Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, April 5, 2010

Schools Matter: Arne Duncan appoints Dolores Umbridge as New Test Czar

Schools Matter: Arne Duncan appoints Dolores Umbridge as New Test Czar

Arne Duncan appoints Dolores Umbridge as New Test Czar

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today that famed educator Dolores Umbridge will be heading up a new effort to create national tests based on national standards, as outlined in the recently published Blueprint for Reform.

Mr. Duncan noted that Ms. Umbridge's philosophy of education is quite similar to that his administration, which has claimed that the top priority in education today is the creation of rigorous standards and tests to enforce the

I Am a Teacher in Florida � Tangerine, Florida

I Am a Teacher in Florida � Tangerine, Florida

I Am a Teacher in Florida

I rise before dawn each day and find myself nestled in my classroom hours before the morning commute is in full swing in downtown Orlando. I scour the web along with countless other resources to create meaningful learning experiences for my 24 students each day. I reflect on the successes of lessons taught and re-work ideas until I feel confident that they will meet the needs of my diverse learners. I have finished my third cup of coffee in my classroom before the business world has stirred. My contracted hours begin at 7:00 and end at 3:00. As the sun sets around me and people are beginning to enjoy their dinner, I lock my classroom door, having worked 4 hours unpaid.

I greet the smiling faces of my students and am reminded anew of their challenges, struggles, successes, failures, quirks, and needs. I review their 504s, their IEPs, their PMPs, their histories trying to reach them from every angle possible. They come in hungry—I feed them. They come in angry—I counsel them. They come in defeated—I encourage them. And this is all before the bell rings.

I am a teacher in Florida.

I am told that every student in my realm must score on or above grade level on the FCAT each year. Never mind their learning discrepancies, their unstable home lives, their prior learning experiences. In the spring, they are all assessed with one measure and if they don’t fit, I have failed. Students walk through my doors reading at a second grade level and by year’s end can independently read and comprehend early 4th grade texts, but this is no matter. One of my students has already missed 30 school days this year, but that is overlooked. If they don’t perform well on this ONE test in early March, their learning gains are irrelevant. They didn’t learn enough. They didn’t grow enough. I failed them. In the three months that remain in the school year after this test, I am expected to begin teaching 5th grade curriculum to my 4th grade students so that they are prepared for next year’s test.

I am a teacher in Florida.

I am expected to create a culture of students who will go on to become the leaders of our world. When they exit my classroom, they should be fully equipped to compete academically on a global scale. They must be exposed to different worldviews and diverse perspectives, and yet, most of my students have never left Sanford, Florida. Field trips are now frivolous. I must provide new learning opportunities for them without leaving the four walls of our classroom. So I plan. I generate new ways to expose them to life beyond their neighborhoods through online exploration and digital field trips. I stay up past The Tonight Show to put together a unit that will allow them to experience St. Augustine without getting on a bus. I spend weekends taking pictures and creating a virtual world for them to experience, since the State has determined it is no longer worthwhile for them to explore reality. Yes. My students must be prepared to work within diverse communities, and yet they are not afforded the right to ever experience life beyond their own town.

I am a teacher in Florida.

I accepted a lower salary with the promise of a small increase for every year taught. I watched my friends with less education than me sign on for six figure jobs while I embraced my $28k starting salary. I was assured as I signed my contract that although it was meager to start, my salary would consistently grow each year. That promise

Campus Overload - Changing definition of sex


Campus Overload - Changing definition of sex

Changing definition of sex

NewsOverload.jpgSo, does oral sex count as sex?
That's the question University of Kentucky researchers asked nearly 500 college students in 2007. Only 20 percent of them said oral sex was sex -- which is a steep drop from the 40 percent in similar studies in 1991 and 1999-2001.
The study was of 477 college undergraduates (328 women, 149 men) enrolled in a human sexuality course at a large state university. The question on the survey was: "Would you say you 'had sex' with someone if the most intimate behavior you engaged in was..." then listed 11 behaviors. Students could answer "yes" or "no" (and couldn't skip any).

The behaviors included vaginal intercourse (98 percent say it's sex),

Portland's International School offers Oregon's first elementary International Baccalaureate program | OregonLive.com

Portland's International School offers Oregon's first elementary International Baccalaureate program | OregonLive.com

Portland's International School offers Oregon's first elementary International Baccalaureate program

By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

April 05, 2010, 3:21PM
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The International School, a private Portland school that teaches students exclusively in Japanese, Chinese or Spanish, has become the first in Oregon approved to offer the rigorous International Baccalaureate program in the elementary grades.

