Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Education- Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Duncan warns of looming teacher layoffs

Superintendents soon will be sending out pink slips as federal stimulus ends

MORE ON EDUCATION

• Muslims turn to home schooling
• Snow didn't stop some teachers
• Obama pushes higher standards
• Teacher allegedly impregnated student
• School district used webcams to spy
• Federal dollars push reforms in Md
• GW accepts then rejects 200 students
• DC Insider: Capitol Hill wary of charter

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan (AP)

Help pick non-fiction for schools

It wasn’t until I was in my fifties that I realized how restricted my high school reading lists had been, and how little they had changed for my three children. They were enthusiastic readers, as my wife and I were. But all, or almost all, of the required books for either generation were fiction.

I am not dismissing the delights of Twain, Crane, Buck, Saroyan and Wilder, all of which I read in high school. But I think I would also have enjoyed Theodore H. White, John Hersey, Barbara Tuchman and Bruce Catton if they had been assigned.

Maybe that’s changing. Maybe rebellious teens these days are fleeing Faulkner, Hemingway, Austen, and Baldwin, or whoever is on the 12th grade English list, and furtively reading Malcolm Gladwell, David McCullough, Doris Kearns Goodwin and other non-fiction stars.

Sadly, no.

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D.C.'s National Merit winners aren't all from D.C.

Poor Washington D.C. Not only does it not have full representation in Congress but, it turns out, its residents don’t get full representation in the National Merit Scholarship Program either.

The academic scholarship program offers cash awards to high achieving students who are initially screened by their scores on thePreliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which is usually taken in the junior year of high school.

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Report: Twelve teachers fired for abuse

Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee has fired ten DCPS teachers for administering corporal punishment and two for sexual misconduct since July 2007, according to a report she has submitted to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray.

Another 28 served suspensions ranging from two to ten days for some form of corporal punishment, defined by District law as the use or attempted use of physical force against a student, "either intentionally or with reckless disregard for the student's safety, as a punishment or discipline."

The report, which comes in the form of a spreadsheet, does not supply names or other identifying details and offers only cursory descriptions of the offenses. It was requested by Gray after the uproar Rhee triggered by telling "Fast Company" magazine that an unspecified number of the 266 D.C. public school teachers who were laid off in October had physically or sexually abused students. She later revealed that five had been suspended for corporal punishment and one was under investigation for sexual misconduct. That teacher allegedly had sex with an 18-year old special needs student, resulting in her pregnancy. That case is not included in the report, Rhee said, because the investigation was still pending -- an assertion disputed by the Washington Teachers' Union, which says the charges were found to be unsubstantiated.

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For school districts on the edge, busing halt considered | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

For school districts on the edge, busing halt considered | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Parents in Royal Oak soon will be adding chauffeur to the growing list of roles they have in their children's schools.

They soon will be responsible for driving students now that the district has taken the desperate measure of ending busing for about 1,800 general-education students.

Jeanne Dolson is among those trying to find a solution to what could be a logistical nightmare for parents -- how to safely get their kids to school.

"It's going to be a hardship on parents, single parents especially," said Dolson, who is president of the Royal Oak High School Parent Teacher Student Association, which is planning an event soon to connect parents interested in carpooling.

Balancing budgets

Many metro Detroit school districts are considering slashing busing to save money, though few have done it.

Clarkston Community Schools has it on its long list of proposed cuts. It could save the district as much as $2 million. Dearborn Public Schools considered busing cuts, but opted against the plan after having serious internal conversations last fall.

Three aim to lead Miami-Dade teachers' union - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com

Three aim to lead Miami-Dade teachers' union - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com: "

Three candidates seeking to lead the Miami-Dade teachers' union will have plenty to deal with if elected, including negotiating salaries amid a financial crisis."

Miami-Dade teachers will cast their ballots this week to elect the next president of the United Teachers of Dade.

Incumbent Karen Aronowitz faces opposition from veteran elementary school teacher Patrenia Dozier-Washington and social studies teacher Eugenio Perez.

