Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Bethesda play space in religious controversy Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

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

Bethesda play space in religious controversy


Whisper campaign that has gone viral against evangelical Christian.
MORE ON EDUCATION

VALERIE STRAUSS












Posted at 6:30 AM ET, 05/18/2010

Protesters call IB program un-American. Is it?

How American history is taught is clearly on the minds of protesters in Idaho who trying to get the International Baccalaurate program tossed out of schools because, they say, it is, anti-American, and of Arizona legislators who passed a law restricting ethnic studies.
JAY MATHEWS
What's Right and Wrong With Our Schools
Posted at 5:30 AM ET, 05/18/2010

Does journalism's decline help education?

I am not happy about the loss of good people at the Post and other journalistic enterprises in the massive reorganization of the news business, but if schools are getting some talented wordsmiths that way, it may be a net plus.

DCPS says closed schools save $17 million

When Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee closed and consolidated 23 under-enrolled schools in 2008, she justified the highly unpopular decision in part by the prospect of significant savings that could be rolled into classrooms. At a meeting with Post editors and reporters in January 2008, she estimated that the school system would save $23 million in operating costs.
Two years later, DCPS says that its projections at the time were actually in the $15 to 20 million range and that it has seen reductions totaling $16.7 million. This includes lower costs for custodial service, security and salaries for principals, assistant principals and other school leadership. It does not cover anticipated savings in food services, and spokeswoman Jennifer Calloway said a complete analysis would have to be done by Chief FInancial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi.
The closings eliminated an estimated two million square feet of space in DCPS' building inventory. On average, according to District figures, 
Sean Gunn, 5, devours a cupcake that he helped decorate. The Playseum's vision, according to its Web site: "Where children create and parents relate." (Katherine Frey-TWP)

EducationNews.org Scoring Race to the Top: A Look Behind the Curtain

EducationNews.org

image

Fighting For Our Childrens Minds

5.17.10 - Tucker Carlson - The education special featured AFP Watchdog Jason Moore and his family, including five children, who live in Odessa.

Scoring Race to the Top: A Look Behind the Curtain

5.18.10 - When the federal government gives out billions of dollars in grants, it can’t be done based on the gut feel of some policy wonks, however honest and well-meaning, that this state...
Full story

Parents 'exaggerate murder fear'

5.18.10 - A survey suggests parents worry more about their children being murdered than the health threat caused by obesity. ...
Full story

Protesters call IB program un-American. Is it?

5.18.10 - But allegations that the international education program is not only anti-American but also Marxist and anti-Christian have led to controversies

Rise & Shine: Sect. Duncan reroutes NYC visit at union’s request | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: Sect. Duncan reroutes NYC visit at union’s request | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: Sect. Duncan reroutes NYC visit at union’s request

  • The “new politics of education” has Race to the Top and other forces causing unions to change. (Times)
  • Union chief Randi Weingarten pressured Education Sect. Arne Duncan to reroute his NYC visit. (DN)
  • Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch thinks “her Michaels” will work out Race to the Top. (DN)
  • The Daily News says Duncan’s visit will give a well-timed boost to Race to the Top’s chance in NY.
  • At East Harlem TAG, parents focus on raising funds and improving the school’s image. (Times)
  • Bob Herbert: we need more schools like Bard HS, where students graduate with an assoc. degree.
  • Nearly two-thirds of VA & MD kids can’t read proficiently by the end of third grade. (Washington Post)
  • Bill Clinton and Al Sharpton are backing a bill that would raise NY’s charter cap. (Post)
  • In a poll run by a pro-charter group, 63 percent of respondents said they want the cap lifted. (Post)
  • Two I.S. 208 students were arrested for sexually abusing a 12 year old girl at school. (Post, NY1)
  • A Manhattan Inst. writer says Diane Ravitch’s testimony against charter schools is flawed. (Post)
  • Law & Order’s rubber room episode will include teachers who say they shouldn’t be there. (Post)

News: Mission Accomplished - Inside Higher Ed

News: Mission Accomplished - Inside Higher Ed

Mission Accomplished

May 18, 2010
WASHINGTON -- If politics were as data-driven as baseball, and scorekeepers kept a statistic to measure how much impact a person had per day or week or month, Robert Shireman would almost certainly have made the all-star team.
The U.S. Education Department is expected to formally announce today that Shireman, the U.S. deputy under secretary of education, will leave his position July 1 after 14 months in the job. Shireman's departure was widely expected, given that he and his family had been happily ensconced in the Bay Area for more than a decade and that the primary goal that drew him back to Washington -- the prospect of securing the future of the government's Direct Student Loan Program and ending all lending through the competing Federal Family Education Loan Program -- was accomplished when Congress passed budget legislation in March.

