Local Teachers' Union President Calls "Bullshit" On The HISD Superintendent, The New York Times And The Washington Post - Houston News - Hair Balls

Local Teachers' Union President Calls "Bullshit" On The HISD Superintendent, The New York Times And The Washington Post - Houston News - Hair Balls

 Caught on her cell phone today, Gayle Fallon, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, said that many people are distorting what Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a Tuesdayeight-page speech about overhauling teacher evaluations.

The speech was reported in the New York Times and the Washington Post today and both accounts said that Weingarten, in her call for an overhaul of teacher evaluations, supports using student test scores as one way to assess teachers. Which would seem to put Fallon at odds with the president of her parent organization.

This week, Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier proposed using a teacher's continued low student test scores as another reason for dismissal. The Houston school board is slated to vote on the proposal at its Thursday meeting and it looks 

Expanding Florida school voucher program is a bad idea - St. Petersburg Times

Expanding Florida school voucher program is a bad idea - St. Petersburg Times:

"With Florida facing a $3 billion deficit and striving to maintain momentum in improving public schools, this is an odd time to talk about expanding tuition vouchers for private schools. Yet voucher supporters are pushing legislation that would divert more tax money to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and raise the value of each voucher. Legislators should keep the focus on improving public education and reject this legally suspect bid to siphon more public money away to private schools.

The voucher program for low-income students is one of two surviving voucher programs embraced by former Gov. Jeb Bush and approved by the Legislature. Nearly 25,000 students use the vouchers at more than 1,000 private schools, and companies get dollar-for-dollar state tax credits toward both corporate income taxes and insurance premium taxes for contributing to the program. Supporters of the program are well intentioned in their efforts to assist often struggling students from low-income families. But there are fundamental questions that should be answered before the program is expanded:

Is this voucher program constitutional?"

Students and parents make snowy trek back to school | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/17/2010

Students and parents make snowy trek back to school | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/17/2010:

"Over the snowbanks and through the slippery patches, Orlando Santiago shepherded his three sons to Abigail Vare School on East Moyamensing Avenue in South Philadelphia yesterday morning.

It was the first day back to school in a week for many students across the region, and though a snowstorm Monday night into yesterday morning left little accumulation, the leftovers from last week's storms still made for tough going in some neighborhoods.

For most of the short walk through their Pennsport neighborhood, Santiago carried 10-year-old Cameron's cello. And when he waved goodbye to Cameron and 8-year-old twins Christian and Julian at the front of Vare, Santiago advised his oldest to be careful.

'I recommended he leave his cello at school,' Santiago said. 'I don't want him falling in the snow because of it.'

Like most district students, the Santiago boys live close enough to school to walk. About 10 percent of the district's 161,000 pupils ride yellow buses and an additional 53,000 use SEPTA to get to school, though that figure includes charter- and private-school students as well."

Reauthorize ESEA Now, or Never - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Reauthorize ESEA Now, or Never - Politics K-12 - Education Week

That's the dramatized version of the message former longtime Democratic congressional aide Jack Jennings has for Education Secretary Arne Duncan and crew.

And Congress appears to be leaning towards now, according to a story in theWashington Post that went online late Wednesday night.

If Jennings knows anything after 20-plus years working for Congress, it's the congressional schedule, said Jennings, who is now the Center on Education Policy's president and CEO.

If the gears don't start turning on reauthorization in the next two months, he predicts we'll all have to live with the rules of No Child Left Behind Act until the 2012-13 school year. That's because members of Congress soon will start running for re-election, and they'll become more "risk averse." Then, a new Congress will be seated, and it'll have to get organized. So it will be a while before they're ready to tackle any meaty issues.

By then, in some states, nearly all of the schools could be labeled failing--for not making adequate yearly progress, the signature yardstick of the current accountability law. The Obama administration has already signaled it wants big changes to AYP.

Jennings, who in a conference call Wednesday with reporters was promoting the 

Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Education- Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Bipartisan move to rewrite No Child Left Behind

Following Obama's lead, both parties begin tackling education law.

MORE ON EDUCATION

• School buses get stuck in snow
• Moco school board passes budget
• Eight essential skills for our kids
• McDonnell wants school cuts in Va.
• D.C. Insider: "Purge, purge, purge!"
• Post-Snowpocalyse: School resumes
• Mote managed U-Md. tuition freeze
• Gen. goes from war zone to school zone

The trouble with algebra

My guest today is Debra Viadero, who reports on education research for Education Week and writes a daily blog,Inside School Research.

By Debra Viadero
Studies have long suggested that algebra is a “gateway” course. Students need to pass it in order to move on to more advanced mathematics--and they need to have at least a couple of higher-level math credits on their high school transcripts to make it into a competitive college.