Five Oregon schools, including two public schools in Beaverton, already offer approved middle grades IB programs. And a growing number of Oregon public high schools -- 18 so far -- offer the IB diploma program.Among them are Beaverton, Gresham, Tigard, Tualatin and Hillsboro high schools, Lincoln and Cleveland of Portland, Sunset and Southridge of Beaverton and Putnam High in Milwaukie.

The International Baccalaureate Program is an international non-profit organization that works with schools and governments around the world to establish rigorous academic programs that meet its standards for high-level, inquiry-based education that promotes international understanding.

Schools get tentative approval to begin offering an IB-level program, then

Sacramento Press / One organization aims to represent all Democrats in Sacramento. Who are they?

Sacramento Press / One organization aims to represent all Democrats in Sacramento. Who are they?

One organization aims to represent all Democrats in Sacramento. Who are they?



Democrats will carry some momentum into the 2010 elections, thanks in part to the party’s central committee, the Democratic Party of Sacramento County.

The number of registered Democrats in Sacramento County has increased by 23,000 since 2008, while Republican registration has dropped by 3,000.

“It was going up before 2008, too,” said Devin Lavelle, communications chair for the Democratic Party of Sacramento County. “It’s been pretty clear over the past decade that the Democratic Party lines up with most Californians’ values.”

Lavelle’s group serves as a central committee for the party as well as an umbrella organization for other affiliated clubs in the area, including the Young Democrats and the Green Democratic Club.

The organization registers voters, endorses candidates – which will be done April 8 for the next election – and regularly weighs in on policy issues, sometimes to the dismay of Democrats in office.

Members of the group have been harsh critics of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s strong mayor initiative. They wrote in a February press release that the government should be focusing on improving the city, “not jockeying for power.”

Lavelle called the initiative “a badly written law with a ton of holes. Even if everybody loved it, it would still end

Should local governments use tax money for bond campaigns? | California Watch

Should local governments use tax money for bond campaigns? | California Watch

Should local governments use tax money for bond campaigns?

A coalition of cities, counties and school boards will challenge the authority of the California Fair Political Practices Commission to keep them from spending tax money on political campaigns for bond issues this week, setting the stage for a showdown that could culminate in a lawsuit.
At issue are two regulations, passed in 2008, which prohibit cities, counties and school boards from using public money for "election-related communications." In the past, local governments have used the money in ways that appear to persuade voters to support bond measures that raise money for local projects.
The California League of Cities, the California State Association of Counties and the California School Boards Association will petition the FPPC to reconsider the regulations Thursday. The groups have also brought in some

This Week In Education USDE: $18M For Chicago Teacher Prep Programs

This Week In Education

USDE: $18M For Chicago Teacher Prep Programs

Tumblr_l084f4JZ4N1qa42jro1_500Illinois may not have gotten any first round RTTT money but that doesn't mean that Arne Duncan and Barack Obama aren't taking care of their friends back home.
Last week's TQP grant announcement included over $11 million for a small, innovative teacher preparation program at the University of Chicago and $7 million for a program at Governors State University.
Continue reading "USDE: $18M For Chicago Teacher Prep Programs" »

Thompson: Mixed Messages From RTTT

Actions_speak_louder_than_wordsMichelle Rhee’s IMPACT evaluation system has been rightly attacked for its high-handedness. And one reason why theDistrict of Columbia’s RttT proposal was correctly rejected was its "opening statement ... raises several concerns about use of RttT to thwart political resistance to the District’s human resources management style." The judge said that the Chancellor should focus more on developing human resources and "less on creating public notoriety."
Ouch. And yet, those who seek a green light for attacking unions and the rest of the "status quo" have not heard an unambiguous

Speaker Emeritus Karen Bass Endorses Nayiri Nahabedian | Asbarez Armenian News

Speaker Emeritus Karen Bass Endorses Nayiri Nahabedian | Asbarez Armenian News

Speaker Emeritus Karen Bass Endorses Nayiri Nahabedian



GLENDALE, CA–Speaker Emeritus Karen Bass on Monday announced her endorsement of Nayiri Nahabedian for State Assembly. In her endorsement, Bass spoke about Nahabedian’s extraordinary record of service as a community leader and a Glendale School Board Member.
“Nayiri’s background in the community and on the Glendale School Board has prepared her to represent the diverse communities of the district, and she is the kind of leadership Sacramento needs now,” Bass said in a statement. “Nayiri has earned my endorsement because of her long record of public service. As an educator, a children’s social worker and as a leader on the Glendale Unified School District Board, Nayiri has always stood up for what is right, fought to improve our communities and made our public schools work. I am proud to endorse Nayiri Nahabedian for State Assembly.”
“The work that Speaker Bass has done for California has been beyond reproach,” said Nahabedian. “To have the

EIA Exclusive: Indiana State Teachers Association Expects to Be Solvent… in 2027 | Intercepts

EIA Exclusive: Indiana State Teachers Association Expects to Be Solvent… in 2027 | Intercepts

EIA Exclusive: Indiana State Teachers Association Expects to Be Solvent… in 2027

Click here to read:
1) EIA Exclusive: Indiana State Teachers Association Expects to Be Solvent… in 2027
2) More Students, More Teachers; Fewer Students, More Teachers
3) Last Week’s Intercepts
4) Quote of the Week

Engaging Parents In School...

