Wednesday, December 22, 2010

School District Probed in Walsh Suicide | News | The Advocate

School District Probed in Walsh Suicide

Federal education officials have launched a probe into the Central California school district where Seth Walsh, who was 13 years old, took his own life after suffering antigay bullying from classmates.

According to theAssociated Press, a spokesman for Education Secretary Arne Duncan confirmed the investigation.

“The probe was launched in response to a complaint from Seth Walsh's mother that Tehachapi Unified School District employees failed to adequately address the years of bullying that preceded her son's death last Sept. 28, spokesman Justin Hamilton said,” the AP reported.

Wendy Walsh said that investigators from the Education Department spent two days in

State education commissioner resigns - Connecticut Post

State education commissioner resigns

GLASTONBURY -- Connecticut Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan told state leaders he will resign his post, citing the stress of the high-profile position.

McQuillan sent a letter Tuesday to state Board of Education members about his plan to leave the position effective Jan. 5. He has been state education commissioner since April 2007.

The decision came one day after McQuillan heatedly cut short a meeting with an advisory committee appointed to explore the state's funding of schools. The panel members had wanted to discuss their final recommendations, which McQuillan wanted to table. As tempers rose, he adjourned the meeting promptly and left the building.

"I realized," McQuillan wrote in his resignation letter Tuesday, "that I no longer wanted to do this work and saw all too plainly that the stresses of my job are more

NYC Educator: Not My Fault, Man

Not My Fault, Man

by NYC Educator

That's what the city now says about the inaccuracies in the value-added data it wants to release. Of course, the city agreed not to release the data in the first place and is now doing precisely the opposite. That's not their fault either. Newspapers are filing FOILs for the data so they can't help going back on their word.

It's largely the UFT's fault for trusting them. You can't make a deal with a snake and not expect to be bitten.

And now they're closing dozens of schools they deem failing. That's not their fault either. If the kids don't get the scores, the schools need to be closed. It's entirely the teachers' fault. By shuffling kids all over the city

Hub union urged to accept use of MCAS scores in teacher rating - The Boston Globe

Hub union is urged to accept use of MCAS scores in teacher rating

School leader lauds decision of state association

PUSHES FOR CHANGE
Carol Johnson, the head of the Boston school system, told the union the current evaluation system is inadequate.

By Akilah Johnson

Globe Staff / December 22, 2010

Text size – +

The Boston Teachers Union should join other educators throughout Massachusetts and endorse plans to use student test scores to help determine teacher effectiveness, Superintendent Carol Johnson told union leaders yesterday.

In a letter to the Boston union, Johnson praised the decision by the Massachusetts Teachers Association to tackle one of the most divisive issues in today’s education-reform debate. The suggestion by the state’s largest union to include MCAS scores in teacher evaluations validates what the School Department said during contract negotiations that began last spring, she said.

“It is past time to implement a complete and fair evaluation process that uses this information to affirm the complex work that our dedicated teachers undertake every day in thousands of classrooms,’’ Johnson wrote. “The current evaluation

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Stealth charter school campaign draws criticism | California Watch

Stealth charter school campaign draws criticism

by Louis Freedberg

Louis Freedberg

The first attempt to use a controversial "parent trigger" law to convert a regular public school into a charter school has raised at least one key question: just how public should the petition drive be to gather the majority of parent signatures needed to trigger the change?

On Dec. 7 a majority of parents at McKinley Elementary School in Compton Unified School District filed a petition demanding that their school be turned into a charter school, and naming the charter school company

George Miller defends vote on interns | Thoughts on Public Education

George Miller defends vote on interns
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Opponents insist there was no need to rush

Posted on 12/22/10 • Categorized as Teacher Development, UC and CSU, Uncategorized

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

Congress on Tuesday broadened the definition of a “highly qualified teacher” to include the 10,000 novice or intern teachers in California who are working toward their teaching credential. The clause was inserted into the Continuing Resolution to temporarily fund the federal government. It passed, as expected, last night.

