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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Are Non-Profit CEO Salaries Too High? | The Atlantic Wire

Are Non-Profit CEO Salaries Too High? | The Atlantic Wire

Are Non-Profit CEO Salaries Too High?

In an article bound to irk both sides of the political aisle (for different reasons), Stephanie Strom at The New York Times reports that "state and federal officials are starting to take their knives to the pay of leaders of nonprofit groups" who are perceived to be earning too much off of their lucrative government contracts. In the piece Strom quotes Republican Senator Tom Coburn who stated that "A nearly $1 million salary and benefit package for a nonprofit executive is not only questionable on its face but also raises questions about how the organization manages its finances in other areas."

That sentiment didn't fly well with bloggers and pundits who ironically note that many of those who support slashing salaries for non-profit CEOs would be aghast at the notion of doing so for their private sector counterparts. (One blogger at Balloon Juice wrote, "Perhaps [non-profits] need to pay a bit more than you might expect because corporations have been...cherry-picking comparable peers"). Others weigh in:
  • This Story Conflates Two Issues counters James Joyner at Outside the Beltway. It shouldn't matter whether non-profits pay their CEOs a "princely salary", they should be judged on the basis [of] their work product." He notes: "We need to distinguish cases of fraud, of course. If a few people get together to start a 'nonprofit' whose main purpose is to funnel

Jablonski's Class Blog NEW Teacher BLOG #edu #education

Jablonski's Class Blog

Jablonski's Class Blog

Room 8 and Beyond…


The Guardian UK has the grim revelations:
A huge cache of secret US military files today provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency.
The disclosures come from more than 90,000 records of incidents and intelligence reports about the conflict obtained by the whistleblowers’ website Wikileaks in one of the biggest leaks in US military history. The files, which were made available to the Guardian, the New York Times

School Fees aka Book Fees � CPS Obsessed

School Fees aka Book Fees � CPS Obsessed

School Fees aka Book Fees

July 24, 2010

One new way that schools are raising a little extra money is through an annual fee. It’s called a school fee, student fee, or book fee.
Well, this seems relatively new in Chicago, but it seems to be pretty standard in the suburban world (meaning the entire country’s suburbs, not just ours.)

The concept is that the school needs to buy disposable materials every year for the students and that the families need to cover that cost.

My son’s school just sent out a matter of fact letter that the fee will be $100. Ouch! That kind of hurts coming off buying what is usually $60+ in school supplies, new backback and lunchbox, clothes. All the random toys I buy my son when we’re out shopping for the aforementioned items. (Although wait, am I the same mom who shelled out $8K per year for Montessori preschool and now I’m screaming about a $100 fee!?)

One thing that interests/amuses me about the $100 fee is that when I was on the LSC at my neighborhood school last year we decided to add a school fee to cover all the one-time-usage workbooks that must be purchased every year (btw, this is a

D.C. and Md. named 'Race to the Top' finalists; rest of Obama's education agenda stagnates

D.C. and Md. named 'Race to the Top' finalists; rest of Obama's education agenda stagnates

D.C. and Md. named 'Race to the Top' finalists; rest of Obama's education agenda stagnates



Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 27, 2010; 1:13 PM

While states are moving at warp speed to overhaul public schools, President Obama's education agenda is hitting a wall in Congress.
Education officials announced Tuesday that the District and 18 states, including Maryland, remain in the running for a share of $3.4 billion in the federal "Race to the Top" competition for school reform. Seventeen other states were eliminated; winners will be announced in September. The contest, funded by the 2009 economic stimulus law, has fueled momentum among states for making student achievement a significant factor in teacher evaluations and pay, easing limits on public charter schools and embracing national standards.
But these brea

Blog U.: Rethinking Research “Productivity” - Library Babel Fish - Inside Higher Ed

Blog U.: Rethinking Research “Productivity” - Library Babel Fish - Inside Higher Ed

BlogU


  • Rethinking Research “Productivity”

    By Barbara Fister July 27, 2010 1:15 pm
    A recent blog post at the University of Venus, “When Tenure Disappears,” argues that PhD training is limited to training people to become future faculty members, emphasizing rigorous but narrow preparation for jobs that no longer exist.
    This made me think about a frustration I share with many librarians, the feverish amassing of publications that may never be read, published in journals that libraries can’t afford, churned out by unhappy and exhausted colleagues who feel they have no choice.
    My frustration with graduate training is that from my (admittedly removed) perspective, scholars seem to be taught the ropes of building a career very thoroughly: which journals

Queens Teacher: Contact "The View" ! !