Engaging Parents In School...

Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project

April 5th, 2010 by Larry Ferlazzo
Each month, at my other blog, I interview people in the education world about whom I want to learn more. You can see read those past interviews here.
This month’s guest is Carrie Rose, Executive Director of the nationally acclaimed Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project. Our school works closely with Carrie and the Project, I’ve written a chapter about it in my book on parent engagement, and I also wrote an article about it last year for Teacher Magazine.
I posting this interview at both of my blogs.
Can you give a brief description of what the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project is and how it came into being?
The Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project is a unique partnership between a community organizing group (Sacramento Area Congregations Together), a local teachers union (Sacramento City Teachers Association) and a school district (Sacramento City Unified School District). The project developed through an effort to address the cycle of blame that existed between parents and site personnel at several south Sacramento schools where there was a pervasive history of low student achievement, high levels of poverty, and where high percentages of children entered school as English learners. Home visits were identified by teachers as one way to build trust and respect. Community organizers recognized the potential for leadership development through home visits given the similarity to their model of 1:1 interactions. Parents, educators and community organizers came together to develop a training and model for the visits and launched the project in the 1998-1999 school year.
How did you get involved in it, and where do you get the energy to continue being the Executive Director?
My background is in social service and law. In 1999, when my children were very young, I was looking for a more flexible job. The director of Sacramento ACT offered me a part time job as a fund developer and I had to quickly learned to do grant writing and fundraising in the nonprofit world. Luckily, one of my main responsibilities was to raise funds for a new parent engagement project- the parent/teacher home visit effort. As my understanding of community organizing grew, and my participation in the logistics of the home visit project evolved, I experienced a profound shift

Schools Matter: Florida: Crazy as Texas?

Schools Matter: Florida: Crazy as Texas?

The above ad is paid for by Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education. SB6 and HB7189, the Senate and House bills in Florida that would eliminate any form of tenure (one year contracts for all teachers) and "evaluate" teachers almost exclusively with test scores (including hiring and firing). Currently, the Florida legislature is holding a hearing about the bill (streamed lived here), and a rep from the US Chamber of Commerce is babbling on and on about the test-test-test-punish-punish-punish strategy of NCLB and RttT. Citing support from the "progressive" Center for American Progress ("progressive" in name only, of course) and the"Leaders and Laggards" report, the Chamber rep is expressing firm support for RttT and SB6/HB7189.

Jennie Smith at the Examiner provides some great coverage of teachers and other educators trying to convince politicians to pull their heads out of the sand (or other places) and do what's best for kids AND teachers: don't pass SB6/HB7189.

You can follow NoTallahasseeTakeover and No SB 6 for some great

The Rancho Cordova Post — Local News, Events, Things to Do

The Rancho Cordova Post — Local News, Events, Things to Do

Folsom Lake College Offers Wide Variety of Arts Events This Spring

by SCOTT CROW on APRIL 5, 2010 · 0 COMMENTS
The community is invited to attend a series of arts events presented by Folsom Lake College’s Art, Music, and Dance Departments. Events will be held at Folsom Lake College’s main campus (10 College Parkway in Folsom) and El Dorado Center (6699 Campus Drive in Placerville).
Saturday, April 24: Wind Orchestra and College Choir performance directed by Philip Angove, 7pm, Folsom campus. In celebration of Astronomy Day, the ensembles will feature selections from “The Planets” by Gustav Holst. This will be an interdisciplinary, multi-media concert in conjunction with the Astronomy Department and Visual Artists.
Monday, April 26 – Friday, May 7: Annual Student Art Show, El Dorado Center, Library
Friday, April 30 – Sunday, May 16: Falcon’s Eye Theatre production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”, Friday and Saturday performances at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm, performed at Oak Hills Church (1100 Blue Ravine Road in Folsom). There will be extra performances Saturday, May 8, at 2pm and Thursday, May 13, at 8pm. For more info or to reserve tickets, call 916-608-6800. The Afro-Cuban Funk Band directed by Philip Angove will perform at each play performance.
Thursday, May 6: Evening of Dance, 6-8pm, Folsom campus, PE-203 (Dance Studio). Admission is a donation of $3.
Friday, May 7: “The Rites of Spring” Special Ensemble Concert directed by Dr. Derek Lee-Keller, 7pm, Folsom campus, courtyard between the Falcon’s Roost and Aspen Hall – will

Agriculture dean proposes reorganization of Oregon State's program | OregonLive.com

Agriculture dean proposes reorganization of Oregon State's program | OregonLive.com

Agriculture dean proposes reorganization of Oregon State's program

By Eric Mortenson, The Oregonian

April 05, 2010, 11:33AM
The dean of Oregon State University's College of Agricultural Sciences isproposing to consolidate departments, put more emphasis on winning grants and ask communities to help pay for 11 statewide experiment stations.

