Tuesday, March 23, 2010

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence.

Bright and Early: The Education Newsblitz

A friend whose kid is yet to be born asked me yesterday which high school they should go to. I'm flattered to be considered an expert -- but it might be a little early. Take a deep breath, relax and read the newsblitz:

We blog that San Ysidro schools have warned the state that they're in financial danger in the coming years. Part of the problem? They had to backtrack on some of their planned budget cuts.
North County second graders invented a technological sign language interpreter, the Union-Tribune writes.
Also in the UT: Seven students were arrested at a Scripps Ranch middle school after a student brought unloaded guns and ammunition to school. Nobody was hurt.
The North County Times reports that Escondido fifth graders wrote and shared their personal stories through a literacy program.
The Contra Costa Times lays out the details of a proposed state law that would lower the threshold for passing parcel taxes for schools. The San Diego Unified school board backs this idea.
A leading charter school operator is closing one of its Los Angeles schools because of lagging enrollment and test scores, the Los Angeles Times writes.
Despite budget cuts, the music didn't die in Davis schools. The Sacramento Bee explains

The California Majority Report // Should the FPPC Regulate Tweeters, Facebookers?

Should the FPPC Regulate Tweeters, Facebookers?

March 23, 2010 @ 9:46 AM

In the Age of the Internet, when campaigns, advocates, consultants and engaged citizens are using all forms of social media - Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Gmail Buzz, etc. - to communicate about politics, the Fair Political Practices Commission is struggling to figure out what in all that constitutes political communication that ought to be regulated - like paid advertising - and what is purely a function of free speech.

It's a fair question.

Last week, I testified (and Tweeted) before the FPPC's Subcommittee examining electronic communication in political campaigns as part of a panel of political consultants (also at the table was Julia Rosen, the Courage Campaign's Online Political Directorm and Bryan Merica from ID Media and Fox & Hounds Daily). We were followed by Kim Alexander of the California Voter Foundation, Derek Cressman of Common Cause, Tiffany Mok of the ACLU and Professor Barbara O'Connor, Sacramento State University.

The subcommittee wanted to hear from us if it should develop, in the words of Chairman Ross Johnson, "appropriate responses to new political realities."

My advice was straightforward: do no harm. Don't regulate independent bloggers. Don't do anything that will stunt the growth of the Internet to attract and involve voters. But do provide clear guidelines for disclosure if there's campaign money involved. And while you're

Education Research Report: Review Of Draft Standards

Review Of Draft Standards

The Fordham Institute's expert reviewers have analyzed the draft Common Core K-12 education standards (made public on March 10) according to rigorous criteria. Their analyses lead to a grade of A- for the draft mathematics standards and B for those in English language arts. Read the full review.

In this report, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, as part of its continuing scrutiny of academic standards across the states, the nation, and the world, offers its own appraisal of the draft Common Core standards. Our purpose is neither to praise nor to bury them. It’s to give constructive feedback during a comment period that is intended to yield later improvements.

As it happens, while there are definitely some changes we’d like to see made, our expert reviewers think these drafts are pretty darned good.

On the math side, our reviewers found clear, rigorous standards that set forth most of the essential content that students in grades K-12 must master. While some tweaks are needed— particularly at the high-school level—this draft “embodies internationally-competitive expectations for students in mathematics” and earns an impressive A-.

On the English language arts (ELA) side, the standards are also strong, though in need of a few more adjustments. While NGA and

Chicago's HS admissions -- model or mess? | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Chicago's HS admissions -- model or mess? | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Chicago's HS admissions -- model or mess?

by Dale Mezzacappa on Mar 23 2010

Those of us interested in exploring what is right and wrong, fair and unfair about Philadelphia's high school admissions process should read this story co-written by Stephanie Banchero, my good friend and colleague on the Education Writers Association board. It was published today in the Chicago Tribune and describes an appeals process for the well-connected created by Arne Duncan when he was superintendent there. In Philadelphia, we all know there is something called "directed admissions," in which some spaces are reserved for students who have influential advocates, but it is secretive and shadowy. Chicago kept a log of all the calls.

Health | A push for healthier school meals | Seattle Times Newspaper

A push for healthier school meals

Charlie Baltimore eyed the pizza in the cafeteria of the High School of the Future with simmering contempt. "In a year," the ...

By Alfred Lubrano

The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — Charlie Baltimore eyed the pizza in the cafeteria of the High School of the Future with contempt.

"In a year," the school administrator vowed, "we're going to eliminate pizza."

Unlike most city schools, the technologically specialized West Philadelphia school has a full kitchen where many meals are prepared practically from scratch. Like just four other schools, it gets $5,000 a year in extra funding from the district to buy fresh produce. There's even a vegetable garden.

Future is emblematic both of what healthy school eating can look like and of Philadelphia's place in the forefront of cities seeking to improve school meals.

