Monday, December 6, 2010

Education Does Not Explain Growth in Inequality - Newsweek

Education Does Not Explain Growth in Inequality

CBS
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on CBS's "60 Minutes."

On 60 Minutes Sunday, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was asked about rising income inequality in the United States. Curiously, The New York Times thought his response would appeal to liberals. From theTimes:

When asked about rising inequality in the United States, Mr. Bernanke offered a response that was likely to be embraced by liberals.

“It’s a very bad development,” he said. “It’s creating two societies. And it’s based very much, I think, on educational differences. The unemployment rate we’ve been talking about. If you’re a college graduate, unemployment is 5 percent. If you’re a high school graduate, it’s 10 percent or more. It’s a very big difference.”

Is this true? Of course liberals would be pleased that Bernanke acknowledges that inequality is a moral and economic problem. But would they agree with his diagnosis of the cause? Partially—certainly education affects one's earning potential enormously in a service economy—but

HISD magnet audit finds inconsistency in programs | School Zone | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

HISD magnet audit finds inconsistency in programs

If there's one theme that emerges from the ongoing audit of Houston ISD's magnet schools, it's inconsistency. An interim report [pdf] from Magnet Schools of America, released today, finds that the funding, quality, entrance criteria and student diversity vary from school to school. This is not ground-breaking news for those who have followed the magnet school discussions and media coverage over the last several years. An HISD committee that evaluated the magnet schools in 2006 drew similar conclusions.

The interim report doesn't name schools or cite specific data, but here are a few of the general points — which shouldn't necessarily be taken as gospel because three of the

The Answer Sheet - Michelle Rhee, celebrity, goes national

Michelle Rhee, celebrity, goes national

Michelle Rhee is going national. Running the Washington, D.C., schools wasn’t a big enough platform for the superstar Rhee. So, with the secretary of education’s job already filled, she's on to her next act, heading a new organization, created around her, that has as its aim nothing short of transforming public education in America. Just to make sure nobody misses the launch of Students First, at http://www.studentsfirst.org/, Rhee has arranged to have the launch announced by that great educator Oprah Winfrey, who earlier this year anointed Rhee “a warrior woman.” And in what is surely a journalistic coincidence, there is a cover story in Newsweek magazine on Rhee. When you go to the Students First Web site, the first large image is not of Rhee with students, who are supposed to be first, but of Rhee, when she was on the Oprah show this year, sitting with Winfrey, Bill Gates

Education Week: Volunteers Are Ready—All Schools Need to Do Is Ask

Volunteers Are Ready—All Schools Need to Do Is Ask

—Luis Diaz

By Matthew Tully

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As the holidays approached last year, I wrote a column for my newspaper about Spencer Lloyd, an energetic young choir teacher who was finding ways to bring excellence to one of the worst-performing schools in Indiana.

The 26-year-old Hoosier is one of those teachers they make movies about. Passionate and driven, he had convinced his sometimes skeptical students that they could excel in a building where few did. He understood the cruel challenges facing many of the students in his high-poverty school but he refused to accept excuses. Day after day, he counseled his students, made clear he cared about them, and then did anything he could—including sing, dance, and impersonate anyone from Jack

Obama's blueprint: A magical pitch | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Obama's blueprint: A magical pitch

by Samuel Reed III

During the National Writing Project Annual Meeting and National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Conference held in Orlando Florida (Nov. 18- 21), I received a barrage of corporate pitches from Mickey Mouse and his gang. At the closing of the conference I participated in a panel with the Department of Education's chief pitchman, Peter Cunningham.

On a panel with several educators we discussed President Obama's blueprint for changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization.

Image:

Schools, lawmakers cut sabbaticals to trim costs - Boston.com

Schools, lawmakers cut sabbaticals to trim costs

By Ryan J. Foley

Associated Press / December 6, 2010

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IOWA CITY, Iowa—Under pressure to cut costs, state universities and lawmakers across the nation are going after one of the oldest traditions in the academic world: the professor's cherished sabbatical.

Professors often use the paid breaks from teaching to write books, develop new courses or collaborate with colleagues around the world. But the practice is increasingly being questioned by critics who say it offers little more than a paid vacation at a time when other public employees are being furloughed or laid off.

