Pass / Fail : Out-of-state students surpass Calfornians vying for entry to USC | 89.3 KPCC

Pass / Fail : Out-of-state students surpass Calfornians vying for entry to USC | 89.3 KPCC:

Out-of-state students surpass Calfornians vying for entry to USC

by Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

The USC Trojans enter the field. For the first time in the school's history, out-of-state applicants surpassed in-state. Credit: Jonathan Moore/Getty Images
The University of Southern California is pushing to attract students from all over the country and the world. And it's paying off. For the first time in its 133 year history, a majority of applications for admission this year came from outside the Golden State.
USC’s dean of admissions told the campus newspaper that 50.5% of applications for fall 2013 admission came from students outside California.
The university has increased the number of recruiters it sends to thousands of high schools in 48 states to promote USC., more than tripling the number assigned to the Midwest and East Coast.
Foreign recruitment is also a priority. The university takes the top spot nationwide for foreign student enrollment,

As other states seek to increase preschool budget, California stays flat

by Deepa Fernandes

Credit: Courtesy of Los Angeles Universal Preschool
Starting at the White House and kindling in governors' offices nationwide, there’s a move underfoot to increase access to early childhood education programs. Except in California.

Governor Jerry Brown isn't actively cutting preschool programs -- his recent budget proposal kept funding the same as last year; It's that he is not actually doing anything to improve it.

Still, after suffering $1.2 billion in cuts over four years, advocates are crossing their fingers the proposal marks 

CTU President Karen Lewis on the death of Chicago high school student, Hadiya Pendleton. « Fred Klonsky

CTU President Karen Lewis on the death of Chicago high school student, Hadiya Pendleton. « Fred Klonsky:

CTU President Karen Lewis on the death of Chicago high school student, Hadiya Pendleton.

by Fred Klonsky

Hadiya Pendleton
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen GJ Lewis, NBCT, today issued a formal statement on the shooting death of King College Prep student Hadiya Pendleton:

“This has been a trying week for our brothers and sisters in Chicago schools and all of us at the Chicago Teachers Union. We had these same feelings after losing Heaven Sutton, Aliyah Shell, Tyquan Tyler, Nazia Banks and the other nearly 60 children under the age of 17 who were senselessly cut down by violence last year.
“We have much pain in our hearts, but the most sorrow comes in the fact that unless something is done right now by all of us who have some influence in these young lives, this is pain that we are sure to feel again.
“I spent much of yesterday morning visiting with students, teachers and administrators at King 

CA Dept of Education - What's New » Grant to Improve Service To Disabled Students - Year 2013 + 2013 SFSP Sponsor Training (CA Dept of Education)

Grant to Improve Service To Disabled Students - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces $11 Million
Grant to Improve Services for Students with Disabilities

SACRAMENTO—Students with disabilities in approximately 44 middle schools throughout California will benefit from a five-year, $11 million federal grant intended to improve their educational outcomes, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.

"This grant will fund teacher training and academic services that go a long way toward helping all students, including those with disabilities, achieve a world-class education," Torlakson said.

The middle schools, all located in high-need districts, will be the recipients of the State Personnel Development Grant, which will be used to implement the "Raising Educational Achievement for students with Disabilities" project, better known as Project READ. In applying, CDE officials estimated that the $11 million grant could support about 44 middle schools at the level necessary to produce the identified educational goals. The CDE developed the work plan for the grant with input from parents, educators, and interested community members across the state.

These grant dollars will be used to fund teacher training and other related activities designed to improve education for all children, with a particular focus on better results for individuals with disabilities. The CDE was awarded the grant through a proposal submitted to the U.S. Department of Education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and subsequently attained the maximum award of $2.2 million per year over five years.

The selection of the middle schools will take place later this year following an application and evaluation process. 

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

2012-13 CACFP Center Sites

A list of locations that provide free or low cost, nutritious meals through the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).