Critics assailed the new definition as a retreat from higher standards of the No Child Left Behind law. Proponents of internship programs said it was necessary for second-career professionals and others to be able to afford a credentialing program while working as a teacher.

Democratic U.S. Rep. George Miller of California, the chairman of the House Education and

The Answer Sheet - The lowdown on standardized tests and how they are scored

The lowdown on standardized tests and how they are scored

You wouldn’t be alone if you thought that the companies that score standardized tests have machines that can whip out the results in no time. But they don’t, at least not for tests with questions that require a written response. Instead, they hire tens of thousands of temporary workers, who are paid by the hour (often about $11 to $13 per), to decipher the answers of millions of kids from third to twelfth grade. They are often poorly trained and overworked.

Rap News: Wikileaks & Cablegate. « Guerrilla Think

Rap News: Wikileaks & Cablegate.

by guerrillathink

Popout

from thejuicemedia‘s Rap News:

Juice Media Rap News, with Robert Foster. Episode 6 of the Investigative Rap Journalism has dropped: December 2010 and Cablegate has burst open. With a steady trickle of Diplomatic

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: What the new year will bring

What the new year will bring

by Mike Klonsky

Sociologists are worried about the Republican takeover of the House. They damn well ought to be.

The new majority in the House believes that the election provided a mandate to change the course of policy from extending the Bush-era tax cuts, repealing health care reform, and cutting federal spending. Another concern is the capacity of the new majority to attack science it doesn’t like from climate change to social and behavioral research.

**********

Can someone please explain why it will "take months" for the Pentagon to

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Mississippi Governor and the White Citizens’ Councils. « Fred Klonsky's blog

The Mississippi Governor and the White Citizens’ Councils.

DECEMBER 21, 2010

tags: Haley Barbour, Ku Klux Klan, Martin Luther King,Republicans, Weekly Standard, White Citizens Council, Yazoo City Mississippi

by Fred Klonsky

President Lyndon B. Johnson and Rev. Dr. Marti...

Former GOP head couldn't remember what Martin Luther King had to say.

Haley Barbour was at one time was the head of the Republican Party. Now he’s the governor of Mississippi.

He’s catching some hell these days.

The NY Times reports:

In a profile published Monday in The Weekly Standard, Mr. Barbour also talked about the White Citizens’ Councils of the late 1960s, which opposed

Me and the next mayor of Chicago. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Me and the next mayor of Chicago.

by Fred Klonsky

Chicago City Clerk, Miguel Del Valle, and this blogger at Lazo’s Restaurant in Logan Square. I attended a gathering of Educators for Del Valle. I sat in a Logan Square basement about thirty years ago with a couple of other neighborhood activists working on Del Valle’s independent progressive campaign for the General Assembly. He won. He can win again.

Queens Teacher: Dumbing Down of America

Dumbing Down of America

by Queens Teacher

Dumbed-down curricula is becoming widespread - even in the suburbs. The goal is to replace highly qualified teachers with unskilled rookies who can implement them.

Whole language reading and writing programs teach NO CONTENT whatsoever. The focus is cooperative learning and an increase in the use of technology to replace teachers. Inquiry-based learning is the latest trend with the teacher serving as a facilitator.

Reform Math is more of the same. Kids are taught multiple methods of

Congress Approves Bill Flat Funding K-12 Until March 4 - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Congress Approves Bill Flat Funding K-12 Until March 4

by Alyson Klein

Funding for K-12 programs will remain frozen at last year's levels for more than two months, thanks to a measure passed by both houses of Congress today. The bill now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The bill extends funding for almost all federal programs at fiscal year 2010 levels until March 4. That means a new, more-conservative Congress will get to set 2011 spending levels for K-12 programs.

Education advocates are worried about what that could mean, given that House Republicans, who will soon hold a majority in the chamber, have said they want to roll back spending to fiscal year 2008 levels.

