D.C. presumptive Mayor Gray should keep Bedford team at Dunbar, Coolidge highs

D.C. presumptive Mayor Gray should keep Bedford team at Dunbar, Coolidge highs

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By Jay Mathews

Monday, September 20, 2010

As prospective mayor Vincent C. Gray's education advisers begin to discuss changes in the way Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee ran the D.C. schools, it should quickly become apparent that they should keep their hands off one of Rhee's smartest moves -- handing management of Coolidge and Dunbar high schools to a sharp team of educators from New York.

Lost in all the primary election skirmishing over teacher dismissals and conflicting test score data was this encouraging statistic: Under the Friends of Bedford group, in just its first year here, the portion of students testing proficient or advanced in reading went from 38 to 53.6 percent at Coolidge and from 18.2 to 31.9 percent at Dunbar. No other high school in the city came close to making such gains in a subject in which improvement here has been rare.

The three Bedford partners I discussed this with at their office at Dunbar are a wily bunch. Their leader, George Leonard, has known his partners, Niaka (pronounced Na-KEE-ya) Gaston and Bevon

New Race to the Top charter school application rules ensnare Queens Phoenix Academy Charter School

New Race to the Top charter school application rules ensnare Queens Phoenix Academy Charter School

BY CLARE TRAPASSO
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Monday, September 20th 2010, 4:00 AM

RELATED NEWS

• Arne Duncan gives New York A+ for Race to Top effort
• Charter school battle didn't affect school aid win
• NYS makes second, stronger push for Race to the Top funds
• State OKs move to double number of charter schools
• State, city and union officials race deadline on charters
• School officials locked in debate over charter schools as deadline looms

Queens will have one less charter school next fall - and the culprit could be the same law designed to increase the number of the controversial institutions statewide.

Organizers of the Phoenix Academy Charter School submitted a 450-page proposal in July to the city to create a K-12 school in western Queens, school officials said. The facility was for foreign-born students struggling to learn English.

But last month, new state regulations kicked in. Suddenly, the city could no longer approve charter schools. And the state, which took over the city's applications, had a different set of guidelines.

Ellenmorris Tiegerman, who was to have been the school's executive director, discovered this the hard way when her application was rejected on Sept. 1.

"If the rules changed, then these applications should have been grandfathered [in]," she

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2010/09/20/2010-09-20_hard_lesson_for_school_new_requirements_may_have_kept_charter_from_approval.html?r=ny_local/education#ixzz104YF9s10

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Fun and Friends: Meeting People Face to Face at ISTE

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Fun and Friends: Meeting People Face to Face at ISTE

Fun and Friends: Meeting People Face to Face at ISTE

by coolcatteacher@gmail.com (Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher)

These teachers are not just my colleagues, they are now my friends. I trust them. We go through quite an experience together as we merge our classrooms. There is a very special comraderie. Looking forward to "meeting" new friends in this year's Flat Classroom and Digiteen projects.


***** Something I meant to post this summer, but wanted to share now. ******

ISTE Fun and Friends
One of the highlights of ISTE is meeting the many teachers, judges, friends, college professors, and

VIDEO: Teaching experience helped shape reporter’s perspective | California Watch

VIDEO: Teaching experience helped shape reporter’s perspective | California Watch

VIDEO: Teaching experience helped shape reporter’s perspective

September 20, 2010 | Mandy Hofmockel

Erica Perez went from teaching English at a high school to writing about the education system as an investigative reporter with California Watch.

Thousands of state inmates shut out of the classroom

by Michael Montgomery

Michael Montgomery

Fewer than one in every ten California inmates are enrolled in an educational program, despite a pledge by state officials to enhance rehabilitation efforts in order to cut recidivism and relieve prison overcrowding.

An estimated 14,360 inmates were taking part in a variety of academic classes out of a total adult inmate population of 162,608, according to a report [PDF] released last week by the California Rehabilitation Oversight Board.

As part of its biannual report on the prison system, the board calculated enrollment in academic classes at 35.9

Cal Poly Pomona wants to raze iconic but seismically unstable building

by Erica Perez

Erica Perez

The California State University Board of Trustees will consider a proposal this week that would allow Cal Poly Pomona to raze an iconic but seismically unsafe building on campus and build a new, $78 million replacement.

