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Saturday, February 13, 2010

Memphis Mayor Wharton against school police � The Commercial Appeal

Memphis Mayor Wharton against school police � The Commercial Appeal



Mayor A C Wharton does not support the Memphis City Schools plan to lead its own police force, saying it is "an idea whose time has not fully arrived."
In a letter to school board president Martavius Jones -- and copied to Supt. Kriner Cash, Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin and key legislators -- Wharton makes it clear he will not allow the issue to move forward.
Cash could not be reached Friday, but a school spokesman said Wharton's recommendation does not affect the school board's agenda because the issue will be decided by legislators, not the city mayor.

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A C Wharton
A C Wharton
Kriner Cash
Kriner Cash
Wharton is pushing for a "non-political compromise" about police in the schools, offering to personally broker a deal between the school system and the Memphis Police Department.
Tennessee law does not currently allow a school district to have its own police force.
Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, an opponent of the idea, says the school-led police force faces "an uphill battle" with or without Wharton.
"I see no reason to look at taking police powers and assigning them to the security force at Memphis City Schools," said Hardaway, whose chief concerns are officer training and accountability. "If the status quo is going to shift heavily one way or the other, they have to have a pretty good reason not to go with experts whose core business is law enforcement."
In January, Wharton asked Cash and Godwin for written proposals about how they intended to provide school security.
Godwin's plan includes a separate school division, run like a precinct, with access to the "Blue Crush" strategy of using crime numbers to guide officer deployment. Pulling together the resources, including extra officers and creating student-centered programs to deter arrests, would take three years, he said.
Cash, who already oversees a $10 million security budget, including more than 70 district-paid security personnel, wants to return the 37 MPD officers currently assigned to schools and run his own 115-member force, trained in law enforcement and child development.
The district's "white paper" on the issue outlines the difference between "repression" tactics used by police officers and the prevention model he espouses for reducing 
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Oklahoma City instructor uses blogs, e-mails in classroom | NewsOK.com

Oklahoma City instructor uses blogs, e-mails in classroom | NewsOK.com



Jeni James, a teacher at Will Rogers Elementary School, won an award for her efforts to mix technology into her lessons.
James won the Technology-Using Teacher of the Year award from the Oklahoma Technology Association. The award was presented to James during the association’s annual Learning Technology Conference and Exposition in Oklahoma City.
James has taught in the Putnam City School District since 1990, helping her students use blogs, e-mail and Web sites to gather information and exchange views with students and professionals from across the globe, district spokesman Steve Lindley said.
James also works with the library media specialist and other teachers to help fourth- and fifth-grade students research topics and digital presentations.
Will Rogers Principal Pam Miller said James has made a difference in the lives of her students.

Read more: http://newsok.com/instructor-uses-blogs-e-mails-in-classroom/article/3439121?custom_click=lead_story_title#ixzz0fQqAZ3vb
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Jordan cutting 500 jobs, many programs to cope with crunch - Salt Lake Tribune

Jordan cutting 500 jobs, many programs to cope with crunch - Salt Lake Tribune:

"The Jordan School District will cut staff by 500 employees, half of them teachers, and increase class sizes to compensate for an estimated $30 million budget shortfall next school year.

The district has already laid off 200 support staff this year, and further reductions could be necessary, depending on cuts to the state education budget, said district spokeswoman Melinda Colton.

At least 250 teachers will lose their jobs, Colton said, with the remaining 250 layoffs coming from administrative and support staff like nurses, counselors and librarians. Layoffs will be based on seniority."


Jordan downsizing
Jordan, formerly Utah's largest school district, once served 88,000 students and employed 9,500 people. Since July 1 of last year, when the district was nearly halved after formation of the breakaway Canyons School District, it has slowly downsized. Enrollment is now 49,000 students. After the new round of layoffs, the district will have 4,500 employees.
Here's how the district will trim to deal with its $30 million budget shortfall:
Administrative positions » $2.5 million
Eliminating, reducing or changing programs » $11 million
Non-teacher classroom positions » $1 million
Increase class size by four students » $12.5 million
Classified positions » $3 million
Source: Jordan School District
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The Soul of Trinity � The Quick and the Ed

The Soul of Trinity  The Quick and the Ed:

