Big Education Ape

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

NY's slap at schools that work - NYPOST.com

NY's slap at schools that work - NYPOST.com:

"Gov. Paterson proposes another 'freeze' in charter- school funding for next year -- at the same levels in place two years ago. Why discriminate against schools that work?

Now, money isn't everything. New York's charters -- independent, public schools -- have regularly produced better results for less: Despite never receiving close to the funding spent by regular, 'district' schools, they have raised the achievement of their students -- and outperformed test scores in the surrounding districts.

But the funding gap between charters and district schools -- already wide -- is growing worse with the state-imposed ceiling on charter funding -- and now the governor means to keep it in place for next year."

What school district or local government, pray tell, is forced to live on funding levels from two years ago? In fact, New York districts brought a lawsuit when the state merely delayed paying a fraction of this year's amount.

For the current school year, the Legislature severed the link between school-district spending and charters' funds by keeping charter-funding levels to last year's amount. This meant a nearly $50 million loss to charter schools ($29 million to charters in New York City) -- losses that will increase next year.

The Legislature imposed this freeze at the urging of the teacher unions, which wanted the cash to instead go to the coffers of school districts where the bulk of their members work. (Those teachers in nearly two dozen New York charters who are union members evidently don't matter much to the unions.)

But, you might ask, shouldn't charters share in the pain from government funding cuts in tough economic times? In fact, they already are, since they automatically see lower funding whenever district schools do -- so the funding freeze is effectively a double cut.

Education Week: Union, parents fight closure of older NYC schools

Education Week: Union, parents fight closure of older NYC schools:

"NEW YORK (AP) — Christopher Columbus and Thomas Jefferson have been deemed historical relics.

Columbus High School and Jefferson High School are among 19 schools to be closed for not making the grade in the nation's largest school district. The closures announced last month are part of an aggressive city plan to shut down low-performing schools in favor of smaller, more specialized ones.

Students and the teachers' union have fought back against the closures, the most ever in an academic year, filing a lawsuit that says the targeted schools were overloaded with high-needs students and set up to fail.

For 16-year-old Ferona Bryan, Columbus' closure will shut a 71-year-old school with a legacy: Her mother and two aunts attended and still feel connected to it."

They must make the grade: DOE will finally use test scores to grant teacher tenure

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is about to consider how well probationary teachers have proven themselves in the classroom before granting them the lifetime job protection of tenure.

Sound like common sense? Sure does.

You thought chancellors already checked teacher quality in making tenure decisions? Silly you.

Only in recent years has the school system had the test-score data necessary to gauge whether individual teachers were raising student achievement. One result was that tenure decisions, made when instructors have completed three years on the job, were pretty much rubber-stamped.

In 2009, fully 93% of the teachers up for tenure got it, including many who had been given unsatisfactory performance ratings.

Two unions say they are willing to negotiate a cut in the L.A. Unified school year - latimes.com

Two unions say they are willing to negotiate a cut in the L.A. Unified school year - latimes.com:

"Other labor chiefs don't like Cortines' proposal to trim six days to help balance a projected $640-million shortfall."

Esther Lee says she plans every minute of her seventh-grade science classes at Berendo Middle School in Koreatown.

"For a lot of my students, their only connection to academics is in school . . . so I feel I can never waste time," she said.

But under a plan proposed by Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, Lee could be chopping a week off her schedule as early as this spring to help district officials balance a projected $640-million shortfall.

California school districts have the option of shortening the school year without losing key state funding for the next several years, and at least one other district has moved to shorten its calendar. Others, up and down the state, are considering the option.

Cortines had said he wanted to preserve, if not extend, the school year, but he said he is unable to balance the budget without major concessions from employee unions, whose leadership has generally resisted furlough days and pay cuts. In a news release Friday evening, he made the proposal to shave five school days and one noninstructional day off the calendar.

Leaders of both the teachers and administrators unions said they are fully aware of the financial crisis and are willing to negotiate.

Student Suspended for Facebook Page Can Sue - NYTimes.com

Student Suspended for Facebook Page Can Sue - NYTimes.com:

"MIAMI — A South Florida teenager who sued her former principal after she was suspended for creating a Facebook page criticizing a teacher can proceed with her lawsuit, a federal judge has ruled.