2012-13 CACFP Center Sites

Provides parents and referral agencies with a list of locations that provide free or low cost, nutritious meals through their participation in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) provides federal funding to participating child care and adult day care centers, allowing the centers to serve nutritious meals to enrolled participants. Visitors may select any county on the map to reveal a list of CACFP centers near them. The list includes contact names and telephone numbers where families may get more information.

Select a county to display a list of sponsors for that county, or choose from the list of counties in alphabetical order.

List of Counties in Alphabetical Order

CACFP Sites: Alameda-Kern	CACFP Sites: Kings-Orange	CACFP Sites: Placer-Shasta	CACFP Sites: Sierra-Yuba
Alameda Alpine Amador Butte Calaveras Colusa Contra Costa Del Norte El Dorado Fresno Glenn Humboldt Imperial Inyo Kern	Kings Lake Lassen Los Angeles Madera Marin Mariposa Mendocino Merced Modoc Mono Monterey Napa Nevada Orange	Placer Plumas Riverside Sacramento San Benito San Bernardino San Diego San Francisco San Joaquin San Luis Obispo San Mateo Santa Barbara Santa Clara Santa Cruz Shasta	Sierra Siskiyou Solano Sonoma Stanislaus Sutter Tehama Trinity Tulare Tuolomne Ventura Yolo Yuba

For program information, please visit the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

2013 SFSP Sponsor Training

Annual mandatory training information for all new and returning Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors.

2013 SFSP Sponsor Training

Annual mandatory training information for all new and returning SFSP sponsors.

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The California Department of Education (CDE), Nutrition Services Division (NSD) is pleased to announce the annual mandatory training for all new and returning Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors. All sponsors must complete this mandatory program training before the NSD will approve your SFSP application to participate.

During training, participants will learn all of the requirements to properly administer the SFSP. Topics include but are not limited to:

• Purpose of the program
• Site types and determining eligibility
• Vended meal contracts
• Menu records for the self-preparation sponsor
• How reimbursement works
• Administrative reviews
• Nondiscrimination compliance

School Food Authorities that plan to operate the Seamless Summer Feeding Option are not required to participate in these training Webinars. Training is available in three formats:

1. Webinars—A Web based seminar format that allows participants to log-in online to view a presentation by SFSP staff.

Webinar Training Dates and Times
Pending Department Approval

Date	Sessions*	Time
Wednesday, March 06, 2013	Session 1	8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 07, 2013	Session 2	8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 02, 2013	Session 1	8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 03, 2013	Session 2	8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

* Note: You must participate in Sessions 1 and 2 to meet the mandatory training requirement.

2. Workshops—In person training provided by a team of CDE staff, including SFSP specialists and Child Nutrition Consultants (Field Services).

Workshop Training Locations and Dates
Pending Department Approval

Date	Location	Date	Location
Monday, February 22, 2013	Sacramento, CA	Wednesday, March 27, 2013	San Diego, CA
Thursday, February 28, 2013	Oroville, CA	Thursday, March 28, 2013	San Bernardino, CA
Wednesday, March 13, 2013	Long Beach, CA	Tuesday, April 09, 2013	Oakland, CA
Thursday, March 14, 2013	Los Angeles, CA	Wednesday, May 01, 2013	Fresno, CA

Online Training—FOR RETURNING SPONSORS ONLY! Returning sponsors in good standing (i.e., not deemed seriously deficient, problematic, or having systematic errors during the 2011-12 administrative review) may choose to complete their training online.

The training will be available on the California Professional Nutrition Education and Training (Cal-Pro-NET) Center Web site in March 2013.

Registration Information

To register for a training session complete the SFSP 2013 Sponsor Training Registration form (DOC). Complete one form per participant. You may fax or e-mail the form to 916-445-4842 or SFSP@cde.ca.gov.

You will receive a confirmation e-mail, which will provide you with all necessary information pertaining to the session you have selected.

Questions:   Nutrition Services Division | 800-952-5609

Download Free Readers

The USDA and the CDE are equal opportunity providers and employers.
Esto explica qué hacer si usted cree que se le ha tratado injustamente.

