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Friday, June 25, 2010

Can't make Palin's speech in Turlock? Here's a Wordle primer | California Watch

Can't make Palin's speech in Turlock? Here's a Wordle primer | California Watch

Can't make Palin's speech in Turlock? Here's a Wordle primer

Flickr photo by Roger H. Goun
It wasn’t easy getting Sarah Palin to speak in Turlock tonight without telling anybody how much she’s getting paid.
President Ham Shirvani and his aides at CSU Stanislaus had to defy a state lawmaker, Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, who says the public has a right to know the former Alaska governor’s speaking fee.
They’ve been dragged into court by a First Amendment group, Californians Aware, which says the university is violating state law by refusing to produce a copy of her contract.
Also, Shirvani and staff are being probed by the the state attorney general’s office regarding the alleged campus shred-a-thon, in which officials are suspected of destroying documents about Palin after first claiming they didn't have any.
What can Palin say to top all that excitement?
To get an idea of how her remarks at the CSU Stanislaus Foundation might unfold, California Watch used the Worldle website to generate word cloud graphics of some of Palin’s most

Teachers in LA and SF will see more cutbacks and pink slips in 2010-2011

Amid protest signs and tearful pleas, school boards in San Francisco and Los Angeles approved budgets this week that will result in more furlough days and pink slips.
With operating costs going up, $1,171 less funding per student than in 2008 and an overall shortfall of $113 million, San Francisco Unified's board approved a budget that will reduce summer school, art programs and

Are workplace whistle-blowers protected in California?

California whistle-blowers be wary. Cases where employers allegedly retaliate against employees for reporting hazardous conditions at work take the longest to resolve in this state, according to a FairWarning report this week.
Investigations of whistle-blower retaliation cases in California concluded between Oct. 1, 2008, and Sept. 15,

New LA deputy superintendent comes with murky past

A top official involved in pushing for new teacher evaluation procedures and other reforms at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was appointed Tuesday as second in command at the Los Angeles Unified School District.
After discussing the appointment in closed session, the LA Board of Education approved John E. Deasy to become Superintendent Ramon Cortines' deputy – thereby filling a post vacant since Cortines ascended to the top position in December 2008.
Deasy is deputy director of education at the Gates Foundation, responsible for overseeing $200 million in

U.S. Department of Education unveils grant-tracking website

The U.S. Department of Education has unveiled a new transparency website that will allow people to view, analyze, map and chart information about applications for federal education programs.
So far, the website has data for one grant program – Investing in Innovation – that provides competitive grants to support innovative ways of improving student achievement, closing achievement gaps, decreasing dropout rates, increasing high school graduation rates, or increasing college enrollment and completion rates.
Users can browse the applications in their region using an interactive map, filter the results by state or applicant

What Matt Drudge & Twitter Have In Common - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

What Matt Drudge & Twitter Have In Common - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

What Matt Drudge & Twitter Have In Common



"Entrepreneurship exists in the tiny space between madness and genius,
and, its journey requires a few cross border violations
across both madness and genius
to get to the final destination."


-JLM comment on AVC blog


Entrepreneurship: "Ten Ways To Be Your Own Boss"
Video Below


Fred Wilson is Managing Partner at Union Square Partners in NYC and recently gave a presentation titled "10 Ways To Be Your Own Boss" at the 99% conference.

We like the way he paints a picture of how different people are pursuing and realizing their passions by choosing various roads of entrepreneurship. One cannot help but notice how different our traditional school system is by comparison. Its very structure and the qualities that are rewarded in students are counter to those embued by "real life" entrepreneurs, especially at a time when our society needs "non-standardized" entrepreneurial traits and abilities.

In Wilson's talk, it's hard not to notice how adaptability, innovativeness and a self-directed initiative resonate throughout all these stories. Schools give stars and honors for getting homework in on time and for being "good" in class . . . how often do we promote a penchant for

School Is Turned Around, but Cost Gives Pause - NYTimes.com

School Is Turned Around, but Cost Gives Pause - NYTimes.com

Locke High School in Los Angeles has seen significant progress since it was taken over by a charter school group in 2008, but the gains have come at a considerable cost.

