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Monday, June 21, 2010

A Struggle to Educate the Severely Disabled Education News - The New York Times

Education News - The New York Times

N.Y.U. Abu Dhabi Scours Globe for Top Students

By LISA W. FODERARO
New York University’s school in Abu Dhabi will be downtown until 2014, when an island campus is expected to be completed.
Erin Callihan/NYU Abu Dhabi
New York University’s school in Abu Dhabi will be downtown until 2014, when an island campus is expected to be completed.
The new four-year university in Abu Dhabi drew more than 9,000 applicants and has accepted fewer than 200.
COMMENCEMENT SPEECHES
Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered the commencement address at St. Lawrence University.

Wisdom of Leaders, Dreamers and an Expert at Kissing

By SAM DILLON
A sampling of what was said to the graduates of 2010 in commencement addresses across the country.
Donovan Forde, left, is visited by his mother, Michelle Forde, and half-brother, Zion, at a nursing facility in New York.

A Struggle to Educate the Severely Disabled

By SHARON OTTERMAN
School districts try to balance instruction in functional skills and academics with providing custodial care.

City Opens East Side’s First New Public School Building in 50 Years

By STEPHEN CEASAR
East Side Middle School, which shares a plot with a new high-rise apartment building, will help relieve overcrowding.
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Stimulus surge in store for Sacramento region - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee

Stimulus surge in store for Sacramento region - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee

Stimulus surge in store for Sacramento region

By Phillip Reese
preese@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jun. 21, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
Less than half of the $1.1 billion in stimulus money destined for the Sacramento area has been spent – meaning the federal government will play a significant role in propping up the local economy for years to come.
Money has been rolling slowly into the region for the past 16 months, part of an estimated $85


Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/21/2836494/stimulus-surge-in-store-for-sacramento.html#ixzz0rUKzZL1T

School cuts postponed

The first stimulus dollars spent were awarded for "fiscal stabilization" – plugging state and local government deficits. The lion's share of that money went to school districts.
Local districts regionwide would have had fewer teachers, more-crowded classrooms and fewer academic offerings this past year without the $158 million they received in stimulus funding.
Elk Grove Unified got the most, about $21 million
"We've faced $100 million in budget reductions over a three-year period, and we're trying to keep people in place as long as possible," said Elk Grove Unified spokeswoman Elizabeth Graswich.
Sacramento City Unified used $19.2 million in stimulus dollars over the past year to shore up its budget. San Juan Unified received and spent $17.3 million.
With that stimulus money now gone, most districts are making cuts, particularly to teacher pay and benefits.
"In the absence of the stimulus, they've had to turn to concessions from the unions," said Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David Gordon.
O'Keefe said the federal money simply delayed by a year the school cuts playing out now. Michael agreed, but said that isn't a bad thing: While it lasted, the stimulus money helped a lot of kids and paid school workers, letting them continue to spend.
The rest of the stimulus money spent so far – about $170 million – has gone to a hodgepodge of


Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/21/2836494/stimulus-surge-in-store-for-sacramento.html#ixzz0rUKsWqoH
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Education | Washington educators, leaders aim for progress with new tribal curriculum | Seattle Times Newspaper

Education | Washington educators, leaders aim for progress with new tribal curriculum | Seattle Times Newspaper

Washington educators, leaders aim for progress with new tribal curriculum

As part of a 2005 law that encourages Washington school districts to teach the history and culture of Washington tribes, a partnership of the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, tribes and school districts has developed a tribal sovereignty curriculum that will be available to all teachers this fall.
By Linda Shaw
Seattle Times education reporter
Selected goals of tribal-sovereignty curriculum
Elementary school:
• Understand that there are more than 500 independent tribal nations and that they deal with the United States and one another on a government-to-government basis.
• Define tribal sovereignty as "a way that tribes govern themselves in order to keep and support their cultural ways of life."
• Identify the names and locations of tribes in their area.
Middle school:
• Understand that under the U.S. Constitution, treaties are "the supreme law of the land."
• Understand that tribes are subject to federal law and taxes, as well as some state regulations.
• Understand that levels of sovereignty vary from tribe to tribe and that there are continued threats to tribal sovereignty.
High school:
• Recognize landmark court decisions and legislation bearing on tribal sovereignty.
• Understand that tribal sovereignty works toward protecting tribes' ways of life and toward the development of their nations.
• Explain the governmental structure of at least one tribe in their community.
Source: Since Time Immemorial — Tribal Sovereignty Curriculum
Tribal-sovereignty workshops
In August, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is offering free teacher-training workshops:
Aug. 2: Squaxin Tribe's Little Creek Hotel, Kamilche
Aug. 3: Suquamish Tribe's Kiana Lodge, Poulsbo
Aug. 4: Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe Community Center, Sequim
Aug. 9: Muckleshoot Tribal School, Auburn
Aug. 11: Tulalip Tribes' Administration Building, Marysville
Aug. 16: Kalispel Tribe's Northern Quest Hotel, Airway Heights
Aug. 18: Heritage University, Toppenish
Information
Contact the Indian Education Office at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, 360-725-6160.
This is part of an occasional series highlighting promising programs, creative teachers and life inside local classrooms.
KINGSTON, Kitsap County — Randi Purser stands before a group of middle-school students, a dozen woodcarving tools spread before her. As she explains why she started carving a few years ago, she interweaves the history and culture of her tribe, whose reservation is just down the road from Kingston Middle School.
She tells the students how Suquamish tribal members once carved everything from totem poles to boxes and tools. How she dives for geoducks to make a living, under her tribe's treaty rights.
Purser's visit isn't just a one-shot glimp
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Schools Matter: From the Asinine File...