Anyone who has visited Cal Poly Pomona in the last decade has probably seen the Classroom Laboratory Administration building. Its triangular "skyroom" atop the eight-story tower is visible from the freeway, a sort of

Rise & Shine: A floor for sure-to-fall progress report scores | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: A floor for sure-to-fall progress report scores | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: A floor for sure-to-fall progress report scores

by Philissa Cramer

• The city is limiting how far schools’ progress report grades can fall this year. (Daily News)
• The city’s new Innovation Zone is being unsettled by a wave of changes. (Gotham Gazette)
• Classes at Quest to Learn, the city’s video game school, don’t always look like learning. (Times)
• A Queens charter school had its application rejected by the state after applying to the city. (Daily News)
• Nearly 200 students spent the first days of school at Bryant High School doing nothing. (Post)
• New poverty guidelines mean that Stuyvesant HS will receive federal aid for the first time. (Post)
• Unusually, federal immigration authorities have subpoenaed a city student’s school records. (Times)
• The city’s longest-running rubber room occupant is still waiting for his work assignment. (Post)
• One of Newark’s top teachers was among those laid off due to budget cuts. (WSJ)
• Details in “Waiting for ‘Superman’” are out of date, but its director says the point remains. (Times)
• The Post says the teachers union complains about class size only to boost itself.
• The Times says federal suspension data show that schools are abusing zero tolerance.
• Chancellor Klein says school reform is needed for international competitiveness. (Delaware Online)
• Ed Sec Arne Duncan says virtual teachers won’t replace in-the-flesh ones. (Times)

For-Profits Denounce Underestimation of their Students’ Indebtedness � The Quick and the Ed

For-Profits Denounce Underestimation of their Students’ Indebtedness � The Quick and the Ed

For-Profits Denounce Underestimation of their Students’ Indebtedness

by Kevin Carey

It’s worth emphasizing a point Ben makes in his post below: the DC lobbying arm of the for-profit higher education industry released an official statement dismissing his analysis of the proposed gainful employment regulations as “flawed” because he assumed that students attending for-profit colleges will borrow the entire cost of their education, minus available federal grants. Their reasoning? They believe this underestimates how much those students will borrow. In reviewing drafts of the paper, I actually had the opposite concern: “Surely some students, somewhere, pay actual money out of their own pocket,” I suggested. But Ben noted that many for-profits get almost 90 percent of their revenue from federal

Charter schools and parents | THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | dallasnews.com

Charter schools and parents | THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | dallasnews.com

Charter schools and parents

by William McKenzie/ Editorial Columnist

Holly Hacker had an informative piece about charter schools in the Morning News yesterday. As the piece indicates, Texas has a two-tiered set of charter schools. We have some really high-achieving ones and some really under-performing ones. For that reason, I hope the Legislature finds a way next year to close down the chronically under-performing ones while making it easier for the high-achieving ones to expand.

One other point that struck me: Some of the top charters ask their parents to sign a pact. They commit

The Answer Sheet - Has education reform jumped the shark? A teacher says 'yes'

The Answer Sheet - Has education reform jumped the shark? A teacher says 'yes'

Has education reform jumped the shark? A teacher says 'yes'

This post was written by Anthony Cody, a science teacher in inner-city Oakland for 18 years who now works with a team of experienced science teacher-coaches who support the many novice teachers in his school district. It originally appeared on the Teacher Magazine’s website, here. Cody is a National Board-certified teacher and an active member of the Teacher Leaders Network. You can read more by Cody at his website, Teachers Lead.

By Anthony Cody
Education reformers have invested billions of dollars in numerous

A Letter to My California Senator � California Father

A Letter to My California Senator � California Father

A Letter to My California Senator

Dear Senator,
As a public school teacher of over 25 years and the father of a six-year-old autistic boy, I am very concerned about the destruction of public education under the banner of reform. Neither charter schools nor merit pay have proven records and I am afraid that teaching to the test will be the only outcome if the billionaires who support them have their way. I worry for my special education students as I do for my son. How can they learn when high-stakes testing is what drives education, when private corporations that

State Education Dept. rules Bergen County school overstepped its authority | NJ.com

State Education Dept. rules Bergen County school overstepped its authority | NJ.com

State Education Dept. rules Bergen County school overstepped its authority

Published: Sunday, September 19, 2010, 1:21 PM Updated: Sunday, September 19, 2010, 1:26 PM

The Associated Press
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OAKLAND -- The Ramapo Indian Hills Regional School District board overstepped its authority when it passed a round-the-clock code of conduct, the state Education Department has ruled.

The district's rule temporarily banned students from sports and extracurricular activities if they were accused of drinking alcohol, using drugs or breaking other laws, even if the alleged offense was committed off campus, after school and they were not convicted by a court.

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However, acting state Education Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks recently upheld an administrative law judge's decision, declaring that the one-year-old policy was unconstitutional.

Hendricks pointed out that under state law, for a school board to punish a student for an off-campus offense, the discipline must be necessary to spare the student or others from harm, and the misconduct must have "some link to the school environment."

Counting on having terrible opponents. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Counting on having terrible opponents. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Counting on having terrible opponents.

by preaprez

No sooner did I push the publish button on my post about the dilemma facing IEA members in the November election then a post appeared on the IEA website.

It was like exhibit “A.”

The post is about the anti-union wing-nut Jack Roeser.

Jack Roeser is an 84-year-old conservative who has bounced around Illinois politics for years. That he hates public schools and unions is not in doubt.

It made me think about what a charmed political life President Obama has had. Every time he runs for office, the Republicans come up with an opponent so over the top bad that there is no contest.

Remember Jack Ryan? He was Obama’s first Republican senate opponent. It turned out that not only was he an