Live From RI: "I Love It When a Plan Comes Together" :: Frederick M. Hess

Live From RI: "I Love It When a Plan Comes Together" :: Frederick M. Hess

Frederick M. Hess's Blog

Live From RI: "I Love It When a Plan Comes Together"

by Frederick M. Hess • May 17, 2010 at 11:01 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

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Big news yesterday out of Rhode Island's Central Falls--the city where Superintendent Fran Gallo dusted off the dreaded "turnaround" bomb earlier this year--as the Central Falls Teachers' Union folded and acceded to Gallo's demands. In return, Gallo backed off the mass firing she'd launched. Some observers might regard Gallo's move as a disappointing reversion to powder puff school management, especially after reading the weak-kneed press release stuffed with promises that all the union ever wanted is "what is best for our students." But such concerns are misplaced. Gallo's play shows how stiff-spined management is supposed to work--by forcing unions and other claimants to come to their senses.

In February, Gallo had fired every teacher at Central Falls High School after teachers at the school refused to get on board with her efforts to transform the poorly performing school. This was after they had embraced the transformation model because it would protect their jobs, so long as there weren't any transformational

The Top 20 Education Blogs | Intercepts

The Top 20 Education Blogs | Intercepts

The Top 20 Education Blogs

by Mike Antonucci

Technorati ranks more than 100,000 blogs with “authority” calculations “based on a site’s linking behavior, categorization and other associated data over a short, finite period of time.” I don’t know what all that means, but it allows for comparison of blogs across and within all categories. The site doesn’t have an “education” category, so it requires going through the comprehensive listing to pick them out one at a time.
The rankings are updated once a day, but here are the top 20 education blogs as of May 16, with their Technorati authority figures (1000 is the highest possible score):
1) Joanne Jacobs – 610
2) The Quick and the Ed – 601
3) Gotham Schools – 584
4) Education Experts (National Journal) – 576
5) Flypaper – 572
6) Curriculum Matters (Education Week) – 562
7) Eduwonk – 556
8) Cool Cat Teacher Blog – 553
9) Get Schooled (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) – 550
10) Jay P. Greene’s Blog – 527
(tie) Intercepts – 527
12) This Week in Education – 526
13) The School Law Blog (Education Week) – 518
(tie) Education Technology – ICT in Education – 518
15) Kitchen Table Math, The Sequel – 516
16) Why Homeschool – 515
17) Homeschool Creations – 513
18) Dangerously Irrelevant – 507
(tie) Educational Boarding School – 507
20) EdTechPost – 497
Jay Mathews wrote about the latest Brookings Institution report on education journalism. He’s optimistic, but he states something important for those who write about education.

More of This, Please � Chalkdust101

Chalkdust 101

More of This, Please � Chalkdust101

More of This, Please

by pjhiggins

I read Eric Langhorst’s blog, I’ll confess, not for the great history links he sends out, but for ideas about how I would run my my own classroom. In one of his latest posts/podcasts, Eric talks about how his class skyped in author Pat Hughes to talk about her work (and it magically fit right into what they were studying–imagine the serendipity!). If you know how to use skype, you understand how simple and easy it is to use. My mother uses it. My kids can almost use it now. It’s simple to pick up. After our impromptu conference with Shelly Blake-Plock last week, I began thinking about why we don’t bring others into our classrooms this way more often. It’s not all that crazy to plan–anytime I have done one, it originated from an idea, that led to an email, that became a brainstorm for a date and time, and then some quick tech set-up. Voila. Instant access to smarter, more interesting people (choose your interviews wisely). The next level then becomes something like this once you’ve become more established:This

Parents want e-communications with their kids’ doctors, U-M poll finds | University of Michigan Health System

Parents want e-communications with their kids’ doctors, U-M poll finds | University of Michigan Health System

Parents want e-communications with their kids’ doctors, U-M poll finds

Less than 1 in 6 report availability of e-mail, Internet communications with kids’ health care providers; half say having e-access would be helpful

Meet the expert: Matthew Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P. Learn more: National Poll on Children's Health Read the report Download images

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Health care reform legislation includes promoting electronic health records to improve the efficiency and quality of medical care. Yet, little attention has been paid to understanding whether patients and parents have an interest in, or have access to, electronic methods for interacting with their children’s physicians.

The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health asked 1,612 parents of children ages 0-17 across the United States about how they communicate with their children’s health care providers. The poll found that about one-half of parents think it would be very helpful to be able to accomplish administrative and clinical tasks such as requesting records or prescription refills through e-mail or online.

Half of parents would like to have access to electronic communication features with their children’s doctor’s office. However, less than 15 percent of parents report they are currently able to use e-mail or the Internet to schedule appointments to receive immunization or lab records, complete screening forms, request prescription refills or get medical advice.

“Electronic communication between parents and their children’s health care providers offers a lot of potential benefits,” says Matthew Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the Poll and associate professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases in the CHEAR Unit at the U-M Medical School. “For administrative tasks that almost all parents need to complete, electronic communication can reduce wasted time and minimize frustration for both parents and office staff. For clinical services, parents often have questions about whether minor injuries or illnesses require an office visit; electronic communication provides a way to obtain advice without waiting on hold for long periods of time.”

