teacher evaluation. She not only echoed Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s call for evaluation systems that take student achievement into account but also expressed support for “a fair, transparent and expedient process to identify and deal with ineffective teachers.”

The shortcomings of evaluations were laid out last year in an eye-opening study by a New York research group, the New Teacher Project. Where they can be said to exist at all, evaluations are typically short, pro forma and almost universally positive. Poorly trained evaluators visit the classroom once or twice for observations that last for a total of an hour or less. Nearly every teacher passes and the overwhelming majority of teachers receive top ratings. Yet more than half the teachers surveyed said they knew a tenured teacher who deserved to be dismissed for poor performance.

Chicago News Cooperative - In Race for U.S. School Grants Is a Fear of Winning - NYTimes.com

Chicago News Cooperative - In Race for U.S. School Grants Is a Fear of Winning - NYTimes.com:

"As Illinois jockeys for position as a leader in education reform with a $500 million application for Race to the Top money, the state’s inability to pay current bills makes educators skeptical of Illinois’s capacity to take on such new initiatives."

One major concern is that should Illinois succeed in the national competition for Race to the Top money, it might not have the ability to finance the long-term costs of any new programs once the federal money has been spent.
A $4.35 billion federal grant competition, Race to the Top, intends to reward states that promote innovations in education. While new money would seem to be a boon for Illinois schools, educators who have seen other programs ramp up only to be shut down are concerned about it happening again.
State Representative. Suzanne Bassi, a Republican from suburban Chicago who sits on the House appropriations committee for education, said she feared what would happen to any new Race to the Top programs in a few years.

U.S. Colleges, Universities offer Rapid Relief Responses to Haiti

U.S. Colleges, Universities offer Rapid Relief Responses to Haiti:

"At the University of Virginia, news of the earthquake in Haiti on Tuesday struck home.

Stephanie Jean-Charles, a 22-year-old Haitian graduate student at UVa.'s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy who worked in Haiti, died Tuesday of head injuries at her family’s home in Port-au-Prince.

'This is a real tragedy for us,' says university spokesman Dan Heuchert, adding that the school plans a memorial service Thursday and is coordinating its own relief project.

Similar relief responses are being replicated at schools throughout the country, notably at historically Black colleges and universities. Faculty and students are raising money for CARE and other relief groups, gathering nonperishable food and clothing, planning their own medical care trips to Haiti and holding teach-ins."

Daley school plan fails to make grade - chicagotribune.com

Daley school plan fails to make grade - chicagotribune.com:

"Renaissance 2010 officials defend efforts to upgrade education for Chicago students over last 6 years"

Six years after Mayor Richard Daley launched a bold initiative to close down and remake failing schools, Renaissance 2010 has done little to improve the educational performance of the city's school system, according to a Tribune analysis of 2009 state test data.

Scores from the elementary schools created under Renaissance 2010 are nearly identical to the city average, and scores at the remade high schools are below the already abysmal city average, the analysis found.

The moribund test scores follow other less than enthusiastic findings about Renaissance 2010 -- that displaced students ended up mostly in other low-performing schools and that mass closings led to youth violence as rival gang members ended up in the same classrooms. Together, they suggest the initiative hasn't lived up to its promise by this, its target year.

"There has been some good and some bad in Renaissance 2010, but overall it wasn't the game changer that people thought it would be," said Barbara Radner, who heads the Center for Urban Education atDePaul University. "In some ways it has been more harmful than good because all the attention, all the funding, all the hope was directed at Ren10 to the detriment of other effective strategies CPS was developing."

Julia Steiny: R.I. accountability system can bury excellent work in schools | Education | projo.com | The Providence Journal

Julia Steiny: R.I. accountability system can bury excellent work in schools | Education | projo.com | The Providence Journal:

"Paul Silvia, executive director (principal) of the New England Laborers Construction Career Academy in Cranston, is actually a psychologist. Yes, the school is for kids interested in working in construction and other occupations the International Laborers Union represents, like nursing assistants and building inspectors. But many students come to this high school because they’ve been unsuccessful or miserable in traditional schools. So Silvia’s first huge hurdle with each kid is helping him or her get with the basics of success — showing up and on time, behaving civilly, managing impulses."

