Merged districts could save Kan. millions AP:Â Consolidating public school districts in Kansas could save millions of taxpayer dollars, although not enough to solve the state's budget crisis this year, according to a new report released Monday.
Merged districts could save Kan. millions AP:Â Consolidating public school districts in Kansas could save millions of taxpayer dollars, although not enough to solve the state's budget crisis this year, according to a new report released Monday.
Post as a Comment Any Question You’d Like to Ask about ESL or ELL students you teach. Be as specific as you’d like and I’ll work on a meaningful answer.
Filed under: ESL [...] We’ve received some snow in St Louis, but the Midwest Educational Technology Conference (METC) goes on! Yesterday pre-conference workshops were held, and today and tomorrow are the “regular days” of the conference. Here are links to the resources I’ll be sharing in my sessions today.
Storychasing Literacy (a.k.a. “StoryChasing: [...]
“Early-college high schools” are helping high-risk students combine high school with community college, reports the New York Times. Students can earn a high school diploma and up to two years of college credit in five years.
“Last year, half our early-college high schools had zero dropouts, and that’s just unprecedented [...]
Today I attended Cybersafety Outreach – a workshop program put together by ACMA under their cyber (smart:) banner addressing the issues around cybersafety and cyberbullying. It was very comprehensive and rather than rehash the program, I thought I’d share a few takeaways and thoughts from the day.
Firstly, I’ve [...]
Authorities arrested 12 people Monday at the University of California at Irvine for repeatedly disrupting a lecture by Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, The Orange County Register reported. Oren was interrupted 10 times by shouting from the audience, at one point taking a break and [...]
As we've already reported, the U.S. Department of Education put out a bold new budget proposal last week that includes major program consolidations and sketches out the preliminary details of the administration's plan to renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
That reauthorization would have to pass [...]
In a sign that the final regulations for the $650 million Investing in Innovation competition are just about ready, the Education Department has put out a call for peer reviewers. The deadline for those interested to apply is March 1.
In many ways, the i3 competition is a [...]
We may not know who the Race to the Top peer reviewers are, but the Education Department has provided some basic demographic information on this jury that will help dole out the first round of $4 billion in competitive grants.
Not that these tidbits will satisfy the [...]
From State EdWatch blogger Lesli Maxwell
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says he's sorry for saying that Hurricane Katrina was the best thing that had happened to the education system in New Orleans. This morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program, he told host Joe Scarborough that the remarks were [...]
The Obama administration is seeking to revamp adequate yearly progress, the main vehicle for gauging student progress under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, according to budget documents. It would be replaced with a system that measures whether students are ready for college and careers.
The total budget for fiscal [...]
From State EdWatch blogger Lesli A. Maxwell
Did the usually smooth-tongued U.S. Secretary of Education really say that Hurricane Katrina was the best thing to happen to the education system in New Orleans? Oh yes, he did.
In an interview to be broadcast this weekend on Washington Watch With [...]
Edubloggers, including none other than Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, are having quite the back-and-forth on the issue of whether the list of Race to the Top judges should be kept a secret:
Quick Reacap: Michele brought up the question last week.
Then AEI's resident edu-smartypants Rick Hess gave
Good news for fans of overhauling high schools: Two veterans of the Alliance for Excellent Education, whose signature issues include boosting graduation rates and high school quality, are likely to play key roles in helping lawmakers craft the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Bethany Little already[...]
Yesterday, Obama administration officials made it clear that a) they want reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to happen this year and b) they want it to be bipartisan.
So do key Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee think that's possible? Back in 2007,' [...]
K-12 education could be one of the few areas increased in the president's budget.
According to this story, President Barack Obama's budget will call for up to a $4 billion boost to the U.S. Department of Education's budget, or a 6.2 percent increase. Part of that includes the' [...]
Thanks to the painstaking, yet necessary exercise of fact-checking a story this afternoon, I came across two important changes to the rules for the $3.5 billion in Title I school improvement aid that the Education Department is gearing up to dole out to states later this year.
Thelma Melendez , [...]