Teacher Pensions: Illinois Democrats and Florida Tea Party Republicans are Twins | Reclaim Reform

Teacher Pensions: Illinois Democrats and Florida Tea Party Republicans are Twins | Reclaim Reform:

Teacher Pensions: Illinois Democrats and Florida Tea Party Republicans are Twins

by kenpreviti

State pension plans differ widely, especially teacher pension plans. The attack on state pension plans is the same because the big money behind the power politics wants it to be.

Illinois Democrats and Florida Tea Party Republicans are twins – not identical twins, but twins nonetheless. Neither is trustworthy or completely honest. Pension reform?
Florida: “Legislative presiding officers told journalists Wednesday a fundamental shift in the Florida Retirement System — making new public employees join 401(k)-style investment plans rather than the traditional ‘defined benefit’ pension system — is the only way to avoid obligating future lawmakers to impose massive tax increases on state residents.”
“If you wait until you’re a 45 or 50 percent pension fund, like Illinois or California, you can’t afford to transition into 

Hite stands firm on closures plan, but hints at possible changes | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Hite stands firm on closures plan, but hints at possible changes | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Hite stands firm on closures plan, but hints at possible changes

by thenotebook

by Bill Hangley, Jr.


The last of the Philadelphia District’s school-closure meetings wrapped up quietly at Northeast High Wednesday night, where District officials made plain once again their intention to stay the course on a plan to close or relocate 44 schools by September.
School Reform Commission member Feather Houstoun told the audience that despite a recent City Council votein favor of a one-year moratorium on closings, her support for the plan hasn’t wavered.
“At this juncture I would not vote for a moratorium,” said Houstoun to a smattering of boos. “I have heard nothing that suggests that [it] would change the outcome significantly a year from now. I have had people say to me they need more time to plan the closures. And I think the planning of the closures, the content of that, happens when the decision has been made.”
read more

U.S. Department of Education Releases School-Level Assessment Data in Reading and Math for All Schools for 2008-09 to 2010-11 | U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Education Releases School-Level Assessment Data in Reading and Math for All Schools for 2008-09 to 2010-11 | U.S. Department of Education:

U.S. Department of Education Releases School-Level Assessment Data in Reading and Math for All Schools for 2008-09 to 2010-11

JANUARY 31, 2013

Contact:  

 Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov 

The U.S. Department of Education announced today the release of student performance data in reading and math for all schools in the country for school years 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11. This is the first time the Department is releasing school-level state assessment data. The data are being released as part of the Department’s ongoing transparency efforts.

“It is important for the Department to continually provide transparency into our programs and the performance of our schools,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “Releasing this school-level assessment data is an important step toward that goal. As we know, test scores alone will never determine how effective our schools are, and we are working to release more varied school-level data that we collect over the coming months.”

The data the Department is releasing are reported to the Department under the requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended. They provide information on the total number of students who were assessed and received a valid score, along with the calculated percent of those students who score at or above state grade level proficiency. Information is presented on student subgroups at each grade level assessed within the school, along with information on the school as a whole.

In order to protect the privacy of individuals represented within the data, the percentage of students at or above grade level proficiency has been suppressed for very small student groups and ‘blurred’ for larger groups.

The data being released today are being made available through data.gov, the Administration’s online site providing public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. Six new tables are being published as part of this release and may be accessed by visiting http://explore.data.gov.

**Detailed access instructions: 

1. Go to http://explore.data.gov
2. Change the sort order to reflect “Newest” in the dropdown menu on the right.
3. Using the filters on the left side of the screen, select “Education” under ‘Categories’
4. Today’s release is made up of the six datasets named “Achievement Results for State Assessments….”

