Thursday, June 17, 2010

Media Advisories | U.S. Department of Education

Media Advisories

JUNE 19, 2010

Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans to Deliver Commencement Address at Cal State University San Bernardino

Juan Sepulveda, executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, will deliver the commencement addresses for the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the College of Education at California State University San Bernardino on Saturday, June 19.

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Media Advisories

JUNE 18, 2010

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education to Visit Peoria, Tour School and Meet with Local Officials

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller will travel to Peoria on Friday, June 18, to visit Peoria High School and Glen Oak School and meet with school board members, state legislators, education stakeholders and elected officials.

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Media Advisories

JUNE 18, 2010

Under Secretary Kanter to Deliver Keynote Address at Governor's Summit on Workforce Solutions in Wyoming

U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter will be the keynote speaker at the Governor’s Summit on Workforce Solutions at 8:45 a.m. MDT on Friday, June 18, in Casper, Wyoming. The event is sponsored by the Wyoming Workforce Development Council.

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Media Advisories

JUNE 17, 2010

Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans to Deliver Keynote Address at the National Latino Education Institute's Annual Dinner

Juan Sepulveda, executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, will deliver the keynote address at the National Latino Education Institute's Annual Dinner on Thursday, June 17 in Chicago.

What's Life Like For Gay Kids In Public Schols? : NPR

What's Life Like For Gay Kids In Public Schols?

High school is a challenging time for most teens. It can be even more so for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. Judy Chiasson of the Los Angeles Unified School District and Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network talk about being openly LGBT in school.

School Tech Connect: Thank You, David Warlick

Thank You, David Warlick

by Tim

David Warlick has done the country a favor by writing a mass howdy-do to Yong Zhao, a distinguished scholar from Michigan State, where I am also affiliated (by virtue of the fact that my favorite sweatshirt says "Michigan State" on it, and I've driven through Michigan many, many times.)

Professor Zhao has written a great piece about a local-based, entrepreneurial-in-spirit program in the UK, and how it's produced great results in lowering C02 emissions. He says the same kind of policy here, applied to education, would be a much wiser investment than the Race to the Flop, which I believe @DianeRav was madly tweeting about last night from New York. There isn't a single thing in the UK program that wouldn't appeal to people on both sides of America's political continuum. It's like "A Thousand Points of Light," except it's an actua

HISD loses four more principals to KIPP | School Zone | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

« Alief superintendent plans to retire | Main | Only 15 percent of HISD freshmen graduate college -- UPDATED »

June 17, 2010

HISD loses four more principals to KIPP

Pamela Farinas, the principal of Houston ISD's Foerster Elementary, was honored Wednesday night as Principal of the Year for the district's west region. It turns out that was her final hurrah in the state's largest school district. Farinas is headed to the popular KIPP charter school chain. She will be a deputy head of schools and school leader (KIPP lingo for principal) at LIPP Liberation College Prep).

KIPP-co-founder Mike Feinberg, who began his career as a Teach for America teacher in HISD, also confirmed today that he has snagged a few other leaders from the school district:

-Daphane Carter, the principal of Bonham Elementary, is leaving to be a deputy head of schools and school leader at KIPP Spirit College Prep.

-Bill Sorrells, the principal of Thomas Middle School, is the new school leader at KIPP Polaris Academy for Boys.

-Eric Coleman, the principal of Westbury High School, will be a deputy head of schools at KIPP.

-As we've already reported, Paul Castro, the Westside High School principal who moved to Lee High School for a few months, will be a head of schools at KIPP.

It looks like the KIPP expansion, the 10-year plan to grow fivefold to 42 schools in Houston, is hitting HISD hard, at least in the leadership ranks. You'll remember that HISD

Only 15 percent of HISD freshmen graduate college -- UPDATED

The Houston school board heard a sobering statistic this morning: Only 15 percent of the school district's ninth-graders had college degrees four years after high school graduation day. This isn't an estimate (UPDATE: It's partly an estimate. See explanation below). This number tracks actual students from HISD with the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that partners with public and private colleges. The only data we've had before is from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and that includes only those students who stay in state, so this is powerful information — which I'd like to see other school districts compile as well.

