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Monday, July 19, 2010

Anybody Up There Care About The Schools? | California Progress Report

Anybody Up There Care About The Schools? | California Progress Report

Anybody Up There Care About The Schools?

by kaldveer
By Peter Schrag

The milestones keep rushing by in California’s race to the educational bottom.
Last Monday, a group of students and parents, joined by a coalition of civil rights organizations filed the second major lawsuit in recent weeks charging the state with failing to meet its constitutional and moral obligations to provide quality education to its six million K-12 students.
Two days later, perhaps not coincidentally, the California Budget Project published a report headed “California’s Support for Schools Lags the Nation.” It was full of depressingly familiar numbers: California is near the bottom among the states in school spending per pupil; dead last in school spending as a percentage of personal income; last in teachers per students; ditto for counselors, librarians and administrators.
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For Parents, Shortened School Year Proves Costly

by kaldveer
By Vivian Po
New America Media
For some low-income parents, the decision by many school districts to shorten the school year has raised anxieties about the extra costs it could impose on them.
Unlike more affluent parents, most are not in a position to pay for extra classes or tutoring to make up for time lost. So they are also trying to find innovative ways to make sure their child does not fall behind academically, according to interviews in Los Angeles and San Francisco by New America Media.
Gabriel Medel, whose son will be a freshman at Hamilton High in Los Angeles in the fall, is the volunteer director of Parents for Unity, an education advocacy group formed by Latino parents in Los Angeles. He believes students who are less fluent in English – typically designated as English Language Learners – will be among the first to feel the impact of a shorter school year.
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2010 Sees Return of Conservative Exploitation of LGBT, Minority Groups

by kaldveer
By Dan Aiello
California Progress Report
In Hawaii, the state where Mormon and Catholic leaders first organized to fight "Homosexual Lesbian Marriage" after polling found the public had little innate opposition to same-sex marriage, Republican Governor Linda Lingle last week vetoed a bill approved by the state legislature in April that would have legalized civil unions in the Aloha state.
“After carefully reviewing each of these bills and weighing the considerable amount of input that we received from the public, I made the decision to not allow these measures to become law,” read the Lingle veto statement.
“Although the legislature passed bills they believe are important, I have the final responsibility to ensure that any new law is constitutional, fiscally responsible and in the best interest of the state,” Lingle stated.
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Statement by the President on Nelson Mandela International Day | The White House

Statement by the President on Nelson Mandela International Day | The White House

Statement by the President on Nelson Mandela International Day

On behalf of the United States, I wish Nelson Mandela a very happy 92nd birthday. We are grateful to continue to be blessed with his extraordinary vision, leadership, and spirit. And we strive to build upon his example of tolerance, compassion and reconciliation. I also join the American people, the South African people, the United Nations, and the world in celebrating the first annual Nelson Mandela International Day. I encourage us all to heed the call to engage in some form of service to others, in honor of the 67 years of sacrifice and service Madiba gave to us. We strive to follow his example of what it means to truly give back to our communities, our nations, and our world.

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Florida's Race to the Top has 14 or 15 side agreements | Education articles blog on schools in Florida & Tampa Bay: the Gradebook | tampabay.com & St. Petersburg Times

Florida's Race to the Top has 14 or 15 side agreements | Education articles blog on schools in Florida & Tampa Bay: the Gradebook | tampabay.com & St. Petersburg Times

Florida's Race to the Top has 14 or 15 side agreements

It remains to be seen whether they’ll hurt Florida’s chances. But The Gradebook has confirmed that 14 of the 54 Florida schools districts where both district officials and teachers unions signed on to the state’s $700 million Race to the Top effort also have side agreements with local unions that some say undermine the state’s bid. A 15th district, Gadsden, is set to approve a side agreement July 27.
Three districts submitted their side agreements to the state. The other 12 did not.
Besides Gadsden, the other districts to join the list previously compiled by The Gradebook are DeSoto, Charlotte and Jefferson.
The latest additions are all small districts. But collectively, the 15 side-agreement districts represent more than 700,000 students – 27 percent of Florida’s overall student population. The 13 districts that did not sign Florida’s revised MOU represent another 16 percent.
Will Florida’s application still get points for broad buy-in?
The Gradebook asked the U.S. Department of Education how reviewers scoring Florida’s application will be able to know how much local buy-in there is if they don’t read the side agreements. Department spokesman Justin Hamilton would not answer that question. Instead, he wrote in an email, “if a state that wins deviates from its application, they will lose funding.”
Hamilton pointed out that Florida’s application “does discuss side agreements.” It does, on page 21, but it only mentions the three side agreement (from Marion, Hendry and Hardee counties) that were submitted to the Florida Department of Education. And while
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Real-time Online Credit Recovery � The Quick and the Ed

Real-time Online Credit Recovery � The Quick and the Ed

Real-time Online Credit Recovery

by Bill Tucker
As high schools seek to improve graduation rates, respond to cuts in summer school, and offer new options for students, they are increasingly turning to online credit recovery. I’ve always thought that this was a good idea (quality, of course, is essential).
But, a better idea would be to begin to develop preventive systems to avoid failure in the first place. If a student is helplessly off course in the first quarter of algebra, why wait till the end of the year when a student fails? Joe Beckmann, commenting on a recent EdWeek article has some good ideas:
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Book Review: The Virtue of Speaking Plain Truths :: Frederick M. Hess

Book Review: The Virtue of Speaking Plain Truths :: Frederick M. Hess

Frederick M. Hess's Blog

Book Review: The Virtue of Speaking Plain Truths

by Frederick M. Hess • Jul 19, 2010 at 9:29 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

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Last week, I was grumbling about the potentially unhealthy influence of edu-agitprop and the inclination of many would-be reformers to approach education reform as a simple, and simple-minded, moral crusade. I'll start the new week on a happier note, as a trio of straight-shooting reformers--all of them comfortable with messy truths - have penned an unvarnished, eye-opening account of what it means to struggle to transform K-12 schooling.

In Ohio's Education Reform Challenges: Lessons from the Frontlines, Fordham Institute chief Checker Finn, Fordham VP for Ohio Terry Ryan, and veteran scribe Mike Lafferty recount the Fordham Institute's efforts to, in their words, "help launch new schools; to fix broken older schools; to assist needy families to make their way into better education options--and to duke it out with powerful institutional resistances, reform-averse politicians, and adult interests bent on maintaining the status quo." (Full disclosure: the book was published, with my enthusiastic recommendation, as part of the "Education Policy" series I co-edit for Palgrave Macmillan).

When I read the manuscript back last fall, I was struck by the authors' verve, lack of posturing, and healthy willingness to acknowledge missteps and frustrations. As readers well know, one can scour shelves of airbrushed accounts of reform before stumbling across the rare volume that sheds light on what didn't work and why, which really helps us understand why reform is so bloody hard. This is that rare volume.

The authors showcased their take in a terrific column for Fordham's Education Gadfly recently, one in which they unapologetically described Fordham's adventures in charter school authorizing as "humbling." They recounted, "One of our sponsored schools imploded in a fashion worthy of a Greek tragedy. Just a few years ago, the W.E.B. Dubois Academy in Cincinnati was visited by the (then) governor [and] lauded in the U.S.

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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


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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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