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EDUCATION TOUR: SCHOLARSHIPS AND MORE
DEANE’S LIST: EDUCATION NEWS & NOTES
DEANE’S LIST: EDUCATION NEWS AND NOTES
https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/deane%E2%80%99s-list-education-news-and-notes <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 a2a_target addtoany_list" id="da2a_8"> <a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastcountymagazine.org%2Fdeane%25E2%2580%2599s-list-education-news-and-notes&amp;title=DEANE%E2%80%99S%20LIST%3A%20EDUCATION%20NEWS%20AND%20NOTES"><img src="/sites/all/modules/addtoany/images/share_save_171_16.png" width="171" height="16" alt="Share this"/></a> </span> <div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-4 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6821"> April 2011 Articles</a></li></ul></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-5 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/1219">education</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/2484">San Diego education</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3925">Doug Deane</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/7034">education news</a></li></ul></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><img width="120" vspace="6" align="left" border="1" hspace="6" height="144" src="http://www.dsdinc.com/files/r_doug.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p>By Doug Deane<br /> Education Committee Chair, San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>April 28, 2011 – Latest local and national education news headlines include:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>• Worst-case budget could shorten school year<br /> • Community colleges prepare for bigger hit<br /> • Four school districts warn of financial distress<br /> • GUHSD Superintendent Swenson’s newsletter<br /> • Curriculum must assess student tech skills<br /> • Music really does boost your IQ!<br /> • Save great teachers<br /> • School could lose majority of teachers<br /> • Hard cap on charter schools isn’t ‘reform’<br /> • Our vision of schools must change<br /> • More pupils are learning online, fueling debate on quality<br /> • STEM to STREAM: Why the arts and writing should be added to science education<br /> • Obama official cites poor quality of education, effect on military<br /> • Community service touted at Clinton event<br /> • Library addition at Cuyamaca College marks end of Proposition R<br /> • Mark Miguel students shine at competition—congratulations Jeff Wood!<br /> • Spring Valley 4th graders dance their way to fitness<br /> • Bloggers challenge President on standardized testing<br /> • Risks: focus on heart deaths in student athletes<br /> • For some, getting into college is the challenge</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Worst-Case Budget Could Shorten School Year</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Teachers and parents throughout the region and state have grown accustomed to significant cutbacks in their public schools, increased demands for fundraising and threats to layoff faculty as California copes with its relentless fiscal crisis.</p> <p> </p> <p>But schools could face a financial hit so severe in the coming school year that many may be shut down as many as six weeks early, under an extreme cost-cutting measure that was first suggested in January with little fanfare and has been gaining traction ever since.</p> <p> </p> <p>That means children could be cut loose from school in April next year, just after Easter.</p> <p> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/20/school-year-could-end-weeks-early-under-worst-case/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/20/school-year-could-end-wee...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong>Community Colleges Prepare for Bigger Hit</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>San Diego-area community colleges will have to turn away tens of thousands of students in the coming academic year as a result of the breakdown in budget talks in Sacramento, leaders of the state’s two-year colleges said Wednesday.</p> <p> </p> <p>“This is a tragedy for these students,” said Jack Scott, chancellor of the state’s community colleges, in a conference call with reporters. “It also means a deep blow to the California economy.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/30/community-colleges-prepare-for-bigger-hit/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/30/community-colleges-prepar...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong> Citizens Group Suggests Work be Frozen on Alpine High School</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>A citizens group voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend to the Grossmont Union High School District Governing Board to freeze work on a proposed high school in Alpine except for acquiring property to build it.</p> <p> </p> <p>Whether the board will take up the recommendation by the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee for consideration is another question. The oversight group, which monitors the district’s Proposition H/U bond construction program, plans to present its recommendations to the governing board at its April 14 meeting.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more by clicking on <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/30/citizens-group-votes-freeze-work-alpine-school/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/30/citizens-group-votes-free...</a></p> <p> </p> <p>There’s a related article at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/24/groups-urge-halt-action-new-alpine-high-school/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/24/groups-urge-halt-action-n...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Four School Districts Warn of Financial Distress</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Four school districts in San Diego County have made a state financial warning list — a signal they may not be able to pay their bills through the 2012-13 school year, the California Department of Education announced Monday.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read the rest of the story at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/21/four-school-districts-on-financial-watch-list/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/21/four-school-districts-on-...