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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

CSU faculty told staff is busy prepping for Palin

CSU faculty told staff is busy prepping for Palin

CSU faculty told staff is busy prepping for Palin

Wednesday, June 23, 2010
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(06-23) 18:03 PDT Turlock, Calif. (AP) --
Professors at California State University, Stanislaus say campus staff are working hard to prepare for Sarah Palin's upcoming visit, despite assurances that a nonprofit foundation is organizing the event.
Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate, is scheduled to headline a black-tie fundraiser on Friday night.
Mark Grobner, who chairs the biology department, says his technician was told Wednesday he could not access a campus truck to pick up a donated piece of equipment because facilities staff were too busy getting ready for the gala event.
Palin's appearance has generated widespread coverage and criticism since it was


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/06/23/state/n172617D21.DTL&type=education#ixzz0rjTOmymu
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Transforming the High School Experience: How New York City’s New Small Schools Are Boosting Student Achievement and Graduation Rates — Overview

Transforming the High School Experience: How New York City’s New Small Schools Are Boosting Student Achievement and Graduation Rates — Overview
Transforming the High School Experience
How New York City’s New Small Schools Are Boosting Student Achievement and Graduation Rates

Howard S. Bloom, Saskia Levy Thompson, and Rebecca Unterman
with
Corinne Herlihy and Collin F. Payne


Related Publications

New York City’s Changing High School Landscape: High Schools and Their Characteristics, 2002-2008

Relationships, Rigor, and Readiness: Strategies for Improving High Schools

Meeting Five Critical Challenges of High School Reform: Lessons from Research on Three Reform Models

Since 2002, New York City has closed more than 20 underperforming public high schools, opened more than 200 new secondary schools, and introduced a centralized high school admissions process in which approximately 80,000 students a year indicate their school preferences from a wide-ranging choice of programs. At the heart of these reforms lie 123 new “small schools of choice” (SSCs) — small, academically nonselective, four-year public high schools for students in grades 9 through 12. Open to students at all levels of academic achievement and located in historically disadvantaged communities, SSCs were intended to be viable alternatives to the neighborhood high schools that were closing.

SSCs are more than just small. They were authorized through a demanding competitive proposal process designed to stimulate innovative ideas for new schools by a range of stakeholders and institutions, from educators to school reform intermediary organizations. The resulting schools emphasize strong, sustained relationships between students and faculty. Each SSC also received start-up funding as well as assistance and policy protections from the district and other key players to facilitate leadership development, hiring, and implementation.
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School Tech Connect: Common Core Will Lead To Communism!

School Tech Connect: Common Core Will Lead To Communism!:

Common Core Will Lead To Communism!

(note: title contains satire)
These are the four dumbest objections to the Common Core that I can think of. Oh look-- they're from Heritage. It's always a little disconcerting to find out you have basically the same net position as Heritage.

I think it's fine to adopt a set of standards if that's what you want to do; I just think the Common Core Standards are a red herring. The problems that children in poverty face will not be helped by shinier standards in the slightest. And they will lead to an awful lot of money being spent on shiny new tests instead of on books that poor kids can access. And tests scores will continue to be waved around like pom poms by every Tom, Dick,
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Superintendent: Cut high school faculties 10 percent, end elementary and middle school PE | OregonLive.com

Superintendent: Cut high school faculties 10 percent, end elementary and middle school PE | OregonLive.com

Superintendent: Cut high school faculties 10 percent, end elementary and middle school PE

Published: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 5:13 PM Updated: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 5:31 PM
Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian
Portland's elementary and middle schools would lose their entire physical education program and the high schools would lose 10 percent of their faculty under Superintendent Carole Smith's plan to deal with a $19 million cut in state funding for next school year.

Layoffs for some Portland Public Schools teachers and increased workloads for those who remain are inevitable, officials said.


Somber-faced school board members heard Smith's plan Wednesday afternoon and will hold a public hearing on it Tuesday evening.

“This is hard to listen to,” said board member David Wynde. “Every person we employ, there is a good reason they're here. This is really, really tough."

Every Oregon district is being asked to take a 9 percent cut in state funding for the coming school year.

In Oregon's largest, Smith recommends cutting the equivalent of 178 teachers – 66 from elementary and middle schools, primarily from physical education; 60 from high schools; 38 from special education; and 14 from English as a second language. She also proposes cutting 25 positions from the district's central office.

Smith said she is not proposing cutting days from the school year, as many districts are doing, because that would be a one-time fix. She believes state school funding will be tight for years to come.

