Monday, June 7, 2010

Angst for an Accreditor Quick Takes: June 7, 2010 - Inside Higher Ed

Quick Takes: June 7, 2010 - Inside Higher Ed

Angst for an Accreditor

June 7, 2010

College presidents, faculty/staff unions and state education leaders rarely agree about anything. But mutual frustration with a regional accreditor has united strange bedfellows in California’s community college sector.

The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, which accredits two-year institutions in California, Hawaii and numerous Pacific island nations and territories as part of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, placed 41 (or 37 percent) of the 110 California community colleges on "sanction" from 2003 to 2008. A study of other regional accreditors in the United States shows that, during this same period, the percentage of their community colleges being sanctioned, or warned that their accreditation could be stripped, ranged from 0 to 6 percent. As of January, 18 California community colleges remain on sanction. (Still, in the history of the state, only one two-year institution, Compton Community College, has ever lost its accreditation.)

Share This Story

FREE Daily News Alerts

The unusually large number of penalties for California's community colleges prompted an array of interest groups from the institutions to form a task force last year to study the accreditor's actions; itsrecommendations covered a wide swath of issues but can be summed up as urging the commission to focus on institutional "improvement rather than compliance."

Leaders of the accrediting commission largely rebutted the task force's findings, saying that the agency, in taking a tougher stance on institutional performance, is responding to increased pressure (from the federal government and elsewhere) to hold colleges accountable. ACCJC officials also challenged the extent to which the panel represented the views of the accreditor's members: California's community college presidents. The dispute escalated last month when California's community college chancellor, Jack Scott, writing on behalf of the task force, complained to the U.S. Education Department that the ACCJC was not following its own bylaws in its process for selecting

Black leaders leaving Dallas schools along with students News: Education | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News

News: Education | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News

New donors keep Dallas' 'I Have a Dream' Foundation alive

A new roster of donors, large and small, stepped forward to make sure the 50-plus "dreamers" at the massive Cedar Springs Place public housing complex still have a safe place to go after school and during the summer break.

Helen Thomas high school speech canceled over flap 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

Entry may tighten for exam schools

Boston school officials this week will unveil a more stringent residency policy for students applying to the city’s three exam schools, responding to growing concerns that out-of-towners are improperly gaining admission. (By James Vaznis, Globe Staff)

Researchers study cues to predict students’ math performance

TURNERS FALLS — While Shelby Lapinski worked to solve a geometry problem on her computer screen, her seat cushion monitored fidgeting and a camera registered uncertainty or concentration flitting across her face. A bracelet measured sweat, and the mouse, fitted with pressure sensors, tracked her grip. (By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff)

Presidential sobriety check

It was a crisp Saturday last fall. Tufts University’s football team had just beaten Bowdoin College in a nail-biter. Proud from the homecoming victory, Tufts president Lawrence Bacow walked toward his house with the president of Bowdoin, showing off the hilltop campus along the way. (By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff)

If I’d only known

The commencement speech I wish I’d heard. (By Jennifer Graham, Boston Globe)

Cohasset school chief out after 2010-2011 year

The Cohasset School Committee has voted not to extend Superintendent Denise Walsh’s contract beyond next school year, a decision apparently welcomed by a number of teachers in the district. The vote was 4 in favor, with member Paul Schubert abstaining. (By Johanna Seltz, Globe Correspondent)

LATEST EDUCATION NEWS WIRE UPDATES

Search for Ore. boy who vanished from school grows(AP, 4:10 a.m.)
Helen Thomas high school speech canceled over flap(AP, 12:40 a.m.)
For many, recovery means lower expectations (AP, 12:10 a.m.)
Hispanic college success: It's all in the family (AP, 12:10 a.m.)
Search for Ore. boy who vanished from school grows(AP, 6/6/10)

LATEST K-12 EDUCATION NEWS

Ohio tornado kills 7, wrecks cop cars, graduation (AP, 6/6/10)
Graduation today at Milton High (Boston Globe, 6/5/10)
Calif. teacher pension fund delays rate decision (AP, 6/4/10)
Mich. governor defends her record after 8 years (AP, 6/4/10)
Calif. high school ends 'Beat the Jew' game (AP, 6/4/10)

Rise & Shine: Major math errors get partial credit on state tests | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: Major math errors get partial credit on state tests

by Philissa Cramer

Micah Lasher, Bloomberg’s chief negotiator, turned down his job three times to stay at the DOE. (Times)
Grading guides for the state math test give partial credit for major arithmetic errors. (Post)
Sentiment is growing for Orthodox Jewish schools to accept more children with special needs. (NY1)
A $600 million federal health care budget cut could put teacher layoffs back on the table. (Daily News)
Some of the politicians who oppose charter schools are trying to help a private school. (Post)
Parents at three Manhattan schools aided by a space-sharing plan say fighting back works. (NY1)
The Daily News is worried that despite legislative changes, New York still won’t win Race to the Top.
The Post praises N.J. Gov. Chris Christie for reneging on the state’s deal with the its teachers union.
High schools are suffering nationally as they eliminate many non-essential programs. (USA Today)
Bay Area educators led the fight in California against the Race to the Top competition. (Times)
Jay Mathews says D.C.’s new contract clears the way for teachers’s creativity. (Washington Post)

Still no trace of Kyron Horman as police, FBI conclude third day of search | OregonLive.com

Still no trace of Kyron Horman as police, FBI conclude third day of search

By The Oregonian

June 06, 2010, 10:00PM

ANDREW BURTON/THE OREGONIANMike Allen of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team looks over a private property Sunday in the Cornelius Pass area northwest of Portland as part of the search for Kyron Horman, 7, a second-grader at Skyline School.
BY NOELLE CROMBIE, KIMBERLY A.C. WILSON and STUART TOMLINSON

The investigation into the disappearance of Kyron Horman, the bespectacled 7-year-old last seen inside Skyline School on Friday morning, stretches into a fourth day today with the boy's whereabouts still a mystery.