The student, Katherine Evans, is seeking to have her suspension expunged from her disciplinary record. School officials suspended her for three days, saying she had been “cyberbullying” the teacher, Sarah Phelps. Ms. Evans is also seeking a “nominal fee” for what she argues was a violation of her First Amendment rights, her lawyers said, and payment of her legal fees.

The former principal, Peter Bayer, who worked at the Pembroke Pines Charter High School, had asked that the case be dismissed. But Magistrate Judge Barry L. Garber denied Mr. Bayer’s petition and rejected his claims of qualified immunity."

Charter School May Replace Trades at Alfred E. Smith High - NYTimes.com

Charter School May Replace Trades at Alfred E. Smith High - NYTimes.com:

"Citing academic failures, the city has proposed closing the construction trade program at Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School, a 78-year-old vocational school in the South Bronx."

But the school the Department of Education plans to put in place of the program, the 18-month-old New York City Charter High School for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries, has had its own issues. Its founder is facing federal charges that he embezzled from a nonprofit company. Thirty percent of the students left after the first year, as did most of the teachers. And despite its name, it has no experience running hands-on vocational programs.

Supporters of Smith, the Bronx’s only high school with state-approved construction trade programs, fear its technical shops will suffer under the charter school’s management and wonder why the city would eliminate an established school only to put an untested school in its place.

Epoch Times - San Francisco Schools Face Massive Budget Cuts

The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) has been hit hard with budget cuts that will leave it with a $113 million shortfall, which it will need to bridge in the next two years.

According to a Jan. 20, 2010, letter, Superintendent Carlos A. Garcia informed employees that the projected shortfall for the fiscal year 2011-2012 would be $30 million more than the expected $83 million shortfall originally calculated, due to unforeseen reductions in the Revenue Limits and the State Fiscal Stabilization Funds.

The letter outlines some possible routes of action to bridge the shortfall. Garcia notes increases in class size, which are expected to reduce expenditures by $300,000 to $500,000 for each one-student increase per grade-level as one among other possibilities.

He noted five other ways to reduce costs. Reducing summer school programs is expected to yield $4.6 million in savings through fiscal year 2011-2012. Reducing general transportation, is expected to cut $1.5 million a year. Suspending sabbaticals, which currently cost approximately $2 million per year is another proposed cut. Freezing step & column increases could save $5.8 million a year, and suspending and reducing Advanced Placement preparation are other possible ways of bridging the shortfall.

Superintendent Garcia wrote, “Prior to the release of the governor’s proposed budget, SFUSD staff projected a shortfall through the Fiscal Year (FY) 2011-2012 of $83 million in the Unrestricted General Fund (UGF). The governor’s just-released proposed budget includes significantly reduced amounts for the Revenue Limit and State Fiscal Stabilization Funds. Staff now projects a UGF shortfall through FY 2011-2012 of $113 million.”

Hartford Supporters Call 'Parent Trigger' Long Overdue - Courant.com

Hartford Supporters Call 'Parent Trigger' Long Overdue - Courant.com:

"HARTFORD —. - A group of city parents supporting the 'parent trigger' provision in education reform legislation to be considered by the General Assembly had one principal reaction Monday.

What took so long?

The provision was part of a 10-point plan proposed last week by the legislature's Black & Puerto Rican Caucus to address the state's achievement gap between white and minority students'This should have been done a long time ago,' said Millie Arciniegas, president of the Hartford Parent Organization Council. 'We don't have a voice.'

The council supports the parent trigger as a way to give parents power to change the direction of failing city schools.

If passed, the legislation would allow 51 percent or more of parents from a school that has failed to make progress for three consecutive years under the national No Child Left Behind guidelines to petition for intervention.

The remedies proposed could force dramatic changes, including closing a school altogether. One plan, called the 'turnaround model,' would include replacing the principal and 50 percent of the staff. A 'restart model' would include converting to a charter school."

The Daily Aztec - FLAMING LIBERAL: Education candidates essential

The Daily Aztec - FLAMING LIBERAL: Education candidates essential:

"This year, students have taken a stronger interest in learning who their representatives are and trying to influence the way those elected officials vote.
This is a worthy and logical battle to fight. We need to hold our representatives accountable to the students and the people who benefit from higher education funding.
More importantly and strategically, we should be focusing our energy on getting to know the candidates who are running to be our representatives and helping elect those who are in alignment with our values.
If students want to see more funding for higher education, then we need to do our research to find out which candidates support education and put our resources behind electing them.
We have this opportunity right now.
Assemblymember Mary Salas has already thrown her hat into the state senate race to replace current Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny who is leaving her assembly seat open. Two Democrats have entered the race and will definitely give each other a run for their money."

