Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, May 28, 2010

Eduflack: Throwing Some Needed Cold Water on i3

Eduflack: Throwing Some Needed Cold Water on i3

Throwing Some Needed Cold Water on i3

For nearly a year now, school districts across the nation have been eagerly anticipating a piece of the Investing in Innovation grant program. The promise of $650 million to continue innovative approaches to school improvement is too big a lure for many to pass up. While districts and non-profits worried about how they could get their applications done, where they would find the staff time, and what to promote, they were not going to forgo the opportunity.

Final proposals were due this month, and by US Department of Education count, nearly 1,700 applications were submitted. These applications range from the large (those seeking $50 million) to the small (those seeking $5 million or less for their plans). They include proposals from urban, rural, and suburban school districts, consortias of school districts, colleges and universities, not-for-profits, and blends of all of the above.

Every one of them optimistic of their chances to get a piece of the $650 million i3 pie. And that optimism was only heightened when the final i3 RFP and regs were released earlier this year, and ED talked about plans to award up to 300 grants (up to 100 in each of the three categories) before the end of the coming fiscal year.

That expectation (up to) 300 grants had Eduflack scratching his head a little at the time. Expecting that most applicants would seek the maximum dollar amount for their category, By my meager math, I could only see 40

Es el momento - Educacion, Becas, Universidades, Aprendizaje

Es el momento - Educacion, Becas, Universidades, Aprendizaje

Close to a deal: Charter cap to rise, RFPs, space-sharing rules | GothamSchools

Close to a deal: Charter cap to rise, RFPs, space-sharing rules | GothamSchools

Close to a deal: Charter cap to rise, RFPs, space-sharing rules

After negotiating late into the night, the Assembly, Senate, Mayor Bloomberg, and city teachers union are closer than ever to a deal on how to make New York more competitive for Race to the Top. But even the seemingly final bill introduced today may not be the last version. An Albany source said there are already plans to amend the bill.
The full text of the bill in the most updated form we know of is here. Background on Race to the Top is here.
This bill would raise the cap on charter schools to 460 from 200, but change the way schools are opened. Prospective charter school operators would have to respond to Request for Proposal documents, like contractors, rather than applying on their own. Exactly how this process would work is unclear, but one effect could be slowing the pace of charter school growth. The bill puts a cap on the number of newly approved charter

A little bit ‘o good news � SCUSD Observer

A little bit ‘o good news � SCUSD Observer

SCUSD Observer

leave a comment »

It was announced yesterday that Ethel Baker Elementary school’s library will get a makeover this summer thanks to a program by Target and the Heart of America Foundation.

In today’s Sacramento Bee, education writer Melody Gutierrez reports that SCUSD is striving to keep its school libraries open.

Rift develops in city teachers union

Rift develops in city teachers union
Rift develops in city teachers union
Friday, May 28, 2010

The fallout from an election of four new executive board members of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers this week highlights what some teachers say is a growing schism between the union's leadership and its 2,700 members.

Their election to the board marks the first time that challengers defeated incumbent officers in a union election in at least 30 years.

The four who won the seats -- teachers at Pittsburgh Carrick High School -- contend their victory in Monday's election shows how dissatisfied their ranks are with union leaders.

Running on a "teachers for change" slate, science teacher Dale Moss defeated George Gensure as the union's vice president for high schools, and business teacher Ed McManus defeated longtime union secretary Sylvia Wilson.

Mark Sammartino, a math teacher and longtime critic of the union's leadership, was elected as an at-large member to the executive board as was Dawn Garland, a special education teacher.

The group won four of the 16 positions open on the 32-member board.

Two days after their victory, however, the teachers said they were shocked to



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10148/1061342-53.stm#ixzz0pEjnKw8D

New survey results on evolution NCSE | National Center for Science Education - Defending the Teaching of Evolution in Public Schools.

NCSE | National Center for Science Education - Defending the Teaching of Evolution in Public Schools.

New survey results on evolution


Included in the Virginia Commonwealth University Life Sciences Survey for 2010 were a number of questions about evolution, religion, and scientific consensus — and as usual there were few surprises in the results (PDF, pp. 9-11).