While having access to electronic methods of communicating with physicians may increase efficiency for parents, challenges exist for widespread adoption of online communication by physicians.

“Some health care providers have expressed concerns about reimbursement for electronic services that require staff time. Others worry about medical liability associated with offering clinical advice via e-mail or the Internet, without examining the patient,” says Davis, who is also associate professor of internal medicine and associate professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.“However, given the strong endorsement for electronic communication from this national

Homeboy Industries' financial woes; Meg Whitman's dealings with Goldman Sachs; improving education Education - latimes.com

Education - latimes.com

Homeboy Industries' financial woes; Meg Whitman's dealings with Goldman Sachs; improving education 40 minutes ago Capping off college with senior projects By Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times Research theses and creative projects are gaining popularity among educators and students alike. Experts say they force undergrads to synthesize various skills and subjects into high-quality products.

EDUCATION Headlines from L.A. Now USC's Steven Sample, soon to retire as president, says farewell at graduation ceremony05/14/2010, 12:52 p.m. Former LAPD chief, former Philharmonic music director to receive honorary USC degrees05/14/2010, 7:40 a.m. L.A. Unified barred from budgetary teacher layoffs at 3 schools05/13/2010, 7:37 a.m. More graduation speakers boycott UC ceremonies05/12/2010, 12:49 p.m. Long Beach school district issues pink slips to hundreds of teachers05/12/2010, 9:09 a.m. Michigan recruiters search for a few good students at San Diego Marine base05/12/2010, 8:07 a.m.

Turnarounds: Will Fire Teachers For Cash This Week In Education

This Week In Education

Turnarounds: Will Fire Teachers For Cash

by Alexander Russo

Mass firings may have been narrowly avoided at Central Falls, but word is that NPR’s Claudio Sanchez is wrapping up a big segment about Beach high school in GA. You may recall that Beach as come up here before as the "next" Central Falls. Apparently the principal and teachers are being dismissed, Central Falls-style, in part due to poor performance but also in an effort to win SI funding. If that's true that money is a big part of it well that's going to drive some folks crazy, like a professional basketball team losing games in order to try and have the worst record and get a high lottery pick. The issue's also coming up in Chicago, where schools are being told that doing a turnaround gets them $2M in federal funding. Either way, more press about mass firings is a big threat to the Duncan team, who can’t afford

Business Of Ed: For-Profits Signing Homeless Up For "College"

by Alexander Russo

"For- profit schools are tapping shelters and halfway houses for new students, loading them with debt and leaving taxpayers on the hook," according to this disturbing story from Bloomberg Businessweek's Daniel Golden (The Homeless at College).

What's the nonprofit/ K12 version of this, I wonder?

Hechinger Report | Q&A: Former Ed Secretary Margaret Spellings says ‘We ought to stay the course’ on NCLB

Hechinger Report | Q&A: Former Ed Secretary Margaret Spellings says ‘We ought to stay the course’ on NCLB

Q&A: Former Ed Secretary Margaret Spellings says ‘We ought to stay the course’ on NCLB

by Hechinger Report

Margaret Spellings, former U.S. Education Secretary during George W. Bush’s second term, still has strong feelings about the No Child Left Behind Act that will forever be associated with the Bush administration. Spellings, who now runs her own public policy and strategic consulting firm, has been writing and speaking about her concerns over President Barack Obama’s “blueprint” for reauthorizing and overhauling the education law, known more commonly these days by its original name, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). She spoke with Liz Willen of The Hechinger Report about her latest efforts to preserve the law and shared her thoughts on the current administration’s education initiatives. The following are excerpts from their conversation.

Margaret Spellings

Hechinger Report: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has called the iconic “No Child Left Behind” Act

Schwarzenegger’s budget: Ever deeper into Mississippification | California Progress Report

Schwarzenegger’s budget: Ever deeper into Mississippification | California Progress Report

Schwarzenegger’s budget: Ever deeper into Mississippification

by kaldveer

By Peter Schrag
If you watched Gov. Arnold d Schwarzenegger’s presentation of his budget proposal last Friday, you’d have learned (again) that the state’s chronic fiscal problems are everybody’s fault but his.
It’s the legislature’s fault for not making the cuts he asked for in January (even though Schwarzenegger vetoed some of the cuts it did make).
It’s the fault of the federal judges who ruled that some of the cuts enacted last year violated federal law and struck them down.
It’s the fault of an income tax structure too dependent on high income taxpayers and the stock dividends they get in good times and don’t get in lean years.
It’s the unions and the other “special interests” who dominate Sacramento.
It’s the recession. He even made allusions to Greece and Spain.
read more

