Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, July 23, 2010

Settlement in Case of Dismissed Biology Adjunct Quick Takes: July 23, 2010 - Inside Higher Ed

Quick Takes: July 23, 2010 - Inside Higher Ed

Settlement in Case of Dismissed Biology Adjunct

The San Jose/Evergreen Community College District has agreed to pay $100,000 to June Sheldon, who lost her job as an adjunct biology instructor after students complained about her answer to a question about homosexuality and genetics. Some students accused her of making anti-gay statements, while she said she had provided factual answers that were not accurately described. Under the settlement, the district maintains it did nothing wrong, but it also will remove references to Sheldon having been dismissed from her file.

One Rangel Ethics Case Involves Gift to College

One of the incidents that will lead to a trial by a U.S. House of Representatives panel of Rep. Charles B. Rangel involves a gift to a college, The New York Times reported. Specifically, Rangel is accused of maintaining a lucrative tax break that helped an oil executive in return for a pledge of $1 million to a center named for Rangel at City College of the City University of New York. Rangel has denied wrondoing.

New York Settles With Sodexo Over Overcharging

Sodexo has agreed to pay $20 million to settle issues raised by an investigation by Andrew M. Cuomo, New York State's attorney general, into allegations that the company overcharged the State University of New York System and 21 school districts in the state. The dispute involves a pledge by the company to provide goods at cost -- a pledge that the state says the company violated by failing to acknowledge significant rebates from suppliers.

UC San Diego Will Focus on Diversity in Faculty Hires

The University of California at San Diego has announced that it has authorized 33 new faculty searches for 2010-11 -- and that 12 of the searches will be focused on hires who will "contribute to diversity, equity and climate of inclusion at UC San Diego." An additional 7 slots beyond the 33 will be available for "opportunities that emerge throughout the year," with a focus there on diversity and inclusiveness as well. The move follows a year in which the university faced several racial incidents and debates over its climate.

Boulder Suspends Programs in Mexico

University of Colorado at Boulder announced Thursday that all study abroad programs in Mexico have been suspended for summer and fall due to continuing safety concerns. Boulder sponsors programs in Mexico in Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Oaxaca and Monterrey. The university's office of international education will work with students planning to go to Mexico this fall to find alternate locations for a study abroad experience.

U.S. ranks 12th for young adults with degrees

U.S. ranks 12th for young adults with degrees

U.S. ranks 12th for young adults with degrees

The United States ranks 12th in the world in the share of adults ages 25 to 34 with postsecondary...

UC Berkeley's DNA testing a bad idea

Each year, UC Berkeley freshmen participate in a program that's meant to draw them together. This year's...

State switch to U.S. school standards debated

California typically lands at or near the bottom in virtually every measure of public school performance nationally, but the academic...
Chronicle 7.21.10 4:00 AM

Today’s Oil Spill Links | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Today’s Oil Spill Links | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

California School Boards Association to probe executive director's finances - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

California School Boards Association to probe executive director's finances - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

California School Boards Association to probe executive director's finances

Published: Friday, Jul. 23, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 3B
The California School Boards Association will hold an emergency Board of Directors closed-session meeting today to address issues raised in a local news report.
CSBA Executive Director Scott Plotkin allegedly withdrew more than $11,000 in cash using his company credit card at area casinos, according
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/23/2909712/california-school-boards-association.html#mi_rss=Education#ixzz0uVxtvtKt


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Amanda Maurer has found a way to make endangered species come alive on her computer screen.
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School nurses, once a comforting sight at every public school, are dwindling in number.
Slavic community leaders and students are protesting the decision to cancel American River College's only Russian language class because of budget cuts.


Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/education/#ixzz0uVy8XBn0

Education Research Report: Building Strong Families Project

Education Research Report: Building Strong Families Project

Building Strong Families Project

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Strengthening and stabilizing the relationships of low-income couples has emerged as a focus of national policy development and testing. If unmarried parents can be helped to fulfill their aspirations for stable, healthy lives together, there could be important benefits for child well-being. Building Strong Families (BSF) is an initiative to develop and evaluate programs designed to help interested unwed parents achieve those goals. This website is designed to document the progress of the BSF project, the services being tested, and the results of the

The Washington Teacher: Rhee's Firing Squad Terminates Sizable Number Of DC Teachers

The Washington Teacher: Rhee's Firing Squad Terminates Sizable Number Of DC Teachers

Rhee's Firing Squad Terminates Sizable Number Of DC Teachers


During the Rhee administration, her education plan which was released 18 months into her administration promised to terminate a significant share of the DCPS teacher workforce. Well the Rhee firing squad strikes once again. On July 23,Leah Fabel of the Washington Examiner newspaper reportedthat D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee will fire a sizable number of teachers and school staff by next week. Rhee did not appear in a Thursday briefing and left the dirty work to her deputy, Kaya Henderson to announce the bad news. Fabel reported the numbers of the terminations was not revealed in the briefing. The firings are based on a new evaluation instrument (IMPACT) which was introduced in school year

