Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, December 24, 2010

Democratic schism opens on fixing schools - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Democratic schism opens on fixing schools - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Across the nation Democrats have begun to split over education, with a growing chorus arguing the party must move away from its traditional allegiance with teachers unions in order to improve chronically low-performing schools.

Winter break has proved costly for Sacramento school districts as vandals, thieves and arsonists have hit the empty campuses.
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The 264 students at Sacramento's Hmong charter school began grinning when Li Yang blew on a leaf and almost made it cry, the way his Chinese ancestors have done for centuries.
School district may close school near gas pipeline
In one Massachusetts school district, the naming rights to the principal's office can be yours for $10,000.


Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/education/#ixzz192h7SpL2

RI superintendent's pay tied to performance - Boston.com

RI superintendent's pay tied to performance - Boston.com

RI superintendent's pay tied to performance

December 24, 2010
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WESTERLY, R.I.—A Rhode Island school system has tied its superintendent's pay raises directly to student performance.

The Westerly School Committee last week unanimously approved the model that will be used to evaluate Superintendent Roy Seitsinger Jr. It is based on leadership standards approved by state education officials and an Ohio system.

Jack Carson, head of the subcommittee that designed the evaluation model, tells The Sun of Westerly that in his 35 years of education experience, it is the "most

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Daily Kos: Bernstein's memories of Christmas

Daily Kos: Bernstein's memories of Christmas

Bernstein's memories of Christmas

ShareNew 0

Fri Dec 24, 2010 at 05:32:29 AM PST

Bernstein is a Jewish name. Although our family was Jewish, Christmas was in different ways a part of my childhood and adolescence. As an adult I spent the better two parts of two decades as a Christian, first in the Episcopal and then the Orthodox Church. Even since I left, first to Judaism and then to a Quaker Meeting, it has played a role in my life.

This dia4y will be a personal looking back. It is not that my experiences are so note-worthy. But there is a theme that will be evident.

I invite you to keep reading, even if you don't really care for the Holiday.

Peace.

Education | Study questions seniority-based teacher layoffs | Seattle Times Newspaper

Education | Study questions seniority-based teacher layoffs | Seattle Times Newspaper

Study questions seniority-based teacher layoffs

If Washington laid off teachers based solely on which had the least seniority, researchers say it would significantly impact students' ability to learn.

The Associated Press

Information

Center for Education

Data and Research:

http://www.cedr.us

A study of Washington state teachers has found that deciding layoffs based solely on which teachers have the least seniority has a significant impact on students' ability to learn, adding to a growing chorus calling for schools to take a hard look at union contracts dictating who gets to keep their jobs.

The study comes as tens of thousands of teachers around the country stand to lose their jobs next year as federal stimulus money dries up. In most places, union contracts and other policies generally dictate that the least experienced teachers are the first to go.

But that comes at a price, according to the study released exclusively to The Associated Press on Thursday.

The Center for Education Data and Research at

In Battle Over NYC Charter School, It's Heiress vs. Parents | Education | Change.org

In Battle Over NYC Charter School, It's Heiress vs. Parents | Education | Change.org

In Battle Over NYC Charter School, It's Heiress vs. Parents

Mona Davids, president of the New York Charter Parents Association, loves charter schools. She does not, however, love Ross Global Academy, a New York city charter school with a horrible record of serving students.

"Out of the 1,470 schools in New York city, this school is 1470. it is officially the worst school in the city," says Davids.

The New York City Department of Education agrees. They've recommended that Ross Global Academy's charter not be renewed for another five years. But the rich widow who started the school is using her big money to try to stop that from happening. She's hired a legal team and has been lobbying the Board of Regents to give her

Incoming schools chancellor Cathie Black's fate is now in hands of an Albany judge

Incoming schools chancellor Cathie Black's fate is now in hands of an Albany judge

Incoming schools chancellor Cathie Black's fate is now in hands of an Albany judge

Friday, December 24th 2010, 4:00 AM

Supreme Court Justice Gerald Connolly will decide whether Cathie Black will take schools post.
Warga/News
Supreme Court Justice Gerald Connolly will decide whether Cathie Black will take schools post.

ALBANY - It's now up to an Albany judge to decide whether Cathie Black can run the city school system.

Supreme Court Justice Gerald Connolly heard arguments for nearly four hours Thursday in three separate lawsuits charging that state education Commission David Steiner wrongly granted Black a waiver to become schools chancellor.

Mayor Bloomberg's choice for chancellor needed the waiver because she has no prior experience in education.

