Monday, November 15, 2010

by Steve Koss

So much was made in the 2008 Presidential election cycle about Barack Obama’s two memoirs, how they spoke for who he was, where he came from (philosophically speaking), and what he believed. Many Americans used those books in part to assess Mr. Obama’s character and suitability for the nation’s highest office.

Cathleen Black has left a memoir-style book by which her character and intellectual heft might be judged as well: Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life). It was first published in 2007 and blurbed on Amazon by (among others) Donna Karan, Meg Whitman, and Gayle King (friend of Oprah). Perhaps it can stand as a measure of her fitness for the NYC schools chancellorship.

I haven’t read the book -- nor do I plan to -- but here are some telling excerpts (one block paragraph for each) from reviews posted on Amazon by her readers that suggest some rather troubling themes. Judge for yourself whether Ms. Black

Remainders: Staking out Cathie Black and her coaches | GothamSchools

Remainders: Staking out Cathie Black and her coaches

by Anna Phillips

Cathie Black’s prep team includes Micah Lasher, Howard Wolfson, and Dennis Walcott. (NYT)
Public advocate Bill de Blasio calls on Bloomberg to hold a public forum with Black. (State of Politics)
A long-time critic of Klein’s policies takes a look at how much they have in common. (Education Notes)
Black’s jump from media to the public schools is further proof that education is in. (The Atlantic)
The city’s teachers union is holding a series of workshops on charter schools. (Edwize)
Murdoch’s interest in online learning could make other investors less skittish. (Venture Beat)
One way to end kindergarten overcrowding: tell parents you’ve got bed bugs. (InsideSchools)
Rahm Emanuel says Chicago public schools should have their own Race to the Top. (Crain’s)
Florida’s governor-elect may be interested in making Michelle Rhee commissioner. (WaPo)

City newspapers join suit over teacher effectiveness scores | GothamSchools

City newspapers join suit over teacher effectiveness scores

by Anna Phillips

Four news organizations have joined the lawsuit over whether the city can release teachers’ effectiveness scores, arguing that they have a right to see the data.

Lawyers for the New York Times, Daily News, New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal have decided to intervene in the case, according to a spokeswoman for the city’s law department. They will file their own papers, but are taking the same position as the city’s lawyers, arguing that the data is not protected under the Freedom of Information law.

Reporters at each of the news organizations submitted requests for the data and the city planned to release the reports until last month when the teachers union sued to stop them.

In its lawsuit, the union’s lawyers wrote that the Department of Education should have denied reporters’ FOIL requests because the teachers’ ratings are exempt from disclosure. The suit also said that making the scores public would amount to an invasion of teachers’ privacy.

The release would cover all 12,000 city teachers who have value-added reports, which measure a teacher’s

Time to Look at Teaching at CUNY « EdVox

Time to Look at Teaching at CUNY

by edvoxny

By John Garvey

It is clear that many students entering CUNY are not sufficiently prepared. Hopefully, the efforts being made by CUNY and the Department of Education to enhance the readiness of students who graduate from high school, accompanied by the new clarity regarding college readiness from the New York State Education Department, will result in increased readiness of students entering CUNY in the future. At the same time, it is essential to recognize that what happens in the college classrooms is absolutely central to the possibility of improving college graduation rates.

Many CUNY students do not make it to graduation because they fail or earn low grades in too many of their courses. While it is tempting to explain those failures as simple reflections of students’ lack of skill and knowledge (and/or lack of effort), we must be prepared to examine the quality of typical classroom teaching practices as well.

I believe that many remedial and introductory courses are characterized by inadequate attention to a research-informed theory of learning (and, more specifically, inadequate attention to students’ prior knowledge and

Bay Area Schools, Universities Brace for State Budget Cuts - The Bay Citizen

State Budget Cuts

As legislators ponder the $25 billion budget gap, K-12 and higher ed funding will be on the table

By JENNIFER GOLLAN on November 15, 2010 - 12:29 p.m. PST

start the discussion

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Getty Images/Justin Sullivan

UC Berkeley students walk by Sather Tower on the UC Berkeley campus April 17, 2007

Even as the economy claws its way out of the trenches, California’s public schools are bracing for another hit this year.

