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Monday, July 19, 2010

Controversial Texas Projection Measure may again boost schools' ratings | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Controversial Texas Projection Measure may again boost schools' ratings | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Controversial Texas Projection Measure may again boost schools' ratings



12:24 AM CDT on Monday, July 19, 2010

By HOLLY K. HACKER / The Dallas Morning News
hhacker@dallasnews.com
Hundreds of Texas campuses are expected to receive high marks again this month, thanks to a state rule that counts some students who failed a TAKS test as having passed.
Also Online
The Texas Projection Measure, introduced last year, predicts students' future TAKS scores in a given subject based on their current TAKS scores and on their previous year's average campus score. If a student fails this year's TAKS test but is predicted to pass in a future year, the school gets credit as if the student had passed this year. And that can boost a school's rating.
The Texas Education Agency is scheduled to release this year's ratings July 30.
The controversial formula came under attack during a recent Texas House subcommittee hearing. Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, gave a few examples of how students could bomb the TAKS but still get credit for passing.
Since then, TEA Commissioner Robert Scott has said the Texas Projection Measure may be eliminated or revised in 2011. One
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Sunday, July 18, 2010

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Let's Face the Music and Dance

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Let's Face the Music and Dance

Let's Face the Music and Dance

by coolcatteacher@gmail.com (Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher)
1 person liked this

"There may be trouble ahead
But while there's moonlight and music
And love and romance
Let's face the music and dance

Before the fiddlers have fled
Before they ask us to pay the bill
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The New Old School � Chalkdust101

The New Old School � Chalkdust101

The New Old School

by pjhiggins

Much research has been done on my part recently regarding how I work well. Note, that is not how I work, but how I work WELL. As much as I am fond, perhaps overly, of using digital resources for the scheduling, planning, mapping, sorting, sifting, and creating in my daily life, there is a threshold that I think I have reached in regards to what my limitations are with computing. There are some things that pen and paper are just plain better for when it comes to my thinking. Moving into this new space is going to require me to have some hard-copy places for my ideas and notes. And, we don’t have universal wireless access where I am going yet–that presents a little snag.

When I was a freshman in college, I had these high school habits that were really hard to kick. Transcribing every word the professor said into my three-subject, spiral-bound, loose-leaf notebook, retyping rewriting those notes the night before an exam, and absolutely tanking on any type of exam that wasn’t based on factual recall.

By the time my sophomore year rolled around, two things had changed. First, I recognized that my talents did

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Blog U.: We were globalists at a tender age! - GlobalHigherEd - Inside Higher Ed

Blog U.: We were globalists at a tender age! - GlobalHigherEd - Inside Higher Ed

We were globalists at a tender age! Kris Olds
Lost Illusions Dean Dad
The Disappearing College Catalog Heather Alderfer
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School Tech Connect: Here's A Nickel...

School Tech Connect: Here's A Nickel...


Boycotting Arizona Since 2010.



SUNDAY, JULY 18, 2010


Here's A Nickel...

....Fight amongst yourselves.

I don't know how I missed this piece in The Nation. (h/t to The Frustrated Teacher)
I think he left out
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Blog U.: The Neighborhood Effect - Provost Prose - Inside Higher Ed

Blog U.: The Neighborhood Effect - Provost Prose - Inside Higher Ed

The Neighborhood Effect

By Herman Berliner July 18, 2010 8:12 pm
All of us have heard that the key bottom line in real estate is location, location, location. The value of property, be it residential or commercial, is directly tied to the neighborhood and what positives or negatives are contained therein. How good is transportation and access; how good are the schools; how low is the crime rate; and what is the proximity to major attractions and critical needs. Do we have a water view or a strip mall view; it all enters into the equation.
For a college or university, location presently has two major dimensions. Why presently? The world is clearly changing. Students especially at the graduate level and especially also for part-time programs will, in the years ahead, no longer be attending class the way that we were educated or the way that we have taught most of our careers. On-campus programs (once again, especially part-time and graduate programs) will gravitate to distance learning, most likely the blended variety. On the undergraduate level, however, the campus experience remains crucial and the location factors are real assets or real concerns.
Going back to location - the first aspect of location is the neighborhood, the college or university is located in. Is the school in an urban setting, in a suburban setting, in a rural setting? All have their advantages and all have their disadvantages and potential students
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Schools Matter: Team Obama Suggested Cutting Food Stamps to Maintain Duncan's RTTT Bribes

Schools Matter: Team Obama Suggested Cutting Food Stamps to Maintain Duncan's RTTT Bribes

