Thursday, September 2, 2010

Mass. school districts reap benefits of federal funding, but some feel short-changed - The Boston Globe

School aid called uneven

11 districts shut out of federal job funds

Globe Correspondent / September 2, 2010

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While some local school officials are welcoming a pair of recent federal funding awards, several are contending that their districts were shortchanged.

The state announced funding allocations from the $250 million that Massachusetts is receiving as one of 10 grant recipients in the second round of the federal Race to the Top competition. The local grants will go to communities that agreed to participate in the program and to spend the funds on school reforms.

Separately, the state announced funding from $204 million Massachusetts was allotted through a new $10 billion federal Education Jobs Fund program, created

GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS

Mass. school districts reap benefits of federal funding, but some feel short-changed

While some local school officials are welcoming a pair of recent federal funding awards, several are contending that their districts were shortchanged. (By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent)

Magazine ranks Westwood High School 11th best in state

Westwood High School, Dedham High School, and 10 other public high schools in the suburbs south of Boston have made Boston Magazine’s list of the 50 best public high schools. (By Michele Morgan Bolton, Globe Correspondent)

Advocacy group rallies for changes to Boston teachers’ contract

A coalition of students, parents, and advocates rallied on the steps of Boston School Department headquarters yesterday, calling for extended school days, more rigorous teacher evaluations, and a stronger voice for students and parents in school decisions as the city negotiates a new contract with teachers. (By James Vaznis, Globe Staff)

Citing misconduct inquiry, Harvard professor cancels classes

Harvard psychology professor Marc Hauser canceled a Harvard Extension School class on cognitive evolution that he was scheduled to start teaching yesterday and dropped plans to offer a spring class called “The Moral Sense: From Genes to Law.’’ (By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff)

$197m later, Newton North opens

NEWTON — It began as a simple renovation project. It ended up the most expensive public school ever built in Massachusetts. (By Erica Noonan, Globe Staff)

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Michigan neo-liberalism: creating the material conditions for privatization | Dailycensored.com

Michigan neo-liberalism: creating the material conditions for privatization

by Danny Weil

The picture is of the K12, Inc. group as they happily hear the news of their new contract to open a 65,000 student body cyber charter school in the state of Michigan.

Neo-liberal policies and creating the new material conditions for privatized education: Grand Valley State University and the Citizens Research Council of Michigan

At their website, the Citizens Research Council of Michigan provides a small description of its organization:

“The Citizens Research Council of Michigan is a privately funded, not-for-profit public affairs research organization, founded in 1916. For over 90 years, the objective of CRC has been to provide factual, unbiased,

EducationNews.org - Welcome back to school: Public education remains vital in the U.S.

Welcome back to school: Public education remains vital in the U.S. 9.2.10 - Tom Wakins - Welcome back to school — words that might be dreaded by some students, but celebrated by many students, parents and teachers.

National crisis: Not much training for some special-ed teachers 9.2.10 - Standing at the front of a large, darkened room in a Capitol Avenue office building in late July, teacher-trainer Betty Menacher clicked quickly through a presentation on a highly technical but essential topic – how to assess students’ reading.

High number of home-schooled students leads to state audit 9.2.10 - In an attempt to ensure that public school districts aren’t disguising high school dropouts, the Texas Education Agency is conducting an audit of students who withdrew under the auspice of home schooling.

New resources, people lead efforts to end ethnic strife at South Phila. High | Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/01/2010

New resources, people lead efforts to end ethnic strife at South Phila. High

By Jeff Gammage

Inquirer Staff Writer

Philadelphia schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman made it clear Tuesday that she's pouring people and resources into troubled South Philadelphia High, where 30 Asian students were attacked on Dec. 3.

There's a new after-school arts program, run by Asian Arts Initiative. Classes offering Chinese as a second language. An in-school center for new immigrants. The pending appointment of an Asian assistant principal.

But the superintendent's delivery of expanded programming couldn't steady the nerves of Asian youths who joined dozens of classmates for new-student orientation Tuesday. The session was a chance to hear about rules and policies, but also a lesson in majority-minority dynamics at the school, which is 70 percent

This Week In Education: Media: Mainstream Press Finally Covers Value-Added Debate

Media: Mainstream Press Finally Covers Value-Added Debate

by Alexander Russo

Just a week ago on the "Month In Review, Jay Mathews was lamenting the lack of mainstream attention had been given to the LA Times' value-added series (outside the LA Times' own coverage, that is). A Nick Anderson story in the Washington Post and a brief segment on NPR was about it. But everything's changed this week, with a long Neil Conant Talk of the Nation segment, a story yesterday by Sam Dillon (Method to Grade Teachers

After decades at Coolidge High, D.C. Youth Orchestra Program moves to Eastern

After decades at Coolidge High, D.C. Youth Orchestra Program moves to Eastern The D.C. Youth Orchestra Program has operated for nearly a half-century at Coolidge High School in Northwest. Last month, the nonprofit music program moved a few miles south to Eastern High School in Northeast. United States - People - Calvin ...

