Big Education Ape

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Plan to alter 11th-grade history course protested - CharlotteObserver.com

When Fox News ran a story last week about an N.C. proposal that would focus high school U.S. history classes on the last 132 years, phones started ringing and e-mail accounts brimmed.

Angry voices asked: Will schools forget about the Founding Fathers? Is the Boston Tea Party getting dumped? Will the Revolutionary War be muzzled?

Under the proposal for teaching social studies, which would have to be approved by the State Board of Education, American history would be spread across several grades. Students would start learning American history in elementary school, as they do now, and continue through middle school and high school. The big junior-year survey would cover the years after Reconstruction.

State school officials said students will still get early American history, but it won't all be crammed into the 11th grade.

Worker: School banned Spanish - CharlotteObserver.com

Worker: School banned Spanish - CharlotteObserver.com:

"A former school secretary has sued Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, saying she lost her job at Devonshire Elementary when a new principal banned her from speaking Spanish to parents who can't speak English.

Ana Ligia Mateo claims she was hired as a bilingual secretary for the east Charlotte school in 2006. But when Suzanne Gimenez took over as principal in 2008, the lawsuit says, Gimenez 'announced in a staff meeting that she would no longer allow Spanish to be spoken to parents by any of the faculty or staff.'

This year 42 percent of Devonshire's 500 students are Hispanic. The school's Web site says that the school theme is 'Academy of Cultural and Academic Diversity.'"

Districts plead with electorate for funding

Districts plead with electorate for funding:

"Sierra Linda High School's 2-year-old basketball team is just starting to grow. Next year, the southwest Valley school hopes to play against other varsity teams.

But all junior varsity and freshman sports will be on the chopping block if Tolleson Union High School District's budget override fails March 9.

Faced with unprecedented state budget cuts and declining enrollment amid the recession, Tolleson and 11 other Maricopa County school districts are asking voters to approve a budget increase.

But some are asking for more money than ever: as much as a 15 percent increase.

Residents have until Monday to register to vote and to weigh in on the issue. Early voting begins Thursday."

Can an interview determine if a teacher will be good? | Education | projo.com | The Providence Journal

Can an interview determine if a teacher will be good? | Education | projo.com | The Providence Journal:

"Since 1994, trainers at the Haberman Educational Foundation in Houston have been teaching the fine art of interviewing prospective teachers to more than 300 schools and districts. Martin Haberman’s half-century of research in the field of teacher training has concluded that beyond content background, two things stand out as key characteristics of good teachers: certain core beliefs, and the ability to persist in the face of student resistance.

Delia Stafford, now CEO and president of the foundation, says, “Our questions are predictive of how teachers will perform in the classroom.”

With a Harvard research study, 10 dissertations, empirical data and ongoing success, Haberman’s training is very much in demand. Recently, they’ve trained the GreenDot and the KIPP charter-school networks, the districts of Guilford City, N.C., San Diego, Newark, Rochester and Memphis, just to name a few. They teach whoever will"

History lessons vary for Colorado students - The Denver Post

History lessons vary for Colorado students - The Denver Post:

"The Great Depression. Stomach-churning slaughterhouse depictions from Upton Sinclair. Immigration. Cubans, the U.S.S. Maine and muckrakers. Prisoners buried alive, upside down, by barbarians.

Welcome to history, U.S. and otherwise, as offered in Colorado high schools. It is taught in classrooms with flat-screen TVs and classrooms barely up to code, to students relaxing in armchairs, students with keen interest and big aspirations and students blocking out the whole business with headphones.

If government mandates, No Child Left Behind and the Colorado Student Assessment Program have created lock- step, fill-in-the-blank curricula for math and reading, as some claim, there can be no such complaints about history."

Test scores spur state to consider new standards | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Test scores spur state to consider new standards | freep.com | Detroit Free Press:

"Education expert Sharif Shakrani says he'd give Michigan a C for its education system.

Many others would agree.

The state has been lauded for its strong standards and the tough graduation requirements it enacted in 2006. But there is growing concern about student achievement.

Experts say wide differences in test scores across the state are the result of a shocking disparity in how the state's standards are taught from district to district and classroom to classroom -- even in the same building. Some say grade inflation -- giving students a higher grade than their work merits -- is rampant, meaning many graduate high school without being prepared for the rigors of college. School funding cuts have led to larger class sizes, school closures and layoffs, all affecting student achievement, particularly in urban districts such as Detroit."

