Monday, November 21, 2011

by alkleen

It’s been thirty-nine years since Congress passed Title IX and it’s now time for Congress to pass Title Nerd. Among other things, Title IX required schools that receive federal funds to provide equal opportunities in athletic programs for girls and women.

Title Nerd would require schools to create academic teams that would be on an equal basis with their athletic teams. The academic teams would be funded, promoted, and provided for on a par with the athletic teams. The academic teams would “play” in the same stadiums, gymnasiums and courts as the athletic teams. The coach of a college “physics team” would receive a salary similar to a coach of a college golf team, but once the physics matches brought in as much revenue as the football program, the physics coach could then be paid similar to the football coach.

Academic coaches would recruit “players” from high school teams just as the football coaches do. The schools would demand that the press provide as much coverage to the academic teams as they do to the athletic teams.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky

University of California, Davis Police Lt. John Pike uses pepper spray to move Occupy UC Davis protesters while blocking their exit from the school's quad Friday

Charles J. Kelly

A former Baltimore Police Department lieutenant who wrote the department's use of force guidelines, said pepper spray is a "compliance tool" that can be used on subjects who do not

The Flu and You: Tips for Staying Healthy | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

The Flu and You: Tips for Staying Healthy | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

The Flu and You: Tips for Staying Healthy

by NEA Health Information Network

Editor’s Note: This post is from our partners at the NEA Health Information Network (NEA HIN). Each month, we feature a new column on a topic related to school health. Through this effort, we hope to inform the public of important health issues that impact schools and offer educators and parents resources to address them.

Today's post was authored by Édeanna M. Chebbi, Hygiene and Disease Prevention Program Coordinator for the NEA Health Information Network.

Fever. Stuffy head. Sneezing. Runny nose. Sore throat. Does any of this sound familiar? Oh yes, it’s that time of year again! Flu season is just around the corner, and that means the best time to prepare and prevent illness is now!

The flu (influenza) is one of the most commonly spread infectious diseases in the United States. It is responsible for an average of 5 missed work days a year. Flu can impact children and adults alike. And because the severity of illness from the flu depends on each person’s level of immunity, you may be one of the 200,000 Americans who are hospitalized each year from flu related complications.

But there’s good news! The flu is preventable. The number one means of preventing a flu infection is through vaccination. Each year the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: UC Davis Rally at the Quad - Monday, Nov. 21, Noon #OWS

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: UC Davis Rally at the Quad - Monday, Nov. 21, Noon:

UC Davis Rally at the Quad - Monday, Nov. 21, Noon

by Paul B

UC Davis Protecting the Shit Out of You flyer

Rally in solidarity with the students at UC Davis. On Friday afternoon, Chancellor Katehi ordered the UC Davis police to attack students protesting peacefully on the UC Davis quad. Her actions have been met with international shock, outrage, and condemnation. Occupy Sacramento will join them in their rally. RSVP on facebook.

Audrey’s Law. Illinois teacher evaluations and IEA complicity. « Fred Klonsky

Audrey’s Law. Illinois teacher evaluations and IEA complicity. « Fred Klonsky:

Audrey’s Law. Illinois teacher evaluations and IEA complicity.

by Fred Klonsky

There I stood at the mic at the IEA Representative Assembly, trying to get recognized by Ken Swanson who was president of the Illinois Education Association in 2010.

IEA Executive Director Audrey Soglin was making her report on the new state teacher evaluation law, a law written by the committee she headed. Appointed to head the committee by Governor Quinn, she and the committee were tasked with crafting the state’s Race to the Top grant proposal. Education Secretary Duncan insisted that any proposal have a component that linked teacher evaluation to individual student performance.

The committee crafted a bill. The Illinois General Assembly passed it. Illinois never got the grant. But we did get the law.

Half way through Soglin’s report I went to the mic. I was the first one up. I pulled a point of information yellow

Shanker Blog » The Uncertain Future Of Charter School Proliferation

Shanker Blog » The Uncertain Future Of Charter School Proliferation:

The Uncertain Future Of Charter School Proliferation

by Matthew Di Carlo

This is the third in a series of three posts about charter schools. Here are the first and second parts.