EducationNews.org - As for-profit colleges flourish, students question prospects

EducationNews.org - As for-profit colleges flourish, students question prospects:

"1.17.10 - The television ads promise a glittering future: Give us three years and we will get you your dream job. No high school diploma or GED certificate? No problem. Single mother trying to give your kids a better life? Sign up for classes today.

As for-profit colleges flourish, students question prospects

The television ads promise a glittering future: Give us three years and we will get you your dream job. No high school diploma or GED certificate? No problem. Single mother trying to give your kids a better life? Sign up for classes today.

The television ads promise a glittering future: Give us three years and we will get you your dream job. No high school diploma or GED certificate? No problem. Single mother trying to give your kids a better life? Sign up for classes today."

Sacramento Press / Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Celebration

On Aug. 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed to the world, "I have a dream...”

His speech was given at the Lincoln Memorial after a quarter million people concluded the March on Washington, which became the largest demonstration for human rights of its time.

Martin Luther King, a reverend, scholar and civil rights activist, practiced non-violence and civil disobedience to help change the existence of racial inequalities.

During his life he was recognized by being the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, at age 35, but is predominantly known for his leadership in demonstrations and non-violent protests that challenge racial segregation and racial discrimination, as well as helping many communities.

The controversy surrounding King's actions led to his early death when he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. on April 4, 1968.

EVENT SCHEDULE

The 29th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. March and Celebration Begins at 8:00 am @ Oak Park Community Center. The celebration begins at 10:00 am @ The Sacramento Convention Center.

View full schedule

A new federalism -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY

A new federalism -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY:

"Across New York, too many families are dealing with a harsh reality: they're broke. So is the state. And we're not alone.

With less income tax revenue from widespread job loss, less sales tax revenue from decreased consumer spending and less property tax revenue from falling real estate values, states have seen record-level budget deficits open up in short order. New York's projected $8 billion budget gap for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, scheduled to balloon to $14 billion-$15 billion when the federal stimulus money disappears -- is second only to California's, but is symptomatic of the large majority of states.
In fact, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that by the end of fiscal years 2010 and 2011, the 50 states will have faced a combined budget shortfall of at least $350 billion. Since virtually every state must balance its budget, deficits mean that states are forced to cut spending on important services or raise taxes."

FRSO Students: Study and Struggle | Fight Back! – News and Views from the People's Struggle

FRSO Students: Study and Struggle | Fight Back! – News and Views from the People's Struggle:

"The Student Commission of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) met over the 2009 winter break to discuss education rights, building a movement against war and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, fighting racism on campus and supporting immigrant rights. FRSO students came from as far as California and Florida, with large delegations from the South and Midwest. With a burning desire for social justice, the national cold wave could not stop them"

Cost of college textbooks might fall with new legislation - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Cost of college textbooks might fall with new legislation - Santa Cruz Sentinel:

"Matt Palm, 21, spends between $300 and $400 on textbooks per quarter as a history major at UC Santa Cruz. Caitlin Grams, 19, has spent up to $500 in a quarter at UCSC for politics and philosophy texts.

Relief may be in sight for higher education students like Palm and Grams who routinely spend thousands on textbooks in a year.

A bill working its way through the state Assembly would couple a reduction in sales tax for textbooks and school supplies sold at college bookstores with the closing of a tax loophole for companies with offshore addresses that do business in California. If passed, said bill author Assemblyman Marty Block, D-San Diego, the law would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2011, saving students $120 million each year in sales taxes."

Space, the Southwestern frontier - The Boston Globe

Space, the Southwestern frontier - The Boston Globe:

"For several years, the French photographer Vincent Fournier has been capturing images from earthly sites that play crucial roles in the exploration of space: Russia’s Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, the French-European space center in French Guiana, Chinese space bases, various observatories. Some of the photos are gritty and quotidian: an industrial-looking mock Russian space station sitting in a tank of water (so cosmonauts can train in simulated zero-g). Others, notably those from Guiana, exude such sleekness and spotlessness that they could be stills from “2001: A Space Odyssey.”"

