| ||||
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Palo Alto nonprofit says teens are seeking more counseling in wake of Gunn-related suicides - Inside Bay Area
The Washington Teacher: Finally There's Going To Be A WTU Election
Finally There's Going To Be A WTU Election
Your Vote Is Your Voice !
Although long overdue, members of the Washington Teachers' Union will finally have an election of officers. According to the WTU Constitution, union elections were supposed to be conducted in May with officers being installed in office on July 1, 2010. This has been a long protracted battle which began with AFT becoming involved in taking over the elections of the 15 member WTU Elections Committee in June 2010 because members had not been properly elected . Once elected, the elections committee members requested George Parker, WTU President (whose term ended June 30, 2010) to provide the necessary paperwork so that they could commence elections, Parker refused. Despite repeated appeals by elections chairperson, Claudette Carson to Parker requesting that he
Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Net Neutrality -- NOT??
Teaching students with new tools, enthusiasm, and belief that teaching is a noble calling
Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Net Neutrality -- NOT??
Net Neutrality -- NOT??
Image by thehoneybunny via Flickr"Monday: Google and Verizon will announce a deal that theNew York Times reports "could allow Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content's creators are willing to pay for the privilege.""
Net neutrality -- NOT going to happen?
Verizon is going to serve up certain content faster if they pay for this. I use a Verizon Mi-Fi card and should this
In Focus: Promise Neighborhoods Catalyst Notebook
Catalyst Notebook
Catalyst writers and editors share their perspectives, analyses and the news behind the news on improving Chicago area public schools. Our on-the-ground reports will tell you what’s happening in schools and education circles here and elsewhere. Our views will tell you what to make of it.
In Focus: Promise Neighborhoods
Chicago communities and social service agencies are making a pitch for part of $10 million in federal planning grants for Promise Neighborhoods, the Obama Administration’s initiative to replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone.
The 20 planning grant winners will be announced in September. Chicago could conceivably have multiple winners, says department spokeswoman Elizabeth Utrup, since there is no limit on the number of planning grants for each city.
For more, check out the latest Catalyst In Focus
Posted By: Cassandra West On Thu Aug 5, 2010 In Government and Policy
Permalink | (0) Comments
Digg | 
Del.icio.us | Facebook | 
Mail
Permalink | (0) Comments
Digg | Del.icio.us | Facebook | MailIn the News: 49 win federal innovation grants; Congress urged to pass Edujobs billTeach for America and the KIPP Foundation each won $50 million in a federal grant competition known as Investing in Innovation, or i3, the U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday. Forty-nine districts, schools and nonprofits beat out more than 1,600 other applicants in the competition.
Continue Reading In the News: 49 win federal innovation grants; Congress urged to pass Edujobs bill »
Continue Reading In the News: 49 win federal innovation grants; Congress urged to pass Edujobs bill »
Posted By: Cassandra West On Thu Aug 5, 2010 In In the News
Permalink | (1) Comments Digg | Del.icio.us | Facebook | Mail
Permalink | (1) Comments
Digg | Del.icio.us | Facebook | MailIn the News: CTU sues over teacher layoffs; states slash pre-K programsThe Chicago Teachers Union took aim at teacher layoffs in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.
Continue Reading In the News: CTU sues over teacher layoffs; states slash pre-K programs »
Continue Reading In the News: CTU sues over teacher layoffs; states slash pre-K programs »
Posted By: Cassandra West On Wed Aug 4, 2010 In In the News
Permalink | (0) Comments Digg | Del.icio.us | Facebook | Mail
Permalink | (0) Comments
Digg | Del.icio.us | Facebook | MailIn the News: Reprieve for non-varsity high school sports; more funds for early child edChicago Public Schools board members tell principals that funds will be found to save non-varsity sports programs, the Sun-Times reports. CPS spokeswoman Monique Bond said Monday that "no final decision" has been made to save the sports, but "the goal is to restore junior-varsity and sophomore sports to normal levels."
Continue Reading In the News: Reprieve for non-varsity high school sports; more funds for early child ed »
Continue Reading In the News: Reprieve for non-varsity high school sports; more funds for early child ed »
Hickenlooper taps Garcia for running mate | EdNewsColorado
Hickenlooper taps Garcia for running mate
Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper will name President Joe Garcia of Colorado State University-Pueblo as his candidate for lieutenant governor, 9News reported this morning.
