Big Education Ape Weekly

Big Education Ape Weekly

Big Education Ape Weekly

Why We Are Identifying So Many Autistic Kids: They Breathe

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Today, after a student study team meeting, the members, including the assistant principal, school nurse, psychologist and myself (the teacher and parent had already departed), all looked at one ano...

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At House education reform hearing parents come armed with data. « Fred Klonsky's blog

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - An observer at today’s House Committee on Education Reform called to tell me that one of the odd things about the affair was it was a speaker representing parents who was among the few people who g...

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In a word, essays should be personal to impress colleges – Sacramento News – Local and Breaking Sacramento News

parents4democraticschools.wordpress.com - In a word, essays should be personal to impress colleges – Sacramento News – Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee.By Laurel Rosenhall - Published: 12:00 amLike millions of high schoo...

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Widely Used Math Curricula in U.S. Schools Yield Significantly Different Results « Parents 4 democratic Schools

parents4democraticschools.wordpress.com - Education Research Report: Widely Used Math Curricula in U.S. Schools Yield Significantly Different Results.by Jonathan KantrowitzΩ Mathematica’s Second-Year Report on Mathematics Education Study O...

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Transfer students face deadline – LA Daily News « Parents 4 democratic Schools

parents4democraticschools.wordpress.com - LAUSD: Chance to move kids from low-performing schools ends today.Today is the deadline for nearly a half-million Los Angeles Unified parents to take advantage of a little-known federal program tha...

Pressing education problems dividing California Democrats | San Francisco Examiner

Pressing education problems dividing California Democrats | San Francisco Examiner

Pressing education problems dividing California Democrats

• TAGS:
• Dan Walters
• Education
• san francisco
• schools

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By: Dan Walters 12/18/10 3:55 PM
The Sacramento Bee

For years — even decades — the political equation on California public education has been engraved in stone.

Democrats lined up with the California Teachers Association and other elements of the education establishment to contend that spending more money would be the pathway to improving test scores, dropout rates and other indices of educational attainment.

Republicans, meanwhile, argued that spending more money wouldn’t improve outcomes and that public schools needed competition — either more charter schools or vouchers for private schools — and a crackdown on incompetent teachers.

Recently, however, the equation has been changing. The Democratic-establishment coalition is

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2010/12/pressing-education-problems-dividing-california-democrats#ixzz18ZURzQnY

California's teaching force shrinks, as K-12 population set to grow - San Jose Mercury News

California's teaching force shrinks, as K-12 population set to grow - San Jose Mercury News

California's teaching force shrinks, as K-12 population set to grow

By Sharon Noguchi

snoguchi@mercurynews.com

Posted: 12/18/2010 10:08:37 PM PST

Updated: 12/19/2010 05:05:52 AM PST

Click photo to enlarge

Luis Palomares is a teacher at River Glen, SJ Unified's dual-immersion... ( KAREN T. BORCHERS )

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The formulas are both as simple at second-grade arithmetic and as advanced as a college economics course.

Just as California's K-12 population is beginning to nudge up, the state is poised to lose a wave of teachers to baby-boomer retirements, layoffs and burnout. Meanwhile, the number of people seeking teaching credentials to fill those spots is dropping dramatically.

"This is the steepest decline we've seen," said Margaret Gaston, president of the Santa Cruz-based Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, which detailed the teacher numbers in a study released last week.

It all feeds concern that California -- whose school-age population is predicted to grow 4 percent in eight years -- will soon lack an adequate pool of qualified teachers, particularly those who can teach science, math and

Michelle Rhee: "I don't think there is a need for tenure." | NJ.com

Michelle Rhee: "I don't think there is a need for tenure." | NJ.com

Michelle Rhee: "I don't think there is a need for tenure."

Published: Sunday, December 19, 2010, 5:59 AM

By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist
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Washington PostMichelle Rhee, former schools superintendent in Washington, D.C., now helms a national advocacy group focusing on schoolchildren.

Michelle Rhee is a national hero for education reformers. While serving as superintendent of schools in Washington, D.C., she negotiated a groundbreaking teachers contract that allowed for teachers to be fired based on poor job performance. The contract rid the system of tenure protections in exchange for giving teachers the chance to earn more money and performance bonuses.

Rhee quadrupled spending on teacher professional development, fired more than 200 instructors who didn’t measure up and told 700 others they’d have to improve within a year or leave — and student test scores rose.

Since leaving the D.C. post in October, she’s started a national advocacy group called StudentsFirst, with the goal of raising $1 billion and rallying 1 million members around a stated

Washington's faulty thinking about education rules

Washington's faulty thinking about education rules

Harris N. Miller

Sunday, December 19, 2010

America won the moon race. Can it win the higher education race?

A smart and innovative strategy will make this goal attainable, but too many in Washington fail to recognize that private-sector colleges and universities - sometimes referred to as career colleges - are an essential part of the answer. Now educating 12 percent of higher education students, these schools are the game-changer when a game-changer is badly needed.

In California, private-sector colleges and universities play crucial roles in educating students. More than 340,000 students in the state, 9 percent overall,

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/18/INGI1GNPL2.DTL#ixzz18ZSKztAJ