Hechinger Report | Momentum grows for trading life, job experience for academic credit

Hechinger Report | Momentum grows for trading life, job experience for academic credit

Momentum grows for trading life, job experience for academic credit

By Jon Marcus

SEATTLE—Laid off at the start of the recession as marketing director for a regional homebuilder, Leah Schedin quickly realized she lacked something essential for a new job: a university degree.

Schedin had completed courses here and there at a community college, but never enough for a bachelor’s degree. Without one, she found, her 18 years of experience didn’t matter.

“These days, you’re applying online, and you’re filtered out as soon as you get to the question about whether you have a degree,” said the 46-year-old married mother of a teenage daughter.

Leah Schedin went back to school at the age of 46 after being laid off as a marketing director from a Seattle-area home builder. (Kevin P. Casey/MCT)

So Schedin put her talents to work finding a university where she could get academic credit for her work experience. She found one: City University of Seattle, a private, nonprofit institution that’s at the vanguard of a movement catering to the growing numbers of adult learners and military veterans changing careers in worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. And at the end of next semester, she’ll head back into the churning job market with a four-year degree in marketing after just 18 months.

Universities and colleges are being pressed to increase

Join Us For A Youth Webchat On The DREAM Act | The White House

Join Us For A Youth Webchat On The DREAM Act | The White House

The White House Blog

Join Us For A Youth Webchat On The DREAM Act

Posted by Kalpen Modi on November 24, 2010 at 01:43 PM EST

The White House Office of Public Engagement invites you to an interactive webchat on the DREAM Act with Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Munoz on Monday, November 29th, 2010 at 3 p.m. EST on WhiteHouse.gov/live.

The DREAM Act is designed to stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents, by giving them the chance to either obtain legal status by pursuing a higher education, or by serving in the U.S. armed forces for the country they’ve grown up in and love as their own. The DREAM Act has long enjoyed the support of both Democrats and Republicans, and has passed twice out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support. The President has been a strong supporter of the DREAM Act, and was a co-sponsor when he was in the Senate.

Join us in learning more about how the Administration is doing whatever it takes to support Congressional leadership’s efforts to pass the bill and participate in the conversation and Q&A.

Here's how you can participate:

• Ask your questions in advance on Facebook
• Join the discussion live through the White House Facebook application
• Watch the chat through WhiteHouse.gov/live

Education is Top Priority For Gates - Newsweek

Education is Top Priority For Gates - Newsweek

A Case of Senioritis

Gates tackles education’s two-headed monster.

Bill Gates is raising his arm, bent at the elbow, in the direction of the ceiling. The point he’s making is so important that he wants me and the pair of Gates Foundation staffers sitting in the hotel conference room in Louisville, Ky., to recognize the space between this thought and every lower-ranking argument. “If there’s one thing that can be done for the country, one thing,” Gates says, his normally modulated voice rising, “improving education rises so far above everything else!” He doesn’t say what the “else” is—deficit reduction? containing Iran? free trade?—but they’re way down toward the floor compared with the arm above that multibillion-dollar head. With the U.S. tumbling since 1995 from second in the world to 16th in college-graduation rates and to 24th place in math (for 15-year-olds), it was hard to argue the point. Our economic destiny is at stake.

Gates had just finished giving a speech to the Council of Chief State School Officers in which he tried to explain how administrators could hope to raise student achievement in the face of tight budgets. The Microsoft founder went through what he sees as false solutions—furloughs,

Huberman: The Robot's Last Day - District 299: Chicago Public Schools Blog

Huberman: The Robot's Last Day - District 299: Chicago Public Schools Blog

Awards: Ryerson Elementary Teacher Gets $25K [image: ScreenHunter_02 Nov. 23 08.33.gif] "An unsuspecting Ryerson school teacher will receive an unrestricted $25,000 Milken Educator Award at a surprise school-wide assembly. Presented by Illinois State Schools Superintendent Dr. Christopher Koch and ...

Huberman: The Robot's Last Day [image: robot_07.gif] What to make of Huberman's last day (Huberman Officially Quits, Last Day For Huberman At CPS)? He didn't get much done (did he?). He hid behind a smokescreen of statistics and performance talk that it seems clear he didn't ...

Classrooms: Grading For Compliance, Or For Quality? [image: image from graphics8.nytimes.com] There's an ongoing debate about the different grading scales used by different schools (and teachers). Here's another related question: should teachers grade students based on their compliance with class ...

U.S. Department of Defense takes a dim view of cyberschool diplomas | PennLive.com

U.S. Department of Defense takes a dim view of cyberschool diplomas | PennLive.com

U.S. Department of Defense takes a dim view of cyberschool diplomas

Published: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 5:09 PM

JAN MURPHY, The Patriot-News
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All diplomas awarded to Pennsylvania public school students are not equal in the eyes of the military. Students attending any of the state’s dozen public cyberschools are learning that the hard way.

