WordPress is on the fritz, but tips are still welcome!

WordPress must be updating something, because all of a sudden my “Stories I’m working on” widget disappeared. I’ll post this here until the WordPress folks get their act together:

• Minneapolis and St Paul Schools’ restructuring plans:
  

  • “Community Schools” – What do you think of your neighborhood school? Would you send your child to a magnet instead?
  • School closings – Are you a student, a parent, or a teacher at a school that’s being closed?  How are you friends and colleagues reacting?  Is anyone organizing to oppose the closing?
  • Diversity/Integration/Equity – Do you feel like your child is being shut out of better schools? Are these changes keeping the best schools for the better-off? 

• Minneapolis Schools’ new HQ – The district has issued an Request for Proposals (RFP), while facing a massive deficit. What’s going on? How much will it cost? Why?

 

As always, story ideas, tips, comments, etc. are welcome at James[dot]Sanna[at]Gmail[dot]com

Filed under: Announcements

Monday Schools Roundup (3/23/09)

 

(Photo: Flickr/Ingirogiro)

Today, for your delectation, we have updates on three stories I’ve been following here at TC Schools, plus potato chip cookies (wierd, I know…)

 

 First, St Paul Public School’s Superintendent, Meria Carstarphen, was formally offered the job as Austin schools’ Superintendent.  Even though Carstarphen was declared the sole finalist earlier this month, the Austin school board had to wait out a 21-day public comment period, with two meetings  where the public could question Carstarphen and air their views on her appointment.  Sadly (for us interested observers), it doesn’t sound like there were any fireworks.  Carstarphen will finish out the school year here in Minnesota before moving to Austin this summer; the Austin paper summarizes challenges awaiting her.

Next, a rather obscure bill that would give teachers at traditional public schools a much more direct hand in how their individual schools are run seems to be gathering steam.  At least, the proponents have convinced a Star-Tribune columnist.  When I first heard about the bill, it was hard to see how the bill would get traction — not directly related to Minnesota’s huge defecit, you’d think lawmakers would ignore it, even if it has a number of high-powered backers like the Minneapolis and St Paul teacher’s unions.  Sturdevant’s column, though, shows backers are trying to sell it as a cost-saving measure: let teachers run their own schools (a la charters), and there will be lower administrative cots.

Third, Scott County schools (think: Savage, Shakopee, etc.) are taking “baby steps” to address increasing segregation in their districts as immigrants (and poverty) moves to the suburbs.  At the West Metro Education Project parents’ meeting two weeks ago, Minneapolis Board of Education Director Chris Stewart told me that some suburban districts flat-out of trying to segregate all their low-income students and students of color into a few select schools (he refused to name specific schools).  The content of this article suggests there may have been something to his accusation.

Lastly, the Pioneer Press has two of what I assume will be a larger serries of stories on the death of school sports in Minnesota.  The PiPress’ Bob Shaw blames it on hyper-compettetive kids-athletes and a generation of helecopter parents who push kids to win above all else.  Kids are pushing back, he says, by dropping out of sports that are no longer fun.

And finally, Potato Chip, Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Intriguing, sure.  But eeew!

Filed under: Announcements, Minneapolis, Minnesota, St Paul, Achievement Gap, Announcements, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Policy, Meria Carstarphen, News, Segregation, St Paul Public Schools

Friday Round-Up Feeding Frenzy

No recipes this week, but a timely trio of tales from the Utne Reader, In These Times, and the American News Project highlight the politics of school lunches. Congress will be re-authorizing the Child Nutrition and WIC Act this year, financing federal school breakfast and lunch programs, plus the food-stamp program. With children – particularly poorer kids – facing all kinds of child obesity problems these days, lawmakers will (pardon the puns) have their plates full sorting things out. One thing’s for sure, says the American News Project, it’s going to be a feeding frenzy for the agricultural-industrial complex.

More Highlights:

• Now this is what I call inspiring. Particularly the first three students – not to detract from the achievements of student #4, of course. But those first three might as well be poster children for the poor urban students of Minneapolis and St Paul, except they look like they’re going to “make it out.” I’ve got nothing but respect for these kids, and the mentors who helped them out.
• Obama hits out at urban school districts for failing to educate their students – but he wants to help them reform! (Washington Post)
• A propos of this: The legislature tries to answer the question: What do you do if you require students to pass a test, but don’t teach them well enough to pass it? (Pioneer Press, TC Daily Planet)
• A boozin’ substitute teacher in St Paul (Pioneer Press)
• Trying to fight the achievement gap, Minneapolis Public Schools, the Minneapolis Urban League, and Front Street Marketing and Communication are working together to recruit poor kids into a federally-funded tutoring program. (Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder)
• Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis tries advertising to draw families back. Ever since Minneapolis and St Paul school officials started talking about needing to draw students away from charters, I’ve wondered when this would happen. Apparently it’s had an effect, says the report. (KTSP)
• The St Paul Federation of Teachers doesn’t like anyone running for school board this year! (Emily Johns/Star Tribune)
• ”Say you retire from a job that involves traveling long distances to dangerous places in order to focus on children and family. What happens when your old job calls you back? Especially if that job involves serving your country in uniform?” (Tell Me More/National Public Radio)