Dean Sonny Ramaswamy also proposes changing the name to the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. In a news release, Ramaswamy said the name change reflects the college's strengths and the qualities that Oregon is known for.

The dean said state support for teaching and research positions within the College of Agricultural Sciences has dropped by 40 percent since the early 1990s, making the college more dependent on grants. The college received more than $44 million in grants last year, and most recently received $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct environmental health and biomedical research.

Ramaswamy is proposing a new business model for the way crop experiment stations are funded, recommending that communities and industry groups pay 25 percent of the cost. One branch station, in Union, will be merged with OSU's agriculture program at Eastern Oregon University in nearby La Grande.

Finally, the proposal reshapes the college's 12 departments into nine: education and communications; animal and range sciences; applied economics and policy; biological and ecological engineering; environmental

The Education Report An Oakland principal goes to new lengths to promote reading

The Education Report

An Oakland principal goes to new lengths to promote reading

By Katy Murphy
Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 9:20 am in elementary schools, literacy, students

Over the years, Think College Now Principal David Silver has subjected his staff to the dunk tank, danced to Snoop Dogg on the roof and let students run the school for a day as a reward for reading for at least 100 million minutes by June. The students fell short of their goal last year, but this time the prize might be too tempting to pass up. Silver hasn’t had a haircut in months; if the kids meet the goal, as they explain in the below video (in which a group of students appear to be grooming his curls), the student council will be allowed to shave his head.

Are You a "Linchpin"? Women's Conference

Are You a "Linchpin"?

ARE YOU A "LINCHPIN"?How to Become Indispensible

Work + Money

Seth Godin Linchpin 270x170
Seth Godin, Author, Linchpin
Are you indispensible? This is the question Seth Godin, bestselling author of the newly publishedLinchpin, poses to readers. In this interview, Godin tells us what it means to be indispensible, and why being indispensible, or a "linchpin," is the surest path to success.

What is a “linchpin”?

A linchpin is someone who does work that matters, someone who would be missed if they were gone. A linchpin is someone who has no trouble answering the question, "Why shouldn't I pay someone else less to do what you're doing?" They're a contributor we can't live without.

Why is being a linchpin so necessary today?

The economy has shifted, probably forever. The industrial age is over. The idea of compliant workers following instructions and generating output in a factory (any kind of factory) doesn't work when your competition is everywhere. All that we can do to earn more than the minimum is to be human, to connect, to lead and to create art.

What are the four defining qualities of a linchpin?
  1. Work without a map, figure out what to do next instead of waiting to be told.
  2. Conquer the lizard, the fear of being laughed at. [The lizard brain is a recurring theme inLinchpin -- it is the primal part of the brain that operates out of fear, not out of creativity or vision.]
  3. Ship it out the door. Ship, always ship. [To ship is to send out the product, to share your product with the world.]
  4. Practice generosity. Art in all its forms involves a gift, something more than expected or demanded, something personal that changes the recipient.

How can you know if you are a linchpin?

What Adults Can Learn From Kids: "Don't Underestimate Our Ability" - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

What Adults Can Learn From Kids: "Don't Underestimate Our Ability" - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

What Adults Can Learn From Kids: "Don't Underestimate Our Ability"

April 5, 2010 1:29 PM
Student Advocate. Literacy Advocate. Kid Advocate.
And She Is Only Twelve.

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This weekend I spoke with a mom who was just seething about an incident during a recent parent-teacher conference. When told by the math teacher that her 12 year old daughter was not paying attention in class, the mother asked if the teacher had talked to her after class about it to gain more insight or perspective such as - was she bored? Or, was she lost? The teacher said, "What would a 12 year old know about why she wasn't paying attention?" In other words, the teacher made the parent feel like it was an inappropriate request. After all, her daughter was just a "kid".

So when I came across this new TED talk from 12 year old Adora Svitak, I thought not only we will post it, but let's just say I will be sending it personally to the mom and maybe it will make its way to the school. Sometimes I think we (adults) are too lenient with kids about discipline and comportment, and then we act like taskmasters when it comes to intellectual challenges and