Starr set to become Baylor president on June 1 | Religion | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Starr set to become Baylor president on June 1 | Religion | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

"Kenneth Starr, the prosecutor whose investigations into the administration and behavior of former President Bill Clinton made him a lightning rod for partisan politics, has been named president of Baylor University.

The announcement ended an 18-month search that began after regents fired former president John M. Lilley in 2008, saying they had lost confidence in his ability to serve Baylor's many constituencies.

Starr, 63, has been dean of Pepperdine University's law school since 2004. He is scheduled to be introduced on the Baylor campus Tuesday afternoon and starts work June 1. Baylor is the nation's largest Baptist university.

Monday, he was praised for his academic and administrative credentials — the Pepperdine law school vaulted up more than 150 spots in the U.S. News and World Report rankings during his tenure — and for his potential to pull together the sometimes-fractious"

School suspensions: Are they effective? - Bakersfield.com

School suspensions: Are they effective? - Bakersfield.com:

"Kim Baker's son was supposed to be sitting out recess. But, according to a notice sent home, he cut in front of other students waiting to play tetherball, then kicked another's shin and 'punched his hand into his other hand in a threatening manner.'

He was sent home and suspended from school the next day for disrupting school activities and defying authority of supervisors, the notice said. A week later, he was suspended again for throwing pencil lead at another student.

Baker's beef? His son is only in the first grade."

Schwarzenegger threatens to suspend tax breaks to help close the budget gap | CAIVN

Governor Schwarzenegger’s independent streak, celebrated by some as a sign of his nonpartisan and judicious political philosophy, and lamented by others as an inability to deal harshly with people outside his own party, has once more begun to reappear. In his most recent budget plan, the Governor warns that, if federal bailouts are not forthcoming, he will intentionally delay the implementation of several tax breaks/credits which California has otherwise promised to extend, to the dismay of all voters for whom tax hikes are seen as correlating with economic downturn. In other words, the Governor has abandoned his party’s traditional base once more, and as always, his motives are elusive.

The hard facts, however, are not. It is surely true that, whatever Schwarzenegger’s wisdom in suggesting what amounts to a tax hike during fragile economic times, desperate times call for desperate measures, and something must be done to soothe the State’s unsustainable financial course. Unfortunately, it is also surely true that Schwarzenegger is ignoring options, though whether he is doing this purely because of outside political pressure, or because of a genuine ideological commitment to ignoring those options is up for debate.

The Diamondback - MOTE TO RETIRE

The Diamondback - MOTE TO RETIRE:

"University President Dan Mote announced his resignation yesterday, ending a 12-year period in which he led the university to unprecedented successes while consistently battling eroding state support for higher education.

“Twelve years is a long time — longer than I expected when I arrived,” Mote said of his reason for resigning. “The place is in very good shape, running very well; the staff is very strong, and it’s a good time to have a transition.”

Mote, 73, will leave his position Aug. 31 and take a one-year leave of absence. Afterward, he will stay with the university as an engineering professor. Mote said announcing his resignation now will limit his time as a lame duck while providing enough time for the university system to search for his replacement.

As per university system requirements, Chancellor Brit Kirwan said he would select a committee to search for Mote’s replacement that will include students, faculty and staff. Final approval of the committee’s recommendation rests with the Board of Regents — a 17-member panel of gubernatorial appointees that oversees the university system."

California's sorry state a major threat to U.S. - The Globe and Mail

California's sorry state a major threat to U.S. - The Globe and Mail:

"California is to the United States what Greece is to Europe - and not just because of its abundance of sun and sea.

Busted budgets and dysfunctional politics have also made them kindred spirits.

And just as Europe is reluctantly looking at coming to Greece's financial rescue, the day may soon come when California's financial woes become a problem for all Americans.

In some ways, California may prove to be the bigger headache. Were it a country, the state's economy would rank eighth in the world - roughly the size of France and much larger than any of the so-called PIIGS of Europe: Portugal (No. 50), Ireland (No. 56), Italy (No. 11), Greece (No. 34) and Spain (No. 13).

