Wednesday, June 16, 2010

UMass project must use union laborers - The Boston Globe

UMass project must use unions

Critics say move will boost costs

Globe Staff / June 16, 2010

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A state authority voted this week to mandate the use of union workers on a $750 million overhaul of the University of Massachusetts Boston campus, a contentious decision already making waves in the race for governor.

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The remaking of the campus is a rare mega-project in what remains a sluggish economy for builders. Groups supporting nonunion contractors say the move is anticompetitive, politically motivated, and costly. Supporters of the union-only rule, including Governor Deval Patrick, say it will guarantee a higher quality workforce and eliminate the risk of union strikes, thus diminishing the potential for slowing down the complex overhaul and disrupting life on a working campus.

For Patrick’s Republican opponent, Charles D. Baker, the vote fits into a broader critique of the governor’s leadership. Baker has argued that so-called Project Labor Agreements — which require companies that bid on construction work to hire union workers, in exchange for agreeing not to strike — are among many Beacon Hill practices that favor politically powerful interests at the expense of taxpayers. He has pledged to end them in state contracts if elected.

In a statement yesterday, he asserted that the UMass agreement could add $100 million to the cost of the project, a figure that roughly corresponds to research cited by critics of such agreements but disputed by unions.

Former Georgia Gov. Barnes Courts Unions in Comeback Bid - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Former Georgia Gov. Barnes Courts Unions in Comeback Bid

by Stephen Sawchuk

Once again proving the importance of having union backing, former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes is actively courtingteachers' association support in his bid for a comeback in the Peach state, according to the AP. He's even saying he might back off from a plan to put some teacher-pension funding into riskier investments.
While serving as governor, in 2000, Barnes advanced plans to dismantle due process for teachers. The move led him to lose support from state teachers' association, a situation that many credit with his subsequent re-election loss in 2002.
We just witnessed the inverse of that situation in Florida, where Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed an extremely unpopular bill that would have all but done away with tenure, and was rewarded with an endorsement by the Florida Education Association in his upcoming Senate race.
The Georgia news is particularly interesting given that Barnes co-chaired the Aspen Commission on No Child Left Behind. The group released a series of recommendations for renewing NCLB, one of which included denying

Because There Are No Racists... - National - The Atlantic

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle.

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Because There Are No Racists...

JUN 14 2010, 6:00 PM ET | Comment

From Iowa congressman Steve King:

When you look at this administration, I'm offended by Eric Holder and the President also, their posture. It looks like Eric Holder said that white people in America are cowards when it comes to race. And I don't know what the basis of that is but I'm not a coward when it comes to that and I'm happy to talk about these things and I think we should. But the President has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race - on the side that favors the black person.

As Media Matters notes, Eric Holder said no such thing:

Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards. Though race related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.

Now you don't have to agree with that statement--but on the basic facts, King is simply wrong. More to the point, the charge that SoandSo is "favoring blacks" is not some new evolved tactic.

Antonio Villaraigosa: Good Teachers Make All the Difference

Good Teachers Make All the Difference

Teacher layoffs have a devastating effect on our schools: students are deprived of stablility; staff moral declines; and too often, bright, young, commited teachers are the the first to go.

We can do better. While budget cuts to education are an unavoidable outcome of the economic crisis, we can minimize the impact cuts have on student learning and achievement.

Teachers are the single most valuable resource at our schools, and we can and should ensure that the best and brightest among them remain in ou classrooms.

Today, Boardmembers Yolie Flores and Tamar Galatzan will introduce a resolution to the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education that directs the district to take action and address the disparate impacts seniority based layoffs have on our students and schools.

The resolution calls for the immediate development of a negotiations strategy to reform and improve the collective bargaining agreement that impedes the ability to protect the stability of teaching staffs at all District schools. It also directs the Superintendent to engage the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Counsel, the State Board of Education, UTLA, and other advocates to

Antonio Villaraigosa

Mayor of the City of Los Angeles

Posted: June 15, 2010 10:27 AM

Sacramento Press / Students Succeed Thanks To Business Support

Students Succeed Thanks To Business Support

When Cristo Rey High School opened its doors four years ago, it embarked on a unique program – and with a unique request to the community.

Cristo Rey recruited students of limited financial means who had a goal of attending college. Beyond that goal, the students agreed to embrace an innovative work-study program that would help pay for private Catholic high school education that would have been difficult, if not impossible, for their families to afford.

Among the key ingredients, of course, were the organizations that would partner with Cristo Rey and put the school’s students to work as part of the work-study program.

On June 2, 53 of the school’s first students graduated, culminating a journey that began rather inauspiciously in a modest former elementary school facility in South Sacramento.

As you would expect, parents, extended families and friends came together for the celebration. But they were joined by the students’ co-workers – people who had seen these once-shy 9th graders transformed into capable and confident high school graduates.

It’s not uncommon to hear high school students talk about their classmates as being like family. But many of the Cristo Rey graduates talk about their co-workers as being like family, taking the time out of their days and nights to work with them, provide counsel – and then admire their accomplishments.