To HISD's credit, it asked the Apollo Consulting Group to dig into lots of student achievement data as part of the process to develop a strategic plan for the district.

But more on those staggering numbers: Of HISD's first-year freshmen, 69 percent graduate from high school, 52 percent enroll in two-year or four-year colleges and 15 percent graduate from those colleges within four years (UPDATE: It's actually four-and-a-half years). The chart below highlights this data.

UPDATE (2 p.m.): I've talked to Apollo's data guru, and she explains that the data covers two different sets of students, so there are some estimates here. The high school graduation rate is based on the Class of 2008. Of the 9,517 HISD freshmen in 2004-05, 69 percent of them

Jefferson High supporters urge Portland School Board to save school | OregonLive.com

Jefferson High supporters urge Portland School Board to save school

Published: Thursday, June 17, 2010, 9:47 AM Updated: Thursday, June 17, 2010, 11:52 AM

Allan Brettman, The Oregonian
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The OregonianRobin Beavers, Terese Brazzle, Mikayla Melson, Iyesha Rosser, and Jay'Neisha Davis (left to right) sit in front of the Portland Public School Board members during an open hearing. "We want them to have to look into the students faces," said Lisa Manning, a Jefferson alumna. Arkasha Stevenson/The OregonianStudents, community leaders rally in support of Jefferson High gallery (5 photos)More than 400 people cheered and chanted support Wednesday night for Jefferson High School, urging the Portland School Board to retreat from possible closure of the school.

Instead, they got a promise of more public forums and a prediction of a vote on the closure proposal the week of June 28.

The show of support lasted about a half-hour and featured eight impassioned speeches from alumni, neighborhood advocates, the Pink Martini band founder and a chief organizer of the show of support.

"We will be back, en masse, in the same way" at future public forums, Tony Hopson, president of Self Enhancement Inc., told school board members.

Six buses brought many of the supporters to the school district's administration building north of the Rose Garden.

They turned out after board members indicated last week that they might close Jefferson or drastically alter its mission. Superintendent Carole Smith originally proposed closing Marshall and revamping Benson in the high school reorganization plan she unveiled in April.

After Hopson spoke, Ron Herndon, leader of the National Head Start Association, offered a historical glimpse of how the school district has treated the North Portland neighborhood surrounding Jefferson.

Herndon recounted years of busing African American children out of the neighborhood to a variety of schools, while white children were bused into African American neighborhoods to attend district-

Wilsonville library expands summer reading program Library hope to encourage students to explore science during the summer and continue learning even on break.

Findley Elementary School unicyclists roll in Rose Festival Junior Parade The event is a culmination of students' training to build balance and abdominal strength, says physical education specialist Jon Onishi, who leads the Unicycle Club of about 50 kids in second through fifth grades.

Special needs students at Kinnaman Elementary find their voice in musical "Jungle Book" The Independent Skills Center pairs youngsters, many of them nonverbal, with fifth-grade buddies to put on the end-of-year performance.

A late-1970s snapshot: The familiar face of a young union activist | GothamSchools

A late-1970s snapshot: The familiar face of a young union activist

by Philissa Cramer

: L-R: Al Shanker, Paul Bradford, David Bloomfield.

Three decades before he became a GothamSchools contributor, education lawyer David Bloomfield was a young teacher trying to organize his colleagues.
While working to unionize teachers at the New Lincoln School, a now-defunct experimental private school in Manhattan, Bloomfield got help from United Federation of Teachers founder and then-president Al Shanker. In the background of the photograph they took together is Paul Bradford, the UFT liaison assigned to New Lincoln who

The Women's Conference - Empowerment, Inspiration and Education for Women - The Home for Architects of Change

It's Time...