The election will take place online Tuesday through Thursday.

The next president of the teachers' union will serve a three-year term.

The job pays $129,987.

Whoever wins will face a wide range of challenges, including negotiating salaries in the middle of a financial crisis. This year, the Miami-Dade district built its bare-bones budget with the help of federal stimulus dollars. But that money will sunset in two years, likely leaving the school district with an even bigger budget gap.

Additionally, the next union president will have to take a position on Race to the Top, a competitive grant program that caused controversy earlier this year. So far, the UTD has declined to participate, saying rules by the state Department of Education are too limiting. The Miami-Dade school district has signed on, regardless.

The UTD represents more than 32,000 teachers, teaching aides, security monitors and 

City cancels charter school's move to Bronx space after board members questioned

City cancels charter school's move to Bronx space after board members questioned

The city has pulled the plug on a deal to house a controversial charter school in a Bronx school building.

The surprise move came after questions from the Daily News about the charter's current and former board members - two of whom hold powerful jobs at the Education Department.

"It's clear the [Education Department] checked its facts and the numbers just didn't add up," said Dick Dadey, executive director of the Citizens Union. "This was a bad decision that raised all kinds of ethical issues."

Last month, the New York City Charter High School for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries won the prized space inside Alfred E. Smith High School, which is being phased down.

Irma Zardoya, a high-ranking Education Department consultant who works at its Tweed headquarters, is the chairwoman of the charter school's board.

Santiago Taveras - an interim acting deputy chancellor with the Education Department - was a board member for the charter until June.

Education Department officials said political connections did not play a role in the charter school's ability to win the coveted space.

"Every decision we make is about improving student success," said Ann Forte, a

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/02/22/2010-02-22_charter_schools_move_scrapped.html#ixzz0gHHisuWu

Already near the top

Already near the top

Lured by the promise of perhaps $250 million in additional education aid, the Legislature strived mightily this winter to pass an education reform law that expands public charter schools. But that positive step could easily be offset if state education officials don’t make it clear that Massachusetts will accept no easing of the high academic standards that have characterized this state’s public education systems since the landmark reforms of 1993.

It is important to understand that education has long been primarily a local function. Only a small percentage of any money that we send to Washington returns to the states in the form of education aid. And, long after any federal Race to the Top monies are exhausted, there will still be algebra, calculus and chemistry problems to solve, historical texts to decipher, economic principles to understand. Teachers will still be in need of professional development. Students with limited English skills will still need tutoring. In short, every educational challenge that exists today will exist a year and a decade from now, regardless of how much federal assistance comes our way.

The critical point to grasp is that those challenges can best be met in an atmosphere of high academic standards and expectations.

Massachusetts has come a long way since 1993, with the institution of the MCAS tests, strong curriculum frameworks, and a vibrant system of public charter schools. The first draft of proposed national curriculum standards, leaked last month, may pull some laggard states upward, but is unlikely to do anything but offer Massachusetts schools, teachers and students an all-too-tempting l

The Educated Guess

The Educated Guess:

Ed groups ask Duncan to reject waiver

Posted in State Budget

A coalition of education organizations and nearly 100 school districts has called on U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to deny Gov. Schwarzenegger’s request for the federal Okay to cut K-12 spending as much as he proposes. If Ducan buys their argument, the governor would have to come up with an additional $850 million for schools.
The ed groups appear to make a strong case.
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This Week In Education: NCLB: Obama Pushing Standards At NGA

This Week In Education: NCLB: Obama Pushing Standards At NGA

Obama wants students prepared for college, careers AP:  In a release Sunday night, the administration took a swipe at the Bush-era No Child Left Behind Act, declaring that "between 2005 and 2007, various states have lowered their standards in reading and math."

Obama wants education benchmarks to meet higher standardWashington Post:  White House and Education Department officials said a state could show that its benchmarks meet the expected level two ways: by adopting standards developed through a consortium of states or by certifying, in a process to be developed with universities, that their existing standards are high enough. 