But Future is a relative anomaly. And, according to Baltimore and others, much work has to be done to get other schools in the city — as well as across America — up to that same standard.

Denigrating most district meal offerings as "slop," Baltimore said: "The more we phase out garbage, the better our students will be."

State schools chief Randy Dorn arrested on suspicion of drunken driving

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn was arrested early Sunday in Orting under suspicion of driving under the influence, his office confirmed Tuesday.

By Melissa Santos The News Tribune, Tacoma

Randy Dorn, state schools superintendent

JOHN LOK / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Randy Dorn, state schools superintendent

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn was arrested early Sunday in Orting under suspicion of driving under the influence, his office confirmed Tuesday.

The traffic stop occurred at about 1:30 a.m. at roughly the 300 block of Washington Avenue North, said Orting Police Chief Bill Drake. That's the same block as Orting High School.

Dorn said in a statement Tuesday that he and his family were attending a community event Saturday night

Fresno tree incident offers a parable of our society - Bill McEwen - fresnobee.com

Fresno tree incident offers a parable of our society- Bill McEwen- fresnobee.com
Fresno tree incident offers a parable of our society

Posted at 09:38 PM on Saturday, Mar. 20, 2010

By Bill McEwen / The Fresno Bee

Comments (6)

Recommend (0)

Five Central High School seniors thought they were pulling a prank: cutting down two mature trees in the quad to deprive junior classmates of shade.

Actually, they were committing at least $7,000 of vandalism and igniting a story that has become a parable on what's right and wrong with America.

Their act and the responses of their parents and the school district offer several threads for legitimate public debate -- as well as the kind of blind anger that is the trademark of anonymous Internet commentary.

Helicopter parents? Publicity seeking lawyers? Where to draw the line for punishment? Portraying yourself as a victim instead of owning up and accepting consequences?

Every issue has at least two sides, as we have seen in news coverage of the students' suspensions, their attempt to return to school, the hiring of attorneys and the sidewalk shouting outside Central.

ON THE RADIO

Listen to Bill McEwen's talk show daily at noon on KYNO (AM 1300).

Central High tree-cutting case delayed

Some of the outrage is genuine. Some of it

Video: Digging Into the CPSAN Vault This Week In Education

This Week In Education

Video: Digging Into the CPSAN Vault

Past events are going to be an important reality check as the Obama administration attempts to move education legislation. Whether you want to watch last week's hearings on the Duncan education plan or the Senate floor debate on No Child Left Behind from eight years ago, you can now find pretty much everything that's been on CSPAN online for free. Here's a NYT article about it. Here's the search results for "No Child Left

A Ticket For Rush!

DAY 2: Enough for one ticket. Currently researching: cost of a modest apartment in Costa Rica, cost of a moving service, and cost of Spanish lessons (just to be safe). Keep the donations coming! THANK YOU.

Recently, a number of interesting things happened. First,Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show that if the Healthcare Reform Bill passed, he would go to Costa Rica. Second, the Healthcare Reform Bill passed. As you can imagine, this has made a number of people very excited. We are among that number. We want to make sure that Rush is able to make good on his promise, and so we've made this website.
Here's how this is going to work:
1. We're accepting 1 dollar PayPal donations to buy Rush a one-way ticket to Costa Rica. We are currently accepting donations.
2. At the end of the donation period*, we will attempt to personally contact Rush, and offer to buy him a first-class plane ticket from Palm Beach International Airport to San Jose International Airport, Costa Rica.
3. If Rush does get cold feet**, and refuses to move to Costa Rica, we will instead donate all of the money to the Planned Parenthood Action Center.
4. Additionally, if we make more money than the cost of a ticket, or if we don't make enough money for a ticket, everything will still go to Planned Parenthood.
*Donation period will run until April 30th, 2010. That's like, more than 4 weeks notice for the guy.

**Rush has publicized that he never said he would move to Costa Rica. However, we still think it's a good idea.

FYI - payments made with a credit card incur a .33 fee. Use your PayPal balance or bank account if you can! pink border

We have raised $1,423 so far towards the price of a one-way first-class ticket to Costa Rica.

What if you want to donate more than $1?

You can email us to arrange that; FYI we'd love to talk, but a response might take a little while. Don't give up hope!

Where's the "Share This On Facebook" button?

BLAM!3724

Are we affiliated with Planned Parenthood?

No.

How do you know we won't just buy a plane ticket for ourselves?

Well...we can't give you anything other than our word. But if you'd rather donate direct to Planned Parenthood, you should.

Are we really going to contact Rush?

Absolutely. We'll video-tape and post the results here. We promise.

Who are we?

We are Mike and Patrick. We are two dudes living in Brooklyn. We don't have health insurance.

Background photo by kansasphoto. CSS uses the reset sheet of Eric Meyer

& the 1kb grid of Tyler Tate. Banner set in League Gothic.

Latest News and Comment from Education