Three N.J. districts struggle to regain control of schools from state despite problematic statute | NJ.com

Three N.J. districts struggle to regain control of schools from state despite problematic statute | NJ.com

Three N.J. districts struggle to regain control of schools from state despite problematic statute

By Star-Ledger Staff

December 26, 2010, 6:20AM

State took over Paterson, Jersey City and Newark school districts but progress has been slow to gain back local control Full story »

New Wallkill Valley High School principal, superintendent to be paid $38K less than predecessor

By The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk

December 23, 2010, 6:38AM

HARDYSTON — The new principal and superintendent of Wallkill Valley High School will be paid nearly $40,000 per year less than his predecessor, according to a report on NJHerald.com. Edward Bolcar Jr., a former Boonton mayor and Hasbrouck Heights Middle School principal, received a three-and-a-half year contract that will pay him $137,500 to start. He'll get a two-percent raise... Full story »

Newark Mayor Cory Booker aide goes to D.C. to serve as deputy mayor for education

By David Giambusso/The Star-Ledger

December 22, 2010, 4:35PM

De'Shawn Wright, 35, will consult on educational policy for D.C. Mayor Gray after serving as a policy adviser to Booker since 2006 Full story »

Watch Again: Helping Teachers Improve Via Video : NPR

Watch Again: Helping Teachers Improve Via Video : NPR

Watch Again: Helping Teachers Improve Via Video

by LARRY ABRAMSON

The Gates Foundation is spending millions of dollars to answer a very difficult question: What makes a great teacher great? The Measures of Effective Teaching, or MET, project comes at a time when education reform efforts are focused on teacher effectiveness as the best way to reach students.

The program relies in part on in-class video, and that's raised concerns about other ways those recordings could be used.

Watching a good teacher manage a classroom is like being at mission control during a rocket launch — there's a lot going on at once. Mahalia Davis, in her fourth year as a teacher at Ridgeway Middle School in Memphis, Tenn., changed careers midlife to become a teacher. But she looks like she's been doing this forever.

The first video I ever really watched and tried to tear it apart as far as what I felt I was doing — what I could have done better — made me not want to submit it. And so now I just do the taping, and I leave it alone, and I move on.

- Teacher Melony Smith Wellington

To teach her sixth-graders how to construct a five-sentence paragraph, Davis lines up five kids and gives each a role. She has a wide range of tools to get students excited — and to calm them down, including having them breathe deeply.

'It's My Goal To Be The Best'

Test scores show that Davis' students are advancing. But how does she do it? The Gates Foundation is

Grateful kids? They're teachers' favorite gifts

Grateful kids? They're teachers' favorite gifts

MICHAEL DALY

Sunday, December 26th 2010, 4:00 AM

Carroll/News

The kids at PS 119 thanked their favorite teachers for all that they were taught - which was much more than just reading, writing and arithmetic.

RELATED NEWS

• PS 224 pupils denied tutoring help for weeks
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• Schools shine, teachers prep before first day of classes
• Test scores fall in English, Math at Brooklyn schools
• Public school kids showcase art at Guggenheim

ANY KID lucky enough to have money can shop in a store for a Christmas gift for a favorite teacher.

The kids at Public School 119 in Brooklyn went shopping in their hearts and came up with a gift any teacher was sure to cherish above all others.

The gift was appreciation, which is often accorded to firefighters and cops but too seldom to teachers. It was expressed to each student's favorite teacher in the form of a letter with the best spelling, grammar and penmanship the writer could summon.

Fourth-grader Kendall Hunte decided to write his letter to Iris Ofsie, the teacher he had in first grade, before he transferred from Public School 272. That was a third of his life ago, and initially he had some difficulty describing the enormous impact she had on him.

"It came out kind of tough at first," the 9-year-old told me.

He kept at it, just as Ofsie and any other

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/12/26/2010-12-26_grateful_kids_theyre_teachers_favorite_gifts.html#ixzz19EIlPggc

Boys aren’t learning to read — Joanne Jacobs

Boys aren’t learning to read — Joanne Jacobs

Boys aren’t learning to read

by Joanne

Boys aren’t learning to read — and it’s a global problem, write William Brozo and Richard Whitmire in a New York Daily News op-ed.

According to a Center for Education Policy report that looked at 40 states, boys “lag well behind girls in literacy skills – while only tying them in math.” And it’s not just an issue in the U.S.

Earlier this month, results of 65-country comparison called the Program for International Student Assessment revealed that girls tie boys in math while soaring ahead of them by an astounding 39

A year-end note from the publisher to our readers - latimes.com

A year-end note from the publisher to our readers - latimes.com

A year-end note from the publisher to our readers

In 2010, The Times investigated allegations of fraud, corruption and mismanagement of public funds in the city of Bell.

Dear readers,

Today, columnist Steve Lopez is graciously sharing his space so I can give you a year-end report on what The Times has accomplished these last 12 months and where we're heading. Please look for Steve's column in this space on Monday.

