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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

USDE: Civil Rights Role Too Small Or Too Big? This Week In Education

This Week In Education

USDE: Civil Rights Role Too Small Or Too Big?

14child_CA0-popupDueling editorial views on the role of civil rights in education from the NYT (Civil Rights in Education) and the Wall Street Journal (Civil Rights Overreach).
At right, a picture of GWB during the good old days.
I think he's telling the kids that it's more fun going to schools where everyone's poor and black or brown.

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March 16, 2010 | Posted At: 08:53 AM | Author: Alexander Russo | Category: Daily News

News: Pink Slips, NCLB Rewrite Reality Check

Pink slips sent to thousands of Calif. teachers Robin Hindery, Associated Press: State school districts had issued 21,905 pink slips to teachers and other school employees by Monday, the legal deadline for districts to send preliminary layoff notices.
L.A. Unified panel recommends changes in teacher evaluations LA Times: High-performing teachers should earn more pay, tenure should be more difficult to achieve and teacher reviews should be tied to student test scores, a Los Angeles school district panel is expected to recommend Tuesday.News2010
Education" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); ">Array of Hurdles Awaits New Education Agenda Sam Dillon NYT: The challenges of implementing a new education policy for the Obama administration are political and practical.
Interest Turns to ESEA Plan's Chances of Passing EdWeek: The administration's blueprint for replacing NCLB draws support from some—but sharp criticism from the national teachers' unions.
Changes to No Child Left Behind would affect schools differently Nick Anderson Washington Post: For most public schools, the perceived heavy hand of the federal government would become a lighter touch under President Obama's plan to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law. But for others, the consequences of academic failure would stiffen considerably.
Duncan coming to Denver Denver Post: US Education Secretary Arne Duncan will be in Denver Friday for both official business and a fund-raising stop for US Senator Michael Bennet.
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Bill Maher Takes On The Rhode Island Firings (Video) Perdaily.com

Perdaily.com

Bill Maher Takes On The Rhode Island Firings (Video)

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It is the simplistic thinking of poorly educated bureaucrats that seems incapable of the intellectual rigor necessary to analyze and propose a well thought out program that has even the remotest chance of being successful. Bill Maher, somebody who does not suffer from these infirmities of thought process, trained his wit on the absurdity of just one aspect of what these intellectually challenged education reform wannabes saw as the reason for failing public education and annihilated them. For him, the thought of laying all the responsibility at the foot of the teaching profession is a "comprehensive education solution from completely ignorant people."
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Obama’s blueprint for California The Educated Guess

The Educated Guess

Obama’s blueprint for California

Posted in No Child Left Behind
The utopian demand that all children be proficient in math and English language arts by 2014 would be replaced by the goal that all students be on track for a career or college by 2020.
The unyielding pass or fail grade for a school based on collective test scores would be replaced by measurements of individual students’ growth and broader gauges of school progress, such as school climate and student attendance.
As its antidote to the excesses of the No Child Left Behind law, the Obama administration has released a 41-page outline for its as yet-unnamed reauthorization of NCLB, officially known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
(Read more and comment on this post)
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Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

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

NCLB revamp would affect schools differently

President Obama (AP).

















Former Bush administration official backs student loan reform bill

A former Bush administration official whose job it was to implement No Child Left Behind is urging her fellow Republicans to pass legislation for student loan reform that also supports community colleges and provides funding to promote impvementsin early childhod education.
Susan B. Neuman, assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education from 2002-04 and now a professor in educational studies at the University of Michigan, uses stark language in this Roll Call pieceabout the legislation now in the Senate. It starts:
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Valerie Strauss v. me on tests

