Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Saturday coffee. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Saturday coffee. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Saturday coffee.



Happy Birthday Studs.
Tomorrow, May 16th, is Studs Terkel’s 98th birthday. Studs died in 2008.
Tonight on his radio station, WFMT, his old colleague, Sydney Lewis, has put together a program,Working With Studs.
When I arrived in Chicago in 1973 there were two radio programs that were required listening and both were on WFMT, the classical music station. Ironically, neither program involved classical music.
In the morning, every day, Studs would do a one hour mostly interview show. Although there was rarely an interview. It was definitely a conversation and often Studs was more interesting than the person he was interviewing.
On Saturday nights, Anne and I would listen, often in the dark, to the Midnight Special, a mostly folk music program with some British comedy recordings thrown in. We never understood what was funny about the British comedy bits, even on those rare occasions when we understood what they were saying.
If you haven’t already done it, sign the petition.
The Responsible Budget Coalition 

Old school. Fred Klonsky's blog

Fred Klonsky's blog




Old school.





Obama breaks with Reformers on jobs bill.

MAY 14, 2010
by preaprez
You learn not to expect too much from the White House on education issues. There is some good news today. The Washington Post reports that Obama has thrown his support behind Tom Harkin’s education jobs bill. It is a $23 billion measure aimed at averting some of the educational employee lay-offs that are threatened for next year.
The decision by Obama to support the Harkin Bill is important beyond its immediate practical impact. The Reformers like wing-nut Fred Hess of the right-wing American Enterprise Institute, have opposed the Harkin bill, claiming schools are over-staffed, class sizes are too small and is hoping that the present funding crisis has the potential for a Katrina-like impact on union contracts.
Others like Alexander Russo suggest that the threat of teacher lay-offs is overblown. He argues that it is just a ploy to get funding.
And still others like the NY Times, Chicago Tribune and school administrators like NY Chancellor Joel Klein, want to use the present climate to do away with seniority. They would release veteran, skilled and more expensive teachers first in favor of lower paid, younger teachers.
Note that in NY, a hiring freeze is in effect for traditional public schools with the threat of the loss

Duncan’s claim to “zero opposition” is challenged at home.

MAY 14, 2010
by preaprez
In a statement to the NY Times last week, Arne Duncan made claim to zero opposition to his education agenda. Since the Duncan agenda was given birth in Chicago in the now abandoned Renaissance 2010 plan, it is only natural for Chicago to voice strong opposition.
Here in Chicago plans are shaping up to challenge his claim.

Sarah pulls in the bucks and slams Highland Park High School basketball.

MAY 13, 2010
Sarah Palin spoke at a Republican function in suburban Rosemont yesterday. Tickets for the fundraiser ranged from $25,000 for a place at a private round table, $10,000 for a photo and a seat at a VIP reception and $500 per person or $750 per couple for a spot in the general reception. After she bagged the cash, she attacked the Highland Park High School basketball team

Student’s Arrest Tests Immigration Policy Education News - The New York Times

Education News - The New York Times

Jessica Colotl speaking Friday at a news conference in Atlanta after being released on bail.
Kate Brumback/Associated Press
Jessica Colotl speaking Friday at a news conference in Atlanta after being released on bail.
A college student who is an illegal immigrant has unwittingly provided the latest test of whether local officials should be enforcing federal immigration law.

Citing Individualism, Arizona Tries to Rein in Ethnic Studies in School

Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona has once again upset the state’s large Hispanic population, signing a bill aimed at ending ethnic studies in the Tucson schools.
Matthew Goldstein, chancellor of the City University of New York, at an Albany hearing in January. In his 11 years in the job, Dr. Goldstein's base pay has risen to $490,000 from $250,000.

Growth of CUNY Chancellor’s Salary Outpaces Rise in Faculty’s Pay

In his 11 years as chancellor, Matthew Goldstein’s base pay has grown to $490,000 from $250,000, bringing criticism from the professors’ union president.
Elena Kagan's time at Harvard is under debate. Ms. Kagan, right, visited Senator Susan Collins on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

Nominee Scrutinized for Hiring on Race

Critics say that Elena Kagan did not create enough racial diversity at Harvard, and her supporters counter that she demonstrated a commitment to equality.

California: Attention, Parents of School Truants, State Senators Have Turned Their Eyes to You

The California Senate passed a bill on Thursday under which the State would hold parents responsible if their children regularly skipped school.
SPORTS OF THE TIMES
Kenny Anderson played for Georgia Tech before becoming an N.B.A. vagabond. He now lives in Pembroke Pines, Fla.

