Each Wednesday, Education Pioneers staff will post news that we're following from across the country. Please add anything we have missed!
National
A Revolution In School Lunches Schools need kids to buy lunch. It's a volume business.
The big costs are pretty much fixed. If too many kids bring meals from home or eat from a vending machine or leave campus, revenue drops and the cafeteria finances fall apart. This is one more reason schools serve so much fast food, and it puts Klein in a tough position. When Revolution Foods signs on a new school, most kids there are used to eating the lunches they'd probably choose in a world with no adult supervision.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1982347-3,00.html#ixzz0ll6nDJW0
Analysis: Pension funds for teachers are short billions
The multibillion-dollar pension funds that promise to pay lifetime benefits to millions of the USA's retired teachers are more than $900 billion in the red, a new analysis shows. The shortfall could put taxpayers on the hook for nearly three times as much as the funds say they need to balance the books. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-04-14-teacherpensions14_ST_N.htm
Alternate Path for Teachers Gain Grounds Not long ago education schools had a virtual monopoly on the teaching profession. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/education/19regents.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
Netflix Founder Acquires Online Education Start-Up
Reed Hastings, the founder and chief executive of Netflix, used the Web to make it easier for us to rent movies. Now Mr. Hastings, who is also a former high school math teacher, is using the Web for a less entertaining, more educational cause — teaching math to children. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/netflix-founder-acquires-online-education-start-up/
Charter Extension Denied to Low-Scoring Stanford School
A charter school created and overseen by Stanford University’s School of Education was denied an extension of its charter on Wednesday night after several members of the school board labeled it a failure. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/education/16sfcharter.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
Parents, teachers withhold signatures on SF school budgets
Commission Hosts Gates Foundation, Green Dot Schools The Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) welcomes guest speakers from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Green Dot Public Schools at its April 22-23, 2010 meeting. Greg Sommers, Senior Program Officer at the Gates Foundation, and Cristina de Jesus, Chief Academic Officer for Green Dot Public Schools, will be co-presenters of "Empowering Effective Teachers: An Overview of Current Efforts to Support the Field." http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/view/151379
Students seek a say on homework assignments;
Some are pushing for more relevancy, teacher feedback Sometimes, they say, the homework doesn’t appear to have anything to do with what’s being taught in class. Other times, teachers hardly check to see if students completed the assignments or had difficulty with it. http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/04/20/boston_students_take_a_turn_at_classroom_reform/
Listen: Teacher Certification Change In N.Y. Unlikely To Directly Affect Mass.
Education officials across the country are watching New York State to see how it might change the way it certifies teachers. The New York State Board of Regents has voted to expand the role of alternative teacher certification programs, essentially allowing them to create their own master’s degrees. It’s a move some say could make education schools, which currently certify teachers with master’s degrees, unnecessary. http://www.wbur.org/2010/04/21/teacher-certification
Chicago
High teacher pay no guarantee of result.
Elementary students in Bannockburn had the fourth-highest test scores in Illinois last year, but that achievement wasn't reflected in the pay of their teachers, whose average salaries ranked 242nd among elementary school districts statewide. http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/2172972,CST-NWS-teachers19.article
Early education program may face big cuts.
The governor's proposal would slash the state's early childhood education block grant by 16 percent, which means 6,000 students in Chicago public schools could be shut out of the Preschool for All program, which targets academically at-risk children.
Chicago schools, police work together to fight school crimes.
Cooperative efforts include a new police database, conference calls between police and school officials and increased use of security cameras. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-safe-passages-20100416,0,2604243.story
Rhee's disclosure of surplus after layoffs roils D.C. races.
Political fallout from D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's disclosure that she discovered a $34 million surplus in the system's budget -- three months after laying off 266 educators -- intensified Wednesday, landing in the middle of campaigns for mayor and the presidency of the Washington Teachers' Union and on the D.C Council's legislative docket.
The District schools' surprise surplus should not be a point of contention.
A BUDGET SURPLUS is normally seen as good news, but D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's disclosure of an unexpected $34 million surplus in this year's school budget has created a furor.
D.C. schools surplus of $34 million doesn't exist, city official says.