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>GUHSD Superintendent Swenson’s Newsletter</strong></p> <p>There’s a link below to the latest edition of Superintendent Swenson's Newsline.</p> <p>You can check it out by clicking on: <a href="http://newsline.guhsd.net/">http://newsline.guhsd.net/</a></p> <p><strong><br /> Curriculum Must Assess Student Tech Skills</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>In 21st-century classrooms, students are coming in with tech knowledge that surpasses most of their teachers, yet they have yet to learn to use it in practical, educational ways.</p> <p> </p> <p>John Wahl, instructional technology coordinator, and Phil Gouveia, information technology supervisor, reviewed the two tech policies in place: <a href="http://www.juneau.org/board/policy1530">www.juneau.org/board/policy1530</a> and <a href="http://www.juneau.org/board/policy/1540">www.juneau.org/board/policy/1540</a>.</p> <p> </p> <p>Those polices address access by minors to inappropriate content; unauthorized access and/or hacking; unauthorized disclosure, use and dissemination of information regarding minors and safety and security of minors.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://juneauempire.com/stories/031011/loc_797263543.shtml">http://juneauempire.com/stories/031011/loc_797263543.shtml</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Music really Does Boost IQ!</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>This is far from the first study to explore a possible relationship between music lessons and school performance. However, the way it was conducted deserves special attention.</p> <p> </p> <p>Many previous studies of musical training have connected it to specific intellectual skills, like mathematics or spatial reasoning. The theory behind these studies is that music shares many things in common with math and geometry: the relationships between notes and different keys, for example, can be expressed in spatial or numerical terms; music is written in a numerical-spatial code; and music involves precise numerical timekeeping.<br />  </p> <p><a href="http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/sci_update.php?DocID=235">http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/sci_update.php?DocID=235</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong> Save Great Teachers</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Great teachers make a tremendous difference in students' lives. This year we risk losing some of the best teachers in America.</p> <p>• At least 160,000 teachers face layoffs.<br /> • Most layoffs will be based solely on seniority, not on performance.<br /> • The result: many of our most effective teachers will lose their jobs.<br /> • Even if there have to be layoffs, we can save great teachers.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more at the StudentsFirst.org website by clicking on <a href="http://www.studentsfirst.org/index.php/lifo?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=studentsfirst&amp;utm_campaign=20110314email&amp;source=20110314email">http://www.studentsfirst.org/index.php/lifo?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=...</a></p> <p> <strong>School Could Lose Majority of Teachers</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Seniority still rules when it comes to teacher pink slips.</p> <p> </p> <p>The San Diego Unified School District issued layoff warnings to 1,335 educators this week to help offset its deficit of up to $114 million to next year’s $1.04 billion operating budget.</p> <p> </p> <p>The last time the district issued mass teacher pink slips was 2008, and Jackson Elementary School was the hardest hit campus when 24 of its 26 teachers were tapped for possible layoffs. Jackson has since closed and its teachers and students moved into the new and nearby Fay Elementary School. But once again this staff has been the hardest hit with layoffs — 25 of its 26 permanent teachers received pink slips this week.</p> <p> </p> <p>“We just can’t believe it’s happening to us again,” said Principal Eileen Moreno. “The teachers are in shock.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more by clicking on <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/18/school-could-lose-majority-of-teachers/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/18/school-could-lose-majorit...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong> Hard Cap on Charter Schools Isn’t ‘Reform’</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>The annual battles in Sacramento over charter schools have eased in recent years. Charters continue to have some high-profile flops, but in general they’ve made headway in establishing their bona fides as a K-12 alternative, and the enthusiasm they generate among many parents and students is impossible to deny.</p> <p> </p> <p>…The Assembly Education Committee is scheduled to take up AB 401, by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, in conjunction with the California Federation of Teachers. It would place a hard cap on the total number of state charter schools and, as of July 2012, ban any new charters in school districts in which charters already made up 10 percent or more of total schools. So much for any new charters in San Diego Unified, where charters make up nearly 20 percent of all schools.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more from this U-T editorial at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/30/hard-cap-on-charter-schools-isnt-reform/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/30/hard-cap-on-charter-schoo...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong>Our Vision of Schools Must Change</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Is your vision of a classroom student desks in rows, a whiteboard and a teacher at the front? I think most of us have this vision. It is, however, a vision of education in the 20th century.</p> <p> </p> <p>Until San Diego as a community changes that vision, we are never going to do anything but put bandages on an ailing education system.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more from this U-T commentary at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/20/our-vision-of-schools-must-change/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/20/our-vision-of-schools-mus...