1. Users can also access the individual datasets directly using the following links:

Mathematics Results, School Year 2008-09 (https://explore.data.gov/d/jie4-w22m)
Mathematics Results, School Year 2009-10 (https://explore.data.gov/d/hhtw-4eb7)
Mathematics Results, School Year 2010-11 (https://explore.data.gov/d/r3ix-z65i)
Reading/Language Arts Results, School Year 2008-09 (https://explore.data.gov/d/mvz4-m3zh)
Reading/Language Arts Results, School Year 2009-10 (https://explore.data.gov/d/s5rp-twp9)
Reading/Language Arts Results, School Year 2010-11 (https://explore.data.gov/d/6qru-yfc5)

A double dose of algebra improves math and verbal skills as well as college enrollment | Get Schooled

A double dose of algebra improves math and verbal skills as well as college enrollment | Get Schooled:

A double dose of algebra improves math and verbal skills as well as college enrollment

by Maureen Downey

Doubling up on algebra classes in high schools has big payoffs, according to a new study.

Interesting study out of Texas A&M on the impact of increased algebra exposure in high school:

When students’ time learning algebra is doubled, both their math and verbal skills improve and their rates of college enrollment increase, reveals a study conducted in part by a Texas A&M University researcher.
Kalena Cortes is an assistant professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M, and along with Joshua Goodman, assistant professor of public policy at Harvard 

Update: Board Meeting on Interim Plan Seattle Schools Community Forum: Updates for Today's Seattle School Board Meeting

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Updates for Today's Seattle School Board Meeting:

Part Two of Interim Meeting

by Melissa Westbrook

Sorry, having some issue live blogging.

Director Peaslee is submitting her amendment.   She stated that her amendment was basically what the staff said a week ago with just a few modification.  She believes that it does include relief for Eckstein and Hamilton (but just as with the staff's rec, who really knows because there is so much churn that it is near impossible to know what or where students will be enrolled).  She also says that Principal Debbie Nelson at JA K-8 supports this plan and Laurelhurst supports being moved to Eckstein.  She says, "This will give parents choice. And I believe they will choose well for their students."

DeBell question:  K-8 capacity in 6th grade except for Pinehurst?  Are we going to change the enrollment caps that we have in place?  Physical space for K-8s for additional 6th graders except at JA K-8 (but that enlarges JA K-8).
Morello - capacity at K-8 is 841 for 608 is about 439 and these numbers are without portables on site.  Looking 

Seattle Schools Board Meeting on Interim Plan

by Melissa Westbrook

I will be trying to live blog (iPad is not making it easy) from the meeting.  The Board is just finishing up a Work Session on the Budget.

Well, this is interesting.  In the handout from Pegi McEvoy, it states that they need $1M for  "kitchen remodel and other necessary facilities upgrades from BTA III balance fund."  What the heck is this?  And they need $112k for a planning principal for JA Middle School (fine) but then $920,000 for mitigation and support for the JA Middle School 6th grade rollup fro General Funds.

We need to take nearly $1M from our General Fund for this effort.  Wow, that's a lot of money.

Ah, so I asked Pegi McEvoy.  That kitchen remodel is for JA's kitchen because they are moving from a K-8 to a 

Updates for Today's Seattle School Board Meeting

by Melissa Westbrook

It appears that a couple of people dropping off the speakers list so there is at least one spot open if you want to call in to claim it, 252-0040.   As well, they will have a waitlist in case any of the scheduled speakers do not come forward.

Also, Director Peaslee has put forth her own amendment.  I agree with her thinking.

Basically, she is asking for two things:

- wait a year for implementing the new JA Middle School with planning for it ongoing and a planning principal in place by September 2013
- reassign Laurelhurst students to Eckstein to take the pressure off of Hamilton (and fit in those APP students).

As well, it asks for the Superintendent to support an effort to recruit students for JA K-8, Pinehurst, TOPS and Salmon Bay.

Over enrollment at Hamilton can be relieved with minimal disruption by assigning the 6th
graders from Laurelhurst to Eckstein. Pressure on Eckstein and Hamilton can be relieved by

Petition | Sacramento City Unified School District: Vote NO on the school closures! | Change.org

Petition | Sacramento City Unified School District: Vote NO on the school closures! | Change.org:

Petitioning Sacramento City Unified School District Board Members 

Sacramento City Unified School District: Vote NO on the school closures

Too many questions, too little time!