Team Obama Suggested Cutting Food Stamps to Maintain Duncan's RTTT Bribes

by Jim Horn
Thank God for David Obey, quoted here from EmptyWheel:

The secretary of Education is whining about the fact he only got 85 percent of the money he wanted .… So, when we needed money, we committed the cardinal sin of treating him like any other mere mortal. We were giving them over $10 billion in money to help keep teachers on the job, plus another $5 billion for Pell, so he was getting $15 billion for the programs he says he cares about, and it was costing him $500 million [in reductions to the Race to the Top program]. Now that’s a pretty damn good deal.
So as far as I’m concerned, the secretary of Education should have been happy as hell. He should have taken that deal and smiled like a Cheshire cat. He’s got more walking around money than every other cabinet secretary put together.
It blows my mind that the White House would even notice the fight [over Race to the Top]. I would
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About Wibiya Wibiya provides a web toolbar that enables blogs and websites to integrate

About Wibiya

About Us

What is Wibiya?

Wibiya provides a web toolbar that enables blogs and websites to integrate the most exciting services and web applications into their blog or website.
Our platform is a one-stop shop for fully customizable, easily manageable third part web applications that can also be tracked for statistics.

Adding the Wibiya web toolbar will allow you to choose from a great variety of tools and features including facebook and twitter integration web applications, Google Buzz, Smart Share, Real Time Notifications and Statistics, 3D picture galleries, 3D YouTube video galleries and much, much more.

Who are we?

Wibiya is a young and dynamic start-up. We are passionate about developing the best and most useful product possible, which to us, also means building and nurturing a strong community.

Wibiya was founded in 2008 in Israel, originally backed by Dr. Yossi Vardi, and later by host of other investors including Primera Capital who see as much potential in our toolbar as we do. The Company was founded by Dror Ceder, Daniel Tal and Avi Smila.

Stay in Touch

As we evolve and grow, we rely on you, our users and community to let us know exactly what you want and what direction you prefer. For this purpose we are constantly nurturing our community, through popular networks such asfacebook and twitter and also by more direct means.

You are warmly invited to write us at feedback and let us know what you think about our toolbar.
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NYC Public School Parents: Harsh lessons for the editors of the Daily News and NY Times

NYC Public School Parents

Independent voices of New York City public school parents

NYC Public School Parents: Harsh lessons for the editors of the Daily News and NY Times


Harsh lessons for the editors of the Daily News and NY Times

by Leonie Haimson

The Daily News editorial board finally gave up today, and admitted that the city’s big gains in state test scores over the Bloomberg era have been a vast mirage, in an editorial called Harsh lesson for N.Y.

They were apparently briefed by NY Commissioner Steiner on the findings of Harvard's Daniel Koretz,
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Sunday links. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Sunday links. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Sunday links.

by preaprez

Tweet from tbfurman: They still publish the Tribune? Seems like a terrible waste of trees. Yes, I’m writing a letter.
Good news, bad news. Budget cuts have caused Illinois to drop writing from the state standardized ISAT test. But will that mean even more emphasis on bubble tests? Sure.
On Tuesday in Raleigh, North Carolina, the NAACP is marching against the resegregation of North Carolina


The Wall.

by preaprez
Logan Square, Chicago.
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CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Right Step Academy

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Right Step Academy

Right Step Academy CHARTER SCHOOL OWNERS SENTENCED FOR DEFRAUDING SCHOOL TO PAY FOR LAVISH LIFESTYLE, May 24, 2006, Investigative Report, U.S. Department of Justice, United States Attorney, District of Minnesota MINNEAPOLIS — The former owners of one of the first ...
Center for Economics and Law *FORMER PHILADELPHIA CHARTER SCHOOL PRINCIPAL CHARGED WITH FRAUD*, March 21, 2006, Investigative Report released by the U.S. Department of Justice, United States Attorney, Eastern District of Pennsylvania ** *PHILADELPHIA* – United States Attorney ...
New Foundations Charter School *BUTKOVITZ CITES CHARTER SCHOOL PROFITEERING,* April 7, 2010, Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer City Controller Alan Butkovitz's investigation of 13 Philadelphia charter schools found repeated examples of complex real estate arrangements in which charters ...
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Fear of `resegregation' fuels unrest in NC