Orlando breaks lease with nonprofit group so charter school can have building - OrlandoSentinel.com

Orlando breaks lease with nonprofit group so charter school can have building - OrlandoSentinel.com:

"With no public discussion, Orlando has booted a nonprofit driving school from a city-owned building near downtown so it could turn the property over to a new charter school being launched by a high-ranking city official.

It cost the cash-strapped city more than $200,000 to get out of its lease with the Florida Safety Council eight years early, an expense the City Council wasn't told about. At the same time, commissioners voted two weeks ago to lease the building to the fledgling Central Florida Leadership Academy rent-free for its first three years.

At the time the city began discussing terminating the Safety Council's lease, it was wrestling with how to make up a $41 million deficit. And while backers of the charter school say it will eventually repay the city for its short-term losses, they acknowledge there's no guarantee that will happen."

Day cares, parents use kids for profit - JSOnline

Day cares, parents use kids for profit - JSOnline:

"Not in school, children pay price with lack of learning"

Thousands of children from low-income families in Wisconsin are being kept out of kindergarten every year, and the state's subsidized child-care program is a driving factor, turning kids into valuable commodities, an investigation by the Journal Sentinel has found.

The $350 million Wisconsin Shares program lets parents keep their 4-, 5- and even some 6-year-olds in day care centers all day - at taxpayer expense - rather than enroll them in accredited kindergarten programs.

In some cases, unscrupulous parents are participating in an easy scam. They sign up their children with friends or relatives who provide child care. The state then pays the providers roughly $200 a week, and providers give parents a kickback.

In other cases, child-care providers offer free gas, free rent, vacation getaways, $1,000 rebates and other incentives to encourage parents to enroll their children in day care rather than school.

The lax rules are not only a blow to taxpayers, but to the state's neediest children who often wind up in loosely regulated environments where little learning takes place. Day care providers aren't required to meet the standards of teachers, nor are they accountable for what children learn.

Indeed, some children show up for first grade not even knowing their full names or how to hold a pencil, said Ann Terrell, director of curriculum and instruction for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade with Milwaukee Public Schools. Clearly, they have not attended a

THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | The Dallas Morning News

THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | The Dallas Morning News:

"Last week a national report gave Texas a D for its school funding system. Today, Texas lawmakers said they'll study ways to improve school finance.

Granted, it's just a coincidence. But it's another reminder that like most states, Texas' method of funding public education is far from perfect. (For another local, recent reminder, check out Diane Rado's story about Dallas ISD having to share property tax money with other districts.)

Debates over school finance usually focus on two core issues: Adequacy (How much money is spent overall, and is it enough to achieve our state's educational goals?) and Equity (no matter the size of the financial pie, is it split fairly among school districts?). Judging by the following comments, not to mention the current economy, I bet Texas lawmakers will concentrate more on the latter."

Key to student achievement? ASPIRE to it | Viewpoints, Outlook | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Key to student achievement? ASPIRE to it | Viewpoints, Outlook | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

"It is common knowledge that across the nation, students are struggling. Public-school reform has become so commonplace it barely has meaning anymore. What school system is not in the process of trying to improve? To say that technology has improved the way we communicate and do business is an understatement, when in fact technology has transformed our personal lives and created a global economy. Therefore, if the entire world is undergoing a technological transformation, why are we still talking about education reform? Now is the time to stop thinking about how to improve the old ways of providing education and start thinking about transforming public education into something new.
The Houston Independent School District is doing just that. We have been calling it a reform effort, but what we are doing is transforming public education. According to legislators in Washington, D.C., and national organizations that advocate for public schools, Houston is leading the way."

EducationNews.org - Are the Right People Becoming Teachers? The Implications of Teacher Surveys

2.5.10 - Martin Haberman - The criteria for deciding whether a job of work is a profession are not all met by every profession, however, most of them must be operative before the term "profession"

Are the Right People Becoming Teachers? The Implications of Teacher Surveys

Martin Haberman
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

What Makes A Job of Work A Profession?
The criteria for deciding whether a job of work is a profession are not all met by every profession, however, most of them must be operative before the term "profession" can be applied to a particular job. Following are the critical criteria, which determine whether a job is a profession.