California also makes up a larger relative share of the U.S. economy, at 13 per cent of U.S. gross domestic product. Greece accounts for just 2 per cent of Europe's GDP."

Four-year degrees at our community colleges? � Ventura County Star

Four-year degrees at our community colleges? � Ventura County Star:

"At long last, there are signs Californians might become a little inventive in the face of financial crisis. So far, the best example of an idea for making lemonade when life has dispensed lemons comes in the higher education field, where state colleges and universities that have absorbed large budget cuts are now charging higher tuition and fees than ever — and will still turn away about 100,000 qualified students in the fall.

That situation amounts to a wholesale abandonment of California’s 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, which guarantees a place at either the University of California or a California State University campus for every student who has done enough to qualify.

With some campuses reserving significant numbers of spaces for local residents and others turning away even those students, public universities for the first time are plainly not keeping their 50-year-old promise."

Manteca Bulletin - Schools provide 1 in 10 SJ jobs

Manteca Bulletin - Schools provide 1 in 10 SJ jobs:

"Education is big business in San Joaquin County.

Over one out of every 10 jobs in the county during 2008 was in either private or public education. That translates into 23.632 out of the 220,983 private and public sector jobs within the county.

Those jobs also accounted for 11.5 percent of the overall county payroll of $8.6 billion.

The impact of education on the economy in terms of jobs as well as producing a workforce that will attract higher paying employers is detailed in a regional study conducted by the Eberhardt School of Business at the University of Pacific in conjunction with the San Joaquin County Council of Governments."

Editorial - Justice Kennedy on Prisons - NYTimes.com

Editorial - Justice Kennedy on Prisons - NYTimes.com:

"Justice Anthony Kennedy spoke out against excessive prison sentences this month in California, criticizing the state’s deeply misguided three-strikes law. It was a welcome message, delivered with unusual force. Much of the blame for the law, however, lies with the Supreme Court, which upheld it in a decision on which Justice Kennedy cast the deciding vote."

The overall tone of Justice Kennedy’s address to the Pepperdine University School of Law was “courtly and humorous,” according to The Los Angeles Times. He turned more serious, however, on the subject of incarceration. Sentences in the United States are eight times longer than those handed out in Europe, Justice Kennedy said. California has 185,000 people in prison at a cost of $32,500 each per year, he said. He urged voters and elected officials to compare taxpayer spending on prisons with spending on elementary education.
Justice Kennedy took special aim at the three-strikes law, which puts people behind bars for 25 years to life if they commit a third felony, even a nonviolent one. The law’s sponsor, he said, is the correctional officers’ union, “and that is sick.”
The criticism was on the mark. The state’s prison population has soared as a result of harsh sentencing laws and parole rules. California has been ordered by the courts to bring down the population of its prison system, which is badly overcrowded and unable to provide inmates with adequate medical care.
Under the three-strikes law, a man named Gary Ewing was sentenced to 25 years to life for shoplifting three golf clubs from a golf pro shop.
Mr. Ewing challenged his sentence before the Supreme Court as a violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. By a 5-to-4 vote, with Justice Kennedy in the majority, the court rejected the challenge. The dissenters were right that

Our chance to send a message | SocialistWorker.org

Our chance to send a message | SocialistWorker.org:

"Matthew Palm, the Commissioner of Academic Affairs for the Student Union Assembly--the student government--at University of California Santa Cruz, explains in an open letter why he's supporting the March 4 Day of Action to defend public education in California."

Dear Friends:

I'm writing as a friend of yours, and as a fellow student. Over the last two years, I've spent countless hours sitting in meetings where administrators--the very same administrators other people want to tar and feather--sit in a conference room and pull their hair out over what the hell they're going to do about the implementation of budget cuts. In the same weeks (and in some cases on the very same days), I've also sat in on meetings of "radical" student organizers planning hunger strikes and walkouts.

Very few people on this campus have experienced the absolute "inside" and the absolute "outside" of "the system" and everything in between the way I have. Please know what I am about to say is reflective of this dissonant experience, which has challenged me to really re-think my values.

That experience taught me this: There is not a single person on this campus who wants to see these cuts take place, including administrators themselves. Period. The problem is structural: The people who have the real power over things in UC are the Regents and the President, and we have no mechanism of control over them. On top of that, those 21 people are participating in a national political and social context where universities are incentivized to make decisions that hurt students.