Montgomery students get new digs Jeannie Kauffman and her three children represent two distinct generations of Garrett Park Elementary schoolers. Kauffman attended the school as did her daughter, Ashley, 13, who is now a seventh-grader at Pyle Middle School. United States - ...

St. Mary's officials seek state help to build elementary school Spurred by increasing elementary school enrollment, officials in St. Mary's County are preparing a request for state assistance to construct another elementary school. Elementary school - United States - Counties - Saint Mary - Maryland

Parents and pols urge city for PCB testing at 740 schools across New York

BY MEREDITH KOLODNER
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, September 2nd 2010, 4:00 AM

RELATED NEWS

Parents and politicians demanded Wednesday that the city inspect all schools that could be contaminated with toxic PCBs, even though the city wants to wait another year.

While the city has moved to remove toxins in three schools tested last month, advocates want officials to inspect all of the roughly 740 schools built between 1950 and 1978, when it was still legal to use PCBs.

City officials, though, are planning to wait until next summer, after they get results from two other schools in a pilot testing program.

"We don't yet have final results of the

UC commission looks to boost grad student enrollment | California Watch

UC commission looks to boost grad student enrollment

by Erica Perez

Erica Perez

A commission that advises the University of California on its long-term goals this week recommended increasing the proportion of graduate students at the UC from 22 percent to 26 percent of the student body.

The 25-member UC Commission on the Future discussed the need for more graduate students at their Aug. 31 meeting [PDF], saying the move was necessary to serve the university's research mission and educate California's future professors.

Considering the university's tight budget, however, moving to increase graduate students would cost the

Ex-N.J. education chief Schundler releases chronology, says Christie 'defamed' him | NJ.com

Ex-N.J. education chief Schundler releases chronology, says Christie 'defamed' him Adena Stevens/For The Star-LedgerFormer education chief Bret Schundler at his home in Jersey City Friday, Aug. 27, 2010. Schundler was fired by Gov. Chris Christie in the fallout of New Jersey's Race to the Top failure. TRENTON — Fired Education...

N.J. education officials look to improve progress of high school students Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerThe NJ State Board of Education meeting is held in Trenton Wednesday morning. BOE President Arcelio Aponte. TRENTON — The state Board of Education president and the acting education commissioner Wednesday vowed to continue ...

Fish wrap. � Fred Klonsky's blog

How Texas colleges fare with their achievement gaps | THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | dallasnews.com

How Texas colleges fare with their achievement gaps

by William McKenzie/ Editorial Columnist

The Education Trust recently released two reports that look at how well both public and private universities are graduating minority students. The studies pay special attention to the gap between the number of Anglo students and the number of Latinos and African Americans who graduate from these schools.

In the words of the Education Trust, the authors try to "identify public and private four-year institutions that appear to serve their black and white students equally well -- that is, where both groups graduate at similar rates.

An Open Letter to California Public Officials � InterACT

An Open Letter to California Public Officials

by David B. Cohen

The following is an open letter that was also sent electronically to the following recipients:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Members of the California Board of Education

Bonnie Reiss, Secretary of Education

Senator Gloria Romero, Chair of the California Senate Education Committee

Assemblymember Julia Brownley, Chair of the California Assembly Education Committee

Dear California Education Policy Leader,

As the new school year begins, students and their families always deal with changes – new schools, new

Schools Matter: Boycott LA Times

Boycott LA Times

by Jim Horn

Click to enlarge.

Wake County's Teabagger Five Working to Revive Socioeconomic Apartheid

by Jim Horn

The enemies of diversity have come up with their initial implementation plan to return Wake County schools to the era of Jim Crow.

Instead of following the advice of the consultant they hired to present a plan for "controlled choice," the Tea Partiers on the panel have chosen the most divisive and unfair of the four options on the table. Is anyone surprised?