"Why should the taxpayers of Iowa be paying to basically give these folks a year off from teaching?" asked incoming House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, a Republican

Alabama students sue authorities over alleged police brutality - Telegraph

Alabama students sue authorities over alleged police brutality

A group of school pupils in Alabama is suing the local education authority for running a "police state" in which officers are allegedly using "chemical weapons" to enforce discipline.

The lawsuit, which is filed on behalf of the 8,000 pupils in Birmingham, seeks damages and demands officials 'immediately abandon the use of chemical and other weapons' against schoolchildren Photo: ALAMY

By Jon Swaine, New York 8:07PM GMT 06 Dec 2010

Seven students in Birmingham, Alabama, have filed a class action lawsuit against the city's education board and the local police force over the frequent use of Mace, or pepper spray, in schools.

The spray is readily used to "enforce basic school discipline", the lawsuit claims, and "school personnel not only watch, but sometimes even celebrate when schoolchildren are maced".

The city has police officers in every school under a scheme designed to ensure the safety of pupils, the lawsuit states. But "officers have

If we don’t, who will? « Failing Schools

If we don’t, who will?

DECEMBER 6, 2010

by Sabrina

Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things. – Russell Baker

I keep a note on my computer. It reads, “If I don’t, who will?”

"I said, 'Somebody should do something about that.' Then I realized, I am Somebody." -Lily Tomlin

A little worn, but the message is clear.

It summarizes a lot about how I think about life; while it’s good and right to trust in (most) other people, it’s not a good idea to assume they will magically get around to doing some thing or another that I think should be done. If I take something seriously enough to complain about it, then I should take it seriously enough to dosomething about it.

It’s pretty obvious that that’s how I feel about improving public education. Quality education for all is tremendously important to our individual and collective well-being; large-scale mis-education threatens us just as much. So, a

Study-In @ CSU Monterey Bay Library « Guerrilla Think

Study-In @ CSU Monterey Bay Library

by guerrillathink

A sit-in at the CSUMB library occurred today to protest the recent fee increases and to attempt to reclaim some space. About 30 students refused to leave when the library closed. After about 15 minutes the campus police threatened to arrest the protesting students. The students left the library and briefly gathered outside to reflect on the action.

Judge rules Detroit school board, not Robert Bobb, is in charge of academics | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Judge rules Detroit school board, not Robert Bobb, is in charge of academics

By CHASTITY PRATT
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Detroit Board of Education today won a lawsuit that could dramatically change the power structure and reform efforts under way in the Detroit Public Schools.

According to board president Anthony Adams, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Wendy Baxter just released a decision that sided with the board in its lawsuit against Robert Bobb, the state-appointed emergency financial manager. The Free Press is working to obtain its own copy of the decision.

The suit accused Bobb of exceeding his authority as financial manager by also making decisions regarding school closures and curriculum in the school system.

Education Research Report: You’re Leaving? Sustainability and Succession in Charter Schools

You’re Leaving? Sustainability and Succession in Charter Schools

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

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Seventy-one percent of charter school leaders surveyed for this study say they expect to leave their schools within five years. For the nation’s 5,000 charter schools, this raises important questions. Who will be ready to take over? How will the school maintain its instructional program and culture from leader to leader? How does a school survive founder transitions? Where will new leaders come from and how can they be ready to lead existing schools?

The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) at the University of Washington spent four years studying charter school teachers and leaders: CRPE’s survey of 400 charter school leader respondents and fieldwork in 24 charter schools in California, Hawaii, and Texas has yielded important insights into these questions and the future of maturing charter schools.

CRPE’s research finds that many charter schools are unprepared when it comes to leadership turnover. Only half

Ignoring value-added typically lowers the reliability of personnel decisions about teachers

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

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The evaluation of teachers based on the contribution they make to the learning of their students, value-added, is an increasingly popular but controversial education reform policy. In this report, Brookings Institution highlights and tries to clarify four areas of confusion about value-added.

The first is between value-added information and the uses to which it can be put. One can, for example, be in favor of an evaluation system that includes value-added information without endorsing the release to the public of value-added data on individual teachers.

The second is between the consequences for teachers vs. those for students of classifying and misclassifying

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Monday, December 6, 2010