1. The practitioners know and can do things the public in general cannot do. They have a specialized body of knowledge.

2. The specialized body of knowledge practitioners have takes an extended period of time to learn.

The Coming Civil War: Public vs. Private | The North Star National

The Coming Civil War: Public vs. Private | The North Star National:

"In the last 18 months, the number of federal government employees making $100,000 a year or more has exploded, despite the economic downturn that has seen private-sector unemployment reach double-digit figures. Per the USA Today, the Department of Transportation alone has gone from one six-figure salary to a staggering 1,690!"

Per the New York Times, state and local governments have added 110,000 jobs while the private sector has lost nearly 7 million. And again per USA Today, benefit packages for government employees at all levels grew at triple the rate of private sector workers.

In the states most on the brink of fiscal disaster, California and New York, government employee unions are the unelected fourth branch of government. They use the money they get to bribe politicians with campaign donations so as to keep the gravy train running on time, and should any dare to suggest that multi-billion (or at the federal level, multi-trillion) dollar deficits are a reason to cut back and stop this fiscally destructive incestuous relationship, they instantly scream like Chicken Little that the sky is falling and if that’s not enough, start threatening to take Louisville Sluggers to kneecaps.

In my home state of Minnesota, which is closely following in their footsteps, you have the laughable display of trying to close a $2 billion plus shortfall while declaring as a prerequisite that 75% of the budget is instantly sacrosanct and untouchable. What eats up that 75%? As you might have guessed: welfare, health care, and education. Or, more accurately described: Democratic (and some Republican) politicians buying lifetime re-election by stealing from the productive to bribe the votes of the parasitic by paying their bills for them.

It matters not which area of the budget that’s larded with waste, from lavish pension plans to luxury benefit plans that dwarf the private sector: the instant the recipients sniff the the tiniest possibility that their cushy living might be reduced in the slightest, they show up at a capitol building shrieking at how evil and cruel those are who would dare to suggest a thing, and promising retribution should it happen. (And in the case of education, unions eagerly and despicably using kids as political human shields.)

In this, they sound like nothing more than hardcore drug addicts who have just been cut off from their stash and begun experiencing the first pangs

Marquette honors Little Rock 9 - JSOnline

Marquette honors Little Rock 9 - JSOnline:

"Award cites group for desegregating Arkansas high school
By Tom Tolan of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Feb. 6, 2010

Jefferson Thomas' memories of the segregated schools of Little Rock, Ark., in the years before he helped integrate Central High School with an escort from the 101st Airborne Division, are not entirely negative.

Thomas was the youngest of eight children, and when he was little, his older sisters would read to him from their schoolbooks, teaching him to read and write.

'When I got into the first grade, they thought I was a genius,' says Thomas, a member of the famed Little Rock Nine, who will receive Marquette University's fifth Pere Marquette Discovery Award on Tuesday.

Through his years at the segregated Gibbs Elementary School and Dunbar Junior High School, he had teachers who had affection for him, who encouraged him to perform, who knew his whole family.

But in 1957, when the Little Rock school district was recruiting black students to help carry out the U.S. Supreme Court's decision outlawing school segregation throughout the country and across the South, he jumped at the chance."

$630M to teach English to immigrant adults - Redlands Daily Facts

$630M to teach English to immigrant adults - Redlands Daily Facts:

"California taxpayers have shelled out about $630million over the past 13 years to provide English classes to immigrant adults.
The money was required as part of Proposition 227, an anti-bilingual education initiative passed by voters in 1998.

The measure, approved by 61percent of the voters, said public school kids should learn English as quickly and effectively as possible. It was intended to move students with limited English skills into mainstream classes within one year.

To help accomplish that goal, the state spent $50million annually over 10 years to provide free English classes to immigrant parents and others who pledged to tutor kids with limited English proficiency.

The state Legislature reauthorized the program in 2006. About $130million was allocated in the following three fiscal years. The program is slated to receive about $40million in the 2010-2011 budget."

How to create great schools - Press-Telegram

How to create great schools - Press-Telegram:

"In a meeting recently in Northern California, an educator grumbled that it didn't do any good to make a field trip to Long Beach to try to copy the local school district's successes in raising student scores. And he was right.

But here's what would do some good. Take a close look at what is working there and elsewhere, and you'll find the secret of success. It's surprisingly simple, but it's also hard work.