That realization has led a growing number of school districts over the last couple of decades to try to ensure that all students, regardless of ability level, study the subject as early as possible, which in many cases means by 8th or 9th grade. Some newer research is beginning to suggest, however, that getting all students past the algebra hump has proved to be a knotty problem.

Continue reading this post »

Life habits schools can teach

[This is my column for the Local Living section of Feb. 18, 2010. It is the cover piece.]

I learned at an early age from my mother that there was more to school than reading, writing, arithmetic and lunch. She was a teacher. I was an eager student of the academic sort. That didn’t impress her. She told me later it was clear I was ready to read when I was four, but she refused to teach me because I needed more work on my social skills.

She will turn 93 at the end of this month. I am tempted to call and ask her to evaluate how I turned out, but I fear the answer. My life has been a lot of reading and writing, with some arithmetic. Even as a parent I rarely considered how well my children’s schools were teaching life skills that went beyond what is assessed under No Child Left Behind.

The habits of the heart are probably learned almost as much at school as at home. But which ones can we reasonably expect teachers to address? What should we look for to make certain these unmeasurable immeasurable but invaluable traits are being reinforced?
,

Continue reading this post »

At DCPS, it's 'purge purge, purge!'

D.C. schools will begin moving its central offices next week, decamping 825 N. Capitol St. NE for 1200 1st St. NE near the New York Ave. Metro station. To save money on rent, the new digs are smaller, and that means about 40 percent less storage space, officials said.

The space crunch has triggered a crash program of document shredding. The school system has hired two firms, Iron Mountain and Shredit, to help scan documents that need to be kept and dispose of others.

"The new location has less storage space so it is imperative to purge, purge, purge!" say the notes from chief operating officer Anthony J. Tata's Dec. 16 "sync meeting" for school business managers and other staff. The purge imperative was voiced in a briefing by James Tanious, a Tata staffer.

HISD may add weeks of classes at some problem schools | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

HISD may add weeks of classes at some problem schools | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

"Some students could see their summer breaks slashed and their academic year stretched as part of the Houston Independent School District's effort to overhaul poor-performing campuses.
The district is designing a pilot program to allow a handful of struggling schools to adopt an extended-year calendar starting this fall. The reform effort — estimated to cost around $500,000 per school — includes two more weeks of class for students. The schools, which have not been chosen, also could see a staff shake-up.

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said he plans to ask teachers and principals to re-apply to work at the campuses to ensure top-notch instruction during the longer year.

“It's not just about time,” Grier said. “It's not about doing the same thing the same way and expecting different results.”

The alternative calendar, which the school board approved last week, divides the year into quarters, with two-week breaks about every two-and-a-half months. Summer vacation would span three weeks instead of the typical three months.

“As educators, we know that the summer's way too long,” said Peter Heinze, the principal of Briarmeadow, a combined elementary and middle school in HISD."

5 city schools get reprieve, won't close :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education

5 city schools get reprieve, won't close :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education:

"Five city schools were spared from closure or other major shake-ups -- in several cases because of student safety concerns -- under a series of last-minute reprieves announced Wednesday by Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman.


Huberman made the changes to his original list of 14 shake-ups just days before a City Council hearing on the school closure process."



A resolution by Aldermen Pat Dowell (3rd) and Freddrenna Lyle (6th) contends that confusing criteria were used to pick schools for shake-ups with "little or no input'' from the community and little time to respond. Both aldermen also want a one-year moratorium on closings.
A City Council Education Committee hearing on the resolution is scheduled for Monday, just two days before School Board members are to vote on the new recommendations.
Huberman said Wednesday his latest plans show he listened to the community. He said he took very seriously concerns about gang conflicts, arguing that it's tough to foresee some potential problems until the shake-ups are announced.

New Plan Will Let High Schoolers Graduate Early - NYTimes.com

New Plan Will Let High Schoolers Graduate Early - NYTimes.com:

"Dozens of public high schools in eight states will introduce a program next year allowing 10th graders who pass a battery of tests to get a diploma two years early and immediately enroll in community college."


Students who pass but aspire to attend a selective college may continue with college preparatory courses in their junior and senior years, organizers of the new effort said. Students who fail the 10th-grade tests, known as board exams, can try again at the end of their 11th and 12th grades. The tests would cover not only English and math but also subjects like science and history.
The new system of high school coursework with the accompanying board examinations is modeled largely on systems in high-performing nations including Denmark, England, Finland, France and Singapore.
The program is being organized by the National Center on Education and the Economy, and its goals include insuring that students have mastered a set of basic requirements and reducing the numbers of high school graduates who need remedial courses when they enroll in college. More than a million college freshmen across America must take remedial courses each year, and many drop out before getting a degree.

