Studying Engineering Before They Can Spell It Education News - The New York Times

Education News - The New York Times

Studying Engineering Before They Can Spell It

By WINNIE HU

Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times

In a Glen Rock, N.J., kindergarten, testing a wolf-proof house.

To compete in a global economy, some school districts are offering engineering lessons to students in kindergarten.

Frank W. Ballard, Who Trained Puppeteers at UConn, Dies at 80

By MARGALIT FOX

Mr. Ballard helped introduce puppetry to the university curriculum.

THE BAY CITIZEN

Stanford Considers Guideline for ‘Conflict Minerals’

By KATHARINE MIESZKOWSKI

Stanford has become the focus of a grass-roots effort to pressure the technology industry to crack down on “conflict minerals.”

BIG CITY

Arabic Class Becomes a Popular Choice

By SUSAN DOMINUS

The language course at Friends Seminary, a school in the East Village, is influencing students before and after graduation.

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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky

CTU president-elect Karen Lewis

“Today marks the beginning of the end of scapegoating educators for all the social ills that our children, families and schools struggle against every day. Today marks the beginning of a fight for true transparency in our educational policy -- how to accurately measure learning and teaching, how to truly improve our schools, and how to evaluate the wisdom behind our spending priorities.”(Progress Illinois)

Bloomberg in defense of BP Oil

“The guy that runs BP didn't exactly go down there and blow up the well.” (Politico)

NAACP President Ben Jealous

"Democrats have the biggest majority in the House and the Senate that any party has had in 30

Eighteen community colleges face sanctions from accreditor | California Watch

Eighteen community colleges face sanctions from accreditor | California Watch

Eighteen community colleges face sanctions from accreditor

June 14, 2010 | Erica Perez

Some 18 California Community Colleges face sanctions from the system's accrediting agency, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

Photo by Harrison Keely

The most frequently cited deficiencies were a lack of program review, inadequate use of assessment results to drive planning, financial management issues, internal governance strife and problems with the roles that governing boards play.

Meanwhile, Inside Higher Ed reports this weekthat discontent over the accreditor's role is brewing among different groups in the community college world. The high number of penalties prompted a task force to scrutinize the accreditor's actions.

The numbers are striking: The accrediting agency, which evaluates two-year colleges in California, Hawaii and a few other locations, placed 37 percent of California community colleges on sanctions from 2003 to 2008. By contrast, other accrediting bodies sanctioned between zero and six percent of their community colleges, the task force found in a study.

While the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges only deals in three types of public sanctions – "warning," "probation" and the most aggressive, "show cause" – other accrediting groups nudge colleges with informal warnings before slapping a public

High school graduations are a hot ticket this year | OregonLive.com

High school graduations are a hot ticket this year | OregonLive.com

High school graduations are a hot ticket this year

Published: Sunday, June 13, 2010, 8:40 PM Updated: Sunday, June 13, 2010, 8:48 PM

Melissa Navas, The Oregonian
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This graduation season, tickets to high school ceremonies are creating a Justin Bieber-like frenzy.

Before students across the metro area pack auditoriums and football fields to walk the stage, some find themselves scrambling for graduation tickets for their extended or out-of-town family to listen to speeches, "Pomp and Circumstance" and more speeches.

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Desperate students and their families have turned to Facebook, Craigslist or the cafeteria black market to snag tickets. But they'd better be prepared to pay.

"Some were selling on Facebook, or posting ads for tickets," said Nikki De Leon, who graduated from David Douglas High School on Wednesday night. "And people were buying them for $10, and some people were auctioning (them) off for $40."

School administrators across the metro area say they generally frown upon students making a buck on tickets that they get for free. Some said they try to stop sales before they happen, and others said they had no idea the scarcity of tickets was leading to potential under-the-cafeteria-table deals.

Depending on the venue and size of the graduating class, schools allot a certain number of tickets. Schools ask that students turn in their extra tickets or pass them along to friends.

Tigard High School Assistant Principal Barb Proctor first heard of a student trying to hawk tickets last year.

"I think a kid came to me and said, 'This kid wants to sell their tickets,'" Proctor said. "I said 'Well that's not going to fly.' I talked to the kid and it was over."

This year, each of Tigard's 450 graduates received eight tickets for the ceremonies Friday on the school's football field. Tigard administrators told students they wouldn't get more tickets from the school, so it would be up to them to secure tickets from other students.

Parents usually alert the school when they come across student entrepreneurs, Proctor said.

"Most of the parents that I have talked to have been like, 'That's not right, we're not going to do that,'" said Proctor, who has coordinated Tigard's graduations for a decade.

Blog U.: Speed and Sleep - Confessions of a Community College Dean - Inside Higher Ed

Blog U.: Speed and Sleep - Confessions of a Community College Dean - Inside Higher Ed

Speed and Sleep Dean Dad

All other things being equal Herman Berliner

Where did you go? Out. G. Rendell

Free Technology for Teachers: Learning Chocolate - Activities for Learning English

Free Technology for Teachers: Learning Chocolate - Activities for Learning English

Learning Chocolate - Activities for Learning English

by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)

Learning Chocolate is a nice little resource for ESL/ELL students.Learning Chocolate offers six learning activities in dozens of word categories. Pick a word category such as animals or clothing then listen to the pronunciations of the words in that category. After reviewing the pronunciations students can choose from five different activities. Each word category offers three matching games, a fill in the blank game, and dictation activity in which students spell the words as they're read to them.