Governor's Revisded Budget: No Dam Good

by kaldveer

By Traci Sheehan
Planning and Conservation League
Today Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled his 2010-2011 revised budget which remarkably includes over one billion dollars in funding from the widely unpopular water bond slated to go before voters in November.
By counting on revenue from the deeply troubled water bond, the governor isn't just counting his chickens before they're hatched. He's counting on a winged pig to take flight this November.
It's no secret that one of the main reasons the bond faces such deep opposition is because it will make California's budget situation even worse that it currently is, costing the state nearly a billion dollars a year. While the governor called for budget reforms and laid out deeps cuts to health and human services, including the complete elimination of CalWorks, he is proposing to dig the budget hole deeper by relying on more borrowing for costly and destructive projects like dams and laying the groundwork for a new Peripheral Canal.
read more

Right-Wing Lesbian Bashing at All-Time High

by christine

By Tommi Avicolli-Mecca
Every right-wing Christian nutcase with a keyboard and a DSL connection is filling up the internet with their lesbian-phobic remarks about Elena Kagan, President Obama’s nomination for a replacement for retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. No one knows if Kagan is queer (the White House has denied it in a tone that implies that there’s something wrong with being lesbian), but some right-wingers are assuming she is. Perhaps because she is unmarried.
Most of the conservative chattering can be dismissed as plain old bigotry, but some of it is hysterically funny as well. Reading it brings me back to the bad old days of the 50s and 60s before the Stonewall Riots propelled untold numbers of queers out of our closets to permanently ruffle the feathers of the stiff upper lip set like anti-feminist and anti-gay rights activist Phyllis Schlafly.
read more

California Prison Healthcare Proposal Pads a Texas Company’s Profits First and Foremost

by christine

By Stuart Bussey, MD, JD
It came from out of nowhere: a” too-good-to-be-true” proposal that would purportedly slash costs for California’s prison healthcare system through the expanded use of telemedicine. Now suddenly, without any appropriate vetting or study, this proposal is being touted as a sound, fully baked solution.
It is not. Instead, it’s a sales proposal from a for-profit Texas corporation with only six employees, and with financial problems of its own. This company is looking to sell California hundreds of million of dollars in telemedicine equipment along with a whole lot of empty promises.
read more

California's Not Venezuela, Either

by christine

By Robert Cruickshank
In what is becoming a particularly stupid trend, right-wingers are increasingly comparing California to foreign countries that best exemplify whatever it is they dislike. We've shown how the "California is Greece" claim is baseless. Now comes another similar claim about California's impending doom, with Chief Executive magazine comparing us this time to Venezuela:
"The leadership of California has done everything in its power to kill manufacturing jobs in this state," observed another CEO. "As I stated at our annual meeting, if we could grow our crops in Reno, we'd move our plants tomorrow."
read more

Schools Matter: Jay Mathews Gets Another Wrong Answer to His Own Question

Schools Matter: Jay Mathews Gets Another Wrong Answer to His Own Question

Jay Mathews Gets Another Wrong Answer to His Own Question

by Jim Horn

Most people who know of Jay Mathews are accustomed to his unabashed cheerleading for KIPP, but his column today takes the cake, as they say down south. So here in its full frontal stupidity, Jay Mathews (with some comments interspersed):

Does denying dreams help kids learn?

A key lesson in the No Excuses variety of public schools, which use firm measures to raise achievement for impoverished students, is that behavior has consequences. The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), a No Excuses-style charter network, does that by denying some students

Report: Middletown school funds under review - Boston.com

Report: Middletown school funds under review - Boston.com

Report: Middletown school funds under review

May 17, 2010

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MIDDLETOWN, Conn.—Middletown police have stationed an officer at the city's Board of Education offices as local officials seek to examine the school district's financial records.

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WTNH-TV reports that Mayor Sebastian Giuliano ordered police surveillance of the offices to guard against tampering with the records, while officials look into whether school funds were misappropriated. Details of the investigation haven't been released.

An officer was stationed outside the Board of Education's offices Sunday night.

Beverly schools gets tough on delinquent parents

Beverly's public schools are getting tough on parents who don't pay their kindergartner's tuition bill.

RI school district agrees to rehire fired teachers

by Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer

A school district that gained the support of President Barack Obama for promoting accountability after it fired all its teachers from a struggling school announced on Sunday it had reached an agreement with the union to return the current staffers to their jobs.

National 'Glee' tour takes show to its Gleeks

by Amanda Kwan, Associated Press Writer

School's out, but the "Glee" kids haven't stopped believin'. The cast making up the popular Fox show's band of singing teens launched its four-city tour Saturday in Phoenix, anxious to bring the theatrics of a major network show to a relatively smaller stage.

Education in America Gets an F — Again – Hudson New York | Educational New York

Education in America Gets an F — Again – Hudson New York | Educational New York

Education in America Gets an F — Again – Hudson New York

by Educational America

Herbert London is president of Hudson Institute and professor emeritus of New York University. He is the author of Decade of Denial (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2001) and America’s Secular Challenge (Encounter Books).

Go here to read the rest:

Blog About Victory Column In Berlin » New Berlin Wi School District

by Educational America

… nebraska business education commission the george washington university law school indiana independent schools leadership in nursing education voices from the past secondary school business studies dental hygiene schools in new york …

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