The state’s K-12 public schools and community colleges will receive $2 billion less this school year, state budget analysts say. And the state's public universities may not be immune from cuts either. The California State University and University of California systems received an additional $600 million this year, but analysts warn that could be yanked when state legislators convene a special budget session in December.

The Legislature intends to strategize over closing the state’s $25.4 billion shortfall, including looking at school funding. That may require slicing this year’s budget, approved over a month ago.

“It is conceivable that universities will see that added revenue evaporate,” said Michael Cohen, a deputy legislative analyst at the state Legislative Analysts’ Office. “The question is, with a $25 billion

Canadian University Holds Student Activity Fees Hostage « Student Activism

Canadian University Holds Student Activity Fees Hostage

by Angus Johnston

The board of governors of Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario is refusing to disburse some three million dollars in student money as negotiations with the university’s graduate and undergraduate student associations over financial control and accountability issues have broken down.

While the university claims that they are merely requesting access to audited financial statements from the two associations, student leaders say that administrators have for more than a year been pressing for sweeping changes in the student groups’ relationship to the university, and that the withheld fees are being held hostage to those negotiations.

The audited financial statements, they say, are available

Baby Boomer generation should help protect higher education - The Daily Aztec - Columnists

Baby Boomer generation should help protect higher education

By Randy Wilde, Staff Columnist

Your pocketbook is about to take another hit. Yes, your student fees are making yet another painful jump. Last Tuesday, the California State University Board of Trustees voted to increase fees by 5 percent for spring and another 10 percent in fall, adding up to a total increase of 76 percent from just five years ago. There is no reason why things should have gotten so bad, not when education is such a vital and profitable investment for our state.

I won't launch into the tired tirade against fee increases and the evil schemes of the Board of Trustees. I actually believe the board members when they say the extra money is necessary to maintain academic programs and other services vital for our education, especially with the expected influx of an additional 30,000 students this spring.

The CSUs have decided to accept these students because of funding from the recently passed state budget. Thus the board calls this fee increase a necessary evil, threatening more of what we have already seen: furlough days, fewer qualified professors, growing class sizes and slashed academic programs. Fortunately, it is both CSU and U.C. policy to contribute about one-third of the revenue from any fee

NYC Public School Parents: WHY FIGHT?

WHY FIGHT?

by Paola de Kock

Stunned by the appointment of a friend-of-Mike with no qualifications for the job and resigned to the possibility of her getting it in spite of protests from all corners, some parents have suggested finding ways to work with Ms. Black. They reason that, given Bloomberg's penchant for appointing business people to run things in any event, someone who is tabula rasa on education may be a better bet than someone with a bit of experience since the latter would have instant legitimacy to finish the wrecking job begun by Chancellor Klein.

BUT.....Accepting a pig in a poke because the alternative might be worse is not responsible citizenship. Why is the fight worth fighting no matter what the outcome? Because the issue goes beyond Cathie Black herself—she could be good, she could be bad, who knows? (though from all that’s been made

Court upholds in-state tuition for illegal immigrants - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Court upholds in-state tuition for illegal immigrants

By Laurel Rosenhall
lrosenhall@sacbee.com

Published: Monday, Nov. 15, 2010 - 11:09 am

California's law allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities was upheld by the California Supreme Court today.

In a 28-page ruling, the state's highest court overturned a lower court ruling that said the law, known as AB 540, unfairly favors illegal immigrants who live in California over American citizens who live outside the state. Out-of-state tuition at University of California is more than $20,000 more per year than it is for state residents.

The seven justices of the Supreme Court agreed that the law treats all people the same, regardless of their citizenship status, as long as they meet certain criteria, such as attending high school in California for at least three years.

Here is the Supreme Court's decision: http://bit.ly/cUZPUP

The Answer Sheet - Willingham: How 'mind-wandering' affects students

Willingham: How 'mind-wandering' affects students

My guest today is cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia and author of “Why Don’t Students Like School?” By Daniel Willingham It may be a uniquely human ability that we are able to think about things that are not in the here and now. We can reflect on the past, anticipate the future, or fantasize about the impossible. This cognitive capacity is doubtless critical to humankind’s creativity, and is thus crucial to innovations in technology, politics, science, and all human affairs. As individuals, however, daydreaming incurs an emotional cost.

China overtakes India as No. 1 source of foreign students in U.S.