Get gardens out of schools

Who could possibly oppose the efforts by Alice Waters, founder of the legendary restaurant Chez Panisse and living saint to devotees of local foods, to promote the creation and tending of gardens in public schools so that children can not only eat fresh vegetables but also learn something about the natural world?

Sen Richard Tisei: Politics taints school process - Reading, MA - The Reading Advocate

READING -

From its inception in 1837, the Massachusetts Board of Education established a reputation for independence which, for more than 170 years, allowed its members to conduct their business free of outside political influence.

All of that changed in Feb. 2008, when the Legislature approved Governor Patrick’s sweeping education reorganization plan. The creation of a new Executive Office of Education – overseen by a Cabinet-level secretary appointed by the governor – marked the end of the board’s proud history of independence begun under Horace Mann, the man often referred to as “the father of American public education.”

As the reorganization plan was making its way through the legislative process nearly two years ago, I warned that we were heading down a slippery slope and taking a major step backwards on education reform. My main concern was that the loss of an independent board would result in a more politicized process that would inevitably lead to any number of questionable education decisions being made.

Although I wish I had been wrong, recent events have unfortunately proven my concerns to be well-founded.

On Jan. 2, Inspector General Gregory Sullivan released a report detailing his investigation into the process used to award a school charter to the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School in February of 2009. The school is scheduled to open next fall with an initial enrollment of approximately 120 students in grades 4-7.

The Inspector General’s report is an eye-opener, filled with details that show the decision to grant the charter was far from impartial. One of the most shocking revelations is that certain documents pertaining to the application process may have been shredded, which does not reflect well on an administration that claims to embrace openness and transparency in state government.

Joe Williams: Democrats should back charter school ... - Op-Ed Commentaries - The Charleston Gazette - West Virginia News and Sports

Joe Williams: Democrats should back charter school ... - Op-Ed Commentaries - The Charleston Gazette - West Virginia News and Sports:

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia stands to lose $75 million in federal stimulus money due to the state's bad charter school law. Now, in the eleventh hour, lawmakers are scrambling to update the law in an effort to increase access to better educational options and thereby improve public education considerably."

It's time for Democrats in the state Legislature to realize that with or without the carrot of federal dollars, updating this law is the right thing to do.
The Democratic Party has touted our support of public education for decades, but our support has sometimes gone too far when we've defended schools and policies that aren't working for the children we ultimately want to improve the lives of. When we are the ones standing between the families we claim to represent and the public school options for which they clamor, we have to re-examine our priorities when it comes to schools.
Democrats, in particular, owe it to their constituents to support the kinds of exciting public school options offered by public charter schools. Recent data shows that West Virginia parents are eager to learn about the opportunities at charter schools -and the opportunities are clear.
Around the country from California to Boston, and elsewhere, public charter schools are proving their mettle. Some of the brightest stars in the modern-day education reform constellation are public charter schools - now leading the charge to save public education.
Popular school models like KIPP, Achievement First, Green Dot, Aspire and others are serving as proof points nationwide for what is possible in our schools.

Opinion: Ruben Navarrette Jr.: Schwarzenegger changes his tune, puts blame on illegal immigrants - San Jose Mercury News

Opinion: Ruben Navarrette Jr.: Schwarzenegger changes his tune, puts blame on illegal immigrants - San Jose Mercury News:

"Et tu, Arnold?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is usually a kinder, gentler Republican when it comes to immigrants. So what a shame that Schwarzenegger would, in his recent State of the State address, spread a familiar half-truth about the economics of illegal immigration by stressing the costs while ignoring the benefits.

This isn't the Arnold we knew.

In 2006, during a meeting with the editorial board of a Spanish-language newspaper, La Opinion, Schwarzenegger said it was a mistake for him to have supported Proposition 187, a mean-spirited ballot initiative in 1994 that denied education, social services and nonemergency health care to illegal immigrants."

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