Obama to Propose New Reading and Math Standards NYT:  How successful or quickly the governors, legislatures, state boards of education and other authorities in other states will be in agreeing on adoption of the new standards is not clear.

High schools can compete to have Obama at graduation - USATODAY.com

High schools can compete to have Obama at graduation - USATODAY.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Coming to a high school graduation near you: PresidentBarack Obama.

The White House and the Education Department are giving public high schools the opportunity to compete to have the president speak at their commencement ceremony this spring. The winning school must demonstrate how it's helping prepare students to meet Obama's goal of the U.S. having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.

OBAMA: Calls for billions in new education spending

AP: States struggle to keep top teachers

STANDARDS: Obama wants to raise bar of No Child Left Behind

"Public schools that encourage systemic reform and embrace effective approaches to teaching and learning help prepare America's students to graduate ready for college and a career," Obama said in a video announcing the competition, called The Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge.

Obama has called for a boost in federal spending on education, including the $4.35 billion Race to the Top competitive grant program created by the economic stimulus act. States must compete for a share of the money. For some, that means changing education laws and striking deals with teachers unions to bring their systems in line with Obama's vision of education reform, which includes linking student test scores to teacher performance.

The White House will certainly be hoping that the president's 

Layoffs loom for teachers: education secretary | Reuters

Layoffs loom for teachers: education secretary| Reuters:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many teachers and educators across the United States are at risk of losing their jobs in the next few months, the nation's education secretary told a meeting of the National Governors Association on Sunday.

BARACK OBAMA

'I am very, very concerned about layoffs going into the next school year starting in September. Good superintendents are going to start sending out pink slips in March and April, like a month from now, as they start to plan for their budgets,' said Arne Duncan, referring to the slips of paper included in some paychecks to notify a person of being fired.

As tax revenues in most states continue to plummet because of weak economies, states and cities are considering cutting education to keep their budgets balanced. Every state in the union except one, Vermont, is required to balance its budget.

The economic stimulus package, pushed last year by the administration of President Barack Obama and approved by Congress saved at least 320,000 education jobs, Duncan told the governors.

The plan included the largest transfer of money from the U.S. government to states in the nation's history, according to the Pew Center on the Stat"

Charter school could face probation -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY

Charter school could face probation -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY

ALBANY -- An Albany charter school is accused of screening potential students to weed out those with academic challenges and could be put on probation this week as a result.

Three former employees of the Albany Preparatory Charter School claimed an administrator at the school was trying to improve the school's scores on state standardized tests by denying admission or wait-listing learning-disabled students, an investigation has found. Some parents of students who did not perform well on a reading test were counseled that the school was "not a good fit" or would have their applications denied, according to a scathing new report by the State University of New York's Charter Schools Institute.

As a result of an investigation that began almost a year ago, Institute officials made the rare probation recommendation, which means the school would have to meet a set of corrective requirements or risk having its charter revoked. The recommendation will be voted upon by the SUNY board of trustees on Tuesday. SUNY authorizes half the state's charter schools.

"The extent, specificity, and sources of the allegations are unprecedented," the report reads. "And the complainants all linked the alleged behavior to attaining higher scores on the state assessments in light of a pending (charter) renewal decision."

Many of the issues center around former Albany Preparatory principal Carol Lennon. She also is accused of threatening to fire all the employees after learning that they came forward.

Institute investigators found evidence that Lennon also was under-reporting the school's teacher attrition rates, as well as its number of violent incidents. Though some parents were told there was a waiting list, the school was dramatically underenrolled. There are now just 200 students enrolled in grades 5 through 8 out of an expected 300.

Despite the problems it found, the Institute also is recommending that the school's charter be renewed for a three-year term. That vote is scheduled to occur next month.

The school has a new principal, and immediate admission was offered to all students who were shut out, said Brian Backstrom, chairman of Albany Preparatory's board of trustees.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=903408#ixzz0gGykOKBG

Editorial - Failing Grade - NYTimes.com

Editorial - Failing Grade - NYTimes.com

At least one in five adult workers in New York City lacks a high school diploma. New York State has the highest failure rate for adults who want to get an equivalent credential by taking the General Educational Development Test, or G.E.D. For the sake of these workers — and New York’s economy — the city and state need to work together to rebuild the failing system that is supposed to prepare people for the G.E.D.
In her State of the City speech last week, Speaker Christine Quinn said the City Council is committed to fixing the system and outlined several new ideas. To fully rebuild the G.E.D. system, the State Legislature will also need to put a lot more money into the program.
New York would do well to emulate Iowa’s highly successful preparation program. In 2008, 99 percent of test takers there passed the arduous exam.
The secret is this: People in Iowa are given adequate preparation. First they are required to take a diagnostic test. Depending on how they do, they are offered literacy courses or other instruction and given official practice tests before they take the exam.
New Yorkers generally find it difficult to find adequate information about the test and

Metro - It’s a nightmare to apply for high schools in city

Metro - It’s a nightmare to apply for high schools in city

The admissions process — a complicated algorithm used to “match” students and schools — is akin to what medical school grads go through when applying to residency programs. The system may be designed to give more choice, so students aren’t tethered to poorly performing neighborhood schools, but it’s incredibly stressful for families. 


“I spent hours and hours researching schools,” said Leah Archibald, of Park Slope, who wants her daughter at a small school. “It’s intellectually and emotionally draining and extraordinarily time-consuming.” 


She was one of several parents surprised and disappointed when only two Brooklynites matched during this month’s specialized round at Millennium High School, a small Lower Manhattan school whose current student body is one-third Brooklyn.  Department of Education officials said there were more qualified Manhattan students, who get first priority. 
“It feels pretty random,” Archibald said. 


“It’s intentionally opaque because they don’t want people to game the system,” said Brooklyn College education professor and former president of the 

5 questions for Eva Moskowitz | INDenverTimes.com

5 questions for Eva Moskowitz | INDenverTimes.com

Eva Moskowitz runs four campuses of theHarlem Success Academy in New York City and talks about growing the charter school network to 40.

She is a former New York City councilwoman who infuriated both the city Department of Education and the teachers’ union with her questioning as chair of the council’s education committee.

Supporters point to some of the state’s highest test scores at her first Harlem campus, opened in 2006, and its emphasis on science, the arts and chess.

Critics say she’s a politician at heart and she’s been dinged for making too much money.

In Denver on Friday, Moskowitz sat down with Ed News Colorado to talk about the challenges ahead for the nation’s charter schools, the controversy over co-location or putting charter programs in district buildings and recent studies describing segregation in charter schools.  

Ed News: Charter schools seem to be as controversial today as they were when they were created more than a decade ago in many states. In Denver, a school board member announced Thursday that he planned to seek a moratorium on any new schools. Board member Arturo Jimenez says he is not anti-charter but his move, if successful, could hurt charters more as they have made up most of the city’s new schools. Why do you think charters are still so hotly debated?

L. Merion webcam issue is new legal territory | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/21/2010

L. Merion webcam issue is new legal territory | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/21/2010

Even today, relatively few students can imagine their schools giving them a computer to take home.


Fewer still can envision their schools using those devices to spy on them.


Yet that was the charge leveled in an explosive federal lawsuit filed last week against the Lower Merion School District in its use of remote-control cameras on those laptop computers.
Now federal prosecutors have subpoenaed the district, The Inquirer has learned. The grand-jury subpoena, delivered Friday, sought records related to the cameras and the system that district officials used to activate them, said a person who had been briefed about the matter. He spoke on the condition of anonymity.


School district spokesman Douglas Young, while declining to say if a subpoena was received, said yesterday that the district would cooperate with any investigation.


U.S. Attorney Michael Levy, who previously headed the office's computer crimes unit, declined to comment. But one federal official offered a rough outline of what investigators might be looking for.