"I heartily recommend Daniel DeVise’s profile of Trinity Washington University president Pat McGuire in this weekend’s Washington Post magazine. McGuire and her colleagues embody much of what is good and right about higher education. By transforming a failing women’s college into thriving university dedicated to serving minority and first-generation students, she is working in the best traditions of Catholic education. DeVise’s article is comprehensive so just a few things to add: Trinity’s success in serving minority students stands in marked contrast to other DC-area institutions. Trinity is drawing from the same pool of students coming out of DC’s notorious public school system. It is a low-resource institution–McGuire, after 20 years in the presidency, makes $202,000 a year. Many colleges cite lack of money and poor student preparation as an excuse for appalling failure rates. Trinity shows that a well-run, student-focused institution can make a huge difference in the lives of students. This doesn’t mean we should slack off on efforts to improve high school and provide resource equity to colleges that serve first-generation undergraduates. But many colleges can do much better than they are."
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The Devoted: She spent her life transforming Trinity. So where does Pat McGuire -- and the university she rebuilt -- go from here? - washingtonpost.com

The Devoted: She spent her life transforming Trinity. So where does Pat McGuire -- and the university she rebuilt -- go from here? - washingtonpost.com:

"A dusting of snow had thinned the crowd that turned out to watch the Trinity Washington University women's basketball team play Valley Forge Military College on a gloomy Saturday afternoon. But one fan at the far end of the court made the most of the game, and followed the players patiently with her camera lens as she cheered a bit louder than everyone else."


The visiting team might have wondered who this woman was, roving the stands in an untucked button-down shirt, laboring with her camera, very nearly the only white figure in the crowd of black and Hispanic faces. But among Trinity students -- her students -- Pat McGuire needed no introduction.
McGuire, who is in her 21st year as president of this college in the Brookland section of Northeast Washington, is not only the university's academic leader: She's the smiling face of Trinity at nearly every game, performance or campus event. She gives out the freshman medals at orientation; she hands seniors their diplomas at graduation. To many of these students, Pat McGuire is Trinity.
"She's out there hooting your name, chest-bumping, giving you a high-five," said Charity Blackwell, 22, a freshman on the team. "Stuff like that makes you feel like you're cared about."
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Friday, February 12, 2010

The Educated Guess � Hot off the press

The Educated Guess � Hot off the press


Here’s some provocative reading to ruin  – no, enrich – your long weekend in between watching the Nordic combined and the biathlon.
Texas rules: Size matters when it comes to textbooks. I’m talking about the population of states that buy them, not the tonnage of the tomes that middle schoolers carry on their backs.
California is big enough to push its weight around with textbook publishers and control its autonomy. But pity small states that are prey to the looney dictates of the self-righteous majority  on the Texas State Board of Education.

In “How Christian Were the Founders?” New York Times Magazine writer Russell Shorto details how a fundamentalist Christian bloc on the 15-member board has put its ideological stamp on science, language arts and history textbooks that end up in circulation around the nation. That explains why Phyllis Schlafly, the Moral Majority and the NRA get inserted into the history of the ‘80s, while Ted Kennedy gets rubbed out, and why conservative views get inserted into standards texts.
There’s a larger agenda: In the candid words of Cynthia Dunbar, a Christian activist on the Texas board, “The philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next.”
Tales from the crypt: If you’re not yet convinced that the state’s teacher tenure laws need changing, check out the  exhaustive piece “LAUSD’s Dance of the Lemons” in the latest LA Weekly. The subtitle, “why firing the desk-sleepers, burnouts, hotheads and other failed teachers is all but impossible,” says it all.
The Los Angeles Times did a good article in December on the district’s Sisyphean
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The DC VOICE Ostrich: Join the Coalition for Community Schools at their 2010 National Forum

The DC VOICE Ostrich: Join the Coalition for Community Schools at their 2010 National Forum


Innovation is the word of the day in education reform, as the U.S. Department of Education rolls out its new education reform strategy. Community schools are an innovation that is turning around student performance as it builds on a fundamental American principle: schools are inextricably connected to their communities and they educate students best when they function as centers of community. Student success is the result that everyone is seeking for young people...enabling them to graduate from high school ready for careers, college, and citizenship. Attaining this goal is vital to the future for our nation.

On April 7-9, 2010 in Philadelphia, PA the Coalition for Community Schools is hosting a national forum, "Building Innovative Partnerships for Student Success: The Key to America's Future."

Join  U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius as she delivers the keynote address, sharing how community schools are critical for nurturing healthy students, families, and communities.
Additional featured speakers include:
- Assistant Secretary Jim Shelton, Office of Innovation & Improvement, U.S. Department of Education
- Representative Chaka Fattah, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Dennis Van Roekel, President, National Education Association
- Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers
- Secretary of Education Gerald L. Zahorchak, State of Pennsylvania

This year the coalition celebrates partnerships because they are at the heart of the community schools approach—bringing schools, families, community residents, higher education and an array of other community partners together around a common result—student success. 

All are invited to attend: local and national government leaders, teachers, community-based organization leaders, local policymakers, parents and youth.