Long Beach Unified has its problems, but it also is has won the prestigious Broad Prize for Urban Education and has been a finalist for the prize five times. It is doing many things right, and although an educator can't copy them with one field trip, the techniques can be learned.

As Amanda Ripley has written in a recent edition of the Atlantic magazine, people tend to ascribe great teachers' gifts to some mystical quality that we can recognize and revere, but not replicate. But at last, research about teachers' impact is too overwhelming to ignore."

CSUS seeing quick growth in demand for Net classes - Local - Modbee.com

CSUS seeing quick growth in demand for Net classes - Local - Modbee.com:

"TURLOCK — Between her job at Victoria's Secret and pitching for the California State University, Stanislaus, softball team, Stacy Hains doesn't have a lot of time during the day or evening to attend classes.
The senior education major found that taking some of her courses online solved her time crunch.
'There's a lot of versatility of when I have time to sit down and do my work,' Hains said. 'I can go on at 11 o'clock at night.'
Demand from students such as Hains has driven rapid growth in the university's online classes in the four years since CSU, Stanislaus, started offering them.
In the fall, 1,400 students took 42 online classes. In spring, the university will offer 61 online or hybrid (with online and traditional components) classes, said Brian Duggan, director of learning services at CSU, Stanislaus."

Dallasblog.com, the Dallas, Texas news blog and Dallas, Texas information source for the DFW Metroplex. - DALLAS BLOG - Interview: Higher Education Commissioner Paredes

Dallasblog.com, the Dallas, Texas news blog and Dallas, Texas information source for the DFW Metroplex. - DALLAS BLOG - Interview: Higher Education Commissioner Paredes:

"Lawmakers these past few years have emphasized structuring the higher education system to ensure that a higher percentage of students earn degrees or certificates in a more timely manner.
Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes spoke last week to the Texas Association of Business and detailed his proposal to include a merit component to the awarding of previously need-only TEXAS [Toward Excellence, Access, and Success] Grant scholarships to state universities. In a conversation with Will Lutz, Paredes elaborated on his ideas.
LUTZ: Tell us how a merit component to the TEXAS Grant Program would look."

Students, teachers rallying behind AB 656 - Torrico

Students, teachers rallying behind AB 656 - Torrico:

"San Jose, CA (February 5) -- Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, author of the Assembly Bill (AB) 656, claimed lately that about 50,000 Californians, mostly college students and teachers, are rallying for the passage of the bill that hopes to raise over $2 billion to fund higher education out of oil 'extraction' tax.
The 50,000 supporters were gathered through grassroots signature and online petition by his staff.
'I was the first person in the family to go to college. And I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to attend the UC System. I believe, passionately, that no student should ever be turned away because they cannot afford higher education. And now, with the help of over 50,000 people... we will increase access to quality and affordable higher education for all,' Torrico said."

Parents, students on edge over soaring tuition

Parents, students on edge over soaring tuition:

"SEATTLE — As students around the country anxiously wait for college acceptance letters, their parents are sweating the looming tuition bills at public universities.

Florida college students could face yearly 15 percent tuition increases for years, and University of Illinois students will pay at least 9 percent more. The University of Washington will charge 14 percent more at its flagship campus. And in California, tuition increases of more than 30 percent have sparked protests reminiscent of the 1960s.
Tuition has been trending upward for years, but debate in statehouses and trustee meeting rooms has been more urgent this year as most states struggle their way out of the economic meltdown.
The College Board says families are paying about $172 to $1,096 more in tuition and fees this school year. The national average for 2009-2010 is about $7,020, not including room and board, according to the nonprofit association of colleges that oversees the SATs and Advanced Placement tests."

Occupy Everything Fight Everywhere Strike March 4 - Infoshop News

Occupy Everything Fight Everywhere Strike March 4 - Infoshop News:

"The call has gone out. On March 4th, students, workers and teachers throughout the nation and across the globe will strike. Pre K-12, adult education, community colleges, and state-funded universities will come together in an international Strike and Day of Action to resist the neoliberal destruction of public education in California and beyond. We stand beside all who wish to transform public education, and we seek to advance the struggle by generalizing the tactic that has, by far, been the strength of the movement: direct action. In keeping with the spirit of March 4th, we call upon everyone, everywhere, to occupy everything—from collapsing public universities and closed high schools to millions of foreclosed homes. We call on all concerned students and workers to escalate the fight against privatization where they are, in solidarity with the California statewide actions. We envision a network of occupied campuses in multiple states across the nation."