Queens Teacher: Contact "The View" ! !

Contact "The View" ! !

President Obama will appear on "The View" this Thursday, but they are taping the show tomorrow. So....how about contacting The View like crazy asking them to discuss public education with the president? Click on the link below.

~Ask if he would reconsider his stance on public education reform policies.

~Ask why he is following Bill Gates' agenda.

~Ask why he believes bribing states in order to receive

This Week In Education: Media: Bogus "Gap Year" Story In The Boston Globe

This Week In Education: Media: Bogus "Gap Year" Story In The Boston Globe

Media: Bogus "Gap Year" Story In The Boston Globe

ScreenHunter_26 Jun. 20 15.20Slate's journalist watchdog Jack Schafer calls out the Boston Globe for peddling a story about the supposed increase in students taking a break between high school and college, noting that the Globe has no numbers to supports its anecdotes and has to confess this absence later on in the story. ""While there is no data showing how many Americans opt for a gap year,

School Tech Connect: Weird Policy

School Tech Connect: Weird Policy

Weird Policy

It's just weird to have winners and losers like this. It looks like a rubric but it's really just arbitrary. Why would any of the states that don't "win" move forward with the "reforms" they promised, like adopting the Core, which costs money to do? For these states, the smartest strategy to success is getting behind a presidential candidate that

For the second time, New York a Race to the Top finalist | GothamSchools

For the second time, New York a Race to the Top finalist | GothamSchools

For the second time, New York a Race to the Top finalist

This just in, via the U.S. Education Department’s Twitter feed: New York is one of the 19 finalists in the second round of the Race to the Top competition.
New York was one of 16 finalists in the first round of competition, but then came in 15th in the final scoring. Only two states, Delaware and Tennessee, won grants in the first round of the contest.
For this round, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said that there are likely to be 10 to 15 winners of the competitive grant money. New York could be in a better position to win the $700 million grant this round after

This Week In Education: RTT: Round Two Finalists Announced #education

This Week In Education: RTT: Round Two Finalists Announced

RTT: Round Two Finalists Announced

ScreenHunter_20 Jul. 27 12.27And they are: AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, HI, IL, KY, LA, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, SC via WSJ, PK12, etc.
If Illinois can be in the mix, then who can't really?

Baker slams Patrick decision to adopt Common Core standards - The Boston Globe

Baker slams Patrick decision to adopt Common Core standards - The Boston Globe

Baker slams Patrick for opting for national academic standards

By June Q. Wu
Globe Correspondent / July 27, 2010
Text size +
Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker stepped up his criticism of the Patrick administration yesterday for its decision to replace the state’s highly regarded academic standards with national guidelines.
Surrounded by a dozen parents and school administrators, Baker labeled the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s unanimous vote last week “a very bad decision’’ and accused Governor Deval Patrick of “giving up control of our children’s education.’’
He said that adopting the Common Core standards, , which set national standards for what should be taught in English and math from kindergarten through 12th grades, would mean changes to the state’s standardized testing system, MCAS, changes that Baker and his supporters criticized as unnecessary.
“For all that needs to be done to fix Massachusetts, education is what works, and we should keep it that way,’’ Baker said at a morning press conference in front of East Boston High School.
Christine Hezzey, whose son is a junior at Ipswich High School, agreed, expressing her reluctance to adopt a different system. “I don’t see the point of doing this,’’ Hezzey said. “Why reinvent the wheel?’’





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When being at the table means you’re the first course. � Fred Klonsky's blog

When being at the table means you’re the first course. � Fred Klonsky's blog

When being at the table means you’re the first course.

My AFT blogging friend NYC Educator reminds us once again what happens when you sit at the table only to discover that you’re the one being served…up.

Engagement, though, entails conversation, give and take. Inviting a person to be the featured speaker at your national convention, with no Q and A, is