To join the discussion REGISTER NOW athttp://guest.cvent.com/EVENT/Info/Summary.aspx?e=9adf5e83-08c2-44e9-8117-d55a47e740d0
At Friday, February 12, 2010 

http://www.communityschools.org/
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Remainders: A new lottery for Tribeca kindergarten hopefuls | GothamSchools

Remainders: A new lottery for Tribeca kindergarten hopefuls | GothamSchools


Remainders: A new lottery for Tribeca kindergarten hopefuls

by Maura Walz


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Education Week: With Grants, NEA Fund Paves Its Own Path to Reform

Education Week: With Grants, NEA Fund Paves Its Own Path to Reform

Three urban school districts —Springfield, Mass; Durham, N.C.; and Columbus, Ohio —will receive an equal share of $3.75 million from the foundation of the National Education Association to improve instruction, close achievement gaps, and stimulate parental involvement, the body announced this week.
That additional funding is the first major scaling up of the foundation’s 6-year old, $6 million Closing the Achievement Gaps Initiative.
Specific details of the new districts’ plans differ, but they share common elements, including setting up teams of teachers and administrators in selected schools to review student-achievement data, encouraging teachers to visit students’ homes, and establishing joint labor-management panels to oversee the work.
“The three sites we have picked have shown district capacity to collect data and to look at data in ways that can drive instructional change,” said William Miles, the program director for the NEA Foundation. “We think a kind of rut districts get into is in looking into the same data and drawing the same conclusions from that data. If you put a collaborative process in place, and you ask questions about the sources and analysis of data, you’ll start to see the problem differently, in ways that will move you to some different solutions.”
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SCOTUSBlog Examines Brown v. Board of Education - The School Law Blog - Education Week

SCOTUSBlog Examines Brown v. Board of Education - The School Law Blog - Education Week


SCOTUSBlog Examines Brown v. Board of Education

By Mark Walsh on February 12, 2010 2:46 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
As part of its "Race and the Court" program during Black History Month,SCOTUSBlog next week has a slate of podcasts and articles examining the legacy of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case striking down racial segregation in the schools.
The blog's goal with the program is "to reflect on the lasting impact the Supreme Court has had on race, both in law and in American society."
The lineup, scheduled for Feb. 15-19, is as follows:
Podcast: "The Unexpected Consequences of Brown v. Board of Education on African American Schools and Education in the South"
-David Cecelski, historian and author of Along Freedom Road: Hyde County, North Carolina, and the Fate of Black Schools in the South
Podcast on Brown v. Board of Education
-Nina Totenberg, legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio
"The Global Impact of Brown v. Board of Education"
-Mary Dudziak, professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law and founder of the Legal History Blog
"What Can Brown Do For You?: The Court's Struggle Over the Meaning of Equal Protection"
-Pamela Karlan, professor at Stanford Law School
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USC Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice - Podcast Series

USC Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice - Podcast Series

Each month Scott Andrew Schulz, the center’s program director, initiates a conversation with a prominent scholar or practitioner on an important enrollment topic and posts the interview on the center’s website. This Podcast Series is meant to bring together scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss important topics, inform one another, and generate ideas necessary to improve access to higher education and maximize student success.
Want to download CERPP's podcasts?
February 2010: Kevin Carey of Education Sector
Topic: The For-Profit Revolution: What It Means for Higher Education

(runtime 30:56)

 
    
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The National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest

The National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest


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The National Center for Fair & Open Testing

The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) works to end the misuses and flaws of standardized testing and to ensure that evaluation of students, teachers and schools is fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial.

Spotlight

Testing Reform Anniversary!

Seasons Greetings to you and your loved ones.
Here at FairTest, we are already looking beyond the upcoming holidays to 2010, our organization's 25th Anniversary.
In the two and a half decades since leaders of the country's civil rights, education reform, student and feminist organizations founded the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, we have faced incredible challenges and opportunities. Despite the power of the testing industry and the politicians who blindly support it, we have built a track record of success...
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FairTest Examiner Newsletter

The November 2009 FairTest Newsletter is avaiable online now. If you haven't subscribed for the free email newsletter please click the link at the top of the page to do so.
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"Empowering Schools and Improving Learning" Released

The Forum on Educational Accountability, chaired by FairTest, has released Empowering Schools and Improving Learning, signed by 84 national education, civil rights, religious, disability, parent and civic organizations. It calls for a thorough overhaul of NCLB. 
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FairTest comments on US Education Department's "Race to the Top Fund" Guidelines.

FairTest says "Race to the Top" funding guidelines need to be thoroughly overhauled, are inconsistent with President Obama positions, and will worsen NCLB testing consequences.
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