Friday, May 28, 2010

Layoffs scaring off future teachers The Educated Guess

Layoffs scaring off future teachers

Posted in Equity issues, Teacher Development, Tenure

Many of the 26,000 teachers in California who got pink slips in March may have their jobs back by August, if their colleagues agree to furloughs or give-backs and if districts pass parcel taxes next month and come up with other savings. Los Angeles Unified alone has rescinded two-thirds of the 3,100 layoff notices it issued two months ago.
But the damage to the teaching profession will last beyond the disruptions and uncertainty of the next few months. In a paper issued this week, the Santa Cruz-based Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning openly worries about the impact on the future supply of teachers that California will need over the next decade.
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By John Fensterwald on May 28th, 2010

Is CALPADS unfixable? No answer yet

Posted in CALPADS, Data

State education officials expressed deep disappointment last week on learning that California was out of the running for money to expand the statewide student data system.
They haven’t heard yet why the state placed 26^th out of 50^th in a grant competition that funded only the top 20 states. But they shouldn’t be surprised if the feds’ answer is, “Are you kidding? Why would you expect taxpayers to enlarge a data system when you have yet to get it to work right?”
Nearly one year into its operation, CALPADS, the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, is still struggling. Five months after a consultantwarned of an imminent system collapse and urged a top-to-bottom review, the student data system is still being fixed. It will take at least a month before it becomes clear whether the processes work, and the system can perform as designed. Still to be determined is whether management problems – a big factor behind the poor operation – have been straightened out.
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Rise & Shine: Charter deal set in Albany, precise terms still fuzzy | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: Charter deal set in Albany, precise terms still fuzzy

by Philissa Cramer

The Assembly and the city reached a tentative deal to raise the number of charter schools to 460. (Times)
The same bill mandates the agreed-upon teacher evaluations and a statewide data system. (NY1)
The bill might (or might not) strip New York City’s chancellor from being able to authorize charters. (Post)
The bill would require entire buildings to get capital improvements, not just charters. (Wall Street Journal)
Public, charter, private and parochial schools should work together, private school heads say. (Daily News)
Gov. Paterson could undermine the bill by not allowing the Senate to vote on it this morning. (Daily News)
The national education jobs bailout bill faltered in the House and looks to be dead forever. (AP)
Nationwide, schools are increasingly segregated by economic status. (Christian Science Monitor, AP)
After much pressure, the city is in talks to make Greenwich Village’s 75 Morton St. a school. (Daily News)

Schools failing non-English speakers, study finds | California Watch

Schools failing non-English speakers, study finds

by Corey G. Johnson

Corey G. Johnson

Poorly implemented language courses, bad elementary school curriculum and social segregation has spawned generations of non-English speaking students who lag behind other students in California schools, according to a recent study.
According to a survey of 40 school districts, roughly 59 percent of English learners spend six or more years in school before ever becoming proficient in English. In some districts, those number increase to 75 percent, according "Reparable Harm," a report funded by the California Community Foundation of Los Angeles.
The reasons are multiple. Some students receive no language development at all. Others languished through

Lawmaker accuses Palin of gouging on speaking fee

by Lance Williams

Lance Williams

Sometimes a free P.R. consultation is worth exactly what you pay for it.
Back in March, when the controversy over Sarah Palin’s upcoming speech in Turlock was just beginning to unfold, the chancellor of the California State University system got some confident advice from the former Alaska governor’s agent.
At the time, state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, was pushing to learn how much the CSU Stanislaus foundation had agreed to pay the darling of the Tea Party Movement for speaking at the school’s anniversary

Budget cuts mean 330,000 lost jobs, union-funded report says

by Erica Perez

Erica Perez

Just cutting the state budget without raising taxes could result in severe job losses that would further burden the state's coffers, according to a new report from the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, which recommended tax hikes on the wealthy and oil companies.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal would increase the state unemployment rate by 1.8 percentage points and result in a loss of an estimated 330,000 jobs - more jobs than the state is expected to grow, according to

The Washington Teacher: Saunders/Peterson Slate For WTU Elections Committee Wins Overwhelmingly !