As discussed in prior posts, high-quality analyses of charter school effects show that there is wide variation in the test-based effects of these schools but that, overall, charter students do no better than their comparable regular public school counterparts. The existing evidence, though very tentative, suggests that the few schools achieving large gains tend to be well-funded, offer massive amounts of additional time, provide extensive tutoring services and maintain strict, often high-stakes discipline policies.

There will always be a few high-flying chains dispersed throughout the nation that get results, and we should learn from them. But there’s also the issue of whether a bunch of charters schools with different operators using

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Survey on ... the Superintendent VS the Board?

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Survey on ... the Superintendent VS the Board?:

Survey on ... the Superintendent VS the Board?

by Melissa Westbrook

Yet another in the series of odd surveys the district is putting out, here's the latest. At least, it is short but does require every question to be answered in order for it to register.

It's a all over the map. Questions about what you think are should be the priorities of the Superintendent and the district, questions about the new leadership and its role, etc.

Here are two of the odder questions:

Since the change in leadership, do you think the Seattle School District is currently headed in the right direction,

Better Parents? - Dana Goldstein

Better Parents? - Dana Goldstein:

Better Parents?

by Dana Goldstein

On my various nerdy listservs, I saw a lot of snickering over the weekend about Tom Friedman's "Better Parents" column, which explained international research findings linking higher student achievement to parenting practices like reading aloud, checking homework, and asking kids about their school day.

The reaction was a collective "duh," followed by "so what?" After all, schools and governments can't possibly do anything about bad parents, right? Over at Flypaper, Peter Meyer has a much more thoughtful version of the critique:

What does a teacher – or a school – do in the face of the reality that parents make a difference? The answer: teach the kids. Schools can’t fix parents. They can — and should — educate (fix) kids.

I agree with Meyer that all too often, schools are expected to "fix" problems that aren't their fault and that they aren't well enough resourced or equipped to solve. This is a big problem with the entire poverty conversation in America. That said, some of the most dedicated school reformers have concluded that if they want to

Tears of joy, sadness and frustration at Juan Morel Campos Secondary School (I.S. 71) « EdVox

Tears of joy, sadness and frustration at Juan Morel Campos Secondary School (I.S. 71) « EdVox:

Tears of joy, sadness and frustration at Juan Morel Campos Secondary School (I.S. 71)

by edvoxny

Close to 300 parents, students, teachers, alumni and elected officials gathered at Juan Morel Campos Secondary School (JMCSS) on Wednesday, November 16 for an early engagement meeting to discuss the potential closure of the school. Juan Morel Campos Secondary School, in particular the high school portion, is being targeted for obtaining C’s in their Progress Reports for the last three years. In the past several years, the school has seen an increase in high-need students such as English language learners, students with special needs and the homeless population. The school has also lost more than 1 million due to budget reductions during these three years.

The night began and ended with students and parents speaking out in support of their school while

Univ. of Calif., Davis police chief now on leave - Boston.com #OWS

Univ. of Calif., Davis police chief now on leave - Boston.com:

Univ. of Calif., Davis police chief now on leave

In this Friday, Nov. 18, 2011, photo University of California, Davis Police Lt. John Pike uses pepper spray to move Occupy UC Davis protesters while blocking their exit from the school's quad Friday in Davis, Calif. Two University of California, Davis police officers involved in pepper spraying seated protesters were placed on administrative leave Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011, as the chancellor of the school accelerates the investigation into the incident. (AP Photo/The Enterprise, Wayne Tilcock)

By Jason Dearen

Associated Press / November 21, 2011

Text size – +

SAN FRANCISCO—The president of the University of California system said he was "appalled" at images of protesters being doused with pepper spray and plans an assessment of law enforcement procedures on all 10 campuses, as two police officers and the police chief were placed on administrative leave.

"Free speech is part of the DNA of this university, and non-violent protest has long been central to our history," UC President Mark G. Yudof said in a statement Sunday in response to the spraying

PPIC’s New Survey on Higher Education: What It Didn’t Ask | California Progress Report

PPIC’s New Survey on Higher Education: What It Didn’t Ask | California Progress Report:

PPIC’s New Survey on Higher Education: What It Didn’t Ask

by jeffson

By Peter Schrag

The most interesting things about the latest survey of Californians’ views about the state’s system of higher education are the issues it didn’t address.

