Monday, December 20, 2010

The budget crisis and California's public schools - latimes.com

Stop pretending

California's public schools are being asked to do more even as funding is cut. It can't be done.

December 20, 2010

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Two court cases this month put California's public schools on notice. In one, the court ruled that schools no longer could ignore the state's requirements for physical education; a survey had found that fully half the schools in the state were providing fewer hours of gym instruction than the law requires in an effort to save money or to devote more hours in the day to teaching. In the other case, the state reached an out-of-court settlement in which it pledged that its schools would stop charging parents for basic supplies, and would provide parents with a way to challenge what they believe to be illegal fees.

These were the right outcomes. Individual schools and school districts can't unilaterally decide how many hours of gym students will get; physical activity is important to children's development, just as English and math lessons are. And parents shouldn't have to worry about whether they can afford to send their children to public school. Yet as justified as they were, these cases were not remedies for

Jenny Heitz: Does the LAUSD really respect genuine parental involvement? - LA Daily News

Jenny Heitz: Does the LAUSD really respect genuine parental involvement?

By Jenny Heitz

Posted: 12/19/2010 01:00:00 AM PST

THERE has been tons of finger-pointing lately as to whom, exactly, is to blame for failing schools: the unions, or the lousy teachers, or the lack of funds. Sometimes, the parents get placed in those cross hairs for too little participation, the idea being that, if parents could just volunteer and help kids with homework, the school's problems would magically dissipate.

Well, it looks like parent participation is up, at least at two failing Los Angeles-area schools, but it doesn't involve bake sales. Thanks to the Parent Trigger Law, parents with children at failing McKinley Elementary School in Compton and Mt. Gleason Middle School in Sunland-Tujunga have a very proactive method of involvement.

The Parent Trigger Law allows a majority of parents at failing schools to organize significant change. They can force their school district to find a new principal, replace staff and/or give financial oversight to the community. They can demand smaller changes or that the school be closed completely and reopened as a charter.

For a school to be eligible for the parent trigger, it must have an Academic Performance Index score of les

Ezra Klein - Chris Christie's Pepsi problem

Chris Christie's Pepsi problem

By Ezra Klein

In 1975, Pepsi unleashed "the Pepsi Challenge," a blind taste test where subjects threw back an ounce of each beverage and reported back on their favorite. Their favorite was Pepsi.

You already know what happened next: Coca-Cola developed a more Pepsi-like product called "New Coke." America rejected New Coke. Coke came back with "Coca-Cola Classic." America celebrated the restoration of the country's carbonated identity, and Coca-Cola's disastrous decision ended up entrenching its original product.

Behind all this was a problem with the Pepsi Challenge. People liked Pepsi more in small increments. They liked Coca-Cola more when they had to drink a can of the stuff. And this, I think, is going to prove a

Are Public Education Chicken Littles Wrong?

We have been hearing a constant drumbeat from politicians, policy wonks, and pundits that America's public education system is losing the educational "arms race" against other countries around the world. These advocates for reform use the widely reported results of testing of students from dozens of countries showing that U.S. students have gone from world leaders to middle-of-the-packers in a generation. As Thomas Friedman noted in a recent New York Times essay, "…the latest international education test results show our peers out-educating us, which means they will eventually out-compete us." The ramifications of this dramatic decline in academic achievement are, according to these voices of impending educational Armageddon, nothing less than the loss of our intellectual, technological, and economic supremacy on the world stage for future generations.

But a recent email exchange with Dr. David Berliner, a leading education researcher from Arizona State University, has led me to conclude that these doomsayers may actually be more Chicken Little than Paul Revere. The comparisons of American students to an international cohort may not be valid because the differences that exist between the U.S. and other countries make

Students win trade union support for tuition fees protest | Education | guardian.co.uk #demo2010

Students win trade union support for tuition fees protest | Education | guardian.co.uk

Students win trade union support for tuition fees protest

GMB and Unite leaders support planned London march while police chief says demos mean officers are not fighting crime

Peter Walker
guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 December 2010 14.32 GMT
Article history

Police officers stand guard outside parliament during the recent student protests. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Students protesting against increased tuition fees and cuts to education spending have won pledges of trade union support ahead of their next demonstration in London on 29 January.