Applications for Education
Learning Chocolate could be a good resource for teachers in search of activities that students can do independently or at home with parents. Learning Chocolate also offers teachers the option to build activities

Lobbyists aid for-profit college student group - Boston.com

Lobbyists aid for-profit college student group - Boston.com

Lobbyists aid for-profit college student group

FILE - In this Dec. 22,2009 file photo Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill, in Washington. Harkin last week announced plans to hold hearings starting June 24 to examine federal education spending at for-profit colleges. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

By Eric Gorski

AP Education Writer / June 13, 2010

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A few months ago, Dawn Connor was just another college student, attending night courses to become a veterinary technician and practicing her trade by spaying and neutering dogs and cats from a local shelter.

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These days, the 33-year-old from Eau Claire, Wis., is shaking hands on Capitol Hill and speaking at news conferences in Las Vegas, the new public face of the satisfied for-profit college student.

Standing closely behind her is the Career College Association, a lobbying group for for-profit schools that provided the organizational muscle to launch the grassroots-sounding Students for Academic Choice at a time when for-profit colleges are under fire.

The Career College Association helped the students establish a website, draft bylaws and set up an online election that resulted in Connor being elected the group's president -- all at a time when for-profit colleges are intensifying lobbying efforts against tougher federal regulations expected to be proposed in the coming days.

"I'm skeptical of the organic nature of the group given that it is completely towing the association's line," said Christine Lindstrom, higher education program director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

Harris Miller, president of the Career College Association, said his group extended a helping hand to busy nontraditional students who otherwise wouldn't have a voice -- and says the new group stands on its own.

"This will be, I think, as this organization grows and gets legs, an effective antidote to those people who hang on a few disgruntled students or former

Many Schools Teach Engineering in Early Grades - NYTimes.com

Many Schools Teach Engineering in Early Grades - NYTimes.com

Studying Engineering Before They Can Spell It

By WINNIE HU 15 minutes ago

Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times

In a Glen Rock, N.J., kindergarten, testing a wolf-proof house.

To compete in a global economy, some school districts are offering engineering lessons to students in kindergarten.

THE BAY CITIZEN

Stanford Considers Guideline for ‘Conflict Minerals’

By KATHARINE MIESZKOWSKI

Stanford has become the focus of a grass-roots effort to pressure the technology industry to crack down on “conflict minerals.”

BIG CITY

Arabic Class Becomes a Popular Choice

By SUSAN DOMINUS

The language course at Friends Seminary, a school in the East Village, is influencing students before and after graduation.

• Columnist Page

CHEAT SHEET

Under Pressure, Teachers Tamper With Tests

By TRIP GABRIEL

Experts say cases of teachers altering test scores have risen along with the stakes involved in testing.

• Read Comments (372)

Students to Protest Possible End of Free Rides

By SHARON OTTERMAN

The event will come one day after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced the start of a task force to combat absenteeism and truancy.

Schools Matter: Charter Industry's New Spin on Rotten Charter Schools: Blame Parents and Educators

Schools Matter: Charter Industry's New Spin on Rotten Charter Schools: Blame Parents and Educators

Charter Industry's New Spin on Rotten Charter Schools: Blame Parents and Educators

Even though Newsweek has earned its demise through its allegiance to the corporate information filters, it has apparently decided to double down on its commitment to misleading the public, particularly on education issues. This week's leading entry is an unsigned piece called "Understanding Charter Schools" that breaks new ground by reporting on the only peer-reviewed national charter study exactly a year after the study was released in June 2009:

. . . it came as a bit of a shock to the community of educational reformers last year when a study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) found that 37 percent of charter schools produce

NorthJersey.com: Thousands celebrate at NYC Puerto Rican Day Parade

NorthJersey.com: Thousands celebrate at NYC Puerto Rican Day Parade

Thousands celebrate at NYC Puerto Rican Day Parade

Sunday, June 13, 2010
LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY JUNE 13, 2010, 5:40 PM

WIRE SERVICE

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — With smiles and cheers, music and dancing, a sea of revelers decked out in the red, white and blue of Puerto Rico's flag stood along Fifth Avenue on Sunday to celebrate the Puerto Rican Day Parade.

AP

Parade king Marc Anthony and his wife Jennifer Lopez make their way up Fifth Avenue during the Puerto Rican Day Parade Sunday.

"I like to see the people with all the energy they have," said 68-year-old Jorge Malave of West New York, N.J., a regular at the parade who was born in Puerto Rico and came to the United States when he was 10.
Claudia Albarado was lined up next to the parade route by 8:30 a.m., hours before the start, to stake out a good spot. The 65-year-old, born in Puerto Rico and living in Union City, N.J., was wearing a T-shirt that said "When I die and Heaven does not want me, take me straight to Puerto Rico."
"I see all my people here. I'm very happy," she said.
The annual event is known for bringing out huge crowds — Sunday's parade-goers stood several people deep to watch — as it makes its way up Fifth Avenue with