Tuesday Schools Round-Up (3/24/09) — Now With Ouzo-Cured Salmon

 

ouzo cured salmon

Tuesday’s round-up is full of politics, with a rather large side of Ouzo-Cured Salmon, with a side of Carrot Tzatziki.  Sounds kinda cool, right? (the salmon, that is — from KALOFAGAS)

 

The “Safe Schools for All” bill has irked the right-wing Minnesota Family Council for “promoting” homosexuality and gay marriage, according to the Star-Tribune.  The bill sets clear standards and guidelines for schools to follow if a student is bullied because of their sexual orientation,  physical appearance, or poverty.  Current standards protect students from bullying on the basis of  gender, race, and religion.  Proponents of the Safe Schools legislation say the current policy is too vague and lets some districts turn a blind eye to certain kinds of harassment and bullying.  Some great comments — from several sides — in the Strib story’s comments section.

Also at the State House, Education titan Rep. Mindy Greiling (DFL – Roseville) lambasted the president of the state teachers’ union for supporting Governor Pawlenty’s proposed education budget, which includes a massive expansion of the Governor’s Q-Comp pay-for-performance plan.  The state’s non-partisan Legislative Auditor recently released a report saying there wasn’t yet enough evidence supporting Q-Comp’s effectiveness to support expanding the scheme.

In local news, a storied St Paul Catholic school is set to close.

The Pioneer Press continues with its illuminating series on school sports, this time highlighting the ways poor students loose out to their better-off peers, whose parents can afford to drive them to practices, or buy them even basic equipment like basketball shoes.

In national news, the Education Wars continue, as they likely will into next year, when a “new NCLB” might hit Capitol Hill.  Dana Goldstein at The American Prospect has a good summary of the politicking between the American Federation of Teachers, reformist leaders like Michelle Rhee of Washington DC and Joel Klein of New York City, and Obama Administration officials.  I’m left wondering where the National Education Association stands.  A side-note: Dan Brown (the teacher, not the DaVinci Code author) and Nick Kristoff debate Rhee’s pros and cons.

Lastly, some humor: the Republican National Committee gets a big donation from the AFT, and the fur flies!  

“What’s next? Accepting money from the National Abortion Rights Action League, Handgun Control, Gay Marriage PACs and George Soros?” asks Steve Lonegan, a Republican candidate for New Jersey Governor.

Filed under: Minneapolis, National, St Paul, "Safe Schools for All" Bill, Education Reform, LGBT, Mindy Greiling, Minnesota, National Issues, NCLB, 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

OJT for teachers? No problemo! — US Dept. of Ed.

Photo: Flickr/user "Wappas"

It’s good news for Teach For America’s plans to move into Minneapolis: A new study commissioned by the US Department of Education argues that teachers who are still completing their teaching credentials while they teach aren’t any better or any worse than teachers who follow the traditional route of completing their coursework before stepping into a classroom.  In the past, TFA and other groups have raised eyebrows – and attracted significant criticism from the likes of the Obama campaign’s top education advisor, Linda Darling-Hammond – by putting their teachers on the front lines after relatively minimal training.

Filed under: Minneapolis, National, Achievement Gap, Arne Duncan, Education, Education Policy, Education Reform, Minneapolis, Minneapolis Public Schools, National Issues, News, Race, Teach for America, Teacher Quality

Peanut update (h/t PIM)

 

From Flickr user ♦ Biel's ® ♦ Gabriel Machado ♦

(h/t Politics in Minnesota)

 

FDA has expanded the peanut recall — apparently peanuts as old as 2 years are still floating around out there and are considdered tainted.  PIM says peanuts and peanut products in this phase of the recall were distributed to 197 schools in Minnesota, although they don’t cite their source.  The FDA has more info on the outbreak, including a database of affected products here.

Filed under: Minnesota, National, Education, Minnesota, National Issues, Poisonous Peanuts

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

Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education

A day late in posting this, but Arne Duncan has been “warmly recieved” by the Senate.  

“Duncan promised to aggressively pursue Obama’s agenda: expanding preschool, making college more accessible and affordable, finding new ways to prepare teachers and helping overhaul the 2002 No Child Left Behind law.

‘We must do dramatically better. We must continue to innovate,’ Duncan said. ‘We must build upon what works. We must stop doing what doesn’t work. And we have to continue to challenge the status quo.’”

 

Some alternative opinions on Duncan here:

http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/RUSSO/index.php/entry/1429/Duncan_Pros_and_Cons

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/18/duncan

http://www.counterpunch.org/libby12292008.html

 

And some advice for Duncan, via the Washington Post

Filed under: National, Arne Duncan, Education, Education Policy, National Issues, Secretary of Education

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

Bullet Dodging

It looks like E-12 education in Minnesota may dodge the budget crunch bullet this time around, but many other states are not so lucky. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that 18 states have slashed funds for Early Childhood through 12th Grade education in their 2009 proposed budgets, and New York is proposing significant cuts. The Center says on average, 46% of a state’s budget is taken up by education funding, on par with Minnesota schools’ 43% share.

Reading through the list of cuts is like reading through a list of “great new ideas in education” – a sign state education systems will be retrenching around their core activities, perhaps putting some reform efforts on hold. In Massachusetts, Head Start and pioneering early childhood education programs. In Maryland, money for in-school breakfast pilot program – a bedrock for in-school poverty fighting efforts – has been canceled. In Rhode Island and Nevada, Head Start is also being cut back.

In many other states, general education funding is being cut back. If Minnesota is any guide, most of the cuts will hit bus drivers, custodians, guidance counselors, and other support staff whose work around the edges — particularly in poorer schools — keeps schools and kids functioning.

Update: Looks like Virginia will slash Ed budgets, too

Filed under: Minnesota, National, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, National Issues