Citizens can help rebuild California | Weekly Calistogan

Citizens can help rebuild California | Weekly Calistogan

Citizens can help rebuild California

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Locally organized think-ins and summits are being held around the state to identify issues and solutions to the fiscal earthquake that has struck California. Such a summit was organized recently in Yountville by Supervisor Diane Dillon; and was attended by several hundred local elected community leaders from Napa County, its cities, and its school districts.

The invitees learned about a task force called the Cities Counties Schools (CCS) Partnership (www.ccspartnership.org) formed to address the changes necessary to restore effective governance and a sensible fiscal system to state government.

They heard speakers representing cities, counties, school districts and business groups. The message was loud and clear: California’s government is broken and will only be fixed if citizens and local officials take action.

They presented opportunities ranging from a list of proposed ballot initiatives to a constitutional convention, the latter which is gathering a lot of attention and support throughout the state.

None of the above-mentioned speakers were wild-eyed radicals. Far from it. They were concerned pragmatists who have identified five top priorities:

• Protect local revenue.

• Reform the State’s budgeting system to abandon the 2/3 supermajority requirement to adopt the annual budget in favor of a simple majority vote

02.17.2010 - Six UC Berkeley faculty elected to NAE

02.17.2010 - Six UC Berkeley faculty elected to NAE

The NAE cited the newly elected UC Berkeley researchers for the following:

• Lisa Alvarez-Cohen for the discovery and application of novel microorganisms and biochemical pathways for microbial degradation of environmental contaminants
• Eugene Haller, who is also a faculty senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) for improvements in semiconductor performance through contributions to synthesis of ultrapure and doped crystals
• Michael I. Jordan for contributions to the foundations and applications of machine learning
• Jay D. Keasling, who is also director of the Physical Biosciences Division at LBNL and CEO of the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville, Calif., for developing synthetic biology tools to engineer the antimalarial drug artemisinin
• Arthur H. Rosenfeld, who is also one of five members of the California Energy Commission, for his leadership in energy efficiency research, development, and technology deployment through the development of appliance and building standards and public policy
• Xiang Zhang, who is also director of the National Science Foundation Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, for pioneering contributions in metamaterials and creation of the first optical superlens with resolutions beyond the fundamental diffraction limit

Clarion - Governor's proposed budget could spare colleges

Clarion - Governor's proposed budget could spare colleges

The community colleges, Cal State and the UC systems will see a shift in state funding in the 2010-2011 fiscal year if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget is passed by the California State Legislature the K-12.

The budget proposal was released on January 8. According to the governor, the amount California will spend on state-funded services like public education will total at $82.9 billion dollars, a $3.2 billion decrease from last fiscal year’s revised budget.

Despite this, K-12 education would receive almost $37 million, which is about 31 percent of the proposed budget, and higher education would receive $13 million, which is about 10.6 percent of the proposed budget, if the proposed budget is passed by the Legislature.

California Community College System Chancellor Jack Scott reacted to the proposed budget in a January 8 press release. He said that the governor’s proposed budget is a welcome change to the usually deep cuts to education in the state budget.

“Given the state’s dire fiscal circumstance, the proposal for the California Community Colleges is as favorable as we could have hoped,” Scott said in the release.

The governor’s proposed budget underscores the reality that money invested in public education is money saved on incarceration of California’s youth, Scott said. California budgets in years past have prioritized education over prison as 

Daily 49er - UCI Protestors’ agenda not grounds for suspension, expulsion

Daily 49er - UCI Protestors’ agenda not grounds for suspension, expulsion

UCI Protestors’ agenda not grounds for suspension, expulsion

By Hanif Zarrabi

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Published: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Last Monday, Michael Oren, the first American-born Israeli ambassador to the United States, came to the University of California, Irvine campus. Oren came to share his personal and historical perspective on the U.S.-Israel relationship.

As a campus, UCI, as of late, has been known for being just as politically charged as its northern neighbor UC Berkley. This is why I was not as surprised as many of the audience members were when Oren’s speech was repeatedly interrupted by students in protest. There were eleven of them in all.

Video of Oren’s lecture at UCI can be found easily online, as the incident has gone viral. Online forums and comments regarding the incident are accompanied with intense debate. Discussion of the promotion of bigotry by a university, issues of freedom of speech, as well as the academic future of the students, who were arrested for protesting are discussed in these forums.

According to Cathy Lawhon, UCI’s director of media relations, the student protesters, arrested by campus police for disrupting the speech at UCI, could face a host of academic repercussions from simple warnings to suspensions to all-out expulsions.