Pressing for changes to charter school law - baltimoresun.com

Pressing for changes to charter school law - baltimoresun.com:

"Advocates for Maryland's charter schools are gearing up for what they hope will be a watershed year for reform of the state's charter school law, as state officials plan to seek millions in federal funding contingent upon changes in education policies.

Maryland could stand to gain as much as $250 million in Race to the Top funds from the U.S. Department of Education, which this year is awarding money to states with what it considers the most forward-thinking policies. With legislation an essential tool in winning the federal money, advocates for charter schools see the current General Assembly session as the time to push for reform of the state charter school law, widely viewed as weak and in need of an overhaul."

Politics - A Practiced Politician Who Doesn’t Look It - NYTimes.com

Politics - A Practiced Politician Who Doesn’t Look It - NYTimes.com:

"Joe Simitian has spent nearly half his life in elective office, having served on the Palo Alto school board, the City Council, as mayor, on the County Board of Supervisors and in the State Assembly. Now he is in his second and final term in the State Senate. He is married to his political consultant."

On paper, Mr. Simitian seems like the very definition of a career politician.
But sit down with him and you come away with a different impression. Riffing comfortably on topics from education reform to highway safety, from environmental policy to infrastructure, Mr. Simitian sounds more like a wonk than a wannabe.

The truth is that he is a little bit of both. Educated as a city planner and trained as a lawyer, Mr. Simitian is serious about public policy and is something of a maverick. He is willing, on occasion, to offend powerful interest groups.

He is also as ambitious as any politician, practiced in the art of getting his name on important legislation and in the newspaper. Even now he is plotting a possible run for Congress should Representative Jackie Speier run for attorney general, though Ms. Speier’s district covers large portions of

Building the movement | San Francisco Bay Guardian

Building the movement | San Francisco Bay Guardian:

"UC student organizers work to broaden support for the March 4 Strike and Day of Action"

Frustrated by deep cuts to education spending and quality, momentum is building across California in support of the "Strike and Day of Action to Defend Public Education" on March 4.

Students, laborers, and faculty throughout the University of California system are trying to expand on last semester's organizing efforts by strengthening ties to groups from all tiers of the public education system. But questions linger about the best way to proceed and what exactly the event should look like.

"I think that the regents and [UC President Mark] Yudof are very fearful of what would happen if the students and workers united. They could be unstoppable," said Bob Samuels, president of the University Council-American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT).

That collaboration is exactly what many grassroots organizers are hoping to achieve, although their central message is not limited to participants in the UC system alone. They argue that fee increases and cutbacks at the universities are symptomatic of a greater problem, namely the denigration of free and low-cost public education.

"This emerged as a movement of students and workers at the university level. What we're doing now is going beyond the UCs," said Blanca Misse, a graduate student and member of the Student Worker Action Team (SWAT).

By reaching out to members of preschool, K-12 public school, community college, and California State University communities, organizers hope to turn March 4 into a rallying moment for the entire public education system in the state. Organizers also want to ensure that the UC system isn't funded at the expense of other institutions of public learning.

In cash-strapped state, how will we pay for public higher education? - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

On a mild, overcast day in October 2007, aUniversity of California graduate lobbed a rhetorical bomb at his alma mater: What if the public university went private?

"Suppose," mused state Treasurer Bill Lockyer in a widely distributed report on California's fiscal future, that "the state eliminated all its direct general fund support from the UC system,allowing it to set its own budget and raise revenues to replace the state's share."

Lockyer's supposition, which he was quick to point out he wasn't advocating, sparked an uproar among academic leaders and editorial writers, then slipped back into the Capitol's sea of partisan squabbling and budget crises.

But the issue has never really stopped making waves. As California's iconic Master Plan for Higher Education marks its 50th anniversary this year, and the state struggles to balance its books, variations of Lockyer's "privatization" question are being posed more frequently.

"Should higher education be treated as a public

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Local News | Rigorous college-prep classes skyrocketing in Washington state | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Rigorous college-prep classes skyrocketing in Washington state | Seattle Times Newspaper:

"A decade ago, most Seattle-area high schools offered just a handful of rigorous classes that provided a way to earn college credit while supercharging a transcript. And only students with top grades were allowed to sign up. But in 10 years, the intensive, fast-paced Advanced Placement (AP) classes have skyrocketed in this state."

