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Monday, July 19, 2010

Education Week: New R.I. School Funding Formula Aims at Equity

Education Week: New R.I. School Funding Formula Aims at Equity

New R.I. School Funding Formula Aims at Equity

By Lesli A. Maxwell
Premium article access courtesy of Edweek.org.
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For the first time in more than 15 years, Rhode Island has astatewide school funding formula that supporters say will more equitably dole out money to its public schools, though the new system has hardly settled the debate over how best to divvy up state aid for public education.
The formula, approved by Rhode Island legislators and signed into law late last month by Republican Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, establishes a baseline funding amount for every student in the state. It also provides additional money—40 percent over the base—for every student who meets the poverty guidelines for the federal free- and reduced-price meals program.
Rhode Island had been the only state in the nation without a statewide formula for distributing education aid.
The new formula is linked to student enrollment and accounts for a community’s ability to pay local school costs. Districts with increased student enrollments or that serve large numbers of poor students will see their state share of aid rise, while those with falling

New R.I. School Funding Formula Aims at Equity
The new law sets a baseline amount for each student in the state and adds money to account for those in poverty. (July 19, 2010)
POLITICS K-12 BLOG
A Look at Duncan's Financial Disclosure Forms
The majority of the form focuses on where officials have their assets, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is worth between $1.58 million and $3.7 million. (July 19, 2010)
Maryland Eyes Mandatory Environmental Education
(July 16, 2010) | Comments (3)
Report Says Stimulus Spending Staved Off Layoffs
(July 15, 2010) | Comments (3)
LEARNING THE LANGUAGE BLOG
Study: DREAM Act Isn't Likely to Benefit Many
(July 16, 2010)
SUBSCRIBE NOW FOR COMPLETE PREMIUM ACCESS.
Budget and Finance
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, left, listens as Education Commissioner Bret Schundler answers a questions at E. Raymond Appleby Elementary School in Spotswood, N.J., on July 15.
—Mel Evans/AP
N.J. Governor Seeks Cap on School Leaders' Salaries
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie proposed capping the salaries of top public school administrators and basing future raises on student achievement. (July 15, 2010) | Comments (7)
CURRICULUM MATTERS BLOG
Key Calif. Commission Recommends Common Standards
(July 16, 2010)
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This Week In Education: Media: Three Ways NYT Gets Turnaround Story Wrong

This Week In Education: Media: Three Ways NYT Gets Turnaround Story Wrong

Media: Three Ways NYT Gets Turnaround Story Wrong

by Alexander Russo
image from graphics8.nytimes.comToday's Michael Winerip story / column on the nice principal in Vermont forced to switch jobs to make the school eligible for turnaround funding is more than a bit misleading. First off, it suggests that the nation's failing schools are full of hard-working and effective principals like Joyce Irvine. This is unlikely to be the situation in many places - why focus on exceptional situations? Second, the story might easily lead readers to think Irvine was laid off, only later revealing she's in the district office -- a promotion, many
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Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Cool Cat Teacher on Facebook: How it will be used, what it is for?

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Cool Cat Teacher on Facebook: How it will be used, what it is for?

Cool Cat Teacher on Facebook: How it will be used, what it is for?

by coolcatteacher@gmail.com (Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher)
Reach: Building Communities and Networks for Professional DevelopmentSince reading Jeff Utecht's book,Reach, I've thought quite a bit about how I'm "doing" Facebook and am making some changes as I do summer "social media cleaning."

1) I made a Facebook Page.

I've made an official page for Cool Cat Teacher. Pages are different from profile pages in that they represent an organization or person or "entity" like "Cool Cat Teacher." They are, by definition, linked to my profile, but not to all of my friends. This would be how someone really famous would use facebook to talk to "fans" but have a smaller group of personal friends behind the scenes on their profile.
Cool Cat Teacher


Promote Your Page Too
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School year shrinking as budget crisis grows

School year shrinking as budget crisis grows

School year shrinking as budget crisis grows

Louis Freedberg, California Watch
Monday, July 19, 2010
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Rich Pedroncelli / AP
State schools chief Jack O'Connell says reducing the school year "is a major setback" for students.
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Just as education experts are encouraging more classroom time to improve student grades and test scores, many California districts are moving in the opposite direction by shortening their school year amid a sustained and draining budget crisis.
Sixteen of the state's 30 largest school districts, including San Francisco, San Jose and Fremont in the Bay Area, are reducing the number of days in the academic year, according to a survey by California Watch. The changes are expected to affect about 1.4 million students.
Educators say a shrinking school year, along with other cuts, could depress hard-won academic gains in recent years. It is a dramatic illustration, they say, of how the state's budget crisis is eroding the core of public education in California.
The move comes amid cutbacks in other aspects of public education, including rolling back or eliminating the state's program intended to limit class sizes in the early grades to 20 students.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/18/MNQ01EFBET.DTL#ixzz0u8FWpWGU
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Control student loan defaults at for-profit education institutes: Editorial | news-press.com | The News-Press

Control student loan defaults at for-profit education institutes: Editorial | news-press.com | The News-Press

Control student loan defaults at for-profit education institutes: Editorial

JULY 19, 2010

Like it or not, for-profit colleges are in business to make money. But that shouldn't mean they can do so at the expense of weary taxpayers.

