Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Weld: School standards plan is 'a retrograde step' - Boston.com

Weld: School standards plan is 'a retrograde step'

By Glen Johnson

AP Political Writer / July 20, 2010

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BOSTON—Former Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld, who signed the state's landmark 1993 education overhaul into law, is criticizing proposed changes in the public school math and English curriculum.

Weld told The Associated Press that swapping state standards for proposed national ones is "a retrograde step" and a precursor to eliminating the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, tests in both of those subject areas.

"It would be madness to eliminate the MCAS test," Weld said Monday in a telephone interview from his New York law firm. "A lot of blood was spilled, partly during my regime and moreso when (Paul) Cellucci was governor, to preserve the MCAS."

He said that test, a key component of the 1993 law, is responsible for driving Massachusetts students to top finishes in national achievement tests.

RI ACLU wants public school preyer banner removed

The American Civil Liberties Union says a banner with a prayer on it that hangs in the auditorium at Cranston High School West may be in violation of the First Amendment and wants it taken down.

Student test scores and future proficiency

The New York State Education Department – together with testing experts Daniel Koretz and Howard Everson (both are members of the State’s Technical Advisory Group) and CTB/McGraw-Hill, the state’s assessment contractor – conducted a series of studies and surveys concerning student scores and student proficiency. Among their findings were the following:
• Nearly a quarter of students in all New York State two and four-year institutions of higher education take remedial coursework;
• Students taking more remedial courses in their first year of college are less likely to persist in higher education;
• Students who score below an 80 on their math Regents exam have a much greater likelihood of being placed in a remedial college course;
• Students who score above an 80 on their math Regents exam have a good chance of earning at least a C in college-level math;
• Students who score at least a 75 on their English Regents exam have a good chance of earning at least a C in Freshman Composition;
• Institutions of higher education around the state consider a score of 75-85 on

Notes from the news, July 20 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, July 20

by Erika Owens

Least Restrictive Environment Practical Theory blog
The special education term got SLA principal Chris Lehmann thinking about other concepts that would work well for all students.
My high school experience, the second time around The Notebook blog
Guest blog from Microsoft employee Tony Franklin who looks back at his time at School of the Future.
New West Philly Parents Movement Launched Philly School Search blog
Looks like a group in West Philly is trying to take a cue from the parents organizing around Andrew Jackson Elementary.
What's Really New in Education? Philly Teacher blog
A lot of our theories of education still popular now are from decades or centuries ago, do they still hold true or is technology changing things?
A Tree and Its Roots: Notes from Friday and on the Spirit of Carter G. Woodson Office of Teaching and Unlearning
It only took 11 years… A Year in the Life of a Teacher
Plugging the ‘brain drain’ — Philly Fellows and community service Voice of Philadelphia
Please email us if we missed anything today or if you have any suggestions of publications, email lists, or other places for us to check for news.
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Notes from the news

Bleak Omens for Obama's Ed Agenda on the Hill :: Frederick M. Hess

Frederick M. Hess's Blog

Bleak Omens for Obama's Ed Agenda on the Hill

by Frederick M. Hess • Jul 20, 2010 at 9:56 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

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Congressional Quarterly reported yesterday that House Democratic leaders will accept the Senate's plan to pass a stripped-down supplemental spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and seek another way to funnel $10 billion in edu-aid to the states. Before turning the page on the Obey-Obama defense supplemental imbroglio, however, a postmortem is in order--especially given some worrisome portents for the administration's school reform agenda.

Last week, POLITICO's David Rogers examined just how D.C. Democrats got so far off the rails in the push for the teacher jobs bill. In a story tellingly headlined "The Dems' Education Debacle," Rogers explained how a

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Buggy whips, railroads, and paper textbooks

Buggy whips, railroads, and paper textbooks

by coolcatteacher@gmail.com (Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher)

Image representing Amazon Kindle as depicted i...

Image via CrunchBase

We're really seeing the rise of the niche bloggers in education. Those people who know how to do a specific task and do it very well. Such is the blog, Edukindle - my "go to" place for anything about using the Amazon Kindle in Schools.

The EduKindle Blog
I point this out, because the three most recent posts are well

This Week In Education: Debate: What Is "Ghetto Parenting"?