The fourth national protest, organised by the National Campaign Against Cuts and Fees and the Education Activist Network, will be the first since the chaotic scenes in the centre of the capital on 9 December, the day

Wilson to Step Down as NEA Executive Director; John Stocks to Get Job | Intercepts

Wilson to Step Down as NEA Executive Director; John Stocks to Get Job

by Mike Antonucci

EIA has learned that John Wilson, NEA’s executive director for the past 10 years, will retire next August. NEA President Dennis Van Roekel named deputy executive director John Stocks as his replacement.

Wilson has had a long career within NEA, working his way through the hierarchy of the North Carolina Association of Educators and sitting on the NEA Executive Committee. He ran for the presidency of NEA in

Democurmudgeon: Texas now in Complete Republican Control, Let's See What Happens to Public Education and $29 Billion Deficit.

Texas now in Complete Republican Control, Let's See What Happens to Public Education and $29 Billion Deficit.

by Democurmudgeon

Remember when conservatives were outraged "no one was listening?" Guess what, Republican don't have to listen to Democrats anymore, now that they have super majority control of the Texas legislature. "You're not listening to us" only works one way, as you might have noticed, since Congressional Republicans have promised a "no compromise" platform.

My hope now is that they will do away with public education with unlimited vouchers, tort removal, lower taxes and a looming $29 billion structural state deficit. It's time to see voodoo economics unfiltered. Ye ha! Keith Olbermann gives us the head up:

This Week In Education: Update: More Details About Death Of Duncan Mentor

Update: More Details About Death Of Duncan Mentor

by Alexander Russo

The Sun Times is now reporting additional details surrounding the circumstances leading up to Michael Scott's suicide last year, including news of cancelled contracts, outstanding loans, and deals gone bad. A Daley insider who handled a number of City hall jobs, Scott headed the Chicago Board of Education during most of Arne Duncan's tenure and usually took the point during rancorous monthly board meetings. All of this

The Answer Sheet - Willingham: When teachers speak unwelcome truths about your child

Willingham: When teachers speak unwelcome truths about your child

My guest today is cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia and author of “Why Don’t Students Like School?” By Daniel Willingham As the holidays begin students are going home with report cards. This week a friend vented some irritation to me over comments on his fourth-grade son’s report card. The teacher said the boy was bossy on the playground and had become physically aggressive with some other kids when he got frustrated. My friend kept saying that his son was a typical boy, and thought that the teacher was “out of line” in characterizing his son as aggressive. He claimed that she must have ridiculous ideas about what constituted “aggressive” behavior in fourth-grade boys.

Analysis: La. governor's sale ideas seem desperate - Boston.com

Analysis: La. governor's sale ideas seem desperate

By Melinda Deslatte

Associated Press / December 20, 2010

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BATON ROUGE, La.—Gov. Bobby Jindal's considering the equivalent of a state fire sale to drum up cash for Louisiana's budget next year, offering ideas that range from selling state prisons and office buildings to selling future profits from the lottery program.

Jindal calls the proposals that he's weighing "creative" ways to fill budget gaps, but they smack of desperation in a crisis, a sort of "Step right up, everything must go! Will take best offer" because the financial numbers look so dire.

The ideas also fly in the face of the governor's own long-held rhetoric against using one-time money to pay for ongoing expenses -- not that he hasn't repeatedly violated that stance as the state's money problems have worsened.

Jindal first offered the ideas to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in quick cash in a closed-door meeting with top lawmakers, and he stressed he wasn't endorsing the proposals. Instead, he said they "merit further evaluation" as state officials weigh how to close a $1.6 billion budget gap in the 2011-12 fiscal year

This Week In Education: Media: The AJC Tries -- And Fails -- To Finger Atlanta Superintenent

Media: The AJC Tries -- And Fails -- To Finger Atlanta Superintenent [image: Pl_brown_elevatorpitch_f]Am I the only one who's confused and unconvinced about the wrongdoings alleged in this AJC article about cheating allegations in the Atlanta Public Schools? I can't put my finger on exactly what's wrong here -- maybe ...

