Tensions grow as Boston prepares for teacher contract talks Education news - Boston Globe - MCAS results - latest education news - Boston.com

Education news - Boston Globe - MCAS results - latest education news - Boston.com

GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS

Princeton Review ends free tutoring program

FRAMINGHAM — Test prep and online learning company Princeton Review Inc. said yesterday it will no longer offer its free after-school tutoring program once the current school year ends. (Associated Press)

Wheeler case shows flaws in college application process

The former Harvard College senior accused of duping one of the world’s most selective universities seems to have exploited an application system at elite colleges that is largely based on trust and where admissions officers verify credentials only when they suspect that something is awry. (By Tracy Jan and Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff)

Again, Hull High teams face school year running on empty

HULL — For the second year in a row, Hull High School will start the school year in September with no money in the budget for sports or other extracurricular activities.(By Johanna Seltz, Globe Correspondent)

Tensions grow as Boston prepares for teacher contract talks

Boston parents, students, community activists, and civic groups have launched lobbying campaigns to press for changes to the teachers union contract, in what observers say could be the most acrimonious bargaining climate in a decade. (By James Vaznis, Globe Staff)

Teachers in R.I. subdued but still employed after bargaining

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — The president of the teachers union said collective bargaining had worked. The school superintendent lauded a new era of collaboration for a failing high school singled out by President Obama. But the bottom line of a labor agreement approved yesterday showed another, hard-edged result. (By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff)

LATEST EDUCATION NEWS WIRE UPDATES

• Voters turn away from high-profile party switcher (AP, 3:20 a.m.)
• Voters turn away from high-profile party switcher (AP, 5/18/10)
• District tells varsity team it can't play in Ariz. (AP, 5/18/10)
• Reception mixed for W.Va. gov's education agenda (AP, 5/18/10)
• Students push Sen. Brown on citizenship idea (AP, 5/18/10)

LATEST K-12 EDUCATION NEWS

• SAT prep company stops claiming 255-point boost (AP, 5/17/10)
• Fired RI teachers approve deal to get jobs back (AP, 5/17/10)
• Fired RI teachers approve deal to get jobs back (AP, 5/17/10)
• Fired RI teachers approve deal to get jobs back (AP, 5/17/10)
• Analysis: Gov. key figure in Kan. tax increase (AP, 5/17/10)

Mt. Diablo teachers' union president steps down Education - ContraCostaTimes.com

Education - ContraCostaTimes.com

Education

Mt. Diablo teachers' union president steps down Union has elected vice president to succeed outgoing leader Concord students protest word of vice principal's ouster Livermore community college president leaving Oakland judge denies attempt to lower CSU summer, winter fees Healthy living to be focus of West County schools festival Judge rules against El Cerrito residents

Schools Matter: A warning about "Early Warning!"

Schools Matter: A warning about "Early Warning!"

A warning about "Early Warning!"

by skrashen

Posted on Ed Week website, May 19
Comment on: Analysis Ties 4th Grade Reading Failure to Poverty
S Krashen



The Annie Casey Foundation report, Early Warning!, contains no new information, and recommends that we continue even more aggressively along the same path outlined by the Obama-Duncan administration, ignoring the most obvious solution to low reading achievement for children of poverty: Actual access to books and other reading material.

Standards and tests as a cure for poverty?

The report repeats previous descriptions of the impact of poverty but only briefly mentions that we must provide resources, focusing far more on the need to institute standardized measures, with "consistent, aligned

Sacramento Press / Mayor backs candidates Ashby, Cohn, Schenirer and Waters

Sacramento Press / Mayor backs candidates Ashby, Cohn, Schenirer and Waters

Mayor backs candidates Ashby, Cohn, Schenirer and Waters

by Kathleen Haley

In a statement Tuesday on his blog, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson made his endorsements for candidates competing in the June 8 primary election.
A KCRA reporter asked Johnson at a Monday press conference if Johnson would endorse candidates who oppose a “strong mayor” form of government. Johnson is leading an effort to bring more authority to the mayor’s office.
In response to the reporter’s question, Johnson said: “I think that’s not really the issue before people. I don’t think that people have had to make a decision on that. So, there’s not a litmus, in general, for that right now.”
Johnson said the candidates he is supporting are not content with the status quo. He explained that he backed candidates with energy, problem-solving skills, “a sense of urgency to get things done,” and a vision for the “new Sacramento.”
However, the Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday that Councilman Ray Tretheway claimed he was pressured by

Duncan: “Emergency action” needed now to avoid teacher layoffs | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: State union seeking opponents for charter advocate | GothamSchools

Duncan: “Emergency action” needed now to avoid teacher layoffs

by Maura Walz

A first-grader at Brooklyn's P.S. 214 told U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan about the story of Rumplestiltskin today.

City, federal and union officials clash on the best way to lift the state’s charter school cap. They dispute the fairest way to lay off teachers. And they could barely agree on what school U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan should visit today.
But brought together for that visit, Duncan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and teachers union president Michael 

Rise & Shine: State union seeking opponents for charter advocate

by Maura Walz

• Ed Sec Arne Duncan visited three city schools. (GothamSchools, Times, Post, Wall Street Journal, NY1)
• Duncan said the state could up its Race to the Top chances by lifting the charter cap. (Albany Times Union)
• Gov. Paterson says he’s relying on “the power of persuasion” to get the charter cap lifted. (Daily News)
• The state teachers union is offering $200,000 to anyone who will run against Sen. Craig Johnson. (Post)
• Duncan’s visit shows that charter schools have won the choice wars, writes Errol Louis. (Daily News)
• The Post says Randi Weingarten’s input into Duncan’s school selection shows the union’s priorities.
• Post columnist Andrea Peyser says the union acted like children over the school visit dust-up.
• UFT President Michael Mulgrew says again that a retirement incentive would avert layoffs. (Daily News)
• The DOE mistakenly told UWS families they’d gotten into two hot schools. (Post, Wall Street Journal)
• An investigation found that many Head Start centers fraudulently enroll extra children. (Times)

