Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Schools' stimulus spending tough to track amid varied reporting rules | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Schools' stimulus spending tough to track amid varied reporting rules

07:12 AM CDT on Tuesday, July 6, 2010

By JESSICA MEYERS and KAREL HOLLOWAY / The Dallas Morning News
jmeyers@dallasnews.com kholloway@dallasnews.com

Alongside textbooks and technology, Texas school districts have doled out stimulus money to car dealerships, Atmos Energy and neighboring cities.

Why? It's hard to tell.

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Districts must report whom they've paid when they spend at least $25,000 in stimulus funds, but don't have to say what they've purchased. Anything less than that doesn't require federal reporting.

The state education agency asks districts to explain how they will spend their share of $7.1 billion, but the public can't obtain the information easily. Since few districts break down the purchases, most taxpayers don't know how their stimulus money gets spent.

"It's terribly complicated for most people, even parents who work in the business world," said Sandy Maddox, the deputy

To Stop Cheats, Colleges Learn Their Trickery - NYTimes.com

To Stop Cheats, Colleges Learn Their Trickery

By TRIP GABRIEL

Steve Johnson for The New York Times

Jeremy Baumann monitored cameras that were trained on students at the testing center at the University of Central Florida.

At the University of Central Florida, a testing center uses cameras and computers to try to cut down on cheating.

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Teachers’ Union Shuns Obama Aides at Convention

By SAM DILLON

In a sign of the Obama administration’s strained relations with teachers’ unions, no federal official was scheduled to speak at either union’s convention this month.

Andy Tureff working with International Baccalaureate students at Greely High School in Maine.

International Program Catches On in U.S. Schools

By TAMAR LEWIN

The International Baccalaureate, an alternative to the Advanced Placement program, is offered in 700 schools.

Budget Deficit and Wars’ Cost Draw Fire on the Home Front

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

The debate over an $82 billion war spending bill has opened up a clash between House Democrats and the White House over the deficit and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Oral History Of The U.S. House Of Representatives” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“Oral History Of The U.S. House Of Representatives” “Oral History Of The U.S. House Of Representatives” appears to be a surprisingly engaging and accessible site about….the U.S. House of Representatives. It has tons of multimedia features, lesson plans, the videos have accessible transcripts and an ...

“Robben Island Soccer League” Robben Island Soccer League is the title of a New York Times slideshow about the soccer league apartheid opponents organized at the infamous South African prison. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The World Cup.

New Media charter school satisfies SRC conditions for operating charter | Philadelphia Inquirer | 07/05/2010

New Media charter school satisfies SRC conditions for operating charter

By Martha Woodall

Inquirer Staff Writer

The New Media Technology Charter School in Northwest Philadelphia is finally getting its new operating charter.
It took more than a year, but with the departure of the acting board president Wednesday night, the troubled school has satisfied 23 conditions the School Reform Commission required to renew its operating charter.
The SRC acted after The Inquirer reported allegations of financial mismanagement and conflicts of interest involving the school's founders in the spring of 2009.
The school has a new seven-member board and a new chief executive officer, and has adopted a series of strict financial and ethics policies.
"The new board is focused on working for the best interests of the individuals they serve," Michael Frattone, a lawyer who represents New Media, said in a statement Friday. "Although it may take some time, they are eager to work through any ongoing issues as quickly as possible, and focus on providing a strong educational foundation for the students, administrators, and parents of New Media Technology Charter School."
The school, which opened in 2004, has 483 students in grades five through 12 on campuses in the Stenton and Germantown neighborhoods. The renewal allows the school to operate until June 30, 2014.
Even though New Media is getting a new charter, a federal criminal investigation is continuing, according to

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Report Card on the Schools

The Inquirer's annual survey of education in the region, with a searchable database of school and district information, and multimedia profiles of area students and high schools.

A Doorway Back

With the dropout problem in Philadelphia at crisis proportions, a chance-of-a-lifetime program offers 40 select students a shot at breaking the cycle of failure. But can they take advantage?

New Media charter school satisfies SRC conditions for operating charter: The New Media Technology Charter School in Northwest Philadelphia is finally getting its new operating charter. It took more than a year, but with the departure of the acting board president Wednesday night, the troubled school has satisfied 23 conditions the School Reform Commission required to renew its operating charter.
New Jersey camp inspires girls to think big: Ten-year-old Zoe Dillard, a 4-foot-tall self-proclaimed scientist, speaks confidently about a woman's role in the world and her plans to save the planet.

Local News | Seattle Schools superintendent sets ambitious agenda | Seattle Times Newspaper

Seattle Schools superintendent sets ambitious agenda

Seattle schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who just ended her third year in the city, is about to embark on a handful of academic initiatives, including a new school-improvement plan that will support and pressure schools to improve.

By Linda Shaw

Seattle Times education reporter

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Maria Goodloe-Johnson

In her first three years in Seattle, schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson closed schools, oversaw a new student-assignment plan, added an exam that students take three times a year and revamped the way the district funds schools.

And she's just getting started. To date, much of what she's done has laid the groundwork for what's next: a handful of academic initiatives with the kind of accountability Goodloe-Johnson has talked about since she arrived.

One big one, to be rolled out this November, is a new school-improvement plan that will include a new scorecard for each school that measures both achievement and improvement in a number of areas — not just test scores, but also such things as credits earned and number of students in advanced classes.

Schools high in both will be able to continue much as before. But those with low scores and little improvement will get a lot of attention from the central office — more financial support, but also more direction.

The idea is not to rank schools — that doesn't help students, she says. But in an effort to infuse accountability throughout the school district, Goodloe-Johnson says she wants to make it clear where each school stands, and insist on improvement where it's needed.