A decade ago, most Seattle-area high schools offered just a handful of rigorous classes that provided a way to earn college credit while supercharging a transcript. And only students with top grades were allowed to sign up.

But in 10 years, the intensive, fast-paced Advanced Placement (AP) classes have skyrocketed in this state.

In 2008, fully one-quarter of Washington public-school seniors took at least one AP test during their high-school years, compared with 10 percent in 1997. In some schools, almost every student takes an AP class in junior or senior year.

And other schools around the state are moving fast to add AP classes and expand participation, in part because college admissions officials say the demanding classes do a good job of preparing students for higher

Whistle-blower suit filed in charter probe | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/06/2010

A former administrator at Community Academy Charter School has filed a whistle-blower suit alleging that she was improperly fired the day after federal agents raided the school in August.

Adorable Harper, a 1999 graduate, charges that officials at the Kensington charter retaliated against her for filing a complaint with federal investigators detailing "a pattern of criminal misuse of local, state, and federal funds."

Dave Frankel, one of Harper's attorneys, said the suit, filed recently in Common Pleas Court, contends that the defendants "illegally retaliated against our client for blowing the whistle."
The suit names Joseph Proietta, the charter founder and chief executive officer; Anna Duvivier, the chief operating officer; and International Education & Community Initiatives, a related nonprofit that does business under the name One Bright Ray Inc.

The officials, the complaint alleges, ran the charter and the nonprofit "like private fiefdoms or family businesses rather than the publicly funded school and nonprofit entities they are."
The Inquirer reported in October that Proietta had five relatives on the charter's payroll and that his wife was a consultant to the school.

In addition to citing the state whistle-blower law, the complaint alleges civil conspiracy, wrongful termination, and defamation. Harper has been unable to find a job since losing her position as assistant chief operating officer at the charter, the suit says.
Proietta denied all the allegations and said Harper was one

Teen: Unity day answers 'hateful' talk - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Teen: Unity day answers 'hateful' talk - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee:

"Westboro Baptist Church"

David Schenirer respects the decision by local Jewish leaders – including his father – to ignoreWestboro Baptist Church, the anti-gay and anti-Semitic group scheduled to picket in Sacramentotoday. But Schenirer said that's something he can't do.

Schenirer, a McClatchy High School senior, has organized a tolerance day at the school, one of several locations the controversial religious group – known for picketing the funerals of U.S. soldiers – is scheduled to demonstrate today and Saturday.

"These people say hateful stuff, awful things," said Schenirer. "Instead of ignoring them, I think this is an opportunity to teach people about tolerance."

Schenirer's father, Jay Schenirer, is president ofSacramento's Congregation B'nai Israel. He has urged members not to counterprotest, but supports his son. "I just want to make sure everything is peaceful."

For the past week, local religious and civic leaders have discussed and debated how to respond to the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church. Members of the splinter fundamentalist group intend to demonstrate at 10 sites in theSacramento region today and Saturday, according to the church's Web site.

Many local leaders believe the best way to respond to the group is to refuse to give them what they want: attention.

"Their purpose is to be provocative and engage people," said Michal Kohane, executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Sacramentoregion. "We're not participating. We're not engaging them."

Members of Westboro Baptist Church travel the country spreading their message of hate, said Mark Potok spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., a civil rights organization that tracks hate groups. "They specialize in public outrage."

Questions for parent-teacher conferences

Questions for parent-teacher conferences:

"Keys to Successful Parent-Teacher Conferences

“Two people working together who have the best interest of the child in mind

lead to better outcomes for students.”

Parent-Teacher Conferences:

February 12, 2010 – March 4-2010

ELEMENTARY SHORTENED DAYS

Check with your school"

Super Bowl Support Our Troops

Super Bowl Support Our Troops

Support the Center for American Progress

Sacramento Press / Councilman Ray Tretheway's goals for 2010

Councilman Ray Tretheway’s key goals for 2010 are in response to problems caused by the poor economy. He said he plans to concentrate on public safety, jobs and foreclosure.

Tretheway’s priorities are listed here as part of a series of stories on council members’ top three goals for 2010. Links to the stories are at the end of this article.