Maria Shriver

Along with The Women’s Conference team, I am thrilled to announce our most extraordinary lineup of speakers and events yet for the 2010 Conference on October 24 - 26. For our theme this year, we have chosen “It's Time.” It’s a phrase that so many of us use without really thinking about it. We use it when we're finally ready to make a decisive change in our lives. We often say, "It's time for me to find a new job or start my own business or work on a cause...”

SHOCKER: Contractors To Help ED Implement Stimulus Reforms - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Contractors To Help ED Implement Stimulus Reforms - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Contractors To Help ED Implement Stimulus Reforms

by Michele McNeil

When I talked to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan earlier this week about the transition in his chief of staff post, he talked about the broader shift in the department: from policy formation to policy implementation.
Designing and executing the competitions around Race to the Top and the Investing in Innovation Fund are only a small part of the battle for the department as it pursues its reform agenda. Next comes implementation. States and i3 winners must make these reforms happen, and the department must hold them accountable.
To that end, the department needs some outside help.
For Race to the Top, the department wants a contractor to help build a "technical assistance network" for the states that win these grants. I am not an expert in federal procurement, but it looks like the department istargeting specific consulting firms for this work, such as Westat, American Institutes for Research, and KPMG.

This Week In Education Graduation: Nearly 80K Heading To Military

This Week In Education

Graduation: Nearly 80K Heading To Military

"In a country that has been at war for nearly nine years, principals and students at highly regarded suburban schools say that interest has been growing in the military — and not

Budgets: "Lay Us Off And The Kids Will Die"

That's the message from some public employee groups fighting against looming budget cuts, according to this USA Today story and the accompanying photo (from

Class Size: Impact Of Layoffs Smaller Than You Might Think

"300,000 teacher layoffs would increase the national student-teacher ratio in public schools from 15.3 to 1, to 16.6 to 1 – roughly where it was in 1997... 100,000 teacher layoffs would increase it to 15.6 to 1 – the 2005 level.

Perdaily.com Pali Charter... The Rich Getting Richer

Perdaily.com

Pali Charter... The Rich Getting Richer

by Leonard

Here's a little something that we received from an ex-teacher of Palisades Charter High School describing their never ending quest to be financially irresponsible...

Ex-Teacher:

"At the meeting of the Board of Directors of Palisades Charter High School on June 5, 2010, the outgoing Executive Director Ms. Dresser-Held presented a new salary schedule for school administrators. Now their salaries will grow by $ 5,000 each year plus the same annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) raise that the faculty might subsequently get. Thus, in five years, an administrative

"Most Aggressively Inarticulate Generation?" - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

"Most Aggressively Inarticulate Generation?"

A Case For Debating Teams
Funny & Sharp 2 Minute Video Below

With the warnings about our culture's lack of empathy, attention span, scrutiny and desire for depth having reached a near cacophonous pitch, there are some powerful initiatives schools and teachers can implement to counter-balance this trend.

Much of it arises from the lack of opportunity students have in most classrooms to engage in a good ole' fashioned debate. It's hard to hide essential communication skills in a format geared for thinking and speaking on the fly. Plus, students will learn what due diligence is really all about -- that research and analysis prior to the debate may save their butts more often than not, and lend them more opportunities to shine.

"Is Shakespeare relevant?" would be a topic that would be most difficult for a student adept at counting on Cliff Notes' "cram" sessions for prep work. Plus, by switching students to present the side they least agree with is one of the great standard debating tricks that teaches empathy. (If only Congress could try it for a day). And, as long as we can utilize debating as an opportunity to bring in some meaty content, as opposed to "tackling" fluff topics, such as "Does Lady Gaga's drama have a negative effect on our culture?" - - we may be on to something.

Why are debating teams and clubs in so few schools? And, why are they often viewed as "for nerds" except perhaps in tony private schools where there is a tradition of debate?

What do you think? Does it take a hit show -- look what Fox did for musicals and Glee Clubs --

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Thursday, June 17, 2010