On January 17, 2013, the Sacramento Unified School District proposed to close 11 elementary schools. The District plans to take a vote on February 21, 2013 on a finalized closure plan, providing parents, students and the community with very short notification of this sweeping proposal and little-to-no involvement in the process. We – the parents, students, and community – demand the District follow “Closing a School Best Practices” guidelines, as enumerated by the California Department of Education, by extending the decision-making process to 7 months.

We believe the current process to close 11 schools is not transparent and does not allow enough time for our parents and community members to understand the process and provide the District informed input.

We, the undersigned, urge all SCUSD Board Members to vote NO on February 21st and for the District to create a process, using best practices, that takes into consideration the concerns and needs of parents and students. We need to put our children first! Thank you.

To:
Sacramento City Unified School District Board Members
Jeff Cuneo, President, Board of Education, Area 2
Patrick Kennedy, Vice President, Area 7
Darrel Woo, Second Vice President, Board of Education, Area 6
Gustavo Arroyo, Board of Education Member, Area 4
Jay Hansen, Board of Education Member, Area 1
Diana Rodriguez, Board of Education Member, Area 5
Christina Pritchett, Board of Education Member, Area 3 

Please put students first by voting NO on the school closures at the February 21st Board Meeting. Please create a process that takes into consideration the concerns and needs of parents and community.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Diane in the Evening 1-31-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

If I Were Secretary of Education…(2)

by dianerav

From a reader:
1, Dispose of Teach for America and alternative certification (except for vocational courses) or revise it completely as follows. Hire TFAs as paraprofessionals to work under experienced teachers for their first year.
2. Require a commitment of 5 years, not 2, so the schools get full benefit from them
3. Do not place them in schools with high percentages of disadvantaged and disabled students. Instead, put them in middle class schools and create incentives for the best teachers to go to the disadvantaged schools 

Bad Ideas from NY StudentsFirst

by dianerav

Matt Di Carlo of the Shanker Institute demonstrates what bad ideas StudentsFirst (NY) has when it comes to improving teacher quality.
The organization discovered that most teachers with unsatisfactory ratings are in high poverty schools. SFNY has a strategy to solve the problem: punishments and rewards.
Di Carlo points out that the organization seems woefully uninformed by research, experience, or evidence. He 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-31-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Walton Funds School Closing Hearing in Chicago by dianerav This is amazing. According to the Chicago education research journal Catalyst, the Chicago Public Schoolsreceived nearly half a million dollars from one of the nation’s most rightwing foundations to sponsor “community engagement” on school closings. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to close as many as 200 schools. He also wants to open more charters, which would be non-union and would mean another dramatic decline in the number of African-American ... more »

Big Education Ape - SPECIAL Mid Day Banana Break 1-31-13 #soschat #edreform

Big Education Ape - Mid Day Banana Break

Central Park East I & II’s Future

by debmeier

Dear friends,
Please support the wonderful, historic, progressive Central Park East I and II elementary schools as they try to expand into a middle school to provide a much-needed progressive middle school alternative in upper Manhattan. Their proposal to open a middle school has been turned down by the DOE four years in a row, most recently because there was allegedly no space for the middle school. But at the same time a new charter school, the East Harlem Scholars’ Academy, was allowed to open on the third floor of CPE I’s building. It was supposed to be temporary, for two years only, but now they have applied for a three-year extension and in addition–on the basis of their “proven” year-and-a-half of excellence (!)– to start a second school, East Harlem Scholars’ 

  Parents and Students Demand Nationwide Moratorium on School Closings  

Popout 

BUT... Melissa Harris-Perry Buries The Lead Story on National Wave of Public School Closings

By BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

When print or broadcast news outlets grab a compelling story, only to distract attention away from what the public needs to know, that's called “burying the lead.” That's what Melissa Harris-Perry did in her Jan. 26 segment on whether the nationwide wave of public school closings were “racist” or not.