Hickenlooper had a news conference scheduled for 11:15 a.m.
CSU-Pueblo President Joe Garcia (center) chatted with Chancellor Joe Blake (left) and Fort Collins President Tony Frank (right) at a university event in 2009. (CSU photo)It’s the second time in four years that the Democratic candidate has found a running mate in the world of
Hickenlooper had a news conference scheduled for 11:15 a.m.
CSU-Pueblo President Joe Garcia (center) chatted with Chancellor Joe Blake (left) and Fort Collins President Tony Frank (right) at a university event in 2009. (CSU photo)
Sacramento Press / Teacher Raises Afoot? Optimistic on School Chief's Hiring Practices !
Teacher Raises Afoot? Optimistic on School Chief's Hiring Practices !
We teachers have all been sacrificing lately for the good of students and the financial solvency of Sacramento City Unified School District. I have an SCUSD-tested plan, however, to help us improve our financial and working condition, especially in light of the SCTA-generated concessions to our District. Here’s what we do.
Apply to the SCUSD school board to use the title, “Chief”, in front of our employee classification. For example, I would take over the moniker, Chief 6th Grade G.A.T.E. Teacher of Phoebe Hearst (it’s better to use capital letters…more credibility). You can immediately see how much more grandeur it gives a lowly teacher. But there are a host of reasons why we all should use the title, Chief:
*It improves student discipline. We all understand the importance of students deferring to classroom authority.
Apply to the SCUSD school board to use the title, “Chief”, in front of our employee classification. For example, I would take over the moniker, Chief 6th Grade G.A.T.E. Teacher of Phoebe Hearst (it’s better to use capital letters…more credibility). You can immediately see how much more grandeur it gives a lowly teacher. But there are a host of reasons why we all should use the title, Chief:
*It improves student discipline. We all understand the importance of students deferring to classroom authority.
Announcement About Next ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
Aug052010
Announcement About Next ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival
Ms. Flecha, author of My Life Untranslated blog, has just written up a nice announcement and overview of the next ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival. Check it out!
The deadline for submissions is September 27th.
And don’t forget that Anne Hodgson is organizing a special Blog Carnival on November 1st specifically dedicated to teaching Business English (BE) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP). For more information about that carnival, and to use a form Anne has created for submissions to it,please go to her blog.
Teach for America and KIPP Foundation Win Big Awards - NYTimes.com
Education Department Deals Out Big Awards
By SAM DILLON
Published: August 5, 2010
Teach for America, the nonprofit group that recruits elite college students to teach in public schools, and the KIPP Foundation, which runs a nationwide network of charter schools, were big winners in a $650 million federal grant competition known as Investing in Innovation, the Department of Education said Wednesday.
Each group won $50 million. Two others won large awards for proposals the department said were backed by significant evidence of success with students.
The Success for All Foundation, a Baltimore group that helps to turn around struggling elementary schools, won $49 million. And Ohio State University, partnered with several other universities, was awarded $46 million to train some 3,750 teachers in the Reading Recovery approach, which focuses on struggling
Education Research Report: Curing Baumol’s Disease: In Search of Productivity Gains in K–12 Schooling
Curing Baumol’s Disease: In Search of Productivity Gains in K–12 Schooling
ฮฉ
Full Report
Public schools in most areas of the U.S. are caught in the vise of declining revenues and rising costs.
Policymakers talk about innovating to do more with less, but to date no one knows what that looks like in education. The truth is that dramatically more productive schooling models simply have not emerged in the last two decades, even amidst cost pressures that drove spending up faster than inflation or GDP.
While education differs in important ways from other service sectors, improvement in productivity in other economic sectors may hold important lessons for understanding how the education system can become more efficient and effective.
This paper first explores the past and future outlook for education absent productivity gains. The authors then
Full Report
Public schools in most areas of the U.S. are caught in the vise of declining revenues and rising costs.
Policymakers talk about innovating to do more with less, but to date no one knows what that looks like in education. The truth is that dramatically more productive schooling models simply have not emerged in the last two decades, even amidst cost pressures that drove spending up faster than inflation or GDP.
While education differs in important ways from other service sectors, improvement in productivity in other economic sectors may hold important lessons for understanding how the education system can become more efficient and effective.