AM News: Central Falls Teachers Not Showing Up For Work [image: News2] Obama reads his children's book to 2nd graders Associated Press: President Barack Obama took a lower-key approach Friday, reading selections from his new children's book to a group of delighted second-graders in suburban Virginia... ...

USDE: Who Injured Arne Duncan? "A spokeswoman for Mr. Duncan said he’d been hit in the cheek, but wouldn’t say whether the blow required medical attention, or who the culprit was." (Duncan Also Injured Playing Hoops Wall Street Journal). My guess is that it was Reggie Love, the ...

Video: How To Become An Edu-Pundit "If someone wants to play the "knowledge" card, I'll just accuse them of being a defender of the status quo." A much-needed bit of humor from Patrick ("Eduflack") Riccards. Guesses on who he's talking about?

The Politics of Voting Down DREAM | The Atlantic Wire

The Politics of Voting Down DREAM

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By MAX FISHER | December 20, 2010 8:55am

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Just hours before the Senate voted on Sunday to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Democrats lost a major piece of legislation: the DREAM Act, which failed to overcome the threat of a Republican filibuster. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act would have provided a path to legal citizenship for some illegal immigrants who had arrived in the U.S. as minors but went on to graduate from U.S. colleges or serve in the military. Democrats pushed the bill as a modest alternative to the sweeping immigration reform suggested by many liberal activists. Here is what pundits are saying about the DREAM Act's failure and what it means.

Obama's Immigration Strategy 'in Ruins' The president told "skeptical supporters," The

Naomi Wolf Misrepresents the Facts of The Julian Assange Rape Allegations. Again. « Student Activism

Naomi Wolf Misrepresents the Facts of The Julian Assange Rape Allegations. Again.

by Angus Johnston

On Democracy Now this morning, Jaclyn Friedman and Naomi Wolf debated the sexual assault allegations that have been lodged against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

In the course of the debate, Wolf repeatedly insisted that what Assange is alleged to have done could not have been rape because his accusers never told him “no.”

But here’s the thing. According to the published account that Wolf herself cited, one of them did tell him no.

Broad notes success of Garland, Mesquite ISDs | THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | dallasnews.com

Broad notes success of Garland, Mesquite ISDs

by William McKenzie/ Editorial Columnist

There were several good education pieces in the Morning News over the weekend. The one that caught my eye first was that Garland and Mesquite are the only two North Texas districts that the Broad Foundation has noted for its progress in educating poor and minority students.

I am not pointing them out to slam Dallas because it is really hard to run a big urban district. But what these districts are doing to improve performance for their diverse populations is worth noting, especially since poor and minority kids make up most of the Texas school population.

For example, Mesquite is focusing on vocabularly development in early grades. I don't know if they are doing this

National Journal Online -- Education Experts -- A Piecemeal Approach on NCLB

A Piecemeal Approach on NCLB For the next two years, the fate of No Child Left Behind is largely in the hands of Rep. *John Kline*, R-Minn., who will take the helm of the House Education and Labor Committee in January. In a recent interview with several reporters, Kline said he ...

Sandy Kress responded to A Piecemeal Approach on NCLB on December 20, 2010 08:26 AM To Laugh or To Cry? If it weren't so tragic, it would be funny. For the past couple of weeks, official Washington has been wringing its hands over the most recent PISA results. This is a ritual that takes place with each PISA announcement. Don't get me ...

Frederick M. Hess responded to A Piecemeal Approach on NCLB on December 20, 2010 08:24 AM Prediction: "NCLB Patch," Little Else As I've said before, I don't think much will happen with NCLB (nee ESEA) before 2013-- whether as a full bill or carved into little pieces. In fact, as several veteran Hill staff have noted, NCLB balances so many ...

Monday Churn: Fingers are crossed | EdNewsColorado

Monday Churn: Fingers are crossed

by EdNews staff

What’s churning:

The Joint Budget Committee, other legislators, hordes of lobbyists and others will gather at 10 a.m. this morning to hear the quarterly state revenue forecasts from Legislative Council economists and Office of State Planning and Budgeting staffers.

The news – good, bad or uncertain – will set the financial tone for the first part of the 2011 legislative session and will have important implications for both K-12 and higher education funding.

The forecasts are done four times a year. While projections issued in June and September found some signs of

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