I didn't intend to pick a fight with my blogging wonder of a colleague Valerie Strauss, but she wouldn't let go of the issue. (I least that is what I would tell my mom if this were the playground and not the world's finest Web site.) Valerie says the standardized tests we use now are too unreliable to tolerate. I don't like them that much myself, but I still think they are useful, and don't see Valerie providing any evidence on her side.
The standardized test results I have seen over the last 30 years seem to conform with what I would expect from what I know of the quality of the teaching and the socio-economic level of the students being tested. McLean High in that wealthy community has higher test scores than Annandale High, which is in a less expensive part of Fairfax County with fewer parents who have graduated from college. Banneker High in D.C., which has a selective student body, does better on tests than Ballou, which does not.
Schools that have taken unusual measures to deepen and invigorate the learning of impoverished children, such as Achievement First,Uncommon schools and KIPP, show significantly better scores than schools that have not.
Those examples, and hundreds more, convince me that the tests we are using are much better than nothing, and shouldn't be dismissed as not 

Student compares Rhee to Harry Potter villain


Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has been called many things. But it was likely a first Monday afternoon when a student from Hardy Middle School compared Rhee to the pernicious Harry Potter character, Dolores Umbridge, a cruel teacher at Hogwarts Academy.
One by one, middle school students lined up in the D.C. Council chamber this afternoon during an oversight hearing to protest Rhee's decision to reassign their popular principal, Patrick Pope.
Rhee's actions, said seventh-grader Angela Marsh, "say she doesn't really care about the people affected by her unreasonable decisions. She is breaking the heart and soul of the school."
The students got some backup from Council Chairman Vincent Gray (D), who said he agrees that "a mistake has been made."
"For the life of me, I do not understand why this is being done," he said.
Before the testimony this afternoon, Rhee said she was sticking by her decision and moving Pope to start a new arts-centered magnet middle school. "I've been clear with the community and at this point it's not 
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EducationNews.org - EducationNewsToday

EducationNews.org - EducationNewsToday

EducationNewsToday

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Bobb plans to close 45 Detroit schools

Detroit -- Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb revealed his vision for a leaner Detroit Public Schools on Monday night by closing 45 schools this year and building new athletic facilities, a new campus for special needs students and reviving a closed high school site
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L.A. Unified panel recommends changes in teacher evaluations

The task force of about 50 parents, teachers and administrators suggests paying high-performing teachers more, using student test scores in evaluations and overhauling the tenure system. High-performing teachers should earn more pay, tenure should be more difficult to achieve and teacher reviews sho...
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Homework is going high-tech at some North Texas schools

Last week, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders at Richardson's Math, Science and Technology Magnet Elementary School carried school-owned netbooks home. A few weeks earlier, students at Richardson West Junior High Magnet School were assigned similar computers. ...
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Schools on the brink: Districts could run out of money

A recent state survey indicates trouble for a number of school districts as tax collections and state aid shrink. ...
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State firm on school quality

The Patrick administration will not adopt national academic standards if they are lower than those established in Mass., long championed as having among the most rigorous expectations, according to the state’s education secretary. ...
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NCLB revamp would affect schools differently

For most public schools, the perceived heavy hand of the federal government would become a lighter touch under President Obama's plan to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law. But for some, the consequences of academic failure would stiffen considerably....
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Teenagers in need of direction can turn to apprenticeships

EAGLE, Wis. — Only after he put his hands to metal on a factory floor did Jordan Vail begin to grasp the point of math, communications and other skills he was supposed to be learning in high school but wasn't....
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Rewriting History in Texas

The Texas Board of Education, notorious for its past efforts to undermine the teaching of evolution in public schools, has now moved to revise the social studies curriculum to portray conservative ideas and movements in a more positive light and emphasize the role of Christianity in the nation’s founding. ...
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Civil Rights in Education

Districts that have neglected disadvantaged students will have to do better if Education Secretary Arne Duncan energizes his department’s Office of Civil Rights....
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Has Education Reform Gone Too Far?