The survey, conducted by PPIC, the Public Policy Institute of California and released last week, found – again – that a great majority of us believed that the state was underfunding its public colleges and universities. But – again, again – it also found that they weren’t willing to pay higher taxes or approve of higher tuition to make up for it. So what else is new?

PPIC pollsters didn’t make clear to those it questioned that while all the attention was going to the rising tuition at the University of California and the California State University (CSU), fees at the state’s community colleges, though also rising, are still the lowest in the country and that low income students get waivers for all fees. It made no distinction among the tuition and fees charged by the three segments.

Newt: Fire the janitors, hire kids to clean schools - Maggie Haberman - POLITICO.com

Newt: Fire the janitors, hire kids to clean schools - Maggie Haberman - POLITICO.com:

Newt: Fire the janitors, hire kids to clean schools

By MAGGIE HABERMAN | 11/18/11 8:15 PM EST

Via POLITICO's Reid Epstein, Newt Gingrich tonight said at an address at Harvard that child work laws "entrap" poor children into poverty - and suggested that a better way to handle failing schools is to fire the janitors, hire the local students and let them get paid for upkeep.

The comment came in response to an undergrad's question about income equality during his talk at Harvard's Kennedy School.

"This is something that no liberal wants to deal with," Gingrich said. "Core policies of protecting unionization and bureaucratization against children in the poorest neighborhoods, crippling them by putting them in schools that fail has done more to create income inequality in the Uni

National Journal Online -- Education Experts -- The Role of Common Core

National Journal Online -- Education Experts -- The Role of Common Core:

The Role of Common Core

I had the pleasure of sitting down recently with former education secretary Margaret Spellings and separately with Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.--two of the pillars of No Child Left Behind. I asked each of them how the Common Core State Standards changed the landscape for K-12 education policies. They were both blunt, saying the state-led effort to create college-aimed standards should not supplant the more basic academic requirements of No Child Left Behind. "The idea that we're going to be able to run a marathon without being able to run mile, I don't get that," Spellings said.

"Why don't we all take the MCATs, and those who succeed will be doctors and the rest of us just hang out," Miller suggested. Granted, both Spellings and Miller are a touch defensive about the accountability system they created, which they are now trying to salvage as lawmakers grapple with reauthorizing the law.

Not everyone agrees with them. The Common Core initiative is seen by other policymakers as the key to the next movement in education. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who chairs the education committee in the Senate, says the Common Core State Standards make it possible to move beyond NCLB toward a more innovative, state-based education system. It was NCLB that made the Common Core effort possible, Council of Chief State School Officers Executive Director Gene Wilhoit told me. Now that most states are on board, he said, NCLB has "run its course." It's time to reinstate the state laboratory of ideas.

What do the Common Core State Standards add to the conversation about academic achievement? Are they an appropriate substitute for the benchmarks created under NCLB? Does a move toward Common Core mean that the federal involvement in public schools will be diminished? How can states ensure that kids are at basic grade level in reading and math, as NCLB demands, using Common Core?

I Used to Think...That Experts Understood the World :: Frederick M. Hess

I Used to Think...That Experts Understood the World :: Frederick M. Hess:

I Used to Think...That Experts Understood the World

by Frederick M. Hess • Nov 21, 2011 at 8:24 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

Send

RSS

This summer, Harvard Education Press published Richard Elmore's intriguing volume I Used to Think...And Now I Think. The volume's title and theme draw from a professional development exercise in which participants reflect on how the experience has altered their thinking. The book includes essays from a variety of K-12 thinkers--including Howard Gardner, Sonia Nieto, Larry Cuban, Jeff Henig, Deb Meier, and Mike Smith--discussing how their thinking has changed during their time in education. I had the privilege of contributing to the volume, and the piece captured much of my own underlying biases with regards to the issues that I regularly tackle in this blog. Given that (and with the kind blessing of Harvard Ed Press), I thought I'd share

Latest News and Comment from Education