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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Sacramento City Unified enacts worst-case-scenario budget cuts - Education - The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento City Unified enacts worst-case-scenario budget cuts - Education - The Sacramento Bee:


Sacramento City Unified enacts worst-case-scenario budget cuts


Published: Thursday, May. 17, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
Fifteen months ago, Sacramento City Unified School District approved a worst-case-scenario budget that called for laying off 355 full-time teachers, principals, counselors and librarians, and cutting off sports, band, cheerleading, choir and drama. By June 1, 2011, however, the district got a reprieve because state income tax revenue spiked – blunting the cuts and letting sports and other activities survive.
4M17SACCITY.JPGFast-forward to the current budget cycle.
Last week – in a replay of what the board did in March 2011 – trustees voted to approve sending final pink slips to 395 of the district's certificated work force – primarily teachers, counselors and nurses. They also have sent pink slips for 301.4 classified employee positions, including bus drivers, maintenance workers and other support staff

Sacramento City Unified Budget Cuts

Published: Thursday, May. 17, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 4B
Sacramento City Unified School District made drastic cuts to reduce its budget deficit by $28 million, including:
• Laying off 395 certificated employees including counselors, nurses and teachers.
• Laying off 301.4 classified positions including custodians, bus drivers and other support staff.
• Not funding music teachers, counselors or librarians.
• Increasing class sizes.
• Reducing custodial staff by 50 percent.
• Reducing plant managers by 50 percent.
• Reducing funding to GATE Program (gifted and talented).
• Reducing career-themed classes.
• Eliminating physical education instructors at elementary schools.
• Not funding adult education.
• Eliminating co-curricular support - sports, yearbook, band.
• Cutting half the vice principals at secondary schools.
• Eliminating home-to-school transportation unless mandated.
Source: Sacramento City Unified

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/17/4496165/sacramento-city-unified-budget.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy



Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/17/4495952/sacramento-city-unified-enacts.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy

Is an 'Occupy Teach For America' Movement Brewing? - Education - GOOD

Is an 'Occupy Teach For America' Movement Brewing? - Education - GOOD:


Is an 'Occupy Teach For America' Movement Brewing?

occupy.tfa
Influential New York City educator Gary Rubinstein has long been critical of Teach for America, the organization that brought him into the classroom 21 years ago. In a blog post last fall, he argued that people should no longer sign up to join the organization. Now, he's asking TFA teachers and alumni to take action against what he calls "the corporate reform movement for which TFA is the poster child."
"Now you’ve experienced how difficult teaching is. You've seen, also, how complex the achievement gap is too,"Rubinstein writes. He goes on to ask some tough questions that challenge key tenets of the TFA philosophy: "So do you really believe that the issue is 'bad teachers' who need to be motivated through fear of being fired or


Infographic: For Wealthy Chinese Students, Studying Abroad Becomes the Norm

infographic, GOOD, education, china
China spends a relatively small percentage of its budget on education, ranking 101st of 187 countries included in 

Did the UC Just Take a Major Step Toward Privatization? - Davis, CA Patch

Did the UC Just Take a Major Step Toward Privatization? - Davis, CA Patch:


Did the UC Just Take a Major Step Toward Privatization?

Gov. Jerry BrownShortly after Gov. Jerry Brown presented his latest budget proposals, which he says will slash $8.3 billion from government spending to close a $15.7 billion deficit, UC faculty delivered a bold response.
The Council for UC Faculty Associations is an umbrella association that binds the faculty associations on each UC Campus. They posted the following on their website the day after Brown's announcement.
Some have suggested that the UC is headed down a road toward privatization. What do you think?
UC President Mark Yudof and Governor Jerry Brown are working out a deal behind closed doors that will loosen the most important ties between the university and the state.
Although they will both praise the deal by saying that it “stabilizes” funding while granting greater 

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Big Education Ape Nite Cap UPDATE 5-16-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2



UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE


Citizens of the World charter: parent choice or segregation?

Both nationally and locally,charter schools have been found to lead to more segregationin our public schools. The following is by Brooke Parker, one of the founders of Williamsburg and Greenpoint Parents for Our Public Schools (WAGPOPS), about a new charter chain that has applied to SUNY start in her district.  Instructions on how to send in your comments to the SUNY Board of Trustees are below; the deadline for public comments is May 21.
On the eve of the anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, the NY Times article on Explore Charter School's almost exclusively African American student population received over 400 comments.  The issue of segregation in schools is a hot topic right now as more and more reports are coming out revealing charter schools as profoundly segregated.
District 14, encompassing the neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, parts of Bed Stuy and Bushwick, is giving this issue a neo-liberal spin.  District 14 was "selected" by Citizens of the World Charter Schools(CWCS), a brand new chain of charter schools coming out of California, to receive two of their charter schools precisely 



Vallas Says No Prob – $1M deal won’t affect his work in Bridgeport

Categories: BridgeportEducationMalloyPaul VallasStefan Pryor
Tags: 
Somewhere between “Look Ma, No Hands” and the 2008 hit “Handlebars” by the rock band Flobots (lyrics: “I can ride my bike with no handlebars, No handlebars, No handlebars”), stands education reformer extraordinaire Paul Vallas who, as we predicted yesterday, announced today that there is absolutely no problem because he can be both superintendent of [...]