President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2011 budget will propose freezing some $447 billion in discretionary programs. The change will save about $15 billion next year (or to put in perspective, a little more than the federal government spent on Title I grants to districts last year).
The freeze' [...]
Folks are still sorting out the results of the Massachusetts special election, and what it means for the Democrats' congressional agenda. (In case you somehow missed it, Bay State voters selected a Republican, Sen.-elect Scott Brown, to fill the seat of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Democratic stalwart who' [...]
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has pledged to conduct an open, transparent competition for $4 billion in Race to the Top funds.
But the Education Department is falling short on one key piece: letting the public know who will judge the competition.
The department has vetted and selected 60 [...]
EAT HEALTHY: The Obama administration calls for a ban on selling junk food in schools, including vending machines. Tampa area school officials are working to meet such goals, but kids say they know the loopholes. (Times photo, Keri Wiginton)
FOCUS ON DISCIPLINE: Instead of expanding its [...]
When three girls beat up another girl in a New York City school, the victim is transferred, complains Ms. Rubin. The bullies “get to stay and continue terrorizing weaker kids.”
. . . the girl who got jumped has been in our school since kindergarten and has never been a [...]
In significant shift over time, issues related to faith get more play in top journals, more scholars make religious issues central to their work, and more are getting outside funds.
[...]By rejecting anthologies and rebuffing biographers, a great author limited his future readership, writes Leonard Cassuto.
[...]The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a complaint with Fresno City College, charging that a health instructor is giving religious instruction with an anti-gay bias, in violation of the separation of church and state, the Associated Press reported. The instructor could not be reached for comment and the [...]
Shift, a week after similar move by Williams, suggests more institutions will restore borrowing to students' aid packages.
' [...]Many prospective students and their families lack the information they need to make informed choices about colleges, according to a report being issued today, "Planning for College: A Consumer Approach to the Higher Education Marketplace." The report examines the kinds of decisions families make and the information they need. The [...]
Federal appeals court sides sweepingly with female former athletes who sued U. of California-Davis.
[...]The University of Georgia has fired an employee whose job was to monitor and report students and faculty members who violate university policy to illegally download copyrighted material. The Athens Banner-Herald reported that the official has been charged with extortion for telling a student he caught downloading that he [...]
Survey of U. of California students shows emphasis on socializing, leisure that may change with recession.
[...]Kaplan University and the California Community Colleges system have entered into an arrangement that will allow students at the two-year institutions to take individual online courses through Kaplan at a steep discount to help them finish their associate degrees. Under the deal, which is designed in part to help students [...]
First Nations University is likely to close next month, now that Canada's government has followed the provincial government in Saskatchewan in withdrawing funds, The Globe and Mail reported. The university was once "considered a beacon for aboriginal education worldwide," the newspaper reported, but it has faced a series of [...]
Tammy was having a rough day. She's a handful, even on a good day. To her and her mother's credit, a not-exactly-gentle phone call and conference early in the year largely nipped her bad behavior with me in the bud. But other teachers still complain about [...] Great thoughts about why we should CHOOSE teaching from Gail Lovely:
To be a teacher — choose it as a calling, not a job.
Choose it to do something meaningful and powerful, with rewards only you might notice.
Choose it to be a role model.
Choose to be a teacher because you love [...]
If you were watching the Super Bowl last night on U.S. television, you likely saw Google’s advertisement, “Parisian Love,” during the third quarter. What a clever way to tell a story, through a series of Google searches and some well-timed sound clips. If you missed it, here it [...]
Any monkey with a camera and a laptop can shoot and edit their own video. Which means college students should have no problem accomplishing this goal. There’s money in it for the top three video entries, and who needs cash more than a monkey? College students. Which begs the question: [...]
More on the great Dartmouth alcohol crackdown front… As we write, pissed off and incredibly sober undergrads are flocking to the Hanover Municipal Building, petitioning town leaders to keep the pesky police in check, and out of their frat-houses. To plan the uprising, The GLC, Coed Council, IFC, and [...]
