Friday, March 26, 2010

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EducationNewsToday

Educators, parents to talk about low performing schools in San Bernardino school district

The San Bernardino City Unified School District on Monday will kick off the first of several forums designed to bring educators and parents together to discuss plans for 11 schools that recently made the state's list of lowest performing schools

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At various forums, teens discuss flash mobs

Why are there violent "flash mobs" in Philadelphia? In different settings, different teenagers yesterday offered a variety of views on the furor over flash mobs, including the very term. ...

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Palm Beach County teachers' union threatens work slowdown, plans 'no confidence' vote on superintendent Johnson

The Palm Beach County teachers' union is urging a work slowdown and planning a vote of no confidence in schools Superintendent Art Johnson over a continued "lack of respect" for teachers....

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Anger erupts over school bills in Florida Legislature

Florida's Senate voted to put class size back before the voters; meanwhile, a House committee faced angry educators as it voted to make it easier to fire teachers...

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Rulffes — a legacy of more power for those he led as superintendent of schools

Walt Rulffes’ retirement as superintendent of the Clark County School District will throw the fate of several major initiatives into uncertainty, but he’ll leave a legacy of giving principals more power, students more choices and teachers a boost in teaching math. ...

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Principal-Training Portal Aims for Ease of Use

New Leaders for New Schools offers a range of online professional-development resources through its Effective Practice Incentive Community. ...

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History a Flash Point as States Debate Standards

As Texas, North Carolina, and Ohio rewrite their social studies standards, the expectations around history are stirring controversy. ...

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Dallas ISD trustees' textbook decision sparks uproar

After a debate that ignited passions and racial tensions, a slim majority of Dallas school board members voted Thursday to override the DISD administration and award lucrative textbook deals to publishers preferred by classroom teachers in an online vote....

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Latino leaders call for clearer focus on education

Several Latino elected officials on Thursday night addressed the challenges facing Denver's Latino community, including education, immigration and equal government services....

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Texas Textbook Massacre II: Gubernatorial Candidate Wants Radical Changes Reconsidered

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White on Tuesday said he wants Gov. Rick Perry to ask State Board of Education Chairwoman Gail Lowe to send the controversial social studies curriculum revisions back to the committees where the proposals started. ...

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Students learn teamwork while converting car to run on vegetable oil

DOVER — In outward appearances, the 1990 Mercedes-Benz sedan parked outside Dover-Sherborn High School is just another well-preserved classic. Its white paint is unblemished, its blue leather seats are intact, and its engine purrs like a kitten. ...

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Project channels passion for science

While many kids watched television at home on a rainy Thursday afternoon, about 30 students at Akron's National Inventors Hall of Fame School explored the science of television in the digital age...

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Contest preps students for job market

Dozens of high school students Thursday were a flurry of motion as they folded towels, bused tables, made beds, bagged groceries and tackled kindred tasks at the Junior Achievement building in Wilmington ...

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Jay Mathews: Admissions 101: The 2/2/2 rule

The latest topic for my Admissions 101 discussion group is the 2/2/2 rule for making sure the college campus visits many of you are making, or planning, do not deteriorate into hurtful family squabbles....

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Diane Ravitch didn’t make a U-turn--Senechal

By Diana Senechal. A cliche has arisen in the media about Diane Ravitch: the assertion that she has made an “about-face,” a “U-turn,” or a “180-degree turn,” that she now says she was “wrong about everything.” She didn't, and she wasn't. ...

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Is teacher labor peace finally at hand in D.C.?

Union tells members that deal should be ready for review soon. ...

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HISD wants $12M to transform 5 schools into magnets

Superintendent Terry Grier, who unveiled the proposal Thursday, said the new flagship programs have the potential to revive failing academic programs at Jones High School and Fondren Middle School and to boost student enrollment at Garden Oaks, Whidby and Dodson elementary schools....

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State closing one-campus Kendleton school district

The historically black district, which has one elementary school that serves 78 students this year, will be folded into nearby Lamar Consolidated. Students in Kendleton already attend junior high and high school in Lamar....

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HISD considers mandatory Advanced Placement tests

The Houston Independent School District, like many districts nationwide, currently does not require students enrolled in AP courses to take the standardized exams at the end. ...

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SFUSD Brings Equity to the Table

3.25.10 - Dana Woldow - Seven years ago, low income students at a typical San Francisco high school lined up for a free lunch of corn dogs and canned peaches, while their classmates with a few bucks to spend bought soda and potato chips in a separate snack bar line...

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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.

Agreement on teacher raises coming together

Raises totaling 20 percent and pay-for-performance part of deal

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D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee (TWP).

Why students get rejected from college

My guest is Jerome A. Lucido, vice provost for enrollment policy and management at the University of Southern California.. He is also executive director of USC’s Center for Enrollment Reserach, Policy and Practice.