The Sacramento Press made repeated requests to interview Councilman Rob Fong, but he was unavailable.

Tretheway represents District 1, which includes North and South Natomas and Alkali Flat. He is running for re-election in June against Efren Guttierrez, a real estate broker, and Angelique Ashby, a partner in a consulting firm that contracts with government agencies and businesses.

When he is not working on city matters, Tretheway is the executive director of Sacramento Tree Foundation.

Tretheway said his top priority for the year is public safety. He puts public safety into three categories: police and fire, levees and youth education.

Assemblymember Block - Bill Closes Cayman Island Tax Loopholes | California Progress Report

One of my top priorities when I came to the Assembly was to eliminate corporate tax loopholes.

With a grim economy and no-win budget choices, it’s clear that making big business pay their fair share of state tax is more important than ever.

To do this I’ve introduced the Cayman Islands Tax Loophole Bill, AB 1178.

You might have heard about a single building in the Cayman Islands that houses almost 19,000 shell corporations.

Corporations transfer their profits to these fake companies so they don’t have to pay taxes.

Meanwhile, the rest of us get stuck paying more for the services our state needs.

Look at college students and their families.

For too long now they’ve struggled to afford higher education in our state – the higher education needed to attract jobs and keep vital industries here at home in California.

Textbook prices are through

Education Research Report: States' Data Quality Evaluated

Education Research Report

States' Data Quality Evaluated

A new Data Quality Campaign (DQC) report finds that states are making impressive progress toward building longitudinal data systems and are taking the first steps to ensure that new information is used to improve student outcomes and system-wide performance. But the results, which are based on a survey of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, also show that most states have much work to do around key practices, such as following student progress from pre-school through college and the workforce, sharing student-level progress reports with teachers, and providing adequate training around data use.

Since 2005, the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) has supported state development of longitudinal data systems that provide policymakers with information to create and adjust policies and practices to improve student achievement. The DQC’s annual survey of states’ progress on implementing the 10 Essential Elements of these systems shows that states have made impressive gains, and every state has committed to having a system with all 10 Essential Elements by 2011.

Although creating state longitudinal data systems and collecting vital information to answer key questions about performance are important steps, states also must have policies and practices in place to ensure that all education stakeholders are able to access, understand and use the information for continuous improvement.

The DQC 10 Essential Elements and 10 State Actions provide states a common roadmap to reach this goal. This year, for the first time, the DQC survey also asked questions about the 10 State Actions that are vital to using longitudinal data for continuous improvement. This inaugural overview reveals that states are just beginning to take the necessary steps:

The majority of states (43) have implemented three or fewer of the DQC State Actions.
Only ten states are sharing individual progress reports with educators, and fewer than half of states provide reports to stakeholders using aggregate-level statistics.
The same political will, energy and resources that coalesced to build robust longitudinal data systems over the past three years must now be harnessed to assist states in putting into place practices and policies that will ensure these rich data are used to inform decisionmaking across the P–20/workforce spectrum.

Overview Documents

Inaugural Overview of States’ Actions To Leverage Data To Improve Student Success

Data are useful only when they are transformed into actionable information that people are able to access, understand and use. Thanks to federal, state and local investments of political will and resources, the education sector is on the cusp of becoming an information-based enterprise. But reaching this goal depends on states taking actions that change the historically entrenched culture of using data for compliance

Bellevue, other school districts, win court case on education funding

Bellevue, other school districts, win court case on education funding

In what plaintiffs in a landmark school funding lawsuit called “a huge victory for Washington school children,” a King County Superior Court judge Thursday ruled the state in violation of its constitutionally mandated “paramount duty” to amply provide for the education of all children.

The court ordered the state to determine the actual costs of providing all children with the knowledge and skills set forth in the state’s high academic standards and to fully fund that actual cost with stable and dependable state sources.

The Bellevue School District, along with a number of others, originated the suit.

“This court is left with no doubt that under the State’s current financing system the state is failing in its constitutional duty,” Judge John Erlick said in his ruling, which followed a six-week trial that concluded in October. The trial included hundreds of documents and testimony from some 60 witnesses.

In the Bellevue School District, figures for the 2007-08 school year showed the district spent about $270 million on everything from school facilities, classroom teacher salaries and teaching materials, libraries, transportation, administration, utilities and money for capital building projects.

The figures show the state contribution was approximately

Latest News and Comment from Education