Melissa Harris-Perry devoted an eight minute segment of her January 26 MSNBC show to the question of whether the 

What's Fit For Poor Kids

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

Check out this picture from a member of the Dubois Elementary School community at last night's school-closing marketing session. I saw this picture on the Raise Your Hand Twitter stream.

Yes, that's a destroyed room that hasn't been fixed. Water damage? It's hard to tell.  It's factored in as an "ancillary" room at Dubois, and as such, it contributes to the nonsensical utilization rating that CPS is using to plan its attack on the Dubois community.

These rooms are all over the city. There's one at Gale in Rogers Park. An unusable room. I know the parents at Gale--- I spoke to one this morning. Trust me, if CPS would fix that room, Gale would find an excellent use for it,as they have for every single room in the building.

However, in the city, public school students must be crammed into buildings where 77% of the classrooms are 

Fault lines emerge in mayoral hopefuls’ consensus on schools

by Philissa Cramer

Mayoral candidates mingle after discussing education at an event Wednesday hosted by the principals union.

If education policy discussions among mayoral candidates were a song, the second verse would be the same as the first.
With two recent entrants to the Republican race absent, the lineup for Wednesday evening’s discussion, hosted by the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, was identical to the first education debate held in 

Morning Read: UTLA Backs Garcetti for Mayor

by Samantha Oltman

Teachers Union Backs Eric Garcetti for Mayor 
The Los Angeles Teachers Union voted late Wednesday to endorse Eric Garcetti for mayor and Mike Feuer for city attorney in the March 5 primary election. LA Daily News
See also: LA School Report

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GOP Legislators Propose California School Districts Arm Teachers
Democratic legislators say bill that would allow districts to spend education funds to train teachers, administrators and janitors in gun use doesn’t have a chance. LA Times

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Charter School Growth Fund Paying Off, Study Says
For the past seven years, an organization called the Charter School Growth Fund has been providing those schools with millions of dollars in grants and low-interest loans, after putting them through a screening process to try to gauge whether their promise is worth the investment. EdWeek

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Principal at Center of LAUSD’s Latest Sex Abuse Scandal May Lose Credential
The Commission on Teacher Credentialing will decide today whether to suspend a principal for allegedly failing to report abuse by one of her teachers. KPCC

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Support Builds for Tougher School Safety Plan Requirements
Bipartisan support appears to have coalesced behind a proposal to better enforce a state requirement that all schools have updated safety plans. SI&A Cabinet Report

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6 LAUSD High Schools to Compete for Participation in National Cooking Contest
LAUSD high school students will go head-to-head in a cooking contest Thursday for a chance to participate in a national cooking competition. CBS LA

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School Boards and Parents Should Consider the Rising Pay of District Chiefs
Californians should be equally upset to learn about the bigger paychecks going to superintendents of many of the state’s struggling school districts. LA Daily News Editorial

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Californians Upbeat on Ed Budget, Poll Finds
Californians are expressing a long-lost sentiment: optimism. A new survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found growing support for Gov. Brown, for his education finance proposal and for making it easier for local communities to pass parcel taxes to help fund their schools. EdSource

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Banning High in Wilmington to Host Meeting on Plans to Split School
The public is invited to a meeting Thursday night at Banning High School in Wilmington to discuss a plan by the Los Angeles Unified School District to split the school into two separate schools with two principals come next fall. Daily Breeze

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International Space Station Patch Designed by Astronomy Buffs at Granada Hills’ Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences
Narek Baghosian and Florian Storz, members of the Astronomy Club at Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences in Granada Hills, have designed a patch that will be carried on a privately funded flight to the International Space Station. LA Daily News