By Jerome A. Lucido
March Madness is more than a basketball tournament. It also represents life in the admission office as final decisions about the incoming class are made, and it equally applies to life at home for applicants and their families as they eagerly and anxiously await the decisions.

By April 1, applicants across the nation will know the news. With acceptance rates at selective schools, by definition, at 50 % or less, 25% at my own University of Southern California, and with a rare few hovering near 10%, it’s small wonder why students tremble with fear and parents hold candlelight vigils while they await the admission decision.

Step into my office for a brief counseling session on dealing with college rejection. Frankly, it’s like the tried and true break-up line: “It’s not you; it’s me.” Only this time, the line is true. The truth is that there is always a reason that colleges accept a student, but very often there is not a reason that they don’t. It’s truly nothing you did--or even didn’t do.

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What does authentic learning mean, if anything?

Those of us who wallow in educational jargon have all heard the term "authentic." It seems to mean lessons that connect to the real world, like a physics class visiting a nuclear power plant or an English class performing a play by Edward Albee.

But like all fashionable terms, its meaning can evolve, or be distorted, depending on your point of view. I often use it to describe the powerful effect of telling Advanced Placement students in inner city schools that they are preparing for the same exam that kids in the richest school in the suburbs are taking. That makes their studies seem more authentic. Am I misusing the word?

How do you use it? Is it important in schools? Or is it just another buzz word gone bad?

I raise this intriguing issue, which had not occurred to me before, because of an email from Carl Rosin, an English and interdisciplinary/gifted class teacher at Radnor High School, 12 miles west of Philadelphia:

"Could you weigh in on the much-ballyhooed idea of having the classroom attempt to attain authenticity? I don't use ballyhooed to disparage the idea, only to point out that it's a term that is thrown around often, as glittering generalities are in such a politicized age. The idea of the authentic played a prominent role in the 21st-century technology-based initiative "Classrooms for the Future," which swept Pennsylvania two years ago, helping my school and hundreds of others get much-needed technology upgrades."

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Parker: New contract ready after spring break

Washington Teachers' Union president George Parker e-mailed and robo-called members late Wednesday night to say that he hoped details of the long-awaited labor pact with DCPS would be available as early as their return from spring break on April 6. (Break begins Friday).

There have been numerous "peace is at hand" declarations throughout the tortured two-year-plus course of talks between WTU and D.C. Public Schools, but this looks like the real deal. Both sides have been discussing the details of a roll out strategy, and Parker said in the e-mail that informational sessions will be set up for teachers to ask questions about the accord, which is expected to give Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee more latitude to replace ineffective teachers and set up a limited pay-for-performance system.

Ed Buzz: The Nation

Could bus ads save school budgets?(Associated Press)
Loan bill stripped of early ed., other priorities (Education Week)
Unions slam Obama's education budget (Education Week)
Obama effigy hung at R.I. school (New York Times)
Hispanics face barriers to college degree (New York Times)
Suspensions lead to legal challenge(New York Times)
Detroit ed chief wants to close 45 schools (Detroit Free Press)
State, district leaders press transformation (Education Week)
Hurdles await new education agenda(New York Times)
Union tries personal tactics on UC regents (San Francisco Chronicle)

Rise & Shine: A redo one possible fix for HS admissions delay | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: A redo one possible fix for HS admissions delay

by Philissa Cramer

NYU says it will give space for a new school sometime in the future. (GothamSchools, Times, Post, NY1)
Mayor Bloomberg, President Clinton, and other big names attended the UFT’s 50th birthday party. (NY1)
The Post urges the judge in the school closure lawsuit to release high school admissions letters.
One possibility is that eighth graders will have to submit high school applications all over again. (Post)
Students learn about business by creating virtual ones in a citywide entrepreneurship program. (NY1)
Unnamed “educators” say the teachers union is letting charter schools lose more money. (Post)
A struggling high school in Savannah, Ga., is the latest to declare it will fire all teachers this year. (AP)
D.C. teachers could soon get a long-overdue contract containing a 20 percent raise. (Washington Post)
Geoffrey Canada visited Tulsa, Okla., where the Harlem Children’s Zone is being replicated. (News on 6)

This Week In Education Twitter Friday

This Week In Education

Twitter Friday

by Alexander Russo

I'll be at a conference today [#YaleSOMed] so updates and news links are going to come to you via Twitter.
http://www.twitter.com/alexanderrusso

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Balancing the budget with teachers' pensions

Balancing the budget with teachers' pensions

by Mike Klonsky

Like thieves in the night, Illinois Gov. Quinn and machine-boss Mike Madigan, heisted more than $100 billion from the teachers' pension fund Wednesday. Not only that, but theChicago Civic Committee, calling the heist, "reform," wants more.