After all, the ideological playbook that these teabagger mouthpieces are working from demands the debasement

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

N.J. Governor 'Defamed' Me, Ex-Commissioner Says - State EdWatch - Education Week

N.J. Governor 'Defamed' Me, Ex-Commissioner Says

by Sean Cavanagh

Former New Jersey education commissioner Bret Schundler says Gov. Chris Christie "defamed" him in criticizing his role in the state's Race to the Top application.

Christie fired Schundler last week after he said the former schools chief misled him about the state's application in the federal competition. That application included a critical error that cost the state 5 points—and potentially, a $400 million award.

The governor originally said that Schundler had provided federal reviewers with the correct information during an

Education Funding Bills Passed - Year 2010 (CA Dept of Education)

State Schools Chief Jack O'Connell Urges
Governor to Quickly Sign Two Education Funding Bills

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today thanked the state Legislature for passing Senate Bill (SB) 847, coauthored by Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Perez; Assembly Bill (AB) 185, authored by Assembly member Joan Buchanan, and urged Governor Schwarzenegger to quickly sign both measures so urgently needed federal stimulus funds can be disbursed to California schools.

"I want to thank the state Legislature for taking action to approve measures that will allow the California Department of Education to send these federal funds to local school districts," said O'Connell. "I urge the Governor to quickly sign these measures into law. Once enacted, the Department will disburse these urgently needed funds to our schools as quickly as possible."

Both measures would take effect immediately once signed by the Governor.

"I also want to thank President Barack Obama, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Congress for acting promptly to send these funds to states that are deeply impacted by the national economic crisis," added O'Connell.

AB 185 provides the California Department of Education (CDE) with the authority to distribute nearly $904 million from two federal programs:

$416 million is provided for districts that have schools participating in the School Improvement Grant program. The participating schools must implement one of four specified school intervention models to turn around the achievement of their students.
$488 million is for Phase II of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund program. About $271 million will be distributed to K–12 schools, with the remaining funds going to institutions for higher education. The K–12 funds will be distributed based on cuts to district revenue limit (general purpose) funding.

SB 847 provides the CDE with the authority to allocate $1.2 billion from the federal Education Jobs Fund to school districts to save 16,500 teaching positions in California. These funds will be distributed based on the state's revenue limit formulas.

For information on the School Improvement Grant, please visit School Improvement Grant (SIG) - Improving Academic Achievement. For information on the federal Education Jobs Fund, please visit Federal Education Jobs Bill Signed Into Law - Year 2010.

Unleashing the Dogs of Data - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Unleashing the Dogs of Data

By Anthony Cody on September 1, 2010 2:04 PM | No Comments |

Our educational system is waltzing with a crowd of reformers who have the hubris to think they know a cure to every ill - and the cure always has something to do with test scores. The latest fix focuses on teacher quality, and proposes to improve evaluation by "unleashing the power of data," as Secretary Duncan put it. But a new report was released last week that suggests this data may be unreliable for the jobs it is being asked to do.

Some of the nation's leading education researchers, including Diane Ravitch, Linda Darling-Hammond, Eva Baker and Richard Rothstein, co-authored this report, entitled "Problems with the Use of Student Test Scores to Evaluate

Whitewashing � At the Chalk Face

Whitewashing

by Chalk Face on August 27, 2010

I read an interesting cover story in the Washington City Paper yesterday aboutdiversity and DCPS. Apparently, DC schools Chancellor Rhee is “marketing” schools to, shall we say, “whiter” families to increase, shall we say again, the attractiveness of DC public schools. Many middle class folks, especially those precocious young professionals, can’t afford to live in the District AND send their kids to private school, so there’s an emerging faith in neighborhood schools, especially in areas that are newly gentrified.

I had a couple of curious thoughts when reading this piece. First, why do they always show Rhee staring ominously into the camera? Check it, it looks like she wants to kick your ass or something.

I always get the impression that they’re playing off her Korean or Asian heritage, that

$50k from Ravenel Curry (Sr.) � DFER Watch

$50k from Ravenel Curry (Sr.)

by kennethlibby

The Ravenel and Elizabeth Curry Foundation made a $50,000 donation to Education Reform Now in 2007. Do keep in mind that Ravenel Curry and Ravenel Boykin Curry are two different people: Ravenel Curry (III) is married to Elizabeth Curry, and Ravenel Boykin Curry (IV) is married to Celerie Curry. The younger half of the father-son [...]

QUICK Hits � The Quick and the Ed

QUICK Hits

by Forrest Hinton

Quick Hits is a short compilation of question-raising news stories, blog posts, and video clips that Education Sector team members are reading or viewing each day.

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