3.15.10 - Has education reform failed America's children? According to outspoken education historian Diane Ravitch, the answer is yes. In her new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education,...
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Teachers OK contract with San Diego Unified

SAN DIEGO: Teachers have ratified a new labor contract with the San Diego Unified School District. With more than 45 percent of union members casting ballots, 3,062 members voted for the contract and 108 voted against the agreement, according to the San Diego Education Association’s Web site. ...
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Shakespeare teaching vital lessons on language

Even though William Shakespeare was born more than 400 years ago and wrote in an English we rarely use now, professor Jan Gist thinks there are still plenty of lessons to be learned from the playwright. ...
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Program tries to get students back on track

The Middle School Partners program provides students who are two or more years older than their academic peers with direct instruction in core eighth-grade subjects and self-paced lessons in ninth-grade classes. ...
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Back to school plan cuts opening week to 1 day

This is math kids will love and parents may hate: The first week of school in September will last only one day....
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Teacher's pay would depend on student performance, not tenure, if state bill passes

A proposed bill that would tie teachers' pay to student performance rather than years of experience has many educators worried. ...
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The Big Idea -- it's bad education policy

One simple solution for our schools? A captivating promise, but a false one. There have been two features that regularly mark the history of U.S. public schools. Over the last century, our education system has been regularly captivated by a Big Idea -- a savant or an organization that promised a sim ...
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Yearbooks No Longer 2 Good 2 Be 4-Gotten

The Internet has taken a toll on print media, from newspapers and magazines to the telephone book. Now university yearbooks are also taking a hit. A growing number of universities are no longer publishing the annual picture books....
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Governor’s Cup showcases finest in academics

The 25th anniversary of the Governor's Cup State Finals drew 2,600 Kentucky students in grades 6-12 to the Galt House Hotel & Suites on Saturday and Sunday to compete in areas such as math, writing, history and social studies at a time when many eyes are turning to college basketball....
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No Child Left Behind overhaul: five key things that would change

3,15,10 - On Saturday, the Obama administration released its blueprint for overhauling the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act. US lawmakers are to consider the blueprint – and make their own revisions – as part of a reauthorization process for the education law....
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Blessing and Curse of Structured Recess: No Goofing Off

A Newark school is one of a growing number that use a recess coach to curb bullying and behavior problems....
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Rise & Shine: L.A. teachers back tying test scores to evaluations | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: L.A. teachers back tying test scores to evaluations | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: L.A. teachers back tying test scores to evaluations

by Philissa Cramer
  • Implementing Obama’s education law plan will be politically and logistically difficult. (Times)
  • The plan will ease consequences for most schools but toughen them for some. (Washington Post)
  • The city and the teachers union could change rules for teachers in the “rubber room.” (GothamSchools)
  • A Los Angeles panel that includes teachers wants test scores used in teacher evaluations. (L.A. Times)
  • The Post says the city is to blame for the Khalil Gibran debacle, because it created a “separatist” school.
  • Choice fan Paul Peterson says students do better when their schools compete. (Wall Street Journal)
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Local News | Cleveland High plan is revised, goes back to the board | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Cleveland High plan is revised, goes back to the board | Seattle Times Newspaper

Cleveland High plan is revised, goes back to the board

An $800,000 contract to help Cleveland High open a new science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program is back before the Seattle School Board for a second time.
By Linda Shaw
Seattle Times education reporter
Related
An $800,000 contract to help Cleveland High open a new science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program is back before the Seattle School Board for approval of revisions.
In early February, the board voted 4-2 to approve the 3 ½-year contract with the New Technology Network, a national association of 41 schools.
By becoming part of the Network, Cleveland would receive materials, training and other assistance as it phases in its STEM program starting this fall. But after the vote, some district activists complained that certain provisions in the contract differed from what district staff had said publicly.
In particular, the staff had said that Cleveland would remain one school with one principal, but with two academies — one focused on engineering and design, one on life sciences. Staff members also said the two academies would eventually have a total of 1,000 students.
The original contract, in contrast, indicated that the district would have to create two separate schools in Cleveland's building, each with its own principal. It also said that enrollment must be capped at 450 students per school, and that teachers in one academy couldn't teach any classes in the other.
In response to those questions, officials from Seattle Public Schools and the New Technology Network have said that they had verbal agreements that matched the staff's description of the program.
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