Schools Matter: From the Asinine File...

From the Asinine File...

by Kenneth Libby

Here’s the context: While discussing the proposed tightening of regulation of Wall Street, [Mayor Bloomberg] noted that some of the union protesters who staged a rally against budget cuts this week outside City Hall had railed about “getting even with bankers.”
The mayor suggested that since taxes from Wall Street earnings and bonuses pay for their salaries, “our
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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky
Deep pockets

When Diane Ravitch, was asked whether the Kauffman Foundation’s plan to start a charter school is a positive development, she quipped in an e-mail message to Edweek:
“And what will they prove? That lots of resources make a difference and that every school should have someone with deep pockets to keep classes small and keep the school well-supplied with the best of everything...If they succeed, perhaps they will prove that we should do the same for every school.”
TFA grad, Marguerite
"My students need experienced teachers who know what works and can implement it effectively.
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Sunday, June 20, 2010

Lessons from My Father


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Blog U.: Basecamp, E-mail and Projects - Technology and Learning - Inside Higher Ed

Blog U.: Basecamp, E-mail and Projects - Technology and Learning - Inside Higher Ed


  • Basecamp, E-mail and Projects

    By Joshua Kim June 20, 2010 9:11 pm
    Will we ever get beyond e-mail as the main tool to manage our project communications? Everyone I know believes that e-mail is a terrible tool to keep track of all the tasks, to dos, milestones, decencies, and people related to projects. We are all overwhelmed by too much e-mail, and therefore likely to miss key communications related to our projects. E-mail makes it difficult to achieve a holistic view of the entire project process, forcing us to wade through numerous screens to see project communication. Nor does e-mail allow us to place project related messages with project related documents, links or materials.
    E-mail for project management is also sub-optimal when it comes to communicating

    • 'Am I Crazy?'

      By Susan O'Doherty June 20, 2010 6:47 pm
      Hello, Mama Ph.D.,
      I love your blog and have found it to be quite helpful as I consider a career in academia. I am 28 years old with a family and a house, but I am fairly disenchanted with the "real world" despite the financial stability that it offers for my family. I have not found the proverbial passion in the corporate world that career counselors would encourage me to follow, and the one thing that I do truly love is higher education. I am considering a career change to either become a higher education administrator or to pursue a faculty position following a Ph.D. program (my preference would be for the latter).
      Given all of the negative information concerning the pursuit of tenure t

      A Grating Exam

      By Herman Berliner June 20, 2010 8:11 pm
      Anytime a semester ends, there are always multiple conversations about final examinations. And final exams come in all sizes and shapes. Not surprising, faculty focus their attention on the quality of the student work be it in response to short or multiple choice questions or in response to essay or term paper assignments. Students tend to talk about whether an exam was “fair”: in other words did it cover the materials that the students were responsible for. After that, the students tend to focus on whether the exam was clear or confusing and whether it was easy or hard. Certainly there are extremes in all these categories but for the most part, faculty view the students’ work to be reasonable and responsible and students view the examination to also be reasonable and responsible.


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Kyron Horman update: Read statement by Captain Gates on rumors and Terri Horman

Kyron Horman update: Read statement by Captain Gates on rumors and Terri Horman
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Career Day in South Los Angeles � InterACT

Career Day in South Los Angeles � InterACT

Career Day in South Los Angeles

by Martha Infante
Click to view slideshow.
This year I had the pleasure of serving on the Career Day committee and on June 16, 2010 our school held its first ever Career Day (we are a rather new school.) As Career Day came to a close, I was struck by how this time-honored tradition still holds relevance for the students of the new millennium.
First, having outsiders visit our campus is in and of itself quite a feat. Being located in an industrial part of town that few of our visitors would have ever had the need to visit, did not work to our advantage. Yet the speakers took on the challenge and found themselves pleasantly surprised with the cleanliness of our campus and the campus design itself. Our speakers were greeted by the most personable, vocal, and charming students on campus: the Advanced Studies students. These students became one on one escorts for our speakers from the moment they arrived campus and were able to give the speakers a sense of the school community and student life.
Having strangers repeat the same exhortations to students (“be on time,” “work hard,” “do your best”) all of a
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