Martin Gardner dies

Martin GardnerMartin Gardner
The polymathic Martin Gardner died on May 22, 2010, at the age of 95, according to the obituary in The New York Times (May 23, 2010).

Creationism in Rapture Ready!


NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview (PDF) of Daniel Radosh's Rapture Ready! Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture (Scribner 2008; Soft Skull 2010) — featuring Radosh's account of his visit to Answers in Genesis's Creation Museum.

The Educated Reporter: So much to learn about turnaround.

The Educated Reporter: So much to learn about turnaround.

So much to learn about turnaround.

Now that we are starting to see more staff churn in the name of turnaround—such as was explained by Toni Gonz in this Louisville Courier-Journal piece this week—I imagine (I hope) reporters will pursue comprehensive stories about what reforms look like from that point. How are the new teachers selected? How do you go about changing culture? How are all the educators in the building trained for the new challenge? Are there real-life changes in the way business is conducted day to day? Etc.

Yet another piece worth exploring: Those teachers who were

Assembly Democrats Put Up a Budget Worth Fighting For | California Progress Report

Assembly Democrats Put Up a Budget Worth Fighting For | California Progress Report

Assembly Democrats Put Up a Budget Worth Fighting For

By Angie Wei
California Labor Federation
Finally, there’s a budget proposal worth fighting for, and it couldn’t have come at a more critical time.
On Tuesday, Assembly Democrats, led by new Speaker of the Assembly John PĆ©rez, proposed an innovative budget plan that closes the nearly $18 billion budget gap while focusing on jobs, as an alternative to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s job killing, all-cuts budget.
read more

Valero (VLO) Bankrolling Effort to Kill AB 32, Also Has Long Anti-Union History

By Steve Maviglio
As if Valero Energy's disastrous environmental record wasn't bad enough (including being ranked the 12th most toxic polluter in the U.S. in a study by the University of Massachusetts), it turns out the company also has a long history of opposing organized labor. A new research report shows the company has thwarted organizing efforts at its refineries, recently reversed a policy of hiring union-only contractors, and aligned itself with anti-union political allies in Texas and California.
read more




Holding Banks Responsible By Community Organizing

By Anuja Seith
New America Media
Last Friday, when the Bank of America opened a new branch on King Road in East San Jose, protestors holding white flowers in their hands gathered outside the building. The flowers, organizers said, symbolized the community’s loss of faith with the bank.
East San Jose is at the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis in the Bay Area.
People Acting in Community Together (PACT), an affiliate of the People Improving Communities through Organizing- (PICO) National Network, organized the event, and brought about a dozen people together who planned to divest from the Bank of America. While PACT is focusing on San Jose, PICO, a national network of faith-based community organizations, is taking initiatives in other parts of the country. Vice Mayor Judy Chirco and candidates running for district 5 City Council attended the event.
read more

The Economic Consequences of Proposed California Budget Cuts

By Ken Jacobs
UC Berkeley Labor Center
When it comes to jobs and the economy, not all solutions to the state’s budget shortfall are equal. Most measures designed by well-meaning state leaders to reduce the deficit also will depress employment and economic growth in California. But the magnitude of those impacts will vary significantly – depending on what measures are enacted – and the worst effects can be avoided.
That’s why it’s so important to pay close attention to the different budget proposals being put forward. We’ll all pay a high price if we don’t.
read more

Collaboration? � The Quick and the Ed

Collaboration? � The Quick and the Ed

Collaboration?

The negotiations over Louisiana’s new teacher evaluation system give a pretty accurate picture of the current tactical differences between the NEA and AFT, the nation’s two largest teachers unions:
The end product is the result of considerable negotiations among the Jindal administration, Hoffman, Nevers and the Louisiana Federation of Teachers. LFT President Steve Monaghan never withdrew his opposition of the bill, saying “value-added” methodology is still too new to codify. But he helped craft a final version with considerably more protections for teachers than the

This Week’s Sign of the Apocalypse

From this morning’s Washington Post we learn that:
The District [of Columbia Public Schools] will spend a projected $283 million this year on tuition and transportation for nearly 2,700 disabled students in private schools — in the Washington region and in residential facilities as far away as Georgia and Colorado.