Lincoln High School to add Arabic classes | OregonLive.com

Lincoln High School to add Arabic classes | OregonLive.com

Lincoln High School to add Arabic classes

Published: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 3:33 PM Updated: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 3:43 PM

Carolina Hidalgo, The Oregonian
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Lincoln High School will offer introductory Arabic to nearly 50 students this fall, making it the only public high school in the state -- and one of a handful on the West Coast -- to teach the language.

The Portland School Board this week approved a $70,000 grant from Qatar Foundation International, a Washington, D.C., group that promotes cross-cultural understanding through education. The money is enough to pay a full-time teacher for one year and kick-start development of a four-year curriculum. Denise Dodson, who runs the group's West Coast programs, expects the grant to be renewed.

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The foundation chose Lincoln because of its international studies program and long interest in Arabic. The school has offered after-school Arabic classes for more than a decade with help from Portland State University's Middle East Studies Center. The two are now working to expand joint cultural events and lectures.

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Lincoln High School to add Arabic classes

By Carolina Hidalgo, The Oregonian

July 22, 2010, 3:33PM

Lincoln High School will offer introductory Arabic to nearly 50 students this fall, making it the only public high school in the state -- and one of a handful on the West Coast -- to teach the language. Full story »

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Education commissioner defends Texas Projection Measure | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Education commissioner defends Texas Projection Measure | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Education commissioner defends Texas Projection Measure

06:34 PM CDT on Thursday, July 22, 2010

By TERRENCE STUTZ/ The Dallas Morning News
tstutz@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN — Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott Thursday defended a policy that has allowed schools to boost their state ratings by counting some failed students as passing, saying much of the criticism of the policy is politically motivated.

Scott, speaking to the State Board of Education, said the so-called Texas Projection Measure has been misunderstood and misrepresented by critics who contend the policy gives a false impression of school performance.

The complex formula allows schools and districts to count as passing some students who actually fail the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills if the projection measure shows they are likely to pass in a future year.

“There is a little bit of election year politics going on here,” Scott said. “It is very easy to demagogue. It is very easy for someone to say

Remainders: Meet the next-generation three-ring binder | GothamSchools

Remainders: Meet the next-generation three-ring binder | GothamSchools

Remainders: Meet the next-generation three-ring binder

by Maura Walz

• Want to learn sustainably? Buy 100% recycled three-ring notebooks. (GS Community)
• The House has proposed cutting the Promise Neighborhood Initiative by 70 percent. (Hechinger)
• What happens if you live in the Harlem Children’s Zone but don’t go to its schools? (Sara Mead)
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Union demands charter school reinstate fired teachers

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Union president Michael Mulgrew called on the public employment review board to reinstate the dismissed teachers.

Ending a relationship via e-mail is insulting, but doing it via FedEx is probably worse.
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Small schools with big hopes in Philadelphia

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Science Leadership Academy seniors await their graduation procession. Ninety-seven percent will attend college; 40 percent plan majors in science, technology, or math. (Photo by David Swanson/Philadelphia Inquirer)

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Expectations for both were high. Both awarded their first diplomas this month.
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De Blasio: City fails to engage parents on school siting issues

by Maura Walz

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, speaking today on the steps of the Department of Education

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One More Post On HCZ | Engaging Parents In School...

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One More Post On HCZ The House of Representatives is now considering a bill to reduce spending for the Promise Neighborhoods Initiative by seventy percent, according to the Hechinger Report. Promise Neighborhoods is the name given to the effort to replicate the Harlem ...

More Fascinating Stuff On The Harlem Children’s Zone Since yesterday, in response to the critical Brookings Institution report, more and more fascinating info has been written on the Harlem Children’s Zone: You can read Geoffrey Canada’s point by point response… Alexander Russo also has a very, very ...

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President Obama Announces Wynn Gottlieb More Key Administration Posts, 7/22/10 | The White House

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 7/22/10 | The White House

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 7/22/10

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WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key administration posts:
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Howard L. Gottlieb, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Howard Gottlieb is the General Partner of Glen Eagle Partners, Ltd., a family private investment firm. He was a founding partner of Glenwood Partners and Chairman of Glenwood Financial Group. Mr. Gottlieb is an accomplished violinist. He has played in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and performed widely with orchestras and chamber music groups in the United States and Europe. He is a Life Trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Merit School of Music, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Ravinia Festival and the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a former trustee of the Aspen Music Festival and School. Mr. Gottlieb is a graduate of the University of Chicago and serves on the University’s Visiting Committee.
Elaine Wynn, Appointee for Member, Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Elaine Wynn has served as Director of Wynn Resorts since 2000. Ms. Wynn is a past member of the Executive Board of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education and has served since 1997 on the State of Nevada Council to Establish Academic Standards. Most recently, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons appointed Wynn co-chair of the Blue Ribbon Education Reform Task Force, created to ensure a successful state application for the federal Race to the Top competition. In addition, she was appointed in February 2010 to the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board by Senator Harry Reid. She is the Founding Chairperson of Communities in Schools of Nevada and was appointed as Chairman of the National Board of Communities in Schools. Ms. Wynn was named the Nevada Governor’s Philanthropist of the Year in 2005, and in 2007, America’s Promise Alliance awarded her one of seven National Promise of America Founders Awards for her dedication to education and improving the lives of children. Ms. Wynn received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Nevada Las Vegas in 1986.

Court Dismisses Teacher's Case Against Student Doodles - District 299: Chicago Public Schools Blog

Court Dismisses Teacher's Case Against Student Doodles - District 299: Chicago Public Schools Blog

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And now for something completely ridiculous (right)?

"A German court on Tuesday threw out the case of a schoolteacher against a pupil who allegedly tormented her by scrawling pictures of rabbits on the blackboard to aggravate her rabbit phobia."