Rise & Shine: Districts pushed to stop asking immigration status | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: Districts pushed to stop asking immigration status | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: Districts pushed to stop asking immigration status

  • Many New York State school districts illegally ask about enrollees’ immigration status. (Times)
  • A 14-year-old who allegedly killed his family had been suspended from IS 72’s summer school. (Times)
  • The DOE isn’t punishing the employee taped using racial epithets to describe parents. (Queens Tribune)
  • PS 72 in East Harlem got a new soccer field — on its roof. (NY1)
  • Psychology professors say bullying can stop only if schools understand child development. (Times)
  • A UPenn professor wants to start a business incubator for education entrepreneurs. (AP)
  • Ex-New Yorker Ramon Cortines will step down as Los Angeles’s superintendent next year. (L.A. Times)
  • There is growing concern that the United States’s college completion rate is too low. (Times)
  • Restrictive contracting rules require California schools to overpay for construction. (S.F. Chronicle)
  • Oakland, Calif., has a plan to improve scores by improving students’ social services. (Times)

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Past is prologue

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Past is prologue

Past is prologue

Vacationing here in West Virgina, it's hard not to think about the state's rich history of struggle for social-justice. Signs are everywhere, especially in these difficult times. I got a good history lesson reading this editorial in yesterday's Charleston Gazette, showing once again that past is prologue.
In 1920, a strike at Matewan turned into a shoot-out that killed seven Baldwin-Felts guards who had been hired as strikebreakers. Town Police Chief Sid Hatfield, a champion of the strikers, was charged in a different fracas. As he and a companion walked up the steps of the McDowell County Courthouse, they were gunned

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Philadelphia's top charter school administrator resigns | Philadelphia Inquirer | 07/22/2010

Philadelphia's top charter school administrator resigns | Philadelphia Inquirer | 07/22/2010

Philadelphia's top charter school administrator resigns

After 18 sometimes-rocky months, the Philadelphia School District's top charter school administrator has resigned, according to district and charter sources.
Benjamin W. Rayer's departure comes amid reports that Superintendent Arlene Ackerman is readying yet another round of administrative shake-ups.
District spokesman Fernando Gallard declined to comment.
"We are not ready to comment on senior staff changes at this point," Gallard said in an e-mail, adding that the district plans to make an announcement "within the next several days."
Rayer, 43, a former chief operating officer at Mastery Charter Schools, did not respond to e-mails or phone calls seeking comment.
After he was appointed, Rayer said his goal was to improve charters' relationships with the district, which were


Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20100722_Philadelphia_s_top_charter_school_administrator_resigns.html#ixzz0uTqjQBL2
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else


Friday Throwdown: Feds strongarm Mass. on education standards - BostonHerald.com

Friday Throwdown: Feds strongarm Mass. on education standards - BostonHerald.com

Friday Throwdown: Feds strongarm Mass. on education standards

By Todd A. Prussman
Friday, July 23, 2010 -

Remember what a big deal MCAS was when Ed Reform was passed in 1993? Are you ready to abandon it?

This week’s topic: Feds strongarm Massachusetts on education standards

With a unanimous vote Wednesday, the state education board took a giant step away from the MCAS education curriculum by moving to adopt federal ‘Common Core’ standards.

The Wall Street overhaul and health care reform were the subject of intense debate and bitter partisanship in Washington and locally. But in one fell swoop, the Obama Administration was successful in pushing the majority of the states to adopt a national educational curriculum.

US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan himself characterized federal involvement with state education oversight the “third-rail” of education.

“I’m ecstatic,” Duncan told the New York Times [NYT], “This has been the third

School Tech Connect: Tell A Colleague: Dump The Trib!

School Tech Connect: Tell A Colleague: Dump The Trib!

Tell A Colleague: Dump The Trib!

I would just like to point out that if you know anyone who still uses the Tribune in Education program from the teacher-hating Chicago Tribune, you may want to point them to the much more comprehensive New York Times in Education program, which is also free to for classroom electronic subscriptions. And totally better.



The Times' classroom activities are intelligent and appeal to wide range of

Education Philanthropies Shift Focus to Completion Quick Takes: July 22, 2010 - Inside Higher Ed

Quick Takes: July 22, 2010 - Inside Higher Ed



Education Philanthropies Shift Focus to Completion


The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has attracted widespread attention for its emphasis on college completion (as opposed to access alone). A report being released today by Grantmakers for Education argues that there is a widespread shift toward completion efforts by education philanthropies.