Filed under: Announcements, Minneapolis, Minnesota, National, St Paul, Achievement Gap, Carlos Mariani, Charter Schools, Early Chilldhood Education, Education, Education Funding, Education Policy, Education Reform, Federal Education Policy, GRAD test, Military Moms, Minneapolis Public Schools, Minnesota, President Obama, School Lunches, St Paul Public Schools

A puffed pastry filled with Friday Roundup!

(Quick Puffed Pastry Recipe Follows)

According to a Greek friend of mine from high school, whose mother aunt is a professor on Crete, the most under-reported story of last year’s riots was the complete and utter failure of education reform. (Ekathemerini)

As we all know, you can’t have a Gay-Straight Alliance in a school because it’s “disruptive.” Saying the word “gay” causes conservative heads to explode. (AP)
Joel Klein vs. Michael Bloomberg – Gotham school showdown! (NYTimes)

School bus driver tries to crowd-source passenger management (Loudon Extra)

Arne Duncan has hit the pavement, plugging the stimulus package. According to an interview with the Washington Post, it will “help retool” education in America. We shall see. Reading the WaPo story and listening to Duncan on WBUR-Boston’s On Point radio show (shout out to my home town!), I didn’t hear much in the way of hard-and-fast restrictions on aid.

After speaking with a spokesperson from the Minnesota Department of Education last week, I gather there’s going to be a significant amount of “maintenance of effort” requirements – that is, states won’t be able to shift funds from education to cover holes in other parts of the budget, and replace the cut funding with stimulus dollars. And the money is targeted at a number of broad areas, including teacher quality. But it seems that it will be up to individual states and school districts to pick programs, etc. Possibly good, but I haven’t seen anything about how recipients will have to justify their expenditures with hard data. We shall see.

One interesting question – will the stimulus, via the current NCLB regimen, cement “20th century learning?” Would technology help create a better evaluation system? (Speaking of which – so-called 21st century skills like problem-solving, etc. have taken a bit of flack this week) (NPR’s The Takeaway/Marion Barry/EdWeek/Joanne Jacobs)

For those of us with mild procrastination problems (notice I didn’t post this until 3pm today?), a quick puff pastry recipe – unlike traditional scratch recipes, this apparently can be made in an afternoon while trying to avoid assigned reading. Behold, Law Student’s Puff Pastry! (The Basil Queen / Public Radio Kitchen)

Filed under: Announcements, Arne Duncan, Education Funding, Education Reform, News

Krazy for Kale — It’s the Friday Round-up!

After a two-week hiatus, the Friday round-up returns, full of health promoting, sulfur-containing phytonutrients. 

- Firing the newest-hired teachers in a budget crunch (as Minneapolis does) is not good for business.  (Ed Week, 2/17/09)  Doug Mann (and his 2008 last-place finish) is vindicated…

- It’s echoes of Minneapolis’ Fresh Starts as St Paul Public Schools restructures Arlington High, and Humboldt Junior and Senior High Schools — 46 re-assigned teachers say they were imperiously re-assigned, and want more input.   The three schools have persistentnly failed to meet Federal student performance benchmarks under the No Child Left Behind law, which mandates their restructuring.  (Pioneer Press, 2/18/09)

- The Stimulus floods the federal Dept. of Ed with money.  ”What’s this strange stuff?” they ask.  (NYTimes, 2/16/09)

…Amy Wilkins, who as vice president at the Education Trust, a civil rights group, has studied the budgets of several of Mr. Duncan’s predecessors. “Margaret [Spellings, the previous Secretary of Education] was looking for quarters in her pencil drawer.”

Some nitty-gritty deets here and here.

- Obama and Duncan want the stimulus to “transform the Federal role in education” (AP, 2/17/09)

- Gov. Pawlenty’s -er- controversial teacher pay-for-performance scheme  works for us, says Marshal, MN super (Marshall Independent, 2/13/09)

- “The budget boondoggle” at the U of M, MnSCU (MN Daily, 2/18/09)

- Why Americans love peanut butter. (Slate, 2/9/09)

- And lastly, Some Tasty Kale Recipies.