HotSeat Interview: Former Duncan Comms Guy Peter Cunningham

by Alexander Russo

Safely back in Chicago after four years commuting to DC, former USDE communications chief Peter Cunningham shares his thoughts about the ups and downs of working in the Obama administration, the differences and similarities between working for a local Board of Education and the US Secretary of Education -- the local reporters are more obnoxious, apparently -- and what makes Arne Duncan better than most other appointees and elected officials.
Finally on the HotSeat, Cunningham credits Joanne Weiss for making Race to the Top a big success, and Carmel Martin for the NCLB waiver program. (Despite all my feeble attempts to give him credit/blame for naming RTTT, he says it wasn't him.) Cunningham describes how difficult it is to do parent engagement from 

New pre-kindergarten moves quickly in Mississippi

by Jackie Mader

Mississippi is one step closer to funding state-wide pre-kindergarten after a new bill passed the Senate Education Committee Thursday morning. The bill would phase in a pre-k program, and mandate early childhood programs in underperforming school districts, in a state that has adamantly refused to prioritize early childhood education for years. The proposal, and subsequent passage by the Senate Education Committee, comes as a surprise to advocates of early childhood education. Mississippi is the only state in the south, and one of 11 in the nation that does not currently fund pre-k. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant has stated that education will be the focus of this year’s legislative session, but his budget proposal left out funding for pre-k except for a 

UFT--Champion of Junk Science

by NYC Educator

It's pretty remarkable the situation we now find ourselves in. If there's a problem with an evaluation system, you wouldn't expect a teacher union to see the addition of junk science as an improvement. You'd be wrong, of course, You'd think, if the uber-reformy mayor opposed the new junk science system, union leadership would say, "Whew! What a relief," and move on. Wrong again.

In fact, now, with the mayor insisting that any junk science system we institute must be written in stone and  carry the gravatas of the Ten Commandments, you'd think the union would say, "Well, any system ought to be subject to review, and when the mayor chooses to be reasonable, we'll be happy to negotate." I guess you'd be wrong again.

Because when Andy "I am the government" Cuomo announced he wanted to simply impose a system, the UFT President said, in 

Kochs pour $24M more into phony think tanks, schools

by Teamster Power

A new report says the  Benedict Arnold Koch brothers spent another $24 million in 2011 to destroy workers' rights, foul the environment, enhance corporate monopoly power and rig elections for their political puppets. 

And believe it or not, they did it through nonprofit "charitable" foundations. 

The Center for Public Integrity reported that the Kochs run foundations with a staggering $310 million in assets last 

Business leaders urge Congress to rewrite No Child Left Behind

by Valerie Strauss

A group of chief executive officers at leading U.S. companies is urging Congress to rewrite No Child Left Behind as part of its recommendations for policies that promote business growth in 2013. The Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive … Continue reading →

Obama’s 2nd-term Education Agenda: Where Do Latinos Fit?

by NewsTaco

By Gabriel Sanchez Zinny, Huffington Post Latino Voices

Amidst all of the election-year sniping, education reform never became a major issue in the 2012 presidential campaign. Even though both candidates released their competing proposals, the closest education came to center stage was a couple of sharp exchanges during the debates, quickly forgotten.

This is unfortunate, because the evidence on educational attainment, as demonstrated by recently released reports, including the important TIMSS and PIRLSS reading 

Has Testing Reached A Tipping Point?

by Sam

(This article also appeared on the SmartBlog on Education.)

It wasn’t that long ago that suggesting America’s schools had become test-obsessed was a lonely endeavor.  Although organizations like FairTest and campaigns like Time Out From Testinghave been decrying the flawed logic behind high-stakes tests for years, the reality is that for the past decade, many of us kept our complaints reserved for the privacy of the parking lot

People vented. Policymakers nodded. And absent any real noise, the tests continued.

In 2008, however, the election of Barack Obama seemed to

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-31-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Walton Funds School Closing Hearing in Chicago by dianerav This is amazing. According to the Chicago education research journal Catalyst, the Chicago Public Schoolsreceived nearly half a million dollars from one of the nation’s most rightwing foundations to sponsor “community engagement” on school closings. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to close as many as 200 schools. He also wants to open more charters, which would be non-union and would mean another dramatic decline in the number of African-American ... more »