Education Secretary Duncan and teachers unions announce summit

Education Secretary Duncan and teachers unions announce summit

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By Nick Anderson

Thursday, October 14, 2010; 2:20 PM

Conventional wisdom holds that teachers unions are stuck in the status quo and that there are few examples of labor-management teamwork on education reform.

On Thursday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and leaders of the two largest teachers unions called for an education summit early next year to disprove those notions.

The announcement highlighted several initiatives across the country, including a teacher peer-review program in Montgomery County and a new labor deal in Baltimore that allows teachers to be get raises based on student performance and other factors, not just

Local Company Praises Huber’s Efforts to Stop Job Killing Regulations Alyson Huber For California State Assembly 2010 - 10th Assembly District

Alyson Huber For California State Assembly 2010 - 10th Assembly District

NEW HUBER TV AD HIGHLIGHTS WORK TO SAVE JOBS IN DISTRICT

Local Company Praises Huber’s Efforts to Stop Job Killing Regulations

The Alyson Huber for Assembly campaign has released a 30-second TV ad highlighting Huber’s work to cut through politics to save jobs in her district. The ad features employees from the DART Container Company in Lodi, including a manager who talks about Huber’s efforts to respond to concerns brought to her about proposed state regulations that would have put the company out of business.

In early 2009, DART employees attended a local townhall Assemblymember Huber was holding to hear about issues from constituents. Employees approached her about a proposed law (AB 1358) that would have banned the types of products they make in the DART plant. She listened to their concerns and met with team members to learn about their products. To better educate other members of the legislature on the products, including efforts to recycle, she organized a tour of the facility. After the tour, the bill did not move forward and hundreds of jobs were saved.

The ad begins airing today, October 11, 2010.

The Answer Sheet - What's wrong with the ‘manifesto’ -- point by point

The Answer Sheet - What's wrong with the ‘manifesto’ -- point by point

What's wrong with the ‘manifesto’ -- point by point

This was written by Anne Geiger, who served on the Orange County School Board in Orlando, Fl., from 2004-2008. A native of Virginia, she lives in Arlington and blogs at www.publicpolicyblogger.com, where this appeared. In this piece, Geiger analyzes the school reform "manifesto" signed by 16 big city schools superintendents and chancellors, including Michelle Rhee of Washington D.C., and Joel Klein of New York City, and published this week in The Washinton Post. I have posted this week a few pieces critical of the manifesto’s agenda, but this one looks at it point by point and offers an alternative vision of real school reform. 1) "Manifesto." A curious, full-throated choice when it's really more of an op-ed written in real time, more disjointed than coherent, more hyperbole than fact. So, what is a manifesto? A document that lays out a catechism, a body of fundamental principles or beliefs to be

Duncan, AFT & NEA Call for National Education Reform Conference on Labor-Management Collaboration | U.S. Department of Education

Duncan, AFT & NEA Call for National Education Reform Conference on Labor-Management Collaboration | U.S. Department of Education

Duncan, AFT & NEA Call for National Education Reform Conference on Labor-Management Collaboration

OCTOBER 14, 2010

Contact:

Public Affairs, (202) 401-1576

TAMPA, Fla. -- At an event to celebrate labor-management collaboration and resulting education reforms in Hillsborough County, Fla., U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Dennis Van Roekel, the president of the National Education Association, announced plans to convene a national education reform conference on labor-management collaboration early next year to highlight examples of progressive collective bargaining agreements across the country and promote opportunities for management and labor to forge reforms at the state and district level.

“In dozens of districts around the country -- from Tampa to Pittsburgh to Denver -- union leaders and administrators are moving beyond the battles of the past and finding new ways to work together to focus on student success,” Secretary Duncan said. “These districts show us what is possible when adults come together, particularly in tough times, to do the right thing for kids. We need to learn from these successful collaborative efforts and build upon them across the country.”

The conference will include the participation of national, state, and local union leadership as well as school superintendants and school boards from across the country. Additional details to come. The call for a national conference on labor-management collaboration comes on the heels of several progressive labor-management agreements across the country. Including:

