Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, December 10, 2012

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 12-3-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2



Nite Cap UPDATE

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Hard to Dispel Myths

The latest, but “well-established” myth is that more time spent in school equals better test scores.  The Center for Public Education checks the aim out and discovers: “The data clearly shows that most U.S. schools require at least as much or more instructional time as other countries, even high-performing countries like Finland, Japan, and Korea…..  the U.S. does not require schools to provide less instructional time than other countries.”  In fact, in Finland the hours spent in school is considerably less.  And in China I wouldn’t believe a word they 

The Deplorable State of Adjunct Faculty Compensation


It is not just K-12 public school teachers who are getting squeezed by budget cuts, stagnant pay, declining working conditions and attacks on tenure. Today, nearly 70% of all college and university faculty are non-tenured, part-time adjunct faculty (according to a recent piece in Truth Out), with no job security and generally lower pay and fewer benefits than their tenured colleagues.

Many of these professors find themselves having to accept teaching positions at multiple 


My Story

My name is Lundy Khoy and I came with my parents, Sinath Khoy and Rasy Monh, to the United States on November 12, 1981. I was one year old. My entire family migrated to the United States after escaping the awful Pol Pot genocide in which over 2 million Cambodians were murdered. They found shelter at a refugee camp in Thailand where my mother gave birth to me on November 10, 1980. I grew up in California and went to elementary, middle, and high school there. In the middle of high school my family relocated to Virginia in order to be closer to the rest of our relatives.


Embracing Our American Values: A MomsRising Blog Carnival on Protecting Family Unity, Strengthening Communities and Ensuring a Thriving Economy with the Contributions of Immigrants

As we commemorate today’s anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, MomsRising is pleased to launch a blog carnival to further the national dialogue on the urgent need for making our immigration system humane and workable.
With the participation of over 30 voices, ranging from members of Congress to nationally recognized advocates, the rich diversity of our country is illustrated in this blog carnival.
The below blogposts each describe a different aspect of the importance of passing immigration reform legislation 

As Washington Fiddles over the Fiscal Cliff, the Real Battle Over Inequality Happens in the Heartland

Washington has a way of focusing the nation’s attention on tactical games over partisan maneuvers...

Art teacher Aileen Michel promotes tolerance, kindness at Millikan Middle School in Sherman Oaks

Art teacher Aileen Michel's heart may be in her bustling classroom at Millikan Middle School, but her spirit can be found throughout the Sherman Oaks campus.

Google Offers $99 Chromebooks For Education

Google announced today that Chromebooks for education will be available for $99 through December 21st (see the Reuters article, Google makes MIT prof’s dream of $100 laptops for students a reality).
I don’t know how realistic it is for teachers to arrange permissions through their district’s bureaucratic maze to make these kinds of purchases within two weeks, especially with the exclusive arrangements that many have with companies for their technology purchases, but it does demonstrate that perhaps costs for this kind of equipment can reach manageable levels eventually.
Of course, another potential problem is their compatibility, or lack of compatibility, with the upcoming technology requirements of the next generation of standardized testing.

The very best teachers you ever had: Chalk It Up

Joann Fordyce gets the nod from one West Linn dad as the best teacher his three children ever had. What about you?

Video: Uploading Twitter Profile, Header, & Background Photos

This is a minor issue, but Twitter has announced that by December 12th, all users will have the ability to upload a “header and background photos” on their profile page.
They have a short and sweet video showing how to do it. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Beginning To Learn What Twitter Is All About.
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