Saunders/Peterson Slate For WTU Elections Committee Wins Overwhelmingly !

by The Wash. Teacher

For all those who came out to Logan School yesterday, I thank you for your support. The Nathan Saunders - Candi Peterson endorsed slate of candidates for the Washington Teachers' Union Elections Committee won overwhelmingly. (See the list of candidates below under May 27, 2010 entry). Candidates for AFT

Gay College Presidents to Meet Quick Takes: May 28, 2010 - Inside Higher Ed

Quick Takes: May 28, 2010 - Inside Higher Ed

Gay College Presidents to Meet

Two of the gay presidents of colleges and universities -- Raymond Crossman of the Adler School of Professional Psychology and Charles Middleton of Roosevelt University -- have invited their fellow gay and lesbian presidents (now about 30) to meet in Chicago in August for a first gathering of such college leaders. The presidents hope to discuss advocacy efforts on behalf of gay students, faculty members and administrators.

New $23B for teacher subsidies falters in House - Boston.com

New $23B for teacher subsidies falters in House

By Laurie Kellman

Associated Press Writer / May 27, 2010

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WASHINGTON—A $23 billion payout to save thousands of educators' jobs faltered Thursday -- perhaps for good -- to election-year jitters among moderate Democrats over deficit spending and only lukewarm support from the White House.

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The proposal's chief advocate in the House abruptly canceled a committee meeting to put the money in a war spending bill. Its lead sponsor in the Senate gave up trying to do it, acknowledging he lacked the necessary votes.

The developments jeopardized what progressives in Congress and some members of the Obama administration had described as a life raft for 100,000 to 300,000 teachers and other school personnel whose billions of dollars in stimulus salary subsidies run out this fall.

Outside the Beltway, educators said it wasn't clear how big a hit they would take if more federal money didn't come through.

"The specter of layoffs is there," said Maryland Department of Education spokesman Bill Reinhard. "The economy has not totally turned around yet."

Maureen Dinnen, a retired teacher and school board member in Broward County, Fla., said 800 teacher jobs are in jeopardy there. The limbo, she said, wakes her up at night.

"I think to myself, the future of our schools, that's just as important as the auto industry or the financial interests," Dinnen said. "That's our lifeblood for the

GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS

230 Quincy teachers receive layoff notices

About 230 Quincy teachers received pink slips yesterday, but officials said the $2.3 million in wage concessions this week by the teachers union will end up saving some of those jobs. (By Molly A. K. Connors, Globe Correspondent)

Souter defends judicial activism

Retired Supreme Court justice David H. Souter, delivering the commencement speech at Harvard University yesterday, defended justices who interpret the Constitution and identify rights not explicitly mentioned in America’s founding document. (By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff)

Three new members join Sharon School Committee at Thursday’s meeting

Three new members are making their debut on the Sharon School Committee tonight, and with half of the panel seats being filled by new members, it represents quite a shake-up for the local school board. (By Emily Sweeney, Globe Staff)

Pentucket marching bands caps comeback with Washington, D.C., parade

When the marching band at Pentucket Regional High School in West Newbury was discontinued in 1999, its green-and-white uniforms were put in storage. (By Wendy Killeen, Globe Correspondent)

A comic gets his diploma ...

Jimmy Tingle stood in Harvard Square at rush hour one afternoon, crowds buzzing around him. He didn’t see them. He was looking back, way back. (By Bill Porter, Globe Staff)

LATEST EDUCATION NEWS WIRE UPDATES

House spending bill trimmed, Senate OKs war funds(AP, 3:50 a.m.)
War funding bill passes Senate (AP, 5/27/10)
New $23B for teacher subsidies falters in House (AP, 5/27/10)
Highlights of RI House budget plan passed Thursday(AP, 5/27/10)
Senate OKs war funding; House to cut spending bill (AP, 5/27/10)

LATEST K-12 EDUCATION NEWS

LA schools rescind 522 teacher layoff notices (AP, 5/27/10)
NH teacher charged with student calculator thefts (AP, 5/27/10)
Ex-justice O’Connor gives schools poor civics marks(Boston Globe, 5/26/10)
LA schools rescind 522 teacher layoff notices (AP, 5/26/10)
Rell signs bill to boost Conn. bid for aid (AP, 5/26/10)

NorthJersey.com: The Christie administration is backing away from attempts to consolidate and regionalize many of the state’s small school districts and will instead encourage the schools to share more services.