Paring back teachers, while painful, will help the district become leaner for lean times ahead, she said.
She said teachers and other school employees who keep their jobs will have to shoulder a heavier load.
Elementary and middle school teachers without training in P.E. will be called on to help
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N.J. top court upholds lower court's ruling saying state not mandated to pay full teacher pensions | NJ.com

N.J. top court upholds lower court's ruling saying state not mandated to pay full teacher pensions | NJ.com

Plans for Rutgers, Thomas Edison merger are not in $29.4M budget deal

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By Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger

June 23, 2010, 5:38PM
Schools officials anticipate steep budget cuts, while waiting for budget to pass Full story »
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N.J. top court upholds lower court's ruling saying state not mandated to pay full teacher pensions

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By Peggy Ackermann/Statehouse Bureau

June 23, 2010, 4:27PM
The N.J. Supreme Court declined to hear the NJEA's case, upholding the ruling of a lower court. Above, NJEA President Barbara Keshishian. Full story »
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Gov. Christie's town hall meeting gets off to contentious start

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By Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau

June 23, 2010, 2:07PM
Protesters called governor a 'loser,' criticizing $820M in school cuts, while Christie is prodded about national political ambitions Full story »
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North Bergen couple may have faked residency to put daughter through elite N.Y.C. schools

By The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk

June 23, 2010, 12:59PM
NORTH BERGEN -- New York City schools investigators say a North Bergen couple should pay $25,000 for faking a city address to put their daughter through elite public schools, according to a report in the New York Daily News. Officials say Jill Schifter and Anthony Maulella used the address of Upper East Side friends to get their daughter a spot... Full story »
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Bernards school board considers random-drug-testing program

By The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk

June 23, 2010, 9:51AM
BERNARDS — The township school board is considering conducting random drug tests at Ridge High School, but only for those whose parents choose to be in the pool of students, a report in the Daily Record said. A task force presenting its findings at a Board of Education meeting Monday said the proposal would allow parents to decide if children... Full story »
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Gov. Christie to review proposed changes to N.J. school-choice bill

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By Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau

June 23, 2010, 5:10AM
TRENTON — The fate of a school-choice bill backed by Gov. Chris Christie was in flux Tuesday after a sponsor announced significant changes in hopes of winning quick legislative approval. The Republican governor — who has called the bill a first step that could "lead to school vouchers across the state of New Jersey" — said he will review... Full story »
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Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Change

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Change

Change

by coolcatteacher@gmail.com (Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher)
It was 96 degrees as I drove past the Bank of Camilla today to the post office to mail it in. Then, I got there to realize that the post office closes early on Wednesday. It always has and they still do.

So, I ran back to my sister Sarah's office and she's good friends with the FEDEX guy, so she called him and he came on over since he was in that part of town.

While I was waiting on him to get there, I took a look at the pages and wondered what would happen if I just took them and threw them away. That's right.

Threw them away

and just forgot about the last three weeks. All the mornings up at 5 am and writing until 5 pm and yesterday's 19 hour binge of writing.

What if I just pretended it never happened?

I want to savor this moment. Not because it feels good but because it doesn't.

I've always glamorized authors - they are my heroes. Many bloggers are too. Not because they are super

Daily Education & Technology News for Schools 06/23/2010

by coolcatteacher@gmail.com (Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher)

  • If I Were Going To ISTE

    Jennifer Wagner shares a very nice and "on the money" post about what she'd do if she were going to ISTE. IT is a great read for someone going to any conference. I think many of us feel this way, Jennifer. Kudos on a great post.

    tags: education, iste, iste2010

  • The MY HERO Project: Mission Statement

    A great project for teaching digtal storytelling, history, and writing.

    From their homepage:

    "The mission of MY HERO is to use media and technology to celebrate the best of humanity and to empower young people to realize their own potential to effect positive change in the world.

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“Remembering The Korean War, 60 Years Ago” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“Remembering The Korean War, 60 Years Ago” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“Remembering The Korean War, 60 Years Ago” “Remembering The Korean War, 60 Years Ago” is a series of images from The Boston Globe’s Big Picture. I’m adding the link to The Best Sites For Learning About The Korean War.
“Part Forty-Seven Of The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly” The first part of this post is my usual introduction to this series. If you’re familiar with it already, just skip down to the listing of new sites… Here’s the latest installment in my series on The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & ...
Bounce Might Be Good For Annotating Websites…Once They Get It Working *(Since I wrote this post, after trying it several more times, I got Bounce to work. It seems very simple to use, with no registration necessary. I’m adding it to my “The Best…” list on website annotation tools).* Bounce was unveiled today as a new ...
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