The U.S. Department of Defense regards graduates of these online schools to be less adaptable to military life. The military prefers that no more than 10 percent of new recruits in any branch of service hold something other than a traditional high school diploma, according to Defense Department officials.

Jasmine Walker of Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, found that out too late, as did the son of Kerry Novak of Fayette County. Now their entrance into the military is delayed by months, or possibly indefinitely.

Both graduated in the spring. Walker from Central PA Digital Learning Foundation

Aaron Porter, President of Britain’s National Union of Students, Joins the Student Movement « Student Activism

Aaron Porter, President of Britain’s National Union of Students, Joins the Student Movement « Student Activism

The Latest on the British Student Movement Student protests over the British government’s plans for massive university tuition hikes and budget cuts reached new heights last Wednesday, as activists in two dozen cities staged simultaneous demonstrations. Police in London trapped demonstrators ...

Aaron Porter, President of Britain’s National Union of Students, Joins the Student Movement When Britain’s new wave of student protest began with a massive demonstration in London three weeks ago, the president of the country’s National Union of Students should have been flying high. The NUS had called the November 10 march, whose ...

Time may be right for charter schools - NorthJersey.com

Time may be right for charter schools - NorthJersey.com

Time may be right for charter schools

Monday, November 29, 2010

BY PATRICIA ALEX

THE RECORD

STAFF WRITER

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A controversial plan to open a Hebrew-immersion charter school in Bergen Countymight have its best chance at state approval this year as the Christie Aadministration looks to expand school choice throughout the state.

KEVIN R. WEXLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Laurie Kisner addressing her students and their parents at Hatikvah Charter School in East Brunswick. A similar Hebrew-immersion academy, rejected three times, wants to open as a charter in Bergen County.

The application for Shalom Academy - thrice rejected by the state and opposed by local school administrators - is also buoyed by the opening this year of a similar school in East Brunswick, which already has a waiting list for the next school year.

"If it's a quality application, it's got a better shot than ever now," said Derrell Bradford, executive director of E3, a statewide school-choice advocacy group.

"In the past, charters were viewed as a nuisance and

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm wants Chicago to be first with Common Core Standards

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm wants Chicago to be first with Common Core Standards

Rahm wants Chicago to be first with Common Core Standards

by Mike Klonsky

But he's blowing smoke


Rahm Emanuel says that if elected Mayor, he will impose a new math and English language curriculum on Chicago’s public schools by the end of his first term. I'm not sure that Rahm even knows what the word "curriculum" means. It's obvious that he has some ofArne Duncan's guys feeding him bits and pieces of education jargon to toss around during the campaign and to his credit, he's been first out of the gate on ed issues leaving all the other candidates to respond to him. Hopefully this will change in the coming months.

Here's 10 thoughts I had after reading the NYT piece:

1. Rahm is blowing smoke. He needs a real educator atop the system to help schools develop curriculum. But I

A wiggly line. « Fred Klonsky's blog

A wiggly line. « Fred Klonsky's blog

A wiggly line.

by Fred Klonsky

Some readers of this blog who closely follow it will notice that I took down a post I put up this weekend about a tweeter and blogger named coopmike48 and an aggregated blog called The Mike and Fred Show and Tell Daily.
Coopmike48 is a terrific source of news and information about education. He re-tweets and runs several blogs that touch on a range of education issues. He’s progressive, opposed to much of what passes for education reforms today and is prolific. Prolific enough that I thought much of the postings and re-tweets were done by a bot, software that automatically searches and reposts items on the internet.
By the way, coopmike48 says no. He selects all the stuff himself. Amazing.
A few weeks ago I saw a Twitter post from Mike and Fred’s Show and Tell Daily. I was scrolling down Twitter and didn’t even pay it any mind. It never occurred to me that the “Fred” was me!
I later discovered that coopmike48 had compiled tweets and blog posts into a format that looked like a blog and

The Coming Golden Age of Open Educational Simulations | Tran|Script

The Coming Golden Age of Open Educational Simulations | Tran|Script

The Coming Golden Age of Open Educational Simulations

by Michael Caulfield

Back in 2000, I was part of a team that was writing a self-paced simulation-based curriculum for Columbia University.

We got seven or so courses done, beautiful things, Choose-Your-Own-Adventure stuff on steroids, with video conversations, just-in-time learning support, forking paths, outcomes-based assessment and evaluation (Roger Schank, our fearless leader, preferred the term “merit badge” based evaluation). Scenarios were careful constructed to target specific skills, and experts would deliver instruction at point of failure via hundreds of short video clips.

I really can’t describe how beautiful these things were — some of the best CBT ever designed. And the results, in retention, engagement, and transfer blew other methods out of the water.

Schools Matter: Will Citizens of All Political Stripes Coalesce Against the Billionaire Boys' Club?

Schools Matter: Will Citizens of All Political Stripes Coalesce Against the Billionaire Boys' Club?