NorthJersey.com: The Christie administration is backing away from attempts to consolidate and regionalize many of the state’s small school districts and will instead encourage the schools to share more services.

N.J. backs off school district mergers

Friday, May 28, 2010
LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY MAY 28, 2010, 6:46 AM

BY PATRICIA ALEX

THE RECORD

STAFF WRITER

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The Christie administration is backing away from attempts to consolidate and regionalize many of the state’s small school districts and will instead encourage the schools to share more services.

An English class at Manchester Regional High School, which shares a superintendent, business administrator and other staff with Haledon’s school district.

ELIZABETH LARA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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An English class at Manchester Regional High School, which shares a superintendent, business administrator and other staff with Haledon’s school district.

The Legislature mandated that steps be taken to combine small districts — ones that do not educate students all the way from Grades K to 12 — as a way to cut costs and coordinate the curriculum in the elementary, middle and high schools. Half of the districts in Bergen and Passaic counties would have been affected.

It was to be a fledgling step toward consolidation in a state with 600 school districts, but like regionalization efforts before it, this one has been derailed.

Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said forced consolidation would "generate a lot of lawsuits and political acrimony." The Education Department will instead encourage districts to share more services, including personnel, he said.

But the author of the legislation that mandated the consolidation plans said he wants to know why the state is flouting the law.

"Given the governor’s fervent commitment to reducing taxes, it’s all the more disturbing that his administration would chose to ignore the law," Sen. Bob Smith, D-Middlesex, wrote in a letter to Schundler this week.

Smith said the plans, formulated after months of committee hearings, were designed to bring long-term property tax relief.

"To give that up without further discussion is just crazy and it’s against the law we

Schools Matter: preschool will be school in Kalamazoo

preschool will be school in Kalamazoo

by skrashen

In Kalamazoo, preschool will be school

Sent to the Detroit News, May 24, 2010

Kalamazoo is now putting more focus on literacy in preschool to prepare children for a more demanding kindergarten, which will include more instruction on reading, writing, science, history and math ("Kalamazoo schools create college culture," May 24).

Statement by the President on Votes to Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” | The White House

Statement by the President on Votes to Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

I have long advocated that we repeal ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’, and I am pleased that both the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee took important bipartisan steps toward repeal tonight. Key to successful repeal will be the ongoing Defense Department review, and as such I am grateful that the amendments offered by Representative Patrick Murphy and Senators Joseph Lieberman and Carl Levin that passed today will ensure that the Department of Defense can complete that comprehensive review that will allow our military and their families the opportunity to inform and shape the implementation process. Our military is made up of the best and bravest men and women in our nation, and my greatest honor is leading them as Commander-in-Chief. This legislation will help make our Armed Forces even stronger and more inclusive by allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve honestly and with integrity.

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

Natomas Unified closes all 8 elementary school libraries

By Diana Lambert - Published: 12:00 am

Is it the end of an era, or just a blip on the education budget radar?

Natomas school district closes libraries

UC Davis study: Newspapers must adapt to survive

By Laurel Rosenhall - Published: 7:41 pm

Newspapers will have to change to survive, according to a new UC Davis study, moving away from the rote patterns that have driven the industry over the last century and embracing innovation, online networking and different business models.

California college grads head overseas

By Laurel Rosenhall - Updated: 10:53 am

College graduates discouraged by the tight job market are finding creative ways to pad their résumés until the economy improves: Many are leaving the country to find adventure – and work.

Winner to be announced for school library makeover

Published: Thursday, May 27 2010 - 12:00 am

Three low-income Sacramento elementary schools have been named finalists for a library makeover, courtesy of Target and the Heart of America Foundation.