With defaults at such schools representing 44 percent of all federal student loans, the U.S. Department of Education must find solutions to this worsening problem.

It's not far-fetched that if this situation remains unchecked, defaults on student loans, like mortgage loans, could become the breeding ground for the next financial meltdown.

Fortunately, there are signs that for-profit schools are on the radar screens of Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Congress.

Meantime, public and private colleges and universities should look closer at the booming market being tapped by for-profit schools.

There are mixed reasons why the default rate at for-profit schools is high when they serve less than 10 percent of students enrolled in higher education.

One is that too many for-profit students may not realize soon enough that the sometimes low salaries

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New education standards can help Georgia students achieve greater success - The Times-Herald

New education standards can help Georgia students achieve greater success - The Times-Herald

New education standards can help Georgia students achieve greater success

EDITOR'S NOTE:

TODAY'S GUEST EDITORIAL IS FROM THE ALBANY HERALD.

Recently, Georgia joined 20 states in adopting a set of standards for what students should be expected to know at certain points in their education.

Known as the Common Core State Standards, the benchmarks supersede the various educational goals the different states in the group have set. The standards will be incorporated in time for the start of the 2011-12 school year.

Under the standards, for instance, a fifth-grader in any of the participating states should be able to classify two-dimensional figures in a hierarchy based on properties, while an eighth-grader should have a firm grasp of the Pythagorean theorem. ...

While Common Core has drawn concerns of a "nationalized standard" for education, the standards were not created by the federal government. ...There will be some adjustments for Georgia, but an analysis of the state's current standards by Achieve, a nonprofit education organization based in Washington, shows that our state's current standards meet 90 percent of Common Core ones in math and 81 percent in English language arts.

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One in five school leavers can't read EducationNews.org

EducationNews.org


Controversial Texas Projection Measure may again boost schools' ratings
7.19.10 - 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.

One in five school leavers can't read
7.19.10 - Trendy teaching is 'still harming pupils' learning' Discredited teaching techniques that encourage children to just find things out for themselves rather than being taught are 'alive and kicking' in primary schools. ...

Burned-out students take timeout before starting college
7.19.10 - As their peers comb through course catalogs, shop for extra-long twin sheets, and seek out future classmates on Facebook, a small but growing number of students accepted by the nation's top colleges are postponing their long-anticipated freshman year....

Complaining about a generation of spoiled kids -- again
7.19.10 - Are kids really becoming lamer than they used to be? If the subject is kids and how they're raised, it seems our culture has exactly one story to tell. Anyone who reads newspapers, magazines or blogs knows how it goes: Parents today either can't or won't set limits for their children. ...

Commentaries



An Interview with Fred Stawitz: The Soul of the Gang
7.19.10 - Michael F. Shaughnessy - Homeboy's Soul is the result of a chance meeting with Don Armijo at a writer's conference in Los Angeles. Don had an incredible story to tell and wanted to know how to write a book. But with his cholo look and tattoos, no one at the conference would talk to him.

An Interview with Abhishek Parajuli: Reflections on Education in Hong Kong and Nepal
7.19.10 - Michael F. Shaughnessy - I heard about the Concord Review from a friend and when I decided to do my Extended Essay ( a 4000 word independent research assignment that is a required component of the IB diploma) history ( The United Nation's role in the genocide in Rwanda) I knew I would submit it there to see if I met its standards. ...

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Parcel tax raises issues of fairness - SignOnSanDiego.com

Parcel tax raises issues of fairness - SignOnSanDiego.com

Parcel tax raises issues of fairness

School funding levy often rejected in poorer districts

BY MAUREEN MAGEE, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
SUNDAY, JULY 18, 2010 AT 12:01 A.M.

Part and parcel

Between 2001 and 2009, 132 districts in California held parcel tax elections, with 83 passing.
Median winning district
Students: 3,180
Subsidized lunches: 15 percent of students qualified
San Diego Unified School District
Students: 130,000
Subsidized lunches: 60 percent qualify
South Bay Union School District
Students: 8,000
Subsidized lunches: 85 percent qualify
SOURCE: EdSource, school districts
The parcel tax has been held up by school districts in San Diego County and across the state as a last-ditch effort to gain more control over their finances and prevent potentially debilitating budget cuts.
But those tax ballot measures that require a two-thirds majority to pass have raised concerns about growing inequities between the haves and the have-nots in California’s troubled public education system.
This year, proposals to levy parcel taxes were placed on the ballot in 21 California school districts, with 16 passing.
Between 2001 and 2009, 132 of California’s roughly 1,000 school districts floated parcel taxes, with 83 passing, according to EdSource, a nonprofit research organization.
The odds look deceptively good because the majority of successful parcel taxes came from small districts in wealthy areas. The tax revenue has been virtually out of reach for districts with poor students who often struggle academically.
For example, the top-rated Piedmont school district in an affluent Bay Area suburb, where home-owners pay more than $2,000 in school parcel taxes annually, has passed parcel taxes seven times in the past 25 years,
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