The District's chief financial officer said Thursday that a $34 million surplus in the school system's budget, cited by Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee as a major source of funding for raises promised to teachers in a proposed labor contract, does not exist. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041505757.html
Washington area vies for Round 2 of Race to the Top funds.
With a proposed teacher contract that includes performance pay, the District aims to strengthen its case for a share of $4 billion in President Obama's Race to the Top school reform program.
Broadcast tackles solutions to crisis in public education
Surrounded by educational visionaries seeking solutions to dropout rates and ongoing funding concerns, State Rep. Scott Hochberg hoisted the burden squarely on his shoulders. "What we’ve lacked is a commitment to solve the problem instead of just manage it,” Hochberg said during the forum "Houston Have Your Say” on education, televised Tuesday night on Houston PBS. The presentation was sponsored by Houston Community Newspapers and the Center for Houston’s Future. http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/04/21/bellaire_examiner/news/be_have_your_say.txt
State education board keeps itself in the news
Unless you have been out of the country since late last year, you know that Texas schools have again made the national news. The last time we basked in 15 minutes of fame was when our State Board of Education agreed to remove references to creationism in the science curriculum. We are enjoying our current bout of celebrity over the board's effort to revise the guidelines for teaching high school history. Though we have moved from fossils embedded in rocks to Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, the stakes remain the same: How do we make sense of the past?
Lawndale charter school is in the running for Obama graduation speech
A small Southern California charter high school has a fighting chance to snag the biggest graduation speaker of them all: the leader of the free world.
Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale has been selected as one of six finalists in the White House’s Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge. The winner will receive the honor of President Obama speaking at its graduation ceremony.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/lawndale-charter-school-is-in-the-running-for-obama-graduation-speech.html
L.A. Spurns Build America Debt for $290 Million in School Bonds
The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest U.S. school system after New York City, plans to sell $290.2 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds to tap a bigger federal subsidy than offered by the Build America program. The Los Angeles issue, scheduled for April 22, would be the second-largest use of the taxable school bonds since they were created last year, together with Build America Bonds, under President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus program. The school obligations are part of a $449.7 million sale that will be the second-largest in a week of $5.8 billion in municipal issuance, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-19/l-a-spurns-build-america-debt-for-290-million-in-school-bonds.html
LA schools finds 300 improper contractor hirings
The Los Angeles Unified School District has found possible conflict of interest violations in the hiring of some 300 construction contractors over the past eight years and has transferred two employees in charge of hiring.
Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said he has ordered further investigation of the possible violations and will turn over any evidence of conflict of interest to the district's general counsel and the city comptroller, who is performing an independent audit of the Facilities Services Division. He said they'll turn over information to the district attorney's office if warranted.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ibEWDLQi1ODh8bR35i2AXYwr3XCgD9F4BC7G0
L.A. study affirms benefits of preschool
Children enrolled in Los Angeles Universal Preschool programs made significant improvements in the social and emotional skills needed to do well in kindergarten, according to a study released Monday. The gains were especially pronounced for English language learners, the study showed.
The findings confirmed observations of preschool teachers that children attending high-quality programs are better prepared for kindergarten. For the first time, the study provided data to back up those observations, officials with the nonprofit preschool organization said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0420-preschool-20100419,0,2289045.story
L.A. Unified OKs deal to shorten school year
Administrators have overwhelmingly approved a deal that would shorten the school year this year and next, officials announced Tuesday. The pact will reduce the number of employee layoffs in the Los Angeles Unified School District and, with other measures, forestall some class-size increases. Administrators will forego two days of pay next year when students are not in school. The agreement will shorten the school year from 180 to 175 days.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0421-school-year-20100421,0,3942402.story
Board of Regents Approves Alternative Teaching Master’s Programs
The New York State Board of Regents voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a pilot program that would allow educational groups like Teach for America to create their own master’s degree programs, a role long reserved for education schools. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/education/21regents.html?ref=nyregion
NYC to stop paying teachers to do nothing
The city will end the practice of paying teachers to play Scrabble, read or surf the Internet in reassignment centers nicknamed "rubber rooms" as they await disciplinary hearings, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the teachers union announced Thursday. http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/04/15/nyc_to_stop_paying_teachers_to_do_nothing/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Education+news
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