The in box. Draw a line and let the courts decide.

Fred
I read your blog about negotiating with the GA. I agree with you wholeheartedly.  We shouldn’t.  

Here is an email I sent Klickna and the IEA team back on 4-22.
–todd

Cinda’s response:

Well, our polling data indicated our members want us to engage, advocate, and raise issues. 
Cinda 
  

Subject: Labor Coalition Should Negotiate Nothing Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2012 20:37:20 -0500

VAM Bashing From the Right


Jay Mathews, the conservative foil to Valerie Strauss at the Washington Post, admits he likes Value Added Measures (VAM) in theory, but concedes that the reform is misused and abused and likens it to an action film monster that must be destroyed.

The “best” criticisms he has seen came from teacher trainer Grant Wiggins who points out that VAM “models accurately predict over a three-year period, performance at the extremes.”

In other words, if you average VAM scores over three years, you can identify the really great teachers and the really lousy ones.

Assuming this is true, the vast majority of teachers—who fall somewhere in the middle—would be getting inaccurate VAM scores and potentially bad evaluations as a result. Furthermore, 

Banda Approved as Superintendent, 7-0

Finally! There was a bit of yakking tonight before they finally got to the vote. Carr reviewed trip to Anaheim that she and Patu took last week. All good things - neither she nor Patu had anything of concern to tell the Board. Banda spoke briefly to the audience saying it was a "bittersweet moment." He said, "You become part of a community and builds bonds and relationships." He said he was not just part not just of scho


Lafayette Principal Missteps in Investigation;District Does LIttle

I had learned of a serious situation at Lafayette. Charlie and I both felt it better to say nothing (it is not our place nor could we do much). I did let a few senior SPS people know that I knew and that it was vital for them to give the situation their notice and best effort. As the situation as played out, I did not see that happening. Not from the principal, not from the Executive Director and not from SPS administration. Some of them are now saying they knew nothing about it and that is virtually impossible to believe. But it has now been leaked to the media 

PTA Wisdom Shines Through Cloud Of Privatization At Congressional Hearing Today

Today, the Congressional Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing on “Exploring State Success in Expanding Parent and Student Options.” In the midst of parent trigger and voucher advocates, Dr. Maria Fletcher, president of the New York State PTA, provided some important wisdom. Here’s an excerpt from her testimony:
Perhaps we’re asking the wrong question – instead of asking how to empower parents by providing alternatives to their neighborhood school, why aren’t we empowering parents by engaging all stakeholders to ensure that 


What we've done lately for Brown: revisiting the ruling on segregation

Fifty-eight years after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, we should remember the original cause, equality.












School Tech Connect: Scenes From The Pension Rally In Evanston

School Tech Connect: Scenes From The Pension Rally In Evanston:


Scenes From The Pension Rally In Evanston

Very decent turnout for an almost spur-of-the-moment demonstration in front of Jeff Schoenberg's office in Evanston this afternoon. I know they're going to ramrod something like Quinn's proposal through, and as I've said before, it's going to lose in court. IFT's director of research, Bob Shaevel, basically confirms that analysis in the clip below.

Popout

Like I said, it's theater. It's a bunch of representatives who won't say anything on the record, and who will soon be voting for something that they've seen for about an hour, which will effect every person in this state and define 

Florida baja sus estándares para el FCAT ante desastrosos resultados - Univision Vida y Familia

Florida baja sus estándares para el FCAT ante desastrosos resultados - Univision Vida y Familia:


Florida baja sus estándares para el FCAT ante desastrosos resultados


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Debido a que el estado subió tanto los requisitos del examen FCAT, han tenido que darle marcha atrás en una medida de emergencia.
05/15/12 | 01:59Disponible hasta 05/15/12
Univision
Padres y maestros protestan contra exámenes estatales
VIDEO Protesta contra exámenes estatales - Univision
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No solo el estudio ayuda con el FCAT
VIDEO No solo el estudio ayuda con el FCAT - Univision
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En South Hialeah atacan al FCAT
VIDEO En South Hialeah atacan al FCAT - Univision Radio
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La Junta Educativa de Florida bajó la puntuación necesaria para aprobar el examen escolar FCAT, del cual dependen los estudiantes para pasar de grado y obtener el diploma de Secundaria, ante el desastroso desempeño registrado este año en la porción de Escritura de la prueba.
Los funcionarios educativos atribuyeron el fracaso a metas inalcanzables para los estudiantes.
El revuelo por los resultados llevó a la Junta Escolar del condado de Palm Beach a adoptar una resolución pidiendo al Estado depender menos de los exámenes estandariza