For this reason, I will be striking on March 4th, 2010, and I am asking you to join me.

Big Rally Planned Over UC Fee Hikes, Higher Education Funding - Los Angeles News - LA Daily

Opponents of recent higher education budget cuts that have caused extreme student fee hikes at UCLA and other University of California campuses are planning a major demonstration in Sacramento next month.

The University of California Student Association will hold a rally at the state capital March 1, the same day that UC President Mark G. Yudof and several campus regents and chancellors will meet with legislators about the higher-education budget.

In November the UC Board of Regents approved a 32 percent increase in student fees that included a two-phase, $2,500 price hike -- which will soon put undergraduate costs at more than $10,000 a year and triple what UCLA students paid just ten years ago.

"Our students are a critical voice in delivering our message to Sacramento, and it's great to see them engaging in this way," Yudof stated. "We are honoring the wishes of the UCSA leaders and not taking a role in their public rally, but we will be visiting legislative leaders together that day to show our solidarity and to express how much we all care about UC's

Remnants of Spitzer’s Plan for SUNY and CUNY Are in Peril - NYTimes.com

During Eliot Spitzer’s campaign for governor, he often wondered why New York lacked a public university on a par with Berkeley, theUniversity of California’s flagship. Once elected, he seemed poised to raise the profile of the state’s two huge systems — the State University of New York and the City University of New York — and maybe even create a couple of Berkeleys in the process.

A commission appointed by Governor Spitzer recommended a major infusion of state financial support, the hiring of 2,200 additional full-time faculty members and the creation of a $3 billion research fund. But the sex scandal that forced him from office in early 2008 was followed by economic freefall, and today, most of the big-ticket proposals for reinventing SUNY and CUNY have largely been ignored.

Mr. Spitzer’s successor, Gov. David A. Paterson, salvaged a few items from the commission, known as the New York

Are Latinos Disappointed With Obama? - Los Angeles News - LA Daily

Are Latinos Disappointed With Obama? - Los Angeles News - LA Daily:

"Los Angeles-based state Sen. Gil Cedillo, one of President Obama's early campaign supporters, says he's disappointed with president so far, and that he's not alone among Latinos.

Cedillo says there are some hard feelings surrounding Obama's promise during his presidential run to reform U.S. immigration law. Many Latinos have stopped holding their breath. 'I think he's in danger of breaking the spirit of solidarity and hope,' Cedillo told McClatchy Newspapers. 'More than a broken promise, it's the danger of breaking people's sense of hope in the Latino community.'

Republicans, meanwhile, seem ready to pounce -- just in time for this year's mid-term elections. Hector Barajas, a communications consultant for the California State Senate Republican Caucus, said that 'what the Democrats offer is just a bunch of empty promises.'

Jaime Regalado, the executive director of the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State L.A., said"

Bill aims to end in-state tuition fees for illegal immigrants - San Bernardino County Sun

Bill aims to end in-state tuition fees for illegal immigrants - San Bernardino County Sun:

"The days of taxpayer-subsidized college tuition could be coming to an end for tens of thousands of illegal immigrants.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have introduced a bill to close a loophole that California and nine other states have used to provide lower-cost college tuition to illegal immigrants.

Supporters of the legislation say it's wrong for illegal immigrants to pay the same tuition as legal immigrants and U.S. citizens to attend public colleges and universities.

'In-state tuition is a benefit paid for by each state's taxpayers in order to improve educational opportunities for their citizens,' said Rep. Howard P. 'Buck' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, whose district includes Victorville and Barstow.

'Extending this benefit to students in this country illegally undermines efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and keep college affordable for American citizens and the immigrants who come here legally to pursue the best higher education system in the world,' McKeon said.

The bill changes the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act to clarify that illegal immigrants who attend a postsecondary educational institution are ineligible for in-state tuition unless the institution offers those rates to all American citizens."

Rethinking elections - latimes.com

Rethinking elections - latimes.com: "Amid budget shortfalls, can we afford all these special elections?"

Elections in California are clearly in overdrive. Last year, more than a dozen were held in Los Angeles County, many triggered by vacancies in congressional or legislative offices.