Will Citizens of All Political Stripes Coalesce Against the Billionaire Boys' Club?

by Jim Horn

For many Democrats and Republicans (at least the ones that Diane Ravitch likes to remember), the intrusion of the federal government into state and local education issues has been an acceptable burden to bear, since it was only the Federal government that could guarantee the enforcement of civil rights laws. In fact, ESEA was enacted in 1965 as the carrot for Southern states to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which the apartheid South considered a big stick.

Now, the federal government under the direction of the modern day efficiency experts of the corporate foundations, incentivizes states to create segregative charter schools and ignores the goals of integrated and democratic living as a primary purpose of the public schools. In short, there is no longer any reason for

Reflection on Global History Unit 2: Belief Systems and Religious Conflict « Outside the Cave

Reflection on Global History Unit 2: Belief Systems and Religious Conflict « Outside the Cave

Reflection on Global History Unit 2: Belief Systems and Religious Conflict

by Stephen Lazar

In terms of intellectual sophistication, our second unit in Global History was the most ambitious I have tried. I believe we had a modest success. Most students were able to articulate how past events have led to current conflicts, and could use this information to speculate on alternative courses of action moving forward. Throughout the unit, students were engaged, both formally in the classroom and informally outside of it, in high level conversations that were well beyond my past experiences with history students both in terms of depth of thought and engagement. With that said, students did not reach the level of understanding I expect for them around the standard of “marshaling evidence of antecedent circumstances and contemporary factors contributing to problems.” This unit was the first of three that will engage directly with this understanding, and I hope that it laid the foundation for more advanced work later in the year.

Things We Got Right

• Student were engaged in really deep and authentic inquiry-based work, requiring the use the skills of

This Week In Education: AM News: "Out Of Field" Teaching Double At Poor Schools

This Week In Education: AM News: "Out Of Field" Teaching Double At Poor Schools

AM News: "Out Of Field" Teaching Double At Poor Schools

by Alexander Russo

Poor Schools Continue To Have High Rates Of Unqualified TeachersHuffington Post: The report finds that across the nation, high-poverty secondary schools have a rate of approximately 21.9 percent of classes taught by "out-of-field" teachers, whereas low-poverty secondary schools only have 10.9 percent of classes taught by "out-of-field" teachers... NJ school district: No D-grades policy a success Boston Globe: A New Jersey school district that eliminated the "D" grade for students says the change has been a success... Official: Media exec to be NYC schools chancellorUSA Today: The state's education commissioner will grant media executive Cathie Black a waiver to serve as chancellor of the nation's largest school system... Study: Punishing Parents Won't Solve Chronic Absenteeism AP: A report commissioned by the state's Office of Children and Family Services says hauling parents into family court is not the best way to combat a rising tide of kids who chronically miss school... L.A. Unified project combines preschool and apartments LA Times: It's not surprising that the Los Angeles Unified School District would build a preschool next to a new apartment building... Teacher Fights Suspension and $15,000 Fine For Allegedly Cursing In ClassAP: The teacher, Carlos Garcia, declined to be interviewed. But his attorney, Sergio Villaverde, said his client didn't use the word. He also claims the court interpreter mistranslated the term during Garcia's disciplinary hearings. [See "Weekend Reading" for other stories.]

Schools Matter: Councilman Barron Calls for Parent Boycott of Schools Until Qualified Chancellor Is Appointed

Schools Matter: Councilman Barron Calls for Parent Boycott of Schools Until Qualified Chancellor Is Appointed

Councilman Barron Calls for Parent Boycott of Schools Until Qualified Chancellor Is Appointed

From Gothamist:

. . . .Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and other city pols say they will file a temporary restraining order to Block her appointment, which Jeffries said state Education Commissioner David Steiner didn't want to approve anyway. "Commissioner Steiner appears to have made this decision in the back room with Mayor Bloomberg whispering in his ear. By all accounts he was not comfortable with the appointment of Cathie Black, but he appeared to bow from immense pressure from City Hall and the mayor's rich and powerful friends to strike a compromise that is not in the best interest of our children."


At a protest in Brownsville, Black critic City CouncilmanCharles Barron urged parents to keep their children out of schools until a "qualified chancellor" is selected, and said

What Obama Can Learn From Chris Christie - Newsweek

What Obama Can Learn From Chris Christie - Newsweek

The Professor and the Prosecutor

Gov. Chris Christie has mastered the politics of austerity. Can Obama learn from his success?

John O'Boyle / The Star-Ledger-Corbis

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has made enemies and gained presidential buzz.

You wouldn’t know it from looking at them, or hearing them talk, or hearing people talk about them, but Barack Obama and Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, have a lot in common. Both were elected in the midst of the Great Recession. Both inherited a post-apocalyptic mess from a predecessor of the opposing party. Both sold themselves to voters as truth-telling change agents. And both plan to spend 2011 tackling the same thorny issues: education reform, public-pension stabilization, and long-term debt reduction. During the 2009 campaign, one Christie commercial even showed his supporters cheering and waving signs as