But the bill approved today does include money to help shore up the Pell Grant program to help low-income students pay for college, which was facing a major shortfall, due to high demand. And it contains language on highly qualified teachers aimed at helping those who go through alternative certification programs, such as Teach for America. (Check out this explanation by Steve Sawchuk of our Teacher Beat blog.)

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, cheered the teacher-

Daily Kos: The Perils of Obsessive Management

The Perils of Obsessive Management

by teacherken

is the title of a very interesting post from England by David Boyle that has made the rounds (partly with my assistance) of some education lists and sites.

After all, one of the real problems in education is our national obsession with measuring, as if weighing a pig 5 times a day would actually increase its weight.

Let me offer two "rules" from the piece and then discuss the implications:

Goodhart’s Law (after former Bank of England director Charles Goodhart) which says that: any

Top Colleges Reconsider R.O.T.C. After ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Vote - NYTimes.com

Elite Colleges Rethink Ties to R.O.T.C. After ‘Don’t Ask’ Repeal

By TAMAR LEWIN and ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS 11 minutes ago

Robert Walker/The New York Times

Pickets opposing R.O.T.C., the war in Vietnam and American action in the Dominican Republic at Columbia on June 1, 1965.

Some universities have already expressed interest in bringing back the R.O.T.C., but doubts remain about the number of students on elite campuses who would be interested in a military career.

E.P.A. to Inspect New York City Schools for PCB Contamination

By MIREYA NAVARRO 3:53 PM ET

The federal agency told the city of the decision after light fixtures in some buildings were found to be leaking the toxic chemical.

SQUARE FEET

New York’s Schools Seize a Chance to Expand

By JULIE SATOW 6:52 PM ET

The New York School Construction Authority has swooped in to take advantage of lower construction costs, amenable landlords and available land.

Downtown Las Vegas Draws Developers

E.E.O.C. Sues Kaplan for Hiring Practice

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE 7 minutes ago

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission wants to stop Kaplan’s use of credit histories in job offers.

City Will Require Police to Report on School Arrests

By NOAH ROSENBERG

Advocates have complained that police officers have sometimes been too aggressive in dealing with students.

Susan Herbst will be the 15th president of the University of Connecticut.

U. of Connecticut Announces Pick for Its President

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The board of trustees unanimously voted to appoint Susan Herbst, an administrator at the University System of Georgia.

NYC Public School Parents: For Arne Duncan and Bill Gates – A lump of coal in your stocking

For Arne Duncan and Bill Gates – A lump of coal in your stocking

by Leonie Haimson

This guest column is by Peter Huidekoper, Jr., a former teacher in Colorado.

The two portly gentlemen have asked for a contribution. Scrooge insists on giving nothing:
"I wish to be left alone," he said. "... I help support the establishments I have mentioned--they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there." - A Christmas Carol

Sorry to disappoint if you'd like a story of good cheer. But if Dickens could tell a Christmas story with more than a little bitterness and anger, it's okay to follow in his shoes. True, Scrooge finds happiness and becomes a second father to Tiny Tim. This piece ends with another vulnerable child, little Bianca, still waiting for a better school where she is not lost in a large class.

Those who are "badly off must go" to schools and sit in classrooms with 29 other students. "They cost enough." Teachers and parents begging for smaller classes--"We can't afford it." Let's even add more kids! No big

A tale of two documents: the city’s impact statements evolve | GothamSchools

A tale of two documents: the city’s impact statements evolve

by Maura Walz

At the heart of the city’s major courtroom loss to the union earlier this year over school closures were 19 short documents — the “educational impact statements” that the city used to make its case for shuttering schools.

Now, the city has given those documents a makeover. But a review of last year’s and this year’s versions of the EIS for one school — Beach Channel High School in Rockaway, Queens — shows that while the reinvented statements are vastly more informative, they still skirt many of the points cited by critics opposed to closing the schools.

When a panel of judges blocked the closures last year, they acknowledged that the law gives city officials little guidance on what to include in the documents but does give them the discretion to close schools they believe

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