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong> More Pupils Are Learning Online, Fueling Debate on Quality</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Jack London was the subject in Daterrius Hamilton’s online English 3 course. In a high school classroom packed with computers, he read a brief biography of London with single-paragraph excerpts from the author’s works. But the curriculum did not require him, as it had generations of English students, to wade through a tattered copy of “Call of the Wild” or “To Build a Fire.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Mr. Hamilton, who had failed English 3 in a conventional classroom and was hoping to earn credit online to graduate, was asked a question about the meaning of social Darwinism. He pasted the question into Google and read a summary of a Wikipedia entry. He copied the language, spell-checked it and e-mailed it to his teacher.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/education/06online.html?ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/education/06online.html?ref=education</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong> STEM to STREAM: Why the Arts and Writing Should be Added to Science Education</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Psychologists now believe that adding the arts and reading and writing to a science based education makes for better mathematicians and scientists.(just in case this link doesn’t work, I pasted the URL address below). Focusing on students' writing and language skills can help them develop the necessary "tools for thinking," according to Psychology Today magazine. </p> <p>Efforts to better educate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics are critical to U.S. prosperity. The STREAM model recognizes that innovation is at the intersection of disciplines and helps cultivate a world-class workforce that will attract business and investment.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more by clicking on <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/imagine/201103/stem-steam-stream-writing-essential-component-science-education">http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/imagine/201103/stem-steam-stream-wri...</a></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Obama Official Cites Poor Quality of Education, Effect on Military</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Three out of four young adults are unqualified to join the armed forces, largely because of failures in the nation’s schools, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Wednesday.</p> <p> </p> <p>A retinue of current and retired military officers, elected officials and others joined Duncan at a Miramar Marine Corps Air Station news conference after the secretary visited a school in North County.</p> <p>Read more by clicking on <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/23/duncan-xx-xxxxx-xxx-xxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx-obama/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/23/duncan-xx-xxxxx-xxx-xxx-x...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Community Service Touted at Clinton Event</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Matt Severson taps his iPad, filling the screen with photos of smiling children. He’s selling the idea of hope in a country not known for it: Tanzania.</p> <p> </p> <p>The east African nation is among the poorest in the world. Families struggle to raise money to put their children through public school. Severson, a senior at Brown University, sees that as an opportunity.</p> <p> </p> <p>“We’re trying to get people to use our website to donate money to pay these kids’ school bills,’’ said Severson, who co-founded a nonprofit known as The School Fund. “It is a transparent and effective way to do things.’’</p> <p> </p> <p>He is promoting the program this weekend at the University of California San Diego, where 1,100 student delegates from 90 countries are attending the Clinton Global Initiative University, a launch pad for community service ideas.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/02/students-promote-community-service-clinton-event/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/02/students-promote-communit...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong>Library Addition at Cuyamaca College Marks End of Proposition R</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>The final Proposition R-funded project at Cuyamaca College has been completed.</p> <p> </p> <p>The nearly 4,000-square-foot addition to the library’s Learning Resource Center is the last of the school’s new facilities and building expansions funded through the $207-million bond approved by East County voters in 2002 to address needs at both Cuyamaca and Grossmont colleges.</p> <p> </p> <p>The library expansion cost $4.1 million.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more by clicking on <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/24/library-addition-college-marks-end-proposition-r/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/24/library-addition-college-...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Mount Miguel Students Shine at Competition – Congratulations Jeff Wood!</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>A group of business students from Spring Valley shined during a regional entrepreneurial competition Monday in San Diego, winning three awards, including a first-place finish.</p> <p> </p> <p>The students from Mount Miguel High School topped 50 teams in one category and took home two second-place plaques at the 10th-annual Southern California Virtual Enterprise Trade Fair/Business Competition. Monday’s event brought about 800 students from all over California and from as far away as Oregon to the Joe and Vi Jacobs Center in southeastern San Diego.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/04/mount-miguel-students-shine-enterprise-competition/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/04/mount-miguel-students-shi...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Spring Valley Fourth Graders Dance Their Way to Fitness</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>For more than 300 fourth graders at four Spring Valley elementary schools who have been honing their skills in the tango, waltz, rumba, fox trot or merengue, the answer is “yes.”