Remainders: Kindergarten admissions letters sent by mistake

by Maura Walz

• The state education dept. pushed back the release date of test scores by a month, to July.
• More than 50 parents of wait-listed kindergartners were mistakenly told they were into P.S. 87.
• A group of charter and district school parents waited in vain in the rain to talk to Duncan.
• A charter school student told Duncan today he gets a lot of homework, but that’s “awesome.”
• UFT President Michael Mulgrew said it’s “no one’s fault” if the state loses Race to the Top.
• Peter Murphy argues Speaker Sheldon Silver now has political cover to support a charter cap lift.
• A new report by the Casey Foundation serves as a reminder that students’ poverty does matter.
• A high school slated to move into space at a closing school faces an uncertain future.
• The DOE posted openings for executive principals, the high-paid positions in troubled schools.
• The teachers unions are protesting five State Senators tomorrow for voting for school aid cuts.
• A group of testing companies formed a coalition to help states develop standard assessments.
• And here is a horrifying way to teach geometry.

Elk Grove teachers union agrees to concessions; members to vote Education - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Education - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Local high school seniors cast votes in mock election

By Melody Gutierrez - Published: 6:00 am

Hundreds of high school seniors in Sacramento will cast votes today in a mock election for the June 8 California primary ballot.

• Voter Guide

Elk Grove teachers union agrees to concessions; members to vote

By Diana Lambert - Updated: 12:10 am

A teachers union that has been reluctant to make concessions in the past gave big at the negotiating table this week – agreeing to pay cuts, higher medical co-pays, furlough days and the suspension of an annual bonus.

Sacramento school district to vote on Race to the Top submission

By Melody Gutierrez - Published: 9:55 am

The Sacramento City Unified School District school board will vote Thursday on whether they will participate in round two of Race to the Top funding.

Mabie family pledges $3 million to UCD equine health center

By Mark Glover - Updated: 8:12 am

The Center for Equine Health at the University of California, Davis, has received a $3 million pledge from the William and Inez Mabie Family Foundation.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/education/#ixzz0oNdzu3KD

O.C. schools target 1,714 job cuts | school, districts, teachers - News - The Orange County Register

O.C. schools target 1,714 job cuts | school, districts, teachers - News - The Orange County Register

O.C. schools finalize more than 1,500 teacher cuts

Orange County's public school districts will slash at least 1,546 jobs for teachers, counselors, administrators and other certificated employees.

That’s 17 percent less than the amount targeted in March, when districts issued preliminary layoff notices.

Teachers and students wore black and pink as they walked from Ocean View High School to Beach Blvd., in Huntington Beach to protest teacher layoffs in this file photo from March.

ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

DATABASES

Budget details: District-by-district details on budget and job cuts, teacher negotiations, furloughs and school year changes.

Layoff lists: See our list of teachers, staff and administrators facing layoffs, along with their job assignments and work locations.

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State law requires school districts to issue final notices by May 15 to teachers and other certificated staff.

Many districts have also issued preliminary notices to classified employees – secretaries, aides, bus drivers and other classified employees. Districts have targeted the elimination of least 388 classified jobs. All job cuts would become effective at the end of the current school year.

Educators blame the staff cuts on the state's ongoing budget crisis. The county's cash-strapped districts have cut $850 million from budgets over three years by eliminating hundreds of jobs, cutting music and arts, increasing class sizes, and imposing scores of other cuts to programs and services.

(Click here to see district-by-district budget details.)

Orange County's 28 school districts, with 500,000 students, employ more than 21,000 teachers and 22,000 support personnel.

The vast majority -- about 1,134 -- of the 1,546 certificated employees losing their jobs were teachers working on one-year contracts. These teachers were told their contracts would not be renewed for next year. The rest were permanent teachers and other full-time staff.

In March, school districts issued preliminary layoff notices to about 2,100 certificated employees. Four unified school districts, Orange, Santa Ana, Newport-Mesa and Tustin, received extensions until later this month to finalize certificated layoffs because of appeal hearings. Those districts issued a combined 377 layoff notices in March.

(Click here for our list of school employees who received layoff notices or had their contracts terminated.)

Districts typically overestimate preliminary notices to give themselves leeway while the state finalizes budget

Wow, that was close: Oregon school superintendent election at 51-49 Portland & Oregon Education - OregonLive.com

Portland & Oregon Education - OregonLive.com

Castillo narrowly wins third term as state schools chief

By The Oregonian

May 18, 2010, 10:25PM

State schools superintendent Susan Castillo barely defeats Ron Maurer, a two-term Republican state representative from Grants Pass in her bid for a third term. Full story »

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Wow, that was close: Oregon school superintendent election at 51-49

By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

May 19, 2010, 1:41AM

A veteran education reporter and election watcher gets a surprise: What is your take on the narrow victory of incumbent state school superintendent Susan Castillo? Full story »

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Hundreds attend Portland Public Schools community meeting on high school redesign

By Tom Hallman Jr., The Oregonian

May 18, 2010, 8:36PM

Some parents at the Roosevelt High School gathering express frustration over proposals to transform or move Benson. Full story »

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Voters approve Measures 68 and 69

By The Oregonian

May 18, 2010, 8:35PM

Voters have approved a measure to allow the state to match capital bond funds raised by local school districts and a measure to expand what universities can do with bond money. Full story »

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