Education of a Point Guard Comes Full Circle

Nineteen years after leaving Georgia Tech for a career in the N.B.A., Kenny Anderson is about to earn a college degree.
Franklin K. Lane Campus High School’s Francisco Rojas threw 109 pitches during a 3-0 loss Tuesday.

New York High School League Is Posting Pitch Counts

Whether the number of pitches that a teenage boy is allowed to throw should be left to trust or should be a matter of prescribed rule has become the subject of intense debate.
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A Digital Boot Camp to Groom Talent for Agencies

A new program at the University of Colorado, Boulder, called Boulder Digital Works focuses on creativity and technical skills for new media.

Minority student activists protest education cuts - USATODAY.com

Minority student activists protest education cuts - USATODAY.com

Minority student activists protest education cuts
Posted 17h 50m ago | Comments 39 | Recommend 2
Student activist Jesse Cheng at the University of California, Irvine, is part of a growing movement of minority students rallying around a new cause -- fighting a budget crisis that's undermining access to higher education at a time when students of color have become a stronger demographic force.
By Chris Carlson, AP
Student activist Jesse Cheng at the University of California, Irvine, is part of a growing movement of minority students rallying around a new cause -- fighting a budget crisis that's undermining access to higher education at a time when students of color have become a stronger demographic force.


Cheng is a third-year Asian-American studies major at the University of California, Irvine, a campus less than five decades old in the middle of Orange County, a place of strip malls and subdivisions that gave birth to the ultraconservative John Birch Society.
Comfortable talking with both administrators and anarchists, Cheng is a presence at protests but avoids getting arrested. He doesn't want to put his graduation at risk or upset his mother, who worked hard to get him here and worries for his safety because she witnessed what happened to dissidents in her native China.

International Curriculum Blasted as Anti-American EducationNews.org

EducationNews.org

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International Baccalaureate

International Curriculum Blasted as Anti-American

5.15.10 - Foes of an internationally focused curriculum offered in some northern Idaho schools have been

Support Charters of No Fed Dollars

5.15.10 - In a dramatic show of White House support, President Obama's education czar will visit a Brooklyn charter school Tuesday to help persuade the foot-dragging state Assembly to lift the cap on the number of...
Full story

Red ink in the classroom

5.15.10 - THE FEDERAL government sent an unprecedented $100 billion to schools last year as part of the stimulus package. The aim was to avert draconian cuts in school personnel and programs while fostering reform. ...
Full story

Why education reporting will live on and thrive

5.15.10 - "Until people perceive education journalism as a route to long-term professional success, it will be hard to re-invigorate school-related coverage," they

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

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



















VALERIE STRAUSS
A School Survival Guide for Parents (And Everyone Else)

Posted at 8:59 AM ET, 05/15/2010

Literacy kudzu

Will Fitzhugh, editor of The Concord Review, questions, no, savages, the way students are taught to read in school.
Posted by Valerie Strauss | Permalink | Comments (0)
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JAY MATHEWS
What's Right and Wrong With Our Schools

Posted at 5:30 AM ET, 05/14/2010

Why education reporting will live on and thrive

"Until people perceive education journalism as a route to long-term professional success, it will be hard to re-invigorate school-related coverage," they conclude. "Just as we undervalue the teaching profession, so do we undervalue education journalism. Our schools will not achieve as we would like them to until we give adequate respect and reward to teaching." Sorry, guys. It isn't going to happen
Posted by Jay Mathews | Permalink | Comments (6)
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Social conservative on state ed board to press church-state fight | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Social conservative on state ed board to press church-state fight | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News| Latest News

Social conservative on state ed board to press church-state fight



11:53 PM CDT on Friday, May 14, 2010

By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
tstutz@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – A leading social conservative on the State Board of Education will push for further doubt to be cast on separation of church and state when the board goes back to work on proposed curriculum standards for social studies next week.
Board member Don McLeroy, R-College Station, has distributed several changes he will propose before board members take a final vote on the standards. The curriculum will dictate what is taught in classrooms and must be included in textbooks for U.S. history, government and other social studies courses in Texas schools.


Trainer urges Plano ISD trustees to back superintendent, avoid dissent



11:48 PM CDT on Friday, May 14, 2010

By MATTHEW HAAG / The Dallas Morning News
mhaag@dallasnews.com

Plano's newest school board members gathered Friday for a five-hour crash course in local governance.
"You want to do everything you can to make your superintendent successful," said Don McAdams, a 69-year-old education consultant from Houston who led the training. "Governance is hard work."
The three newly elected trustees, along with existing members and Superintendent Doug Otto, scribbled notes on everything from how to