"The law should not allow such trickery," said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn), a plaintiff in one of the cases.

The lawsuits charge that Steiner should have been barred by state regulations from granting Black a waiver because she had not obtained a master's degree.

They also argued that Steiner wrongly determined that Black could rely on the



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/12/24/2010-12-24_cathies_fate_is_now_in_hands_of_albany_judge.html#ixzz192eHDr4F

California Legislature shields records | NewsOK.com

California Legislature shields records | NewsOK.com

California Legislature shields records

California and Oklahoma are among at least six states that do not require legislators to follow open meeting and open record laws.

By The Associated Press Comment on this article 0
Published: December 24, 2010

ALSO ...

Calif., others also shield records

— A letter written by a lobbyist to a lawmaker; an e-mail pitch by a campaign donor; memos sent by party leaders directing legislators how to vote on a bill.

Those are just a few examples of documents that would shed light on how the California Legislature conducts the public's business. But California lawmakers, like their counterparts in Congress and several other states, keep those and other types of correspondence secret under a special law covering legislative records.

California is one of at least six states in which legislatures require less transparency for



Read more: http://newsok.com/california-legislature-shields-records/article/3526414#ixzz192e4wZBW

In St. Paul schools, the no-sweet life — Joanne Jacobs

In St. Paul schools, the no-sweet life — Joanne Jacobs

In St. Paul schools, the no-sweet life

St. Paul’s public schools will be “sweet-free zones” by the end of the school year, reports the Minnesota Star-Tribune. The ban includes “sweet, sticky, fat-laden [and] salty treats.”

Forty percent of St. Paul’s fourth-graders, most of whom are poor and minority, are obese, 11 percent higher than the national rate.

St. Paul administrators say they’re preparing for stricter rules that could soon be handed down

Seattle Public Schools community blog: Ach! Yet another conflict of interest!

Seattle Public Schools community blog: Ach! Yet another conflict of interest!

Ach! Yet another conflict of interest!

They are breaking out like a teenager!

Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson was, and is, a member of the Board of Directors of the Council of Great City Schools.

This relationship has never been disclosed in the minutes of a Board meeting.

This relationship did not appear on

Feminism Works. « Student Activism

Feminism Works. « Student Activism

Feminism Works.

One of the great weird open secrets of American society is how much safer we are than we used to be. Serious crime has fallen dramatically in just about every category since the early seventies — robbery is down 69%, assault by 62%, theft by 74%.

But even in the context of this overall decline in crime, one statistic stands out:

Rape is down 88%.

Yep. Eighty-eight percent. For every ten Americans raped in 2009, eighty-three would have been raped in 1973. And this isn’t a shift in reporting to police — the figures come from the Bureau of Justice National Crime Victimization Survey, which interviews Americans directly about their experience of crime each year.

Now, there are a lot of reasons for the overall decline in crime, from advances in police work to simple

The Answer Sheet - The line between sacred and secular in school

The Answer Sheet - The line between sacred and secular in school

The line between sacred and secular in school

This post was written by Nancy Flanagan, an education writer and consultant focusing on teacher leadership. She spent 30 years in a K-12 music classroom in Hartland, Mich, and was named Michigan Teacher of the Year in 1993. She is National Board-certified, and a member of the Teacher Leaders Network. She writes for her blog "Teacher in a Strange Land" for Education week, and her work is featured on the Web site Teachers Lead. By Nancy Flanagan Time for mistletoe and holly. Also, the perennial Music Teacher Question: What about Santa? How to handle holiday performances and musical literature with nominally religious origins is one of those evergreen topics for the Music Educators National Conference.

Schools Matter: Maybe you are failing the schools, Chancellor ...

Schools Matter: Maybe you are failing the schools, Chancellor ...

Maybe you are failing the schools, Chancellor ...

Tireseus (the blind prophet): Do you really think closing schools is the answer?

Chancellor: The school is failing.

Tireseus: Or maybe you are failing the school. Why not give them what they need to succeed?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Can the billionaire philanthropist and the president of the AFT find common ground?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Can the billionaire philanthropist and the president of the AFT find common ground?

Can the billionaire philanthropist and the president of the AFT find common ground?


"You know, a quarter of our teachers are very good. If you could make all the teachers as good as the top quarter, the U.S. would soar to the top of that comparison." -- Bill Gates

Someone should probably point out to Mr. Gates that his statistical approach to teacher evaluation doesn't allow for all teachers to be as good as the top quartile. If they were, there would still be a top and a bottom 25%.

Gates reveals more of his misunderstanding of the teaching profession and school reform in general in a