</p> <p> </p> <p>The brainchild of La Mesa-Spring Valley School District resource teacher Ginger Radenheimer and physical education teacher Sharon Perry, the kids have been taking two, 55-minute ballroom dance lessons weekly for the past six weeks with EduDance out of Alpine.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more by clicking on <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/04/spring-valley-fourth-graders-dance-their-way-fitne/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/04/spring-valley-fourth-grad...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong>Bloggers Challenge President on Standardized Testing</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>President Obama criticized “high-stakes” tests last week at a town-hall-style meeting, contrasting them with less-pressured tests his daughters took in their Washington private school. Those remarks, which did not receive wide coverage at the time, have since prompted close followers of education policy to wonder whether the president opposes his own Education Department. Mr. Obama criticized “high-stakes” tests last week at a town-hall-style meeting, contrasting them with less-pressured tests his daughters took in their Washington private school. Those remarks, which did not receive wide coverage at the time, have since prompted close followers of education policy to wonder whether the president opposes his own Education Department.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/education/07education.html?_r=1&amp;ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/education/07education.html?_r=1&amp;ref=ed...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong> Risks: Focus on Heart Deaths in Student-Athletes</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Recent sudden cardiac deaths among high school athletes — including the death in March of a 16-year-old Michigan basketball player who had just scored a game-winning shot — have renewed questions about how common the risk is and whether athletes should be screened more carefully.</p> <p> </p> <p>A new study, published last week in the journal Circulation, offers a partial answer, finding that there is one sudden cardiac death for every 43,770 National Collegiate Athletic Association student-athletes each year. Earlier estimates, which relied almost exclusively on news reports for information, had put the number as low as 1 in 300,000.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/health/research/12athletes.html?ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/health/research/12athletes.html?ref=ed...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Some, Getting Into College is the Challenge</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>The lack of resources and educational opportunities for our nation’s at-risk students remains a significant threat to America’s future. Nearly 30 percent of high school students in the United States fail to graduate, but of equal concern is that numerous studies show that even with a diploma, only half of graduates leave high school prepared to succeed in college and their careers.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/20/for-some-getting-into-college-is-the-challenge/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/20/for-some-getting-into-col...</a></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><ul class="links inline"><li class="addtoany first last"><span><span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 a2a_target addtoany_list" id="da2a_7"> <a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastcountymagazine.org%2Fdeane%25E2%2580%2599s-list-education-news-and-notes&amp;title=DEANE%E2%80%99S%20LIST%3A%20EDUCATION%20NEWS%20AND%20NOTES"><img src="/sites/all/modules/addtoany/images/share_save_171_16.png" width="171" height="16" alt="Share this"/></a> </span> </span></li></ul> Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:13:02 +0000 miriamg 6030 at https://www.eastcountymagazine.org https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/deane%E2%80%99s-list-education-news-and-notes#comments
DEANE’S LIST: EDUCATION NEWS NOTES - MARCH 8, 2011
https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/deane%E2%80%99s-list-education-news-notes-march-8-2011 <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 a2a_target addtoany_list" id="da2a_10"> <a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastcountymagazine.org%2Fdeane%25E2%2580%2599s-list-education-news-notes-march-8-2011&amp;title=DEANE%E2%80%99S%20LIST%3A%20EDUCATION%20NEWS%20NOTES%20-%20MARCH%208%2C%202011"><img src="/sites/all/modules/addtoany/images/share_save_171_16.png" width="171" height="16" alt="Share this"/></a> </span> <div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-4 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6820"> March 2011 Articles</a></li></ul></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-5 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/1219">education</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/2484">San Diego education</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3925">Doug Deane</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/7034">education news</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/7523">Deane&#039;s List</a></li></ul></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em><img width="135" vspace="6" hspace="6" height="162" border="1" align="left" src="http://www.dsdinc.com/files/r_doug.jpg" alt="" /></em></p> <p><em>By Doug Deane</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>March 8, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) -- The following local, state and national education news items are excerpted from a very informative e-newsletter published by Doug Deane, chair of the Business Education Committee at the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce.<br /> </em></p> <p> <em>Our picks for Deane’s top education stories from the latest issue include:</em></p> <p> </p> <p>• Help needed—Career Awareness Day booth presenters &amp; sponsors<br /> • Layoffs coming to La Mesa Schools<br /> • The budget threat to community colleges and jobs<br /> • Three local residents join East County board overseeing school bonds<br /> • Is teaching making our teachers sick?<br /> • GUHSD Superintendent Swensen’s newsletter<br /> • Save great teachers campaign<br /> • For kids, