The Washington Teacher: Could It Be Goodbye To Pope Of Hardy Middle School ?

The Washington Teacher: Could It Be Goodbye To Pope Of Hardy Middle School ?

My inside sources tell me that Patrick Pope, Principal of Hardy middle school located at 1819 35th Street NW in Georgetown DC will be calling it quits this school year. If this turns out to be true, little wonder after Rhee dissed Pope when she announced on December 4 to Hardy parents that he (Pope) would end his 11 year career at Hardy and would be replaced by Dana Nerenberg, principal of Hyde-Addison elementary school in NW. Nerenberg with only 4 years experience will run both Hyde-Addison and Hardy middle schools next school year. Rhee revealed that Pope will lead a new state of the arts middle school scheduled to open next year in a centralized location. Well I guess Pope's planned departure, if true may be a sign that he is not happy about his re-assignment.

Certainly I am sure this announcement will not make either Hardy parents or students happy especially after the student body wrote more than 150 letters to Mayor Fenty as part of an English class assignment to protest Pope being replaced. Subsequently, Hardy students went to the DC City Council when their letters went unanswered by the Mayor in an act of civil disobedience and support of their desire to have their principal (Patrick Pope) remain at Hardy. Could it be that another revered DC principal will soon bite the dust ? What a way to

The Educated Reporter Merit pay. (Again.)

The Educated Reporter

Merit pay. (Again.)

In my eyes, we should pay better teachers more because it’s right. But that is not why merit pay is being written into policy. Ostensibly, the idea is that tying pay to student scores will make teachers and teaching improve. What we need to talk about is: how, exactly?

If you believe that teachers do not perform as well as they could because they lack the proper incentives, then this policy shift makes sense. But my years spent observing classrooms tells me that that ineffectiveness has as much to do with ability as with motivation. An awful lot of teachers simply do not know how to teach more effectively than they do now. It is not like they have these reserves of greatness they are withholding from children simply because they don’t have good enough reason to share it.

I would love to see far more reporting, as we enter the new world of merit pay, that plumbs teachers’ points of view. Not just a passing quote, but get into people’s classrooms and brains a bit, challenge them, get a sense of what kind of impact performance pay might have, or might not.

And there is no better time than now to address potential impracticalities, so they can be addressed during implementation. For example: In the Houston Chronicle this weekend,Joel Klein called value-added “a leveling of the playing field that allows us to isolate teacher impact.” In the high-poverty schools you cover, how much of a child’s reading 

Obama: US Cannot Accept Second Best in Education - ABC News

Obama: US Cannot Accept Second Best in Education - ABC News

President Barack Obama says America's "primacy in the world" is at stake in the quest to substantially improve educational quality and global competitiveness.

Speaking to governors gathered at the White House Monday, Obama said he won't "accept second place for the United States of America." He noted that it continues to lag behind other nations in critical areas, including high school math and science skills.

Obama applauded governors for developing "common academic standards" but said more can be done. For one thing, he said states will be asked to adopt new standards to better prepare the young for college-level math and science — and will make that a condition for receiving certain federal assistance. Obama said the effort will also require better teaching and better curricula.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama wants academic standards for America's high school students raised, and he's applauding a program from the nation's governors that works toward those goals.

In a statement issued Sunday, the White House said the initiative will develop and implement new reading and math standards that prepare high school students for college and careers. The governors will call on Obama on Monday, as they wrap up their National Governor's Association meeting, to discuss the blueprint to prepare students to stay competitive with their counterparts around the world.

"Because too many students are not learning the basic skills needed to succeed in college or 

Data System Disconnect � The Quick and the Ed

Data System Disconnect � The Quick and the Ed

The Obama administration is encountering a lot of resistance to its efforts to help states build robust education and employment data systems. The anti-information forces are mainly comprised of a three-part coalition of hard-left privacy advocates, hard-right anti-government and privacy advocates, and the Washington, DC higher education lobby, which pretends to be a privacy advocate but is actually opposed to the creation of information that might make it easier for policymakers to hold them accountable for how they spend the hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars they receive every year. While the Bush administration–particularly former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings–also pushed hard for better data systems, one decision made fairly early in Bush’s tenure is continuing to cause problems. As Paul Basken reports($):

Aimee R. Guidera, the Data Quality Campaign’s director, said the group had been waiting for the department’s legal strategy but has now decided to go ahead and “tell states what they should be thinking about.”

One of the most formidable legal obstacles, Ms. Guidera said, is a 2003 memorandum in which William D. Hansen, then deputy secretary of education, told state education officials they could not share student data with their states’ labor agencies.

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - A School Board Dissident Faces the Test

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - A School Board Dissident Faces the Test

By EMILY ALPERT

Katherine Nakamura has often championed the kind of motherhood-and-apple-pie stuff that causes little ruckus on the school board: She worked on a more readable budget that parents could understand.

She campaigned hard for money to renovate and repair schools. She backs successful charter schools. She even championed the marching band and pushed to keep giving students gym credit for the class.

"Polarization makes me crazy," she said. "My goal is to bring the entire community together."

But Nakamura hasn't been able to avoid it. She has sided with some of the most controversial school chiefs in recent history. She has become a dissenting voice on the school board on labor and budget issues, which has already split some Democrats away from the Democratic candidate.

And the budget cuts have been merciless for incumbents -- period. That could make her vulnerable, critics and backers alike say, as she runs for her third term on the San Diego Unified board, a normally safe spot.

Sitting school board members are usually difficult to unseat, largely because people pay little 

Winning a race: How much is it worth? | California Progress Report

Winning a race: How much is it worth? | California Progress Report

By Peter Schrag 

If a thing is worth what somebody is willing to pay for it, then judging from recent events winning the America’s Cup is worth three or four times what becoming governor of California is worth.

The actual trophy, a 26-inch piece of silver-plated metal that looks a little like a duck, cost £105 when it was first made in London in 1848. But what is it really worth? To win it last week, Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison, said to be the world’s fourth richest man, spent close to $400 million for his high-tech trimaran; the law suits to get the race rules jiggered to accommodate that technology and the crew expenses and training.

The Cup will soon sit in a specially built space at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club, itself an upstart next to the more prestigious, long-established Saint Francis Yacht Club next door on San Francisco Bay. But first Ellison is taking it on a “victory lap” around the country. How’s that for class?

But don’t knock it. If Ellison decides to hold the next round of cup challenges on the Bay and if the Deed of Gift, the lawyers, the courts, the city and the Coast Guard allow it, local boosters estimate it could mean as much as $9 billion in tourist dollars and other revenue. These days that’s real money.  .

Meantime, Ellison’s fellow Silicon Valleynaire Meg Whitman, who made her billion-plus even more recently, is said to be willing to spend as much as $150 million of that 

Facing enrollment drop, Burbank Catholic school gets creative in staffing theater program - latimes.com

Facing enrollment drop, Burbank Catholic school gets creative in staffing theater program - latimes.com

When Providence High School had openings for a drama and choir teacher this fall, administrators got creative: They outsourced.

Due to declining enrollment, the Burbank Catholic high school couldn't afford to hire two instructors at its usual teaching salary, so they hired two actors to teach a full theater arts curriculum at a fraction of the cost.

The professional actors have revitalized the school's drama program, and school leaders say the idea could be a viable option for other financially strapped schools looking to maintain programs that are in financial jeopardy.

"It's a bargain," said Michele Schulte, the school's principal, adding that the actors have been a hit. "This is their passion, teaching children to perform."

The actors, Jeremy Kent Jackson and Dominic Catrambone, co-own DiscoveryOnstage, a company that provides youth theater education programs.

This is their first foray into running a school's drama department and simultaneously producing a play.

"It feels like I'm doing something important every day," Jackson said.

About 22 students meet Monday through Thursday at 7 a.m. for an extra-period drama class. Two to three times a week, students rehearse after school for their upcoming production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town."

OUR VIEW — Parents are the key players in education - Holland, MI - The Holland Sentinel

OUR VIEW — Parents are the key players in education - Holland, MI - The Holland Sentinel

Holland, MI —

States across the country spend much of last year devising education reform strategies in a “Race to the Top” for federal dollars. Congress and the White House are re-examining the No Child Left Behind Act, trying to find new ways to improve educational outcomes and hold schools accountable. The federal government has spent tens of billions of dollars and think tanks and institutes have churned out hundreds of reports in an effort to solve America’s “education crisis.” Yet little progress seems to be made. Student achievement has scarcely improved. Urban school systems continue to be mired in failure. And test scores show American students till trail their counterparts in many foreign countries that have become our economic rivals.

Many parents are dissatisfied with the public education system, but perhaps it is time to look beyond such familiar answers as curriculums, school and teacher accountability and greater parent choice. Parents must recognize that  they — not the teachers, not the school boards — are the most important factors in their children’s educational success.

A student whose education gets little or no support at home is not likely to succeed in school, no matter who her teacher is or whether she attends a charter, private or traditional public school. We all know this instinctively, and numerous studies bear it out. Yet we seldom talk about it when we discuss education, either out of political correctness or an unwillingness to acknowledge our own shortcomings.

Schools have children for six hours a day, five days a week, nine months a year. The rest o of the time education is the responsibility of their parents, who must fight what often seems like an uphill battle against a popular culture that values being cool over being smart.

Supporting a child’s education means more than getting him to school on time and attending the parent-teacher conference. 

Elk Grove Citizen : Open enrollment will have 5 percent cap

Elk Grove Citizen : News

Open enrollment will have 5 percent cap

Lottery to be held for transfer requests

By Citizen staff

Published: Friday, February 19, 2010 11:47 AM PST

The Elk Grove Unified School District board approved a 5 percent cap on the number of students allowed to transfer from a school attendance area through the 2010-2011 open enrollment process.

This cap is 5 percent of the school’s projected 2010-2011 student enrollment.  The school attendance areas affected by the 5 percent cap are Harriet Eddy, Samuel Jackman and James Rutter middle schools.  The school board approved the transfer requests from all other schools.

Students who attend Harriet Eddy, Samuel Jackman and James Rutter middle schools will participate in a lottery to determine who will be allowed to transfer to their school of choice.

This random computer-generated lottery will be conducted at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at Monterey Trail High School.  A computer will randomly rank order students.  Students will be offered open enrollment slots at requested schools based on this rank order. 

Students not selected for open enrollment will maintain their rank on a waiting list.  Should students selected to attend their school of choice decline to transfer, the slot will be offered to the next student on the ranking list.  A waiting list will be maintained until the 2009-2010 school year ends.

Education Research Report: Parents Are Major Influence on Child’s Decision to Pursue Science Careers

Education Research Report: Parents Are Major Influence on Child’s Decision to Pursue Science Careers

Parents Are Major Influence on Child’s Decision to Pursue Science Careers

*
Parental influence and access to mathematics courses are likely to guide students to careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics or medicine (STEMM), according to research from Michigan State University.

The findings of Jon Miller, MSU Hannah Professor of Integrative Studies, and colleagues were presented at a symposium titled "Tomorrow's Scientists and Engineers." at this year's meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The education of more researchers, engineers and others in the field of science is critical, said Miller.

"Failure to build and maintain a competitive scientific workforce in the decades ahead," Miller said, "will inevitably lead to a decline in the American standard of living."

Miller used data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth, which kept track of nearly 6,000 students from middle school through college, attempting to determine what led them to or guided them away from STEMM careers.

According to Miller, "The pathway to a STEMM career begins at home." He said this is especially true in families in which children were strongly encouraged to go to college.

"Only four percent of students who experienced low parent encouragement to attend college planned to enter a post-secondary program and major in a STEMM field," he said. "This compares to 41 percent of students whose parents strongly encouraged college attendance."

National Journal Online -- Education Experts -- What Can Be Done For Middle Schools?

National Journal Online -- Education Experts -- What Can Be Done For Middle Schools?

What Can Be Done For Middle Schools?

Are middle schools being overlooked?

Public officials and educators have focused on the need for all high school students to graduate prepared for college or a career. Although the discussion has been intense over the past year about turning around the country's lowest-performing high schools, or dropout factories, no comparable buzz surrounds low-performing middle schools. With the president's budget proposal calling for college- and career-ready standards in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act, the importance of this conversation is heightened.

What reforms are needed at the middle-school level to ensure the success of college- and career-ready standards?

-- Eliza Krigman, NationalJournal.com

RESPONDED ON FEBRUARY 22, 2010 9:53 AM

One Solution: No Middle Schools

Tom Vander Ark

Partner, Revolution Learning

RESPONDED ON FEBRUARY 22, 2010 8:45 AM

Yes, Middle Schools Are Often Overlooked

Eliza Krigman

NationalJournal.com

Gayle Andrews, president-elect, National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, submitted the following:

Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, Feb. 22

Submitted by Erika Owens on Mon, 02/22/2010 - 09:21 Posted in Notes from the news | Permalink

First lady touts Pa.'s health-food initiative Daily News
Mrs. Obama visited Fairhill Elementary, a Philadelphia public school.

See also: Fairhill visit spotlights healthy eating plan The Notebook blog
The First Lady brings the fight for fresh food to Philly WHYY
First lady takes health message to N. Phila. The Inquirer

Ten win 'Teacher as Hero' awards The Inquirer
One of those winners is Notebook blogger Samuel Reed, III!

'Weighted student funding' - any takers? The Notebook blog
Prinicipals could decide to participate in a weighted student funding pilot program before the entire District moves to the formula in 2011-12.

Karen Heller: City's problems boil down to just one: Poverty The Inquirer
Heller supports Superintendent Ackerman's view that the problems at South Philly and elsewhere are not only for the District to fix.

Esos vatos locos forever! And school racial violence, Somali pirates The Notebook blog
The DREAM ACT, a follow up on a February edition story on school violence, and a song.

Adapting to teen trouble on transit Metro Philadelphia
Thoughts from SEPTA's police chief on managing safety on transit.

See also: Flash Mob, the Gallery and Parenting A Very Public Education blog

Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez Goes on the Record The Frankford Gazette

Actor Tony Danza Supports His Students at SRC Meeting KYW

Sometimes It's the Teacher Who Needs a Hug Philly Teacher blog

Fishtown: Community Theater Brings Children’s Stories to Life Philadelphia Neighborhoods

Please email us if we missed anything today or if you have any suggestions of publications, email lists, or other places for us to check for news.

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Notes from the news

Schools Matter: Duncan's "Race" Becomes Forced March

Schools Matter: Duncan's "Race" Becomes Forced March

Duncan's "Race" Becomes Forced March

During the few minutes yesterday that I could watch our superlative spewing jock-Secretary, Arne Duncan, on CSPAN, I learned that Arne doesn't see the RTTT as a race at all but, rather, a unending kind homework practice without instructions that must continue until states get it right. Those states whose applications are rejected by the Gates goons who are designing the applications, reading the applications, giving tutoring on the applications, and judging the applications, are expected to apply again, and again, and again until they get it right, in a kind of tree-mangling, years-long game of high-stakes charades, where tons of paper are shipped back and forth between Washington and starving state departments of ed desperate to just make payroll.

Sensing the absurdity of this non-race fully enacted, Governor Granholm asked, in a not so patient way, if the Dunc would not just tell the states what they are expected to do so that cowed 

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

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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.

Continue reading this post »

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.

Continue reading this post »

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.

Continue reading this post »

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