Fear of `resegregation' fuels unrest in NC

Fear of `resegregation' fuels unrest in NC

By ALLEN G. BREED, AP National Writer
Sunday, July 18, 2010
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(07-18) 09:15 PDT Raleigh, N.C. (AP) --
In the annals of desegregation, Raleigh is barely a footnote.
Integration came relatively peacefully to the North Carolina capital. There was no "stand in the schoolhouse door," no need of National Guard escorts or even a federal court order.
Nearly 50 years passed — mostly uneventfully, at least until a new school board majority was elected last year on a platform supporting community schools.
The result has been turmoil.
The superintendent resigned in protest. A coalition of residents and civil rights groups filed suit. Months of rallies, news conferences and candlelight vigils against the feared "resegregation" of the state's largest school district culminated in the recent arrests of four activists for refusing to vacate board members' chairs.
Locals are lecturing Northern transplants about the Jim Crow past; white school board members are quoting Brown v. Board of Education to the NAACP.
"We're not going to sit idly by while they turn the clock back on the blood, sweat and tears and wipe their feet on the sacrifices of so many that have enabled us to get to the place we are today," says the Rev. William J. Barber II, head of the state NAACP chapter and one of the four protesters arrested for trespassing at the June 15 board meeting.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/07/18/national/a091549D97.DTL&type=education#ixzz0u3hduVzt
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Democurmudgeon: Going Broke in Retirement? Republicans ignore Reality, Again.

Democurmudgeon

by John Peterson. A liberal journey into the depths of conservative deception and Republican failures...coming soon: Consumer real estate news

Democurmudgeon: Going Broke in Retirement? Republicans ignore Reality, Again.

Going Broke in Retirement? Republicans ignore Reality, Again.

by Democurmudgeon

While Republicans demand we lower wages and benefits to complete their vision of a true free market, our eventual retirement from those wonderful private jobs will leave us broke and destitute. But that's then, this is now. If someones going to win the upcoming mid-term election, it's going to be the Santa Claus party of lower taxes and market forces.

What is left out of the following research is a private sector movement
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Teachers Spend $1.3 Billion Out of Pocket on Classroom Materials -- THE Journal #education

Teachers Spend $1.3 Billion Out of Pocket on Classroom Materials -- THE Journal

Teachers Spend $1.3 Billion Out of Pocket on Classroom Materials

Total teacher expenditures on classroom supplies and instructional materials reached $3.5 billion in the 2009-2010 school year, including support from parents and PTAs.
Public school teachers in the United States spent more than $1.33 billion out of pocket on school supplies and instructional materials in the 2009-2010 school year, according to new research released by the National School Supply and Equipment Association (NSSEA), a trade association for educational product companies.
The report, "The 2010 NSSEA Retail Market Awareness Study," was based on a survey of 308 K-12 teachers in May 2010 conducted by Perry Research Professionals. It revealed that teachers spent on average $356 of their own money on supplies and resources, including an average of $170 on supplies and $186 on instructional materials. (Instructional materials were defined as software and games, as well as paper-based teaching aids and other non-equipment teaching materials; supplies were defined as printer paper, arts and crafts supplies, pencils, glue, and other similar supplies.)
Despite the total $1.33 billion out of pocket price tag for classroom materials, average individual teacher expenditures were actually down this year compared with previous studies: $395 in a 2007-2008 NSSEA study and $552 in a 2005-2006 NSSEA study.
Why the recent decline?
"Teachers are feeling the pinch just like others affected by the downturn in the economy," Adrienne Watts
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NorthJersey.com: N.J. tax cap could be years from taking hold

NorthJersey.com: N.J. tax cap could be years from taking hold

N.J. tax cap could be years from taking hold
Sunday, July 18, 2010
LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY JULY 18, 2010, 11:07 AM
BY JOHN REITMEYER
STATE HOUSE BUREAU
STATE HOUSE BUREAU
A new law limits local property tax increases to 2 percent annually, but taxpayers shouldn't expect their bills to start coming in under the cap any time soon — possibly for several years.
Governor Christie signing the 2 percent property tax cap law last week.
AMANDA BROWN/THE STAR-LEDGER
Governor Christie signing the 2 percent property tax cap law last week.
The 2 percent property tax cap rushed into law this month by Governor Christie and state Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, won't apply at all to this year's property tax bills, and many questions remain admittedly unanswered when it comes to figuring how the new cap will work when it does go into effect for next year's budgets.
"I think I have to straight-out tell people there's going to be a transition period," Christie told The Record's editorial board on Thursday.
And Sweeney, at Tuesday's bill-signing ceremony for the tax-cap measure in Hamilton, reminded reporters "the work is not done."
For that reason, Christie and Sweeney are linking the cap to a series of proposed reforms designed to help the local governments deal with the major expenses that
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