Conservatives on Texas board leaving legacy in schools but losing clout | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Conservatives on Texas board leaving legacy in schools but losing clout | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News| Latest News

Conservatives on Texas board leaving legacy in schools but losing clout



06:43 AM CDT on Tuesday, May 18, 2010

By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
tstutz@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – When social conservatives on the State Board of Education put the final touches on social studies curriculum standards this week, it will be a significant victory in their years-long push to imprint their beliefs upon what Texas students learn.
But it could also be the peak of their influence. After losses in this spring's primaries, the social conservative bloc is expected to lack the clout to drive the board's decisions on the curriculum, textbooks and other key education issues.
The standards, affecting U.S. history, government and other social studies courses in Texas schools, have been hotly debated for months, triggering interest across the nation as the board's bloc of seven socially conservative Republicans seek to shape the new curriculum.
Democrats, college professors and other critics have called for a delay to allow closer scrutiny of the provisions, and the issue has been raised in the race for governor. But a majority of board members appear ready to finish the job and spell out the standards that will be reflected in textbooks, classroom instruction and achievement tests used over the next decade.
"The standards are looking real good now. We've made some significant improvements, and I am proud of what the board has

Garland's Non-Traditional High School gives at-risk students support they need to graduate

Megan Taylor twirled around after being recognized at Friday’s signing ceremony at Garland’s Non-Traditional High School. At the weekly events, students who’ve completed a class sign the school’s giant whiteboard as friends and teachers cheer them on.
MONA REEDER/DMN
Megan Taylor twirled around after being recognized at Friday’s signing ceremony at Garland’s Non-Traditional High School.
Garland's Non-Traditional High School offers students support and an absolute focus on academics. The Garland program's success in increasing graduation rates led to recent recognition from the Texas Education Agency. Eight traditional schools, including Garland High School, were also honored.
Blog: Education Front
Local education news 

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

 Get feed

TEXAS EDUCATION

  Get feed

U.S. EDUCATION

  Get feed

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Prepared Table Charter School

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Prepared Table Charter School

Prepared Table Charter School


This story evolved over nearly three years. Read the full sequence of events.

Church-run charter school may be booted out of Texas program (Church & State, September 1, 2002)

Education officials in Texas have pulled the plug on a church-run charter school that has been embroiled in scandal and financial mismanagement.
In mid July the Texas Education Agency (TEA) held a three-day hearing on the fate of the Prepared Table Charter School, an institution run by the Rev. Harold Wayne Wilcox of the Greater Progressive Tabernacle Baptist Church in Humble. The school, which has been in existence since 1998, has allegedly squandered millions in tax dollars.
On Aug. 16, TEA officials revoked the controversial school's state charter and its lucrative public funding.
Texas lawmakers approved a charter school law in 1997 but officials have been lax in overseeing

KIPP Academy in Fresno


Allegations of Inappropriate Discipline Tactics Prompt KIPP Principal to Step Down (
KMPH Fox 26, February 20, 2009)
Students and parents lined the streets outside the KIPP Academy in Fresno, outraged over the recent and sudden resignation of their principal Mr. Chi Tsichang…
But at a news conference Friday, the Fresno Unified School District offered a littl

Tensions grow as Boston prepares for teacher contract talks Education news - Boston Globe - MCAS results - latest education news - Boston.com

Education news - Boston Globe - MCAS results - latest education news - Boston.com

GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS

Tensions grow as Boston prepares for teacher contract talks

Boston parents, students, community activists, and civic groups have launched lobbying campaigns to press for changes to the teachers union contract, in what observers say could be the most acrimonious bargaining climate in a decade. (By James Vaznis, Globe Staff)

Teachers in R.I. subdued but still employed after bargaining

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — The president of the teachers union said collective bargaining had worked. The school superintendent lauded a new era of collaboration for a failing high school singled out by President Obama. But the bottom line of a labor agreement approved yesterday showed another, hard-edged result. (By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff)

Barring of Chomsky stirs up a political storm in Israel

In a vitriolic address to the United Nations in 2006, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela assailed US foreign policy and called President George W. Bush the devil. He then held up a copy of Noam Chomsky’s “Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance’’ and urged the audience to read it. (By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff)

Misguided makeovers

Ricardo Canuto is 19 years old and when he came here from Cape Verde three years ago he didn’t speak a lick of English. (By Kevin Cullen, Globe Columnist)

Ex-Harvard student accused of living a lie

He crafted an elaborate web of lies to con his way into Harvard University, authorities say, but Adam B. Wheeler wasn’t content to graduate quietly and get away with just a degree. (By John R. Ellement and Tracy Jan, Globe Staff)

LATEST EDUCATION NEWS WIRE UPDATES

LATEST K-12 EDUCATION NEWS

Education - NorthJersey.com

Education - NorthJersey.com

'Race to Top' application gains backers
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
THE RECORD
STATE HOUSE BUREAU
The state Legislature is signing on to New Jersey's application for up to $400 million in federal education funding — but without endorsing its most controversial elements, including a plan to base teacher pay on student achievement.
In a shift from what Education Commissioner Bret Schundler initially requested, lawmakers of both parties are expected to pass a resolution Thursday saying they support the state's entry in the Race to the Top competition. The application deadline is June 1.
But the document does not endorse the Christie administration's sweeping plans to overhaul the state's education system and pay teachers based on how their students perform in the classroom.
"Rushing through processes that will change policy in great magnitude doesn't benefit anyone at all," said state Sen. Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, chairwoman of the education committee and prime sponsor of the measure. "The resolution is something that everyone is going to support."
The New Jersey Education Association teachers union also backs the resolution, which supporters say was modeled on Delaware's successful application package in the last round of the competition. NJEA spokesman Steve Baker would not say Monday whether the union — which opposes merit pay — will endorse the entire application. The NJEA was accused of dooming the state's chances by refusing to back its first Race to the Top attempt, which was rejected in March, when New Jersey was seeking $200 million