"Accountability is key to success in anything we do," she said. "It's just like losing weight. Drink the water, exercise. Don't eat fat stuff. Then you hold yourself accountable by getting on the scale.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Deficits Shrinking Most in Decades as Growth Lets S&P 500 Rally - BusinessWeek

Deficits Shrinking Most in Decades as Growth Lets S&P 500 Rally

July 05, 2010, 7:04 PM EDT

STORY TOOLS

By Rich Miller and Simon Kennedy

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Industrial countries are embarking on the most aggressive tightening of fiscal policy in more than four decades, led by the U.S. and Britain, as governments gamble they can pare debt without strangling an economic recovery.

Rich nations will reduce their primary budget deficits, excluding interest payments, by 1.6 percentage points next year, the most since the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development began keeping records in 1970, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. economists. The budget squeeze will lop 0.9 percentage point off growth in 2011.

Even as President Barack Obama warns his counterparts to be wary of derailing demand, U.S. gross domestic product will be reduced by 1.3 percentage points next year when his $787 billion stimulus program expires. That compares with a drag of 0.7 percentage point in the euro-area and 2.4 points in the U.K., JPMorgan calculates.

What’s your 3rd Favourite Colour? �Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

What’s your 3rd Favourite Colour?

"Dad, what's your 3rd favourite colour?"

My youngest daughter is known for asking these types of questions. She has actually asked that one but usually the questions are more about a favourite part of a movie, what's your favourite vacation spot, etc. That's pretty typical for kids and even adults. We love to order and rank things. I have many favourites. But when does it go too far? Are these lists of favourites personal or is their value in crowd sourcing our favourites?

I think there is a place for ranking. But not for everything.

Trip Advisor is a great example of crowd sourcing and rating. It may not be definitive but provides a useful beginning in making a financial investment. Digg and Youtube are fine examples of places that use rating systems to determine popularity but not necessarily quality. That can be useful but not definitive.

It starts to bother me however when we feel compelled to create list of greatness when it comes to people who, because of their generosity have chosen to use their cognitive surplus to share online. These folks, and I'm mostly speaking about educators, have joined a revolution of sharing and connecting and have worked together, mostly for free, to learn together. That's pretty darn cool. Deciding to rank and rate them is a little like having a potluck dinner and then having a vote at the end as to who made the best meal. What would be the point other than to single out a few and let others feel less than worthy.

I love the social nature of the web. Anyone who knows me gets that. I also like recognition. I like to contribute and like to know I'm helping folks. I get that r

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: KIPP San Antonio

KIPP San Antonio

by The Perimeter Primate

CHARTER SCHOOL FUNDS, EMPLOYEE VANISH, January 14, 2010, San Antonio Express-News

Leaders of KIPP San Antonio, a branch of one of the most successful charter school programs in the country, are reeling after learning a former employee may have embezzled tens of thousands of dollars from the school district's accounts.
According to KIPP board member Michele Brown, a member of the district's financial operation's team who was working from home last Thursday stopped returning phone calls and e-mail after 12 p.m.
The next morning, one of KIPP's financial institutions contacted officials to alert them to suspicious activity on an account. The employee didn't show up to work Friday and has not been located since.
So far, officials have determined that a sum “in the low six figures” was missing. Brown declined to reveal the total amount because officials still are going through all their accounts. The employee was fired for not showing up to work.
The Police Department's white-collar crimes division is investigating, and police say the former employee, whom KIPP and SAPD declined to name, is a suspect...

Blog U.: Preparing for Dying Industries - Confessions of a Community College Dean - Inside Higher Ed

Preparing for Dying Industries
By Dean Dad July 5, 2010 9:39 pm

Should a community college train people for the industries that are currently there, or for the industries that seem likely to be there in the near future?
I’ve been chewing on this one in light of some recent proposals floating around to get students prepared to certain kinds of manufacturing firms that, in my humble estimation, may not be much longer for this continent. (To be fair, a similar objection could be lodged at certain kinds of journalism programs, though I suspect that journalism will morph rather than die.)
I can imagine arguments on both sides, and I’ll admit being half-convinced by each.
On one side is the perfectly valid argument that students need jobs now, not years from now, and there’s an inherent difficulty (if not arrogance) in trying to read the future. While some broad, system-level trends may be legible, they don’t necessarily tell you what will happen in any given local market, or with any given company. Even if, say, manufacturing is on the decline nationally, that doesn’t mean that every single manufacturing company will either go under or go overseas. And if a few of the survivors are local, why the hell not prepare students for them?
There’s some truth to that. Even if the job only lasts a few years, that’s still a few years of gainful employment that might not have occurred otherwise. And who’s to say that one opportunity won’t lead to another?
But then there’s bitter experience. Having gone to grad school in an evergreen discipline in the 90’s, I saw and experienced firsthand the frustration of doing everything right only to emerge with a credential nobody wants. Having grown up in a city that’s still paying the price for putting so many eggs in the basket of a single industry, only to wind up with egg on its
Recommending Kamenetz's DIY U Book Joshua Kim
Sum ... Sum ... Summertime G. Rendell

Schools Matter: NJ High School Proficiency Test Blocks 3,000 from Diplomas

NJ High School Proficiency Test Blocks 3,000 from Diplomas

by Jim Horn

From Atlantic City Press:

Almost 3,000 high school seniors statewide did not graduate this June because they failed to pass a required state test or win their appeal to the state Department of Education.

Information supplied by the state DOE on Thursday shows that 1,357 students did graduate through one of the special appeals processes announced in June. But 2,904 seniors have still not met the state testing requirement for graduation. They will get one more chance this summer through an online review process provided by the state and a final testing at the end of July.

DOE spokesman Alan Guenther said about 1,500 students have already registered for the summer

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