Despite the challenges of the Greater Sacramento area’s economy in recent

Nuclear Disarmament � The Quick and the Ed

Nuclear Disarmament

by Chad Aldeman

Will Arne Duncan exercise the “nuclear option” in Race to the Top Round II by declaring that not enough states deserve funding and sending unused funds back to the Treasury? Margot Rogers, the outgoing chief of staff to Secretary Arne Duncan, in an interview with EdWeek’s Michele McNeil, indicates that move is not likely:

Q: The decision to award Race to the Top to Delaware and Tennessee—why those two and not, say, just pick one winner? Or three? Was this a case where [Secretary Duncan] went in his office and thought it over for a half-an-hour and came out and said, “This is the decision”? Or was it the [executive committee] sitting around debating it?
A: In the final analysis, he’s the kind of leader that you know owns those kinds of decisions for this department, and he’s very good at it. This decision—the data drove this decision. There was a big gap between state two and state three, and that’s where you go. The next time, you won’t have

What American Teachers Can Learn From Japan - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

What American Teachers Can Learn From Japan

"Traditional (U.S. teacher) professional development can be likened to a cooking show. Many people watch the show but few actually try the recipe. Even those who actually try it, often run into problems since they are working alone . . . Lesson Study (in Japan) is more like a cooking group that tries the recipe and then collaboratively thinks about how to modify and improve upon it."

"Lesson Study"
How To Improve Teacher Quality In America
A Journal

By Bill Jackson

There has been much talk recently about how to improve teacher quality in America, especially in the areas of mathematics and science where international studies show that we lag consistently behind many other industrialized nations. In the U.S., teachers initially learn how to teach through undergraduate and graduate courses in schools of education. In addition, during the undergraduate experience, a teacher may spend a few weeks or months in an actual classroom as a student teacher. After that, teachers are put in the classroom with the expectation that they are able to teach effectively. Any additional training they receive usually comes in the form of workshops led by outside "experts" but these opportunities are usually few and far between.

Countries with high achievement in mathematics like Japan, take a very different approach to professional training of teachers called Lesson Study ---- a form of professional learning where teachers collaboratively plan, teach, observe, discuss and reflect on actual classroom lessons. I became involved in Lesson Study in 1999 as an eighth grade classroom teacher and it literally transformed my teaching and knowledge of mathematics. (You can read more about this in Part One in my guest post "Singapore Math Demystified".) Today, many schools in the U.S. are

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog

More on the violence/testing connection

Here's Tribune writer Deborah Shelton's take on the NYU study of neighborhood violence and its potential effect on student test scores.

Neighborhood homicides can have a detrimental effect on Chicago schoolchildren's academic performance, whether they witness the violence or not, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Using Chicago crime reports and the reading and vocabulary assessments of a sample of Chicago children, sociologist Patrick Sharkey of New York University found African-American children scored substantially lower on reading and vocabulary tests within a week of a homicide in

Shop Talk: To Teach, a Journey in Comics with Bill Ayers

Event Details

When

06/18/2010
5:00pm - 6:30pm

Where

Ron's Barber Shop

6058 W North Ave

Chicago, IL, 60639-3952

See map: Google Maps

County:

Cook

Fee:

Free. Open to the public.

“Myths tower above the world of teaching like giant, fire-breathing dragons,” says Bill Ayers in his new graphic memoir, To Teach: A Journey in Comics. Chapter by chapter, sharp black-and-white drawings give life to Ayer’s vision of teaching in this extraordinary comic book. Join us at Ron’s Barber Shop for this conversation with Bill Ayers about the different struggles that teachers face.

IRRPP will provide a limited number of free books to discussion participants.

More about Bill Ayers Bill Ayers is a school reform activist and Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is founder of the Center for Youth and Society and founder and co-director of the Small Schools Workshop. He has written extensively about social justice, democracy, and education. His book, Fugitive Days, is a memoir that chronicles the anti-war movement of the 60s.

This series is presented in partnership with The Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and The Public Square.

Free and open to the public. For more information, call 312.422.5580.

If you need a sign interpreter or require other arrangements to fully participate, please call 312.422.5580. For parking locations near the facility, please visit ChicagoParkingMap.com.

This Week In Education: Tests: Too Many Tough Tests -- Or Too Few?

Tests: Too Many Tough Tests -- Or Too Few?

by Alexander Russo

Post_full_127474113107_EducationMicrolending

I asked FairTest's Bob Schaeffer what percentage of tests he thought qualified as high stakes in the sense that they directly affected students' or teachers' lives. My guess was 10 percent. He came up with an interesting back of the envelope calculation of 30-50 percent (see below). It's an interesting rundown, though I think that overstates the case by quite a lot. For me, the problem isn't that there are too many high stakes tests but rather that there are too many low-quality / low rigor tests that are too easy for most kids and schools to pass, and then too little done for the relatively few kids and schools that can't pass muster. Many if not most tests are not high stakes in the way people might think.
"In the 50% of states which have exit exams, passing the 10th grade test is a near-absolute gatekeeper for access to a regular high school diploma In Florida, Texas, etc. tests are also used for promotion/retention decisions, typically in 3rd grade (need to check with Jack Jennings or ECS to see how many states now have such policies). Not sure of the source, but I have heard it said repeatedly that, for a young child, fear or being

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