Sunday, as Kyron's family ordered fliers carrying the boy's description and smiling face, authorities continued investigating his disappearance, calling in more than 65 detectives from various police agencies and nearly 60 trained searchers.

"Our basic mission is to bring Kyron home," said Lt. Mary Lindstrand, a spokeswoman for the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.

Late Sunday, Multnomah County Sheriff Daniel Staton issued a status report and raised the case level to increase public interest and focus. He said additional searches and interviews are planned, but he declined to discuss strategy or specifics of the investigation.

“Given the passage of time and the weather, we are characterizing this case as a missing endangered child,” he said.

Hundreds of Skyline students and their parents streamed into the school throughout the day for interviews with investigators, who wanted to know whether students spotted anything unusual at school Friday.

Kyron Horman

The Oregonian's continuing coverage of missing second-grader Kyron Horman.

Police remain stymied as to what happened to the second-grader, described by his grandmother as dreamy, sweet and a bit timid. His stepmother said she last saw him at 8:45 a.m. Friday. She watched him walk toward his classroom after the pair toured the school's science fair.

During police interviews Sunday, a student said he last saw Kyron later that morning near the south entrance to the school. That was the last time the boy was seen, Staton said.

At some point that morning, Kyron's teacher, Kristina Porter, marked the

Colleges Extend the Welcome Mat to Students’ Pets Education News - The New York Times

Education News - The New York Times

Colleges Extend the Welcome Mat to Students’ Pets

By JACQUES STEINBERG

In an increasingly competitive recruiting market for top students, becoming pet-friendly is another way for a college to differentiate itself.

The Choice: Pets in Dorms Q & A

Facing Cuts in Federal Aid, For-Profit Colleges Are in a Fight

By TAMAR LEWIN

The U.S. will soon propose regulations that would cut off federal aid to for-profit colleges whose graduates cannot earn enough to repay their student loans.

Educators Are Opposed to Obama’s School Plan

By GERRY SHIH

Clashes over a new bid for millions of dollars in federal education money have resulted in a weakened bid that the government could well reject.

Gladys Veronica Juca, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, at graduation on Friday from Queensborough Community College.

With Diplomas in Hand, but Without Legal Status

By FERNANDA SANTOS

The many members of the Queensborough Community College Class of 2010 who are living in the United States illegally have concerns over their prospects.

Paul Garabedian, Mathematician at N.Y.U., Dies at 82

By KENNETH CHANG

Computer computations by Dr. Garabedian, a longtime New York University professor, helped lead to fuel-efficient wings for modern jetliners.

Sotomayor Making Good on a Commitment to a Scrappy College With a Family Tie

By LISA W. FODERARO

The justice was to have visited last year, but her nomination to the Supreme Court meant a change in plans.

Katie Brown, 11, and her mother, Linda, follow California Virtual Academy's online science curriculum at their home in San Jose.

Public Financing Supports Growth of Online Charter Schools

By CAROL POGASH

Virtual charter schools are part of an expanding network but their rapid growth is accompanied by a number of unanswered questions.

A Wal-Mart store in Pompano Beach, Fla. The company’s college program will allow workers to accrue credits for training at work.

Wal-Mart to Offer Its Workers a College Program

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD and STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

The retailer is joining with a Web-based university to give employees tuition reductions and credits from work.

Read Comments (86)

States Receive a Reading List: New Standards for Education

By SAM DILLON

The nation’s governors and state school chiefs released final recommendations for what students should master in English and math.

Denise Wadler, center, at Brooklyn Brownstone School, sent out nearly 50 résumés last week.

New N.Y. Schools Face Extra Pain From Layoffs

By JENNIFER MEDINA

Union contracts require layoffs to be by seniority, especially burdening the city’s new, small schools and their typically young, recently hired staffs.

The Educated Guess Skeptics named to common-core commission

The Educated Guess

Skeptics named to common-core commission

Tags: Academic Content Standards Commission, Bill Evers, Greg Greeting, Ze'ev Wurman

Posted in Common Core standards

Two men who helped craft the state’s math standards in 1997 and have been critical of the effort to create national common-core standards in math and English language arts are among the 11 individuals named by Gov. Schwarzenegger to a commission to evaluate them.
With the nominations Friday of Ze’ev Wurman and Bill Evers, both of whom served in the Department of Education under President George W. Bush, and nine others, the roster of the 21-member Academic Content Standards Commission is complete. But by the time the commission holds its first meeting, on Thursday, June 17, it will have less than a month before it must report its findings to the State Board of Education. That’s little time in which to cram a lot of work, with little professional help to get it done.
(Read more and comment on this post)

By John Fensterwald on June 6th, 2010

Learning algebra on the fly

Posted in Uncategorized

The 20 sixth graders who are going to take pre-algebra summer school later this month discovered for themselves that solving algebraic equations in your head – specifically involving distance-rate-time variables – can mean the difference between life and death at 30,000 feet.
The students from the ACE Charter School in Alum Rock, a low-income neighborhood in San Jose, were at the helm last week of an FAA’s flight control simulator, guiding in planes on flight paths that put their sense of proportion to work.
(Read more and comment on this post)