China zoomed past India as the main source of foreign students coming to the United States to attend college, with a 30 percent jump in Chinese students in a single year, according to a new report released today. It was the first time that China had sent the most students to American schools. The number of international students in the United States increased 2.9 percent in 2009-10 over the previous year, to 690,923 students. The University of Southern California hosted the most of any other school, and California was the leading state.

SCUSD Superintendent (scusdsupt) on Twitter

Cal, Fight the Admin Tuesday, the Regents Wednesday « occupy california

Cal, Fight the Admin Tuesday, the Regents Wednesday

by *

from ThoseWhoUseIt:

What we’ve previously referred to as a “banner war” should probably have been called a banner battle given the onslaught prepared for tomorrow. If you are in the East Bay, don’t miss tomorrow’s action at 6:30 am at California Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. We know it’s early, but please arrive on time if at all possible —we will need numbers immediately.

But of course this is a two-front war. After we take on our respective UC campus administrations on Tuesday (and we’ve heard that our comrades at Santa Cruz will be getting down as well), we’ll be combining forces on Wednesday and attempting to shut down the Regents’ meeting at the UCSF Mission Bay campus. Again, it is essential that we have numbers as early as possible. If that means that you have to crash on your friend’s couch in the City on Tuesday night, do it. We know tha

New Yorkers Favor Tax Increases Over Health, Education Cuts, Poll Shows - Bloomberg

New Yorkers Favor Tax Increases Over Health, Education Cuts, Poll Shows

By Michael Quint - Nov 15, 2010 9:44 AM PT

More than half of New York state voters oppose spending cuts in education or health care, “even if it means raising taxes,” according to a Siena Research Institute poll.

Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo, who faces a $9 billion budget gap next year, “is going to have his work cut out for him” said Siena pollster Steven Greenberg. Opposition among legislators to spending cuts delayed approval of this year’s budget until August, four months after the start of the fiscal year.

Cuomo was elected Nov. 2 with 61 percent of the vote after campaigning on promises to freeze taxes and state workers’ salaries. He is required to submit a budget by Feb. 1 for the fiscal year that begins April 1.

At a press conference last week, Cuomo, a Democrat, repeated his opposition to raising tax

Public School Chic: How Saving American Education Became Cool - Peter Osnos - National - The Atlantic

Public School Chic: How Saving American Education Became Cool

NOV 15 2010, 1:00 PM ET

Paramount Vantage

Mayor Bloomberg's surprise appointment last week of Cathie Black, Chairman of Hearst Magazines, as the new chancellor of New York City's schools highlighted a striking trend in our national panorama. Black replaced Joel Klein, who had served for eight years, the longest run of any school leader in the city's history. Klein took a job in the office of the chairman of News Corporation (think Rupert Murdoch) to develop educational initiatives that Murdoch has now made a personal priority. So there you have it: Black moves from the Hearst Tower to the Department of Education, and Klein shifts to the inner sanctum of News Corporation.

Sometime in the past decade or so, saving public education moved into the stratosphere of social status. Bloomberg says he has known Black for 20 years or so, mainly as a friend on the classy side of the media scene. After she was elevated out of operational control at Hearst last summer

Retired Colo. teacher defends unions and tenure | EdNews Parent

A retired Dougco teacher’s take on tenure

by R. Kim Herrell

There has been much discussion of late about teacher tenure and whether it impedes reform and the quality of public education by protecting bad teachers. EdNews Parent expert and retired Dougco teacher R. Kim Herrell shares his personal views on the subject.

You would think this would be simple to answer, but in the three school law courses I have taken, the issue of teacher tenure has been one of the most hotly debated. Some folks in the general public, led by others with a clear anti-union agenda, seem to think that it is a magic forcefield that makes teachers untouchable, at least from firing. In my opinion, that is simply not the case. It has never been that way, but it sure can look that way if procedures aren’t followed.

In my first school law course, we were asked to equate tenure with “due process.” Teachers who didn’t behave for three years would have to be told why they were being fired and could counter the firing at a hearing. The administration and district could move for dismissal, though, of a teacher anytime during those first three years: first week; first semester; first year; second; third.

That doesn’t sound so bad to me.

Due process itself, however, is a little more complicated. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides that the government may not “deprive any person

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