"This bill is a small step in the right direction but it doesn't begin to solve the state's urgent fiscal problems," said R. Eden Martin, president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. "The only way to achieve significant cost reductions now is to reform retirement benefits for current state employees prospectively and new hires moving forward."

Question: Why hardly a peep from the leaders of the state's teacher unions?

More of Rhee's mess to clean up for Anita Dunn

by Mike Klonsky

Is she really worried about firing bad teachers?

Here's another problem for Anita Dunn, Michelle Rhee's new million-dollar PR flack.

Supt. Rhee debased the more than 200 D.C. teachers she fired recently, even implying that many of them were rapists and child molesters. Of course her charges turned out to be fabrications and Rhee was forced to recant. Rhee has also been among those yelling the loudest about how difficult unions have made it is to fire bad teachers.

If that's not a big enough mess for Dunn to clean up, how about the fact that Rhee has, at the same time, pushed hard for a voucher system to pay for Catholic school tuition in the District. She has also helped bail out failed Archdioscese schools by making many of them non-union charter schools.

The front-page story in yesterday's NYT revealed that hundreds and possibly thousands of children have actually

Neat Census Interactive | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Larry Ferlazzo

Neat Census Interactive

Filed under social studies

The U.S. Census has an interactive that lets you see how responsive your local community is in responding to the mail-in Census form. It’s updated daily.

I’ve added it to The Best Resources To Learn About The U.S. Census.

A Letter You’ll Never See � InterACT

A Letter You’ll Never See

by David B. Cohen

Dear Teacher,

I just want to take a moment to thank you for all that you did for me when I was in your class. Now that I’m out of high school, I really appreciate it even more. When I started your English class, I knew that my test scores were kind of low, and I was really committed to improving my performance on two of the subtests. You saw that potential in me, and even more. By providing me with chances to read anthologized literary excerpts and random workplace documents, all followed by multiple choice assessments, you showed a commitment to my learning, and my test scores that spring really proved how far I had come. I was totally comfortable dealing with any readings chosen for me, and comfortable choosing the answers to other people’s questions. I also remember that you showed us how to answer the questions without even doing most of the reading, and that sure did help on the test!

Do you remember my sister? She was in your class a few years ahead of me, and I was just talking to her about your class. She couldn’t even remember what her test scores were – probably because she usually has her nose in a book, when she’s not writing in her journals or on her blog.

My sister just graduated from college, but as for me, I don’t know if you heard, but I’ve taken a break from

On the Road with RTT :: Frederick M. Hess

Frederick M. Hess's Blog

On the Road with RTT

by Frederick M. Hess • Mar 25, 2010 at 9:46 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

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Andy Smarick's dazzling new "AEI Education Stimulus Watch," bringing readers up to speed on all things edu-stimulus, is out today. It provides a vivid look at the Race to the Top (RTT) landscape; in particular, combining Andy's principled enthusiasm for RTT with his careful attention to how the program is playing out. Readers will find especially useful his attention to the challenges of program design, ED execution, and political gamesmanship. (Full disclosure: As the report's title implies, it is written for and published by my AEI Education shop).

I found Andy's piece especially thought-provoking, as I've been on the road the past couple weeks talking about my new book. My travels have involved visiting a number of RTT finalists. In all of them, I've had the chance to catch up with friends and colleagues involved in their state's bid. Those discussions have clarified for me six observations worth noting. I'll chat about a few below and finish up tomorrow.

Defending Education | The Advocate

Defending Education

by Alison Powell

Upcom ing Con tract Negotiations

The cur rent PSC con tract expires in Octo ber 2010. The Adjunct Project and CCU (Cuny Con tin gents Unite) are work ing together to deter mine what demands should be included on the agenda at the upcom ing union con tract nego ti a tions. We’re already plan ning for the next round of bar gain ing; the kick-off will be a meet ing with the PSC and Bar bara Bowen at the Grad u ate Cen ter (room 9205) at 12:30 pm on Tues day, April 6, to dis cuss pri or i ties for the next contract and how GC stu dents can be part of the col lec tive bar gain ing process.

Pro posed CCU con tract demands were cir cu lated by Abe Walker on the CCU-Discussion list on Feb ru ary 5, after they were approved by the Coor di nat ing Com mit tee. If you would like to receive a copy of that post ing, please write to cunycontingents@gmail.com.

The next Adjunct Project meet ing is March 25, and the monthly CCU meet ing will be held on Fri day, March 26, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, in the Polit i cal Sci ence The sis Room, inside Room 5200 at the CUNY Grad u ate Center.