New Strategy Announced to Improve City Schools

Eleven of the city’s 34 struggling schools will be the first to have new teacher evaluation laws in a transformation model.
Students completed a reading assignment at the Hebrew Language Academy, a charter school in Brooklyn.

Success and Scrutiny at Hebrew Charter School

Hebrew Language Academy in Brooklyn, which focuses on Jewish traditions and Israeli culture, has become one of the most racially mixed charter campuses in the city.

Senator Calls for New Rules for For-Profit Colleges

Senator Tom Harkin said at a hearing that new rules were needed to prevent waste of taxpayer money and fraudulent practices that harm students.
Don Q. Griffin, the chancellor of City College of San Francisco, presides over a campus split by a furor over remedial classes.

At City College, a Battle Over Remedial Classes for English and Math

A dispute over the length of remedial classes for English and math has sharply divided City College of San Francisco after a trustee proposed shortening the classes.
Thanks to a charter high school and his own hard work,  Shantell Hopkins, second from left,  received his diploma on June 14.

Good Data for Charters, but Some Urge Caution

Charter schools financed by the Renaissance Schools Fund graduated their first high school classes this spring, and their college enrollment figures are high.

Rethinking District Plan on Condoms in Schools

Was the school district in Provincetown, Mass., really planning to dole out condoms to third graders?

Arbor School eighth-grader cooks up website and cookbook on healthy, low-cost eating for senior project | OregonLive.com

Arbor School eighth-grader cooks up website and cookbook on healthy, low-cost eating for senior project | OregonLive.com

Arbor School eighth-grader cooks up website and cookbook on healthy, low-cost eating for senior project

Published: Friday, June 25, 2010, 4:00 AM
kidcook.JPGView full sizeNatalie Lerner, 14, chops carrots, broccoli and green beans for her Pasta Primavera recipe. She said she has been cooking since her dad taught her to make french toast as a little kid.
Natalie Lerner, 14, flips through the green hardback cookbook she wrote and sets it on a stand, open to herPasta Primavera recipe.

One serving costs just $2.66 and is a healthy, balanced meal that could be prepared by any eighth-grader.

Wearing a T-shirt she designed that reads "It's cookin'" on the back and "kidskitchencoach.com" -- the name of her website -- on the front, she begins to prepare a meal for her family.

Natalie is out to disprove some culinary misconceptions: the first being that kids can't cook, the second being that healthy food is expensive and difficult to make.

She turns on the stove in her Northeast Portland home, boils pasta and prepares vegetables, as her dad washes strawberries at the sink, not once looking over her shoulder to coach or critique.

"I love to cook and I wanted to do something that could benefit people locally, in Oregon," she said of her decision, a year ago, to create the Kid's Kitchen Coach website and cookbook as her senior project at Arbor School of Arts and Sciences. The private Tualatin school that emphasizes "intellect, character and creativity." Next year Natalie will attend Oregon Episcopal School.

In November, the USDA declared that Oregon's rate of "very low food security" had risen to 6.6 percent, making Oregon one of the five most "hungry" states in the country. "Food security" is

Parent brawl erupts at CA kindergarten graduation

Parent brawl erupts at CA kindergarten graduation

Alameda voters rejecting tax to save schools

Alameda voters were narrowly defeating a school tax Tuesday that both sides said would profoundly change...

San Francisco school board OKs layoffs, cuts

San Francisco school board members cited heavy hearts as they voted unanimously for a budget that...

Fighting wildfires with scientific data, research and instruments - San Jose Mercury News

Fighting wildfires with scientific data, research and instruments - San Jose Mercury News

San Jose State University assistant professor Craig Clements experiences a blaze through data '” heat, wind speed and other measurements '” in a research project set in the middle of a conflagration, gathering information that could save lives and property.