The recent election of former Assemblyman Paul Krekorian to the Los Angeles City Council is keeping the election throttle to the floor in 2010, with a special primary in April, just two months before the statewide primary in June.

At a time when all levels of government are struggling to keep the engine running, cutting costs and looking for ways to work smarter, this pedal-to-the-metal pace of special elections is one area in which a major tuneup ought to be considered. Concerns over voter fatigue and mounting costs, once simply academic discussions, are now an intense reality.

In California, election law requires any vacancy in a state legislative or congressional office to be filled by a special primary and, if needed, a special general election within 126 days from when the governor proclaims the election. Since 2005, 14 vacancy elections to fill unexpired legislative terms have been called, resulting in 22 primaries and runoffs.

Students sharpen attack on UC costs with satire

Students sharpen attack on UC costs with satire:

"It's been a seriously dramatic year at the University of California, where hundreds of students seized buildings, demonstrated and shut down regents meetings last fall to protest rising tuition and the perceived privatization of the public school."

It's also been a satirically dramatic year, thanks to the UC Movement for Efficient Privatization, a fledgling group of mostly grad students in business attire that uses humor tinged with sarcasm to lampoon UC officials.
Their own name is an example. Many UC students believe leaps in tuition and reduced state funding are turning the public university into a private institution.
The UC Movement for Efficient Privatization says, "Why not?"
"Unlike others whining about the direction of privatization, we're concerned about the snail's pace at which the inevitable transformation is proceeding," said Shane Boyle, 27, unofficial chairman of UCMeP.
That's You See Me ... you get the idea.
In the spirit of theatrical political activists, from Billionaires for Bush to the Yippies, the 5-month-old group says its goal is to help UC leaders advance their goals.
"We take them to the logical extreme to show how ridiculous they can be," said UCMeP's Chief Artistic Officer Brandon Woolf, 26, a doctoral student in theater with Boyle. "It's another tactic for protest."
To wit:
On Thursday, UCMeP organized a dozen or so people into a Student Counter-Activist

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/15/BA6A1BUGLU.DTL#ixzz0fheO1oYr

Study offers nuanced view of abstinence education | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/16/2010

Study offers nuanced view of abstinence education | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/16/2010:

"Proponents of abstinence-only sex education declared victory earlier this month after a study from the University of Pennsylvania found that a program for Philadelphia sixth and seventh graders deterred young teens from having sex.

Abstinence Clearinghouse, an advocacy group, proclaimed on its Web site that the study proved 'comprehensive sex ed a big flop.'

Not so fast, says the study's lead author, Penn sociologist John Jemmott.

Jemmott's study, published in this month's issue of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, examined an abstinence program that would not have qualified for federal funding during the Bush administration. Those programs required an emphasis on abstaining until marriage, whereas Jemmott's involved no preaching and no denigrating the effectiveness of contraception."

San Diego State University and BIOCOM Institute Receive $4.95 Million Grant: The BRIDGE Project, Linking... -- SAN DIEGO, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire/ --

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- San Diego State University, BIOCOM, San Diego Workforce Partnership, and the Southern California Biotechnology Center at Miramar College today announced the award of a three-year, $4.95 milliongrant from the U.S. Department of Labor aimed at assisting the economic growth of the San Diego region's life sciences industry. The Biotechnology Readiness, Immersion, Certification and Degrees for Gainful Employment (BRIDGE) project will provide education, training, and placement services to more than 1,000 veterans, incumbent workers and dislocated and unemployed workers within the San Diego region.

The BRIDGE project is a partnership linking training and higher education with employment opportunities that address the regional and state-wide workforce needs of the life sciences industry. The project will focus on the critical need for clinical laboratory scientists, medical laboratory technicians, medical physicists, and professional scientists. SDSU and MiramarCollege will provide certificate, degree, and Professional Science Master's (PSM) programs. The BIOCOM Institute's Life Science Immersion Program will provide training needed for successful biotechnology careers, and the BioCollaborative,created in cooperation with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, will provide an online resource to facilitate seamless transition from higher education to careers in the life sciences industry.