This year, our newsroom has given you, our readers, some of the best journalism anywhere in the world, with an emphasis on holding major institutions in our communities accountable to the public and providing news and information that help you navigate your lives.


One example is our investigation into allegations of fraud, corruption and mismanagement of public funds in the city of Bell. We're proud of the job our journalists

Peace on Earth - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Peace on Earth - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Peace on Earth

Peace on Earth/ Little Drummer Boy
Three Videos Below

#1 - The Original - Bing Crosby & David Bowie - 1977
Via the Wall Street Journal, Peter Kafka h/t to Washington Post Back-story on Crosby/Bowie Harmony

#2 - Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly - December 2010

#3 - Jack Black & Jason Segel - December 2010
Via collegehumor.com

Windsor schools to recognize two-language fluency- Sonoma County, California – Pressdemocrat.com

Windsor schools to recognize two-language fluency- Sonoma County, California – Pressdemocrat.com

Windsor schools to recognize two-language fluency

Posted by PD on December 25th, 2010 | no responses

By KERRY BENEFIELD

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Windsor Unified School District is the first on the North Coast to adopt a program that will honor graduating seniors for reaching benchmarks of literacy in at least two languages.

Windsor is one of 33 school districts in the state recognized by the California Department of Education this month for adopting standards to recognize spoken, written and cultural expertise in two languages.

“The message of ‘English is enough’ is not really accurate,” said Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, executive director of Californians Together, an statewide advocacy group for English language learners. The group spearheaded the push for recognition of biliteracy — a term coined to acknowledge written, spoken and cultural expertise.

“Really, what is marketable (are) students who have capabilities in multiple languages,” she said.

Los Angeles City Schools, San Francisco Unified and San Jose Unified also offer the program.

Windsor will implement three levels of recognition on both diplomas and transcripts after students meet some of the most rigorous targets in the state.

A gold seal will indicate the student has passed two Advanced Placement tests in foreign language

State Poised to Sell Trophy Buildings to Unidentified Investors - The Bay Citizen

State Poised to Sell Trophy Buildings to Unidentified Investors - The Bay Citizen

State Poised to Sell Trophy Buildings to Unidentified Investors

Governor's lawyers race to overcome legal challenge on deal that could cost taxpayers billions

By ELIZABETH LESLY STEVENS on December 25, 2010 - 11:33 a.m. PST

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Adithya Sambamurthy/The Bay Citizen

The California Public Utilities Commission Building is included in a controversial plan for the state of California to sell 11 office buildings to a group of private investors, then lease the space for 20 years

As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger prepares to decamp from Sacramento on Jan. 3, he has displayed zealous determination to complete what critics say will be among the worst deals the state has ever made: the sale of 11 premier state office complexes to a group of politically connected private investors.

The deal, which includes the San Francisco Civic Center, has been pitched as a way to generate much-needed cash. California would pocket about $1.3 billion after debt is paid off, but would then be a tenant in the same buildings.According to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, the deal would cost taxpayers $6 billion over 35 years.

The buyer is a consortium of investment firms that refuses to disclose where the money is coming from or even who is involved. Opponents of the transaction, who include Bill Lockyer, the state treasurer, and John Chiang, the controller, say it is a terrible deal that smacks of cronyism.

Democurmudgeon: Liberal Dream Come True, Florida Gov. and Crook to Dismantle Education (in general)!!!

Democurmudgeon: Liberal Dream Come True, Florida Gov. and Crook to Dismantle Education (in general)!!!

Liberal Dream Come True, Florida Gov. and Crook to Dismantle Education (in general)!!!

by Democurmudgeon

I’ve said it before; I want a right wing ideologically controlled state to live their dream, where regulation is a thing of the past, educational choice is statewide and tax cuts rule. Please let it happen!

It’s about too, in Florida:

Journalonline: Vouchers for all students. Merit pay for teachers, but no tenure for new hires … a few of the wide-ranging recommendations for reforming Florida's education system released this week by an 18-member panel advising Gov.-elect Rick Scott.

First thing it would do is take a huge chunk of money, 85 percent-$5,800 from public education, set up “education savings accounts” that private schools

Chapel Hill Campus Takes On Grade Inflation - NYTimes.com

Chapel Hill Campus Takes On Grade Inflation - NYTimes.com

A Quest to Explain What Grades Really Mean

Travis Dove for The New York Times

Andrew Perrin, a University of North Carolina sociologist, is working to fight grade inflation.

By TAMAR LEWIN

Published: December 25, 2010

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It could be a Zen koan: if everybody in the class gets an A, what does an A mean?

The answer: Not what it should, says Andrew Perrin, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “An A should mean outstanding work; it should not be the default grade,” Mr. Perrin said. “If everyone gets an A for adequate completion of tasks, it cripples our ability to recognize exemplary scholarship.”

As part of the university’s long effort to clarify what grades really mean, Mr. Perrin now leads a committee that is working with the registrar on plans to add extra information — probably median grades, and perhaps more — to transcripts. In addition, they expect to post further statistics providing context online and give instructors data on how their grading compares with their colleagues’.

“It’s going to be modest and nowhere near enough to correct