This paper first explores the past and future outlook for education absent productivity gains. The authors then
Eduwonk � Blog Archive � Unmasking the “Blame the Teacher” Crowd
Unmasking the “Blame the Teacher” Crowd
Guest post by Tim Daly, President, The New Teacher Project
The hunt has intensified recently for a shadowy menace: the “blame-the-teacher crowd.” Everyone seems to be on the case, from major magazinesto pundits on Twitter. This anti-teacher cabal has grown so powerful that it took center stage at the conventions of the national teachers’ unions last month. AFT president Randi Weingarten spoke of being “shaken to the core” at witnessing “so few attack so many, so harshly, for doing so much.” NEA president Dennis Van Roekel warned of an effort to “blame teachers and our unions for every problem in a school.”
Strangely, nobody can credibly identify any members of this nefarious crowd. We know who’s not in the group. Not Barack Obama, who has made clear that he is “110 percent behind our teachers,” and made good on it by supporting tens of billions of dollars to save
The hunt has intensified recently for a shadowy menace: the “blame-the-teacher crowd.” Everyone seems to be on the case, from major magazinesto pundits on Twitter. This anti-teacher cabal has grown so powerful that it took center stage at the conventions of the national teachers’ unions last month. AFT president Randi Weingarten spoke of being “shaken to the core” at witnessing “so few attack so many, so harshly, for doing so much.” NEA president Dennis Van Roekel warned of an effort to “blame teachers and our unions for every problem in a school.”
Strangely, nobody can credibly identify any members of this nefarious crowd. We know who’s not in the group. Not Barack Obama, who has made clear that he is “110 percent behind our teachers,” and made good on it by supporting tens of billions of dollars to save
ACTION United says Race to the Top is misguided | Philadelphia Public School Notebook
ACTION United says Race to the Top is misguided
by Dale Mezzacappa on Aug 05 2010 Posted in Latest news
Photo: Dale Mezzacappa
Members of ACTION United demonstrate Wednesday, August 4 in front of 440 N. Broad Street.
The Obama administration's strategy for turning around low-performing schools doesn't give communities real power -- which is the only sustainable reform strategy in impoverished neighborhoods, according to the Philadelphia chapter of ACTION United.
School reform needs to focus more on what happens inside the schools than on who is running them, said William Browning in a demonstration in front of School District headquarters that attracted about a dozen community members, some carrying signs saying "It takes a community to design a great school."
Browning said that No Child Left Behind "has not worked." He called for major
Simplifying Fractions � The Quick and the Ed
Simplifying Fractions
Nationally, only about 36 percent of students finish within four years, according to the federal data. The three-year graduation rate for community college is even more dismal, with less than a quarter earning an associate’s degree.
$10 Billion Saves Jobs… at the Bath Iron Works | Intercepts
$10 Billion Saves Jobs… at the Bath Iron Works
Now that edujobs has overcome its largest obstacle in the Senate, and the House is being returned from recess to vote on it (Tuesday, I hear), it is a foregone conclusion that it will become law.
The National Education Association is justifiably proud of its efforts – 300,000 e-mails, 100,000 phone calls, etc. – though it appears the $10 billion amendment’s passage owes a lot more to the Bath Iron Works than to “grasstops” lobbying. Regardless, the cash will be distributed to school districts and we can congratulate ourselves on saving x number of jobs. And I do mean x, because if there ever were a number that could be called a variable, this is it.
The purported goal of the bill is to rehire education employees who have been laid off. But, as I have been
The National Education Association is justifiably proud of its efforts – 300,000 e-mails, 100,000 phone calls, etc. – though it appears the $10 billion amendment’s passage owes a lot more to the Bath Iron Works than to “grasstops” lobbying. Regardless, the cash will be distributed to school districts and we can congratulate ourselves on saving x number of jobs. And I do mean x, because if there ever were a number that could be called a variable, this is it.
The purported goal of the bill is to rehire education employees who have been laid off. But, as I have been
Duncan behind the teaching jobs for food stamps swap. � Fred Klonsky's blog
Duncan behind the teaching jobs for food stamps swap.
Last night the Senate passed a domestic spending bill that included $10 billion for education. The bill goes to the House next week and will pass.
The catch?
To pay for it, $12 billion will be cut from the federal food stamp program.
In yesterday’s post I blamed Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats. They insisted that any domestic spending
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)