Some action on forced placements in Denver. The sup’t there, Tom Boasberg may not be a household name (at least in eduwonky households) like the former sup’t, Michael Bennet, but he’s solid, as this issue demonstrates.  There is also a tie-in here to RTT.  Colorado is still debating some legislative [...]
Rush is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Yale’s Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Alpha Theta chapters have finally uploaded their 2010 Rush Videos to YouTube, and boy, are they uplifting. Before the creepy commenters get to them, IvyGate is pleased to present these masterpieces to the discerning [...]
These are my notes from a part of Darren Kuropatwa’s METC 2010 workshop, “Extreme (web 2.0) Lesson Plan Makeover.” I was only able to attend a little of the afternoon session. WOW. If you ever have a chance to hear Darren present in person, do not miss it. [...]
FairTest, a nonprofit that opposes high-stakes testing, has tried for years to get the National Merit Scholarship Corporation to change the way it selects finalists. The group has alleged that there's bias in the competition, winning a handful of changes but not nearly as many as it has sought.
Now [...]
Rich Pickett is in tears.
The San Diego State University chief information officer has been flying people and supplies back and forth to Haiti since last week. Now, as he talks to a reporter by phone from Florida before stepping into “the bird” for yet another flight, it’s the image of [...]
While reading Michael Wesch's blog this morning (the bomb professor who made the "A Vision of Students Today" video), he talked about the K-State Proud in a post. Some students at Kansas State documented their "Flash Mob of Kindness" in video form and [...]
This is the third installment of a series studying the persona of each Ivy League president—their bank accounts, their haircuts, and the extent to which they’re known and loved. I’m covering each president one by one, in order of who gets the most green for [...]
So I ran across this Smart Ease of Use video in the course of one of our threads in a PLP cohort and I have to say, I can’t seem to shake it. I mean, maybe I’m missing something here, but if this is a [...]
I hit a bit of a brick wall today - not always a bad thing - which makes me rethink the state of software. Could there ever be a seat-of-your-pants startup, like Facebook or Twitter or Flickr? I'm thinking not. The internet has evolved to the point' [...] 
Making the rounds today is this classroom parody of The Office (which itself is parody). Not only does the classroom ring true, in more ways than once, it's also a great example of students exercising their own creativity (in a manner exactly opposite to the classroom portrayed [...] The Healthy City Project focuses on LA County (expanding statewide next month) and has already done some fascinating work on education issues include one effort involving inequitable access to Early Education resources that led to $20M allocated to 32 high need zipcodes [...]
What I like about this is that it's e-learning having nothing to do with screen or keyboard. Rather, it's a laser scanner and a 3D printer, and what it produces is a series of models of an onion growing, so you can see for yourself the stages [...] 
I'm looking forward to a wealth of new reading material available for free online. This time, it's courtesy of the British Library (though of course there are some obligatory sponsorship spots built in). We'll see if it's a case of books really being available free, or whether [...] 
I admit it - I monitor what people have to say about me online. I need to do this for Twitter, otherwise I'd never get messages. It's also pretty useful if I want to be able to respond to blog comments. But most of all, I do' [...] 
Chaouki Regoui talks about what puts the "p" in PLE. "What information to have about the learner (simply called learner profile)? Which information is provided by the learner and which is collected about him/her (through his/her learning patterns, from external sources etc. )?" Chaouki Regoui, Plearn Blog, [...] More students are taking Advanced Placement tests — and the failure rate is climbing, reports USA Today.
The findings about the failure rates raise questions about whether schools are pushing millions of students into AP courses without adequate preparation — and whether a race for higher standards means schools are [...]
Are charter schools a civil rights failure? No way, say National Journal’s Education Experts in response to the UCLA Civil Rights Project report, which complained that charters are more likely to be nearly all black than district-run public schools. The report also said Western charters are disproportionately white.
“Equity” [...]
The way music works, you use one song as a frame from which to create a new song. You need to do this - derive from existing archetypes - because otherwise you just end up reinventing songs that have already been written, and get sued, like [...] 