Bar bara Bowen and other offi cers will visit every cam pus this semes ter to begin a union-wide con ver sa tion about bar gain ing the next con tract with CUNY. These meet ings will be the membership’s chance to hear directly about issues that have already emerged for the upcom ing nego ti a tions and to dis cuss their own con cerns and ideas.To find out when and where the meet ing is at your home cam pus, go to: www.psc-cuny.org

Recap: March 4^th Day of Action to Defend Education

On March 4, the National Day of Action to Defend Edu ca tion, stu dents across the nation gath ered for mass protests against bud get cuts, tuition hikes, increased class sizes, and school clos ings. In New York, over 1800 stu dents, teach ers and advo cates gath ered together to protest on the steps of City Hall to protest the mayor’s man age ment of

SJSU planning for layoffs, fee hikes and fewer students - San Jose Mercury News

SJSU planning for layoffs, fee hikes and fewer students

Braced for reduced state support, San Jose State University is planning early summer layoffs, boosting fees and shrinking next fall's incoming classes.

"Our strategy is to keep quality high — but in order to do that with a smaller budget, we'll have fewer students," said SJSU President Jon Whitmore. "So fewer faculty will be needed — and fewer staff will be needed to provide services."

This year SJSU's budget was cut $44 million, or 20 percent — and similar belt-tightening is expected next year. California expects a $20 billion shortfall for the 2010-11 year.

The university imposed furloughs last fall that saved $18 million — and bought time, because many people retired or left their positions on campus. But these 2009-10 furloughs expire in June and will not be continued.

"The $18 million in savings generated by the furloughs has to be permanently out of the system," he said.

He would not speculate on the number of layoffs, but said tenured faculty are safe. The most likely candidates for job cuts are staff and temporary faculty. Layoffs will be governed by union contracts, which require prior notification. SJSU says the workers need to be gone by the end of June.

"Although President Whitmore's letter to the campus doesn't constitute formal layoff notice to the CSU Employees Union, it certainly provides an unequivocal heads-up that layoffs are very likely in the offing, and the union is ready to

deal with that possibility," said Steve Sloan, an information technology consultant at SJSU. "We are committed to saving as many jobs as possible by exploring all mitigation options with the administration."

American Chronicle | EDITORIAL: Make top teams improve graduation rates

EDITORIAL: Make top teams improve graduation rates

Mar. 25--The NCAA Men's Basketball Championship enters the Sweet 16 stage beginning tonight, and most sports fans are dusting off what's left of their brackets after an opening weekend of upsets.

But a proposal by the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would drastically change the look of this year's tournament.

Duncan proposed last week that teams with a graduation rate of less than 40 percent be banned from the postseason tournament.

If that restriction were in place right now, the Sweet 16 would be without Kentucky (31 percent graduation rate); Baylor (36 percent); Tennessee (30 percent); and Washington (29 percent). Eight more teams would have joined those four if the restrictions had been in place prior to the start of the tournament.

Other studies have pointed out that there is a wide disparity in graduation rates between white athletes and black athletes. The graduation rate at the University of California Northridge is so low for black athletes that they actually have a better chance of playing professional basketball in the NBA (1.2 percent) than graduating from college.

Graduation rates can be tricky to figure out. Duncan's figures were based on the number of freshman who graduated after five years. Some athletic administrators would argue that leaves a lot of room for issues. Players leave school early to play professionally. Others leave school to find a team that fits

George Lakoff's 14 Words That Could Fix California | Economy | AlterNet

George Lakoff's 14 Words That Could Fix California

The minority rules in the California Legislature, and they're responsible for the state's budget logjam -- linguist George Lakoff has an elegant solution to fix it.

March 25, 2010 |

Photo Credit: Daryl Cagle

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Here's the little-known truth about California: Since 1978, the state has been subject to what is essentially minority rule. Proposition 13 -- mostly packaged as a property tax law change -- was passed that year, altering the state constitution to read that a two-thirds super-majority is needed in the state legislature to pass any revenue increases. But what this has turned out to really mean is that one-third plus one vote, or 34 percent, of the state legislature can control all legislative decisions.

You thought filibustering on Capitol Hill was bad? This is worse. And California is the only state with such a rule in place, now or ever.

As the state faces a growing budget deficit -- now estimated to be $20 billion -- the tyranny of the minority has grown more apparent to voters who have hardly

Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, March 26, 2010

EducationNewsToday

Agreement on teacher raises coming together

MORE ON EDUCATION

Why students get rejected from college

What does authentic learning mean, if anything?

Parker: New contract ready after spring break

Ed Buzz: The Nation

Neat Census Interactive

Frederick M. Hess's Blog

On the Road with RTT

Defending Education

by Alison Powell

SJSU planning for layoffs, fee hikes and fewer students

EDITORIAL: Make top teams improve graduation rates

George Lakoff's 14 Words That Could Fix California

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