All of these courses are part of a pipeline that can be used to educate, recruit, train and place workers of all levels, from high school students to people with graduate degrees and military

Schools boost green teaching - MontereyHerald.com :

In what officials are calling a landmark move, California public schools now have state-approved environmental curriculum for students all the way from kindergarten through 12th grade.
The state Board of Education this year signed off on 76 sections of curriculum — part of California's Education and the Environment Initiative — and they are expected to be available for teachers online shortly at no charge.
"This is another example of California leading the nation in environmental policy," said Lindsay VanLaningham, deputy director of communications for the California Environmental Protection Agency. The K-12 curriculum is serving as a model, she said, and other states have requested information about California's efforts.
Legislation written by Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, and signed into law in 2003 called for putting environmental education into public schools, and developing the curriculum was a lengthy process with multiple agencies involved, including the California EPA, state Integrated Waste Management Board and the California Department of Education, VanLaningham said.
It includes 85 sections of science and history-social science with academic standards, and the state board signed off on 76 of them at its January meeting. The remaining nine s

Monday, February 15, 2010

The Times Still Doesn’t Quite Understand the Internet � The Quick and the Ed

The Times Still Doesn’t Quite Understand the Internet The Quick and the Ed
The Times Still Doesn’t Quite Understand the Internet

I have no problem with the New York Times charging for Web content. They produce a great number of well-written, well-reported articles that are worth paying for (and since I already get the Sunday edition home-delivered it’s not going to cost me anything extra. ) But as the Times continues the inevitable long-term transition to the Web, it should work harder to embrace the way the Web works. For example, this story on the Texas schoolbook adoption process includes the following:

…the Texas board’s moves to bring Jesus into American history — has drawn anger in places far removed from the board members’ constituencies. (Samples of recent blog headlines on the topic: “Don McLeroy Wants Your Children to Be Stupid” and “Can We Please Mess With Texas?”)

Having written the second blog headline, I’m obviously pleased to see it referenced in the cover story of the New York Times Magazine. But why not include a hypertext link to the actual blog post? We’re talking about something that would consume less than 30 seconds of someone’s time. Instead, all the links in

With Maldonado Vote, the Assembly Grows a Spine | California Progress Report

For all the hoopla about the rejection of Sen. Abel Maldonado today, Assembly Democrats showed they are a force to be reckoned with. Finally.

Frustrated by their role in budget negotiations over the past year, rank-and-file Assembly Democrats decided not to roll over and reward Maldo with a promotion. Only nine Democrats sided with the Republicans in the vote; just two of them were first-term members: Alyson Huber, who is in a hotly-contested race for re-election, and Bill Monning, who has close ties to former Assemblyman John Laird (who was gunning for the Maldo seat). Even Speaker Bass, who pushed back mightily last year in budget talks, didn't back Maldo.

The overwhelming number of freshman Assembly Democrats, who spent most of their first months in office facing an angry Democratic base back home because of budget cuts they didn't want to make, decided they had enough with Schwarzenegger's "post-partisanship." They remembered, all too well, the deal between Schwarzenegger and Maldo over the budget and open primary that was shoved down their throats. Majority Leader Alberto Torrico referenced the "back room deal" in a tough speech against Maldo on the floor.

Speaker-elect Perez, a freshman himself, let it rip in his statement after the vote.

"The people of California have made it abundantly clear that they loathe the kind of

SCOTUSblog The Court's impact on the civil rights movement

SCOTUSblog

Podcast with Vernon Jordan
The Court's impact on the civil rights movement

Erin Miller | Friday, February 12th, 2010 4:11 pm

Today our publisher Tom Goldstein spoke with Vernon Jordan – a senior counsel at Akin Gump who has also served as president of the United Negro College Fund, field director of the NAACP, and an adviser to former President Bill Clinton – about his experience with de juresegregation and the effect of the Supreme Court’s rulings on that subject on the civil rights movement. This is the latest edition in our Race and the Court program.

Here is the link to the fourteen-minute podcast and a road map of highlights:

0:50—The meaning of Brown v. Board of Education: “1954 was a clarion call”
1:37—Indications that Brown was “coming down the pipe”
2:37—Jordan’s impression of Brown while at DePauw University, and his experience with segregated universities and law schools
4:48—The launch of the civil rights movement after Brown: “The Supreme Court decision was an answer to our prayers and a signal to the country that things were going to change”
5:43—The long and gradual road to full desegregation
7:30—Learning constitutional law from James Nabrit, who used to say “Raise it [the constitutional issue]!”
8:17— Is the Court still the friend of the black community?
12:08—The writing of the Voting Rights Act

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