I long for the days of peaceful discourse, but it would be a shame for these students to be expelled from thier 

More private colleges court community college transfers - USATODAY.com

More private colleges court community college transfers - USATODAY.com:

"Community college transfer students are no longer being courted only by the usual suspects. More private institutions, of every ilk, are aggressively recruiting students from two-year colleges, hoping to bolster and diversify their enrollments and capitalize on the belt-tightening of regional public universities.
'I see more and more privates getting out there and recruiting transfers, whereas there really weren't that many out there even just a few years ago,' says Brenda Doran, director of transfer admissions at Bryant University, a small, tuition-driven independent institution in Rhode Island that has traditionally relied on community college transfers to meet its enrollment goals. 'As with any competition, you just have to be more aggressive than you were in the past.'

Not so long ago, Doran and her colleagues from Bryant were among only a handful of private institutions in the Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts area that actively recruited at local community colleges. Now,"

Byron Williams: Sen. Abel Maldonado fight leaves little hope for California legislative progress - San Jose Mercury News

Byron Williams: Sen. Abel Maldonado fight leaves little hope for California legislative progress - San Jose Mercury News

IF YOU are someone who is cynical and apathetic about the way things run in Sacramento, the past week has given you additional fodder to justify your already-hardened position.

We can find many culprits for the current climate of uber partisanship within the capitol, but the Assembly Democrats' failure to confirm state Sen. Abel Maldonado as lieutenant governor has all the characteristics of being petty, snide and peevish.

In a rare display of bipartisanship, the Senate passed Maldonado's nomination. But some in the Assembly bemoaned his voting record in the Senate. Ironically, Maldonado is not exactly the darling of his fellow Republicans because he had the unmitigated gall to work with Democrats on a budget compromise.

We're not curing cancer. We're talking about lieutenant governor — the statewide constitutional office with the sexiest name and the fewest responsibilities.

But that was not a compelling factor as Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, proved during the floor debate in saying that, "There is a time for us to be partisan. That is during an election."

What election? Is Cedillo referring to the much-anticipated lieutenant governor's race? (Yawn.) Why is there so much partisanship for an office that in the most likely scenario is where elected officials go to die?

Was there a concern that Maldonado as lieutenant governor could break the tie on key votes on UC Board of

Access to College: A Promise to Keep

Access to College: A Promise to Keep

Access to College: A Promise to Keep

WEDNESDAY, 17 FEBRUARY 2010 19:54

Dr. Anthony Ross

I am no preacher. But this month I will stand at a church pulpit, before thousands of families and students with the message: college can transform a person's life.

Finding the pathway to college can be tough. That’s why students stand a better chance when parents and family members help them in the planning for university admission. This planning must start as early as middle school. At this early state, students should enroll in challenging classes that prepare them for college.

This message will echo in 100 predominantly African American churches in almost 40 California cities over the course of several Sundays. It will be delivered by university presidents, members of the board of trustees, the chancellor and other speakers from the California State University’s 23 campuses.

We will be enlisting the support of entire communities to help us get students on track, prepared to enter and succeed in college. Accompanying us will be admissions counselors and others who will help explain the steps necessary to get into a CSU campus.

The State Hornet - Get in control of your education

The State Hornet - Get in control of your education

Imagine a school bus full of children barreling quickly toward the edge of a cliff. Inside that bus, they scream madly for someone to turn the steering wheel or hit the brakes, but no one takes the initiative to do so.

My friends, you are those children, and public higher education is your speeding death carriage. We are drowning in a crowd of apathy, blame dodging and buck passing, but this is no game of hot potato.

Criminal justice professor Cecil Canton, associate vice president of affirmative action for the California Faculty Association, calls the situation “already critical.”

“We may already be witnessing the redefinition of the mission of the CSU, from ‘The People’s University’ to ‘Some People’s University,’” Canton said.

California State Student Association President Steve Dixon said tuition and fees will be raised much higher. He also foresees whole departments and majors being axed, classes designed for 30 students swelling to 70, English 100 being taught to rooms of 650 students.

“They are already looking at how they are going to do it, and who’s going to get cut,” Dixon said. “The quality of education will be gone.”

Schools to vote on layoffs San Mateo Daily Journal

San Mateo Daily Journal:
Schools to vote on layoffs

"More than 100 employees in the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School Distract could be getting preliminary layoff notices as the Board of Trustees considers a plan to save the $7.4 million.

A plan to send preliminary layoff notices to 117.95 full-time equivalent teacher positions goes before the board Thursday. The vote comes days before the district is asking local voters to support a tax renewal and increase, Measure A, which would result in $6 million in annual revenue. California requires districts to give preliminary notice of the potential to let certain employees go by March 15. Districts have until May 15 to make a final decision. The governor has recommended a loosening of these rules next year. Suggested cuts fall short of the district’s $10.2 million projected deficit next year should Measure A fail, according to the district’s first interim budget report.

Board President Colleen Sullivan described the measure as precautionary given that the district does not know if the a parcel tax will pass or what the impact the state budget will have."