"Among the allegations we would look at are whether any wiretap or computer intrusion laws were broken," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We're just getting started. And at the end of the day, we may not find any federal violations."


The wiretap law applies to audio, not video or still images. The intrusion law bars unauthorized access to a computer with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or invade privacy.
The case has riveted not only students and parents, but also privacy

N.J. schools brace for possible aid cuts | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/21/2010

N.J. schools brace for possible aid cuts | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/21/2010

Lay off teachers and staff and increase class sizes. Ax sports programs and clubs. Scrap class trips and keep the school band home. Eliminate programs, put off repairs, scuttle faculty training, and raise taxes - if possible.


Those are some of the scenarios New Jersey school district officials are considering as they await word on whether Gov. Christie will cut education funding in next year's budget, which he will propose March 16.


Faced with a $2.2 billion deficit in the current budget, Christie on Feb. 11 issued an executive order that slashes $475 million in aid to schools and will force districts to spend their surpluses and reserve funds to make up the shortfall.


Christie vowed the cuts would have no ill effect on education this school year. But school administrators say they had planned to use the surpluses to offset anticipated flat or reduced state aid in the next budget. They are being punished for being fiscally prudent, they said.
Then last week, the governor and acting Education Commissioner Bret Schundler repeated advice issued by the Corzine administration: Districts should prepare for possible aid cuts next school year - even 15 percent.


Given the lack of aid specifics and the tight time frame for school boards to approve tentative budgets once figures are released, district officials are creating various scenarios, including the doomsday variety.


"We're scrambling right now, and things are changing rapidly," said Gary Dentino, Waterford School District superintendent. "We don't see light coming through to us. We only see dark."

Recession, Immigration And Migration In America | Gov Monitor

Recession, Immigration And Migration In America | Gov Monitor

The old saying that Americans have been moving from the Snow Belt to the Sun Belt fails to capture either what has been happening from 1990 to the onset of the current recession in 2007 or what is happening today.
Demography is destiny, or at least a significant part of it, and America’s changing demography has had enormous consequences in every realm of life. Americans historically have been a mobile people.
But the old saying that Americans have been moving from the Snow Belt to the Sun Belt fails to capture what has been happening from 1990 to the onset of the current recession in 2007. And there are entirely new realities due to the recession that are remaking states and regions in important ways.
First, let’s consider the period from 1990 to 2007. In some states—notably New York, New Jersey, and California—immigrants poured in and Americans left. Some states had robust growth both from immigration and internal migration—the megastates of Texas and Florida and also the “sand states” of Nevada and Arizona which, during most of this period, had the nation’s highest percentage of 

Reactions: Is Tenure a Matter of Life or Death? - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Reactions: Is Tenure a Matter of Life or Death? - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

The shootings on February 12 at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, which left three faculty members dead and two more professors and a department assistant wounded, have sparked a good deal of soul-searching within higher education. Amy Bishop, an assistant professor of biology at the university who was recently denied tenure, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with murder and attempted murder.

Bishop's tenure denial may or may not be relevant to the shootings, but some scholars are asking what role, if any, the stresses of academic life played in the tragedy. What are the psychological effects of academic culture, particularly on rising scholars? Can or should something be done to change that culture?

The Chronicle asked a group of scholars and experts what they thought.

Cristina Nehring, writer and Ph.D. candidate in English literature at the University of California at Los Angeles:

Amy Bishop is nobody's poster girl—not even for the tragic perversity of the tenure process.

This, after all, is the woman who reportedly listed three of her children as co-authors to the most 

Evan Young: Colleg Debt: Losing Faith in the Golden State

Evan Young: Colleg Debt: Losing Faith in the Golden State

Currently in my second year of my Masters program at San Francisco State University (SFSU), I'm finding it very hard, if not impossible, to finish my degree without drowning in debt. Being a San Francisco Bay Area native, I take great pride in California's state public university system; however, I am quickly losing faith in the Golden State.