Filed under: Announcements, Minneapolis, Minnesota, National, St Paul, Arne Duncan, Fresh Start, Minneapolis Public Schools, Minnesota, National Issues, News, Peanut Butter, Q Comp, Stimulating Stimuli, Teacher Quality

Git along, little dogies – It’s the Friday Roundup!

Some things old, some things new, some things borrowed, and some things…well, I don’t think there’s any blue in this list:

– Don’t eat the peanut butter  – still! (NYTimes)

– Joe Nathan (of the Center for School Change)  on TIZA.

– Minnesota gets “D’s” in how well it recruits good teachers and gets rid of bad teachers (National Council on Teacher Quality)

– Minnesota’s own stimulus bill gives $150 billion to school districts, colleges, and childcare centers (Minnesota Independent)

– Pakistan’s public education system is defunct, fuels extremism (Christian Science Monitor)

– The children of Gaza go back to school amid the rubble (al-Jazeera English)

– What’s in Obama’s stimulus package for education? (ohmygov.com)  Duluth gets $8 million (Duluth News Tribune)

– NYTimes: Obama’s magical pixie dust of self-esteem eliminates the achievement gap.  What a bunch of baloney, says everyone else (Tenured Radical via History News Network, and D-Ed Reckoning)

From Flickr user ingirogio

– And, lastly, a recipe for psychadelic, fat-free cake

Filed under: Announcements, National, Achievement Gap, Education, Education Funding, Federal Education Policy, News, Teacher Quality

Friday national news round-up

 

The caption contest is still open!  Come up with a better title for the Friday national education news round-up than, well, the Friday national education news round-up.  The prize is my gratitude, and perhaps your name in the title, if you can find a clever way to work it in.

The Round-up

• San Diego teachers, schools argue about teacher quality 
• Don’t eat the peanut butter!
• St Paul faces a $25 million deficit — expect layoffs, the board is told
• Education Week (sign-in required) on the future of ELL education
• T-Paw suggests an increase in education funding — if schools sign onto his pet program that some have criticized in the past as a union-busting measure
• The Washington Post has the transcript of Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s confirmation hearing
• National Public Radio’s education podcast

In local news, a memorial service will be held at 2pm at St Paul’s Como Park Pavillion for Kathy Kinzig, the much-beloved founder of EcoEducation who died in December after a long battle with bone cancer.  She was 43. 

From the announcement:

“Kathy was the person who figured out that kids didn’t need to go into the woods to learn about the environment — it’s in your own back yard.  The Urban environment’s flora and fauna include workers, residents, business, colleges, dogs and cats, boulevard trees and weeds asserting themselves through the cracks in the sidewalk, which all leave their mark on the health and well being of the city’s eco system.

“Eco Ed serves students and teachers in grades 5-12 at about 14 public and charter schools in the two cities, with a waiting list as long as your arm.  It provides a couple of curriculums which can be taught across disciplines, or through social studies, science and humanities classes, called “City Connections” and “Urban Stewards.”  The programs teach kids how to identify problems they want to solve in their communities and then gives them the tools (through community resource volunteers, buses, equipment, materials) to go forth and make change.  Kids even do grantwriting and make presentations to Eco Ed staff to make their case for additional dollars. “

Filed under: Announcements, National, Arne Duncan, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, ELL, Minnesota, National Issues, Secretary of Education, Teacher Quality, Tim Pawlenty

Caption Contest: Clever Title for Weekly News Round-Up

Calling all readers!  I’m starting a weekly national education news round-up feature to give you some weekend.  I just need a clever title.  

from flickr user Ingirogiro

Wired’s Danger Room blog has their “five for fighting” (a hockey reference); what’s mine?

Filed under: Announcements, Announcements, National Issues, News

Dept. of Shameless Self-Promotion

New articles up at the Daily Planet:
“Pushing against the achievement gap”
The high schoolers in Claire Hypolite’s chemistry class are clustered in little knots of desks, heads down and pencils flying as they grapple with packets of homework problems. They toss solutions and gossip back and forth in English, Somali, and Hmong while they work. Watching this entirely generic classroom scene, it’s hard to believe more than 80% of these kids were failing this class only a few months ago.

“Schools Pay, Society Benefits from ECE”
How do you market an investment that costs almost twice as much as the losses it’s designed to offset? One way is to wait for someone else to fund it.

Filed under: Announcements, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Achievement Gap, Claire Hypolite, Early Chilldhood Education, Edison High School, Education, Education Funding, Education Reform, Minnesota, Shameless Self-Promotion, Wilder Foundation

Break!

No blogging until after Christmas. I’m chasing a story and last-minute presents today.

Filed under: Announcements, Announcements