Debate: What Is "Ghetto Parenting"?

by Alexander Russo

"Ghetto parenting is cursing around, and at, a child. Ghetto parenting is letting your child roam the streets until somebody else's mother has to tell the child to go home." Shocked? Bored? Me, too. This is from a recent Mary Mitchell column from the Chicago Sun Times in which some (many) readers thought Mitchell was denigrating poor families while others thought she was doing a valuable service in calling out bad parenting. There's a

Thompson: What Statisticians Whisper

by john thompson

Over at the National Journal's education blog, Kati Haycock defined an effective teacher as an angel bending over a blade of grass who "whispers, ‘Grow, grow.’" Somewhere, I imagine, there must be statisticians sitting at their desks whispering to their growth models, "be good enough, good enough." Reformers have caused a huge mess for the Obama Administration because they raced ahead with the

Quick Takes: New Rules Proposed for U.S. Aid to Students at Foreign Institutions - Inside Higher Ed

New Rules Proposed for U.S. Aid to Students at Foreign Institutions The U.S. Department of Education is today proposing new, stricter rules on eligibility of students to receive federal financial aid to attend colleges and universities outside the United States. Some of the rules increase financial reporting ...

Plagiarism in Medical Residency Applications A study has found that just over 5 percent of medical residency applications at a major academic medical center showed evidence of plagiarism. The study, which appears in the journal *Annals of Internal Medicine,* analyzed the applications with new ...

China Sees Some Success in Battling Brain Drain China is starting to see some success in its efforts to battle brain drain. AFP reported that while the numbers leaving the country for graduate study continue to increase, there are now increases in the number of graduates who return, sometimes ...

State test scores improved becuase of easier tests, not more learning: study

BY MEREDITH KOLODNER
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, July 20th 2010, 4:00 AM

Monaster/News

Scores on state exams skyrocketed from 2007 to 2009, but officals now say that it's not because kids are learning more. Rather, the exams have simply become easier to pass.

RELATED NEWS

State exams measuring how well New York students know English and math are getting much easier, a blockbuster new analysis reveals.

The revelation forced state officials to acknowledge yesterday what they've long denied: Skyrocketing test scores don't necessarily mean students are learning more.

"The bar was set too low," Deputy Education Commissioner John King said at a Board of Regents meeting. "But we are changing that now," he pledged.

The analysis was conducted at the state's request by Harvard testing expert Daniel Koretz, who concluded it became easier to pass the exams from 2007 to 2009.

State officials have admitted the exams have grown more predictable and tested

Government Cuts Thousands of College Work-Study Jobs - US News and World Report

Government Cuts Thousands of College Work-Study Jobs

End of stimulus funding makes work-study jobs harder to get for college students

By Kim Clark

Posted July 20, 2010

Students hoping to earn a little extra cash on campus this fall will have a tougher time as the number of federally funded work-study college jobs nationwide will drop by 162,000 to 768,000 for the 2010-2011 academic year.That's distressing news for students when the unemployment rate for young people continues to top 15 percent, and states have been cutting scholarship budgets, says Lindsay McCluskey, vice president of the United States Student Association. "It is a very serious issue," she says.

[Read 3 Pieces of Good News About Federal College Grants.]

A spokesman for the Department of Education said the number of subsidized campus jobs has simply dropped back to its historical norm after climbing because of a temporary influx of stimulus funding. "The recovery act provided a much-needed boost to work study programs and other federal student aid

Cash-starved schools turn to Hollywood for budget relief | California Watch

Cash-starved schools turn to Hollywood for budget relief

by Corey G. Johnson

Corey G. Johnson

From Megan Fox to Owen Wilson, cash-strapped schools are increasingly getting moral and financial support from Hollywood.
According to USA Today, school districts from Lawndale to Glendale are drumming up extra money by renting their campuses as locations for movies, TV shows, commercials and even truck parking. FilmLA, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit group who helps filmmakers cut through red-tape to get access to film sites, say they have

AG audit questions college president's kitchen renovation

by Timothy Sandoval

Timothy Sandoval

Renovations made to CSU Sacramento President Alexander Gonzalez’s kitchen, paid for by the university’s charitable auxiliary organization, were made for the president's personal benefit and "created an appearance of impropriety," according to an audit by Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office.
The audit looked into three transactions by University Enterprises Inc., CSU Sacramento's nonprofit auxiliary

Are 10,000 kindergartners driving whooping cough epidemic?

by Christina Jewett

Christina Jewett

Seven of the 12 California counties with the highest whooping cough rates also have above average rates of kindergarten students showing up to school with "personal-belief" vaccine waivers, a California Watch review of state data shows.
The state’s emerging whooping cough epidemic took center stage yesterday when a state public health officialcalled on those caring for infants to get vaccines and to immunize children.
Clearly, the ailment is reaching epidemic proportions not seen since the 1950s, according to state public health

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Tuesday, July 20, 2010