In 2006, I graduated from SFSU with a B.A. in English Literature and soon after I was lucky enough to get hired at a startup internet advertising firm. Racking up around $5k in credit card debt and about $10k in student loan debt from my undergrad education, my goal was to get it paid off as soon as possible. Luckily, because my first job out of college paid me well, I was able to pay off the credit cards within two years and start to pay off my student loan. That all changed when I decided to go back to school to get my M.A. in Environmental Communication at the beginning of 2009 - just as the recession was beginning to take hold. With my little savings, and deciding to take out student loans for the duration of my M.A. degree, I again enrolled at SFSU to pursue a career in public service.

Jump ahead to now, and I am again swimming in debt. Along with the student loans from my undergrad, the credit cards that I have run up buying books and supplies, and the student 

Tens of thousands apply for state redistricting panel - ContraCostaTimes.com

Tens of thousands apply for state redistricting panel - ContraCostaTimes.com

Call it an energetic first step toward giving politics back to the people.

More than 30,000 people applied by last Tuesday's deadline for the 14 seats on a citizen commission that will redo the state's allegedly gerrymandered district lines in time for the 2012 elections.

The commission is a key step toward making good on Proposition 11, the 2008 ballot measure that requires California to clean up the way legislative districts are mapped, a change supporters think will lead to less political partisanship.

Proponents of taking line-drawing duty away from officeholders said the sheer number of applicants was a pleasant surprise, considering that the process known as redistricting is inherently unsexy, the commission's task appears dizzying, and a new ballot effort by Democrats could keep the panel from ever serving.

"I'm thrilled that that many people said, 'Yes, devoting that much of my life to drawing Assembly and state Senate lines is something I want to do'," said Jessica Levinson, director of political reform for the Los Angeles-based Center for Governmental Studies. "It may show that citizens are really eager to take back some power from the politicians."

If all goes as backers envision, the 30,720 applicants will be winnowed down to the 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission. Then the commission will take state population information from the 2010 federal census and draw 80 Assembly, 40 state Senate and four Board of Equalization

districts that ensure fair representation for voters and competitive campaigns for candida

Budget ax poised over Catalina Island's one-room schoolhouse - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Budget ax poised over Catalina Island's one-room schoolhouse - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee:

"TWO HARBORS, Santa Catalina Island – One of California's last one-room public schoolhouses will soon close in this sleepy town, the latest victim of state education cuts.

While residents of the island about 25 miles off the Southern California coast understand the math, life will change dramatically for the town's population of 150. Starting this fall, children as young as 5 will be bused more than three hours round trip over mountainous dirt roads to reach the island's only other school, in Avalon.

'It's a really long day for the kids, and my granddaughter Coral Rose, who just turned 7 today, would need to leave at 6:30 in the morning and not get home till 5 o'clock,' said Pam Deinlein, manager of the General Store and the first of three generations living in the remote town."

San Gabriel Valley's political odd couple unite for education - Pasadena Star-News

San Gabriel Valley's political odd couple unite for education - Pasadena Star-News



Maybe it's their roots in hardscrabble desert towns. But two San Gabriel Valley state senators from opposite ends of the political spectrum have found common ground when it comes to education.

Senators Bob Huff, R-Glendora and Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, have introduced laws aimed at giving parents far more say over their children's schools.


Romero, a Barstow native, is the chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee and was arrested in 2000 while supporting demonstrating janitors.


Huff, raised in the Imperial Valley, is the vice-chairman and thinks its best to apply Ronald Reagan-style market economics to the education system.


With some urban districts reporting dropout rates of 50 percent, Huff and Romero each said it's time to turn up the heat on schools, even if it means some districts lose children and funding.


"The children do not belong to them. Children are not debit cards," Romero said. "Parents should have the choice to make the decision for the best interest of their children. This is a whole new era where choice and competition matter."


She and Huff co-authored Senate Bill 680, known as District Of Choice, which made permanent a program that lets schools enroll out-of-district