• In BALTIMORE, the district and the teachers union have tentatively agreed to a new contract that revolutionizes the teacher salary schedule, paying teachers not just for step increases but for learning and doing the things necessary to achieve great outcomes for their students. It also creates a mechanism for school based decision making involving labor and management
• In DELAWARE, Diane Donohue, president of the Delaware Education Association, played a pivotal leadership role in the state’s winning Race to the Top application, which included: 100 percent participation of the state’s unions; a new state law on teacher/principal effectiveness based in part on student growth; financial incentives help more equitably distribute effective teaching talent; and greater union collaboration and involvement in school turnaround efforts.
• NEW HAVEN, CONN., ratified a new four-year contract that stresses labor-management collaboration. It provides for a new teacher evaluation system that considers student-learning gains along with other measures in assessing and informing teacher performance, identifies and provides interventions for struggling teachers through a peer-assistance and review program and brings labor and management together to make school-based decisions.
• In DENVER, the Math and Science Leadership Academy, designed and run by teachers, uses collaborative peer planning time to analyze data and figure out how to better meet the academic needs of students. Sixty percent of MSLA students are English language learners and close to 90 percent receive free or reduced-price lunches. The school aims to attract and retain accomplished teachers in math and science, and so far, the strategy appears to be working. MSLA has been receiving 30 applications for each teaching position.
• In PITTSBURGH, Pittsburgh Public Schools’ new five-year teacher contract includes Empowering Effective Teachers, a pay-for-performance program that could earn teachers up to $8,000 extra a year. The performance pay program is voluntary for existing teachers, but creates a separate pay scale based on performance for new teachers. The contract also includes bonuses for schools that reach certain benchmarks, bonuses for district achievement and extra money for teachers who enter career ladder positions that include additional responsibilities.
• In EVANSVILLE, IND., educators concluded that low-performing schools needed a different approach. In partnership with the school district, the union developed the Evansville Equity Schools Project. The project includes a professional development academy that provides top-notch training for teachers in the three lowest-performing schools. Teachers can’t teach at the schools unless they attend the academy, take 40 hours of training on Saturdays and pass an examination.
• In DETROIT, the school district and union have forged an agreement that establishes a model for teacher compensation that rewards successful school-wide performance and identifies and turns around struggling schools.
• In MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD., district and union leaders have developed evaluation systems that incorporate evidence of student learning, including student test scores and peer reviews. Under the system, highly effective teachers help other teachers improve their practice.

Google Apps for Education hits 10 million user milestone | ZDNet

Google Apps for Education hits 10 million user milestone | ZDNet

Google Apps for Education hits 10 million user milestone

By Christopher Dawson | October 14, 2010, 9:00am PDT

Summary

10 million active users: That’s a lot of future Google Apps customers.

Topics

Education, Google Inc.,Google Apps, Cloud Computing, Christopher Dawson

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Christopher Dawson

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Google is announcing at EDUCAUSE today that, four years after introducing Google Apps for Education, it now has 10 million active users at universities and K-12 schools worldwide. Active users are people within Google Apps domains who have signed on within the last 7 days and include students, staff, alumni, and even parents (in some K-12 settings), depending upon how the schools have rolled out the services.

In a blog post this morning, Google noted,

In the last four years we’ve seen a lot of changes, both to our tools and the general landscape of cloud computing in higher education.

NYC Public School Parents: NBC's New Education Show: Is It Charity Porn?

NYC Public School Parents: NBC's New Education Show: Is It Charity Porn?

NBC's New Education Show: Is It Charity Porn?

by Steve Koss

“[We] crisscrossed the country this past summer and team[ed] with local communities to renovate seven rundown schools in Los Angeles and rural Needles, California; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Nashville and Detroit. Some of these schools hadn’t been maintained for decades, and lacked even basic needs like toilets and working lights….[We] were humbled by the overwhelming community support we found throughout our journey as we poured millions of dollars into new school facilities. With the help of our sponsors…we helped these seven worn-out schools once again stand tall.”

Sounds like a great story, a program reminiscent of President Carter’s Habitat for Humanity. Who wouldn’t want to see charitable efforts like this going to help out communities and their schools during tough economic times?

Union says superintendent bashed teachers - The Boston Globe

Union says superintendent bashed teachers - The Boston Globe

Union says superintendent bashed teachers

Denounces op-ed on incompetency

By James Vaznis

Globe Staff / October 14, 2010

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The Boston Teachers Union accused Superintendent Carol R. Johnson yesterday of teacher bashing after she joined other superintendents nationwide in signing an opinion piece in Sunday’s Washington Post that railed against unions for protecting ineffective teachers.

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One passage the union found particularly offensive: “The glacial process for removing an incompetent teacher . . . has left our school districts impotent and, worse, has robbed millions of children of a real future.’’

Richard Stutman, the Boston Teachers Union president, fired back yesterday morning in a newsletter e-mailed to the union’s more than 5,000 members.

“Let us be very clear: The [union] and its members do not support the retention of an incompetent teacher,’’ Stutman wrote. “Having an incompetent teacher in

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Mayor's fiancee to leave D.C. education post - Sacramento City News - sacbee.com

Mayor's fiancee to leave D.C. education post - Sacramento City News - sacbee.com

Mayor's fiancee to leave D.C. education post

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By Ryan Lillis
rlillis@sacbee.com

Published: Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 2B

Last Modified: Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 - 8:01 am

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson doesn't have to look very far to understand just how tense the political debate over education reform has become in this country.

Johnson's fiancée, Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, announced Wednesday she was resigning at the end of the month. Rhee's job security became uncertain after her boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty, was defeated in his re-election bid in what many have called an election that was a referendum on education reform.

Despite the events in Washington – where Rhee

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/14/3103187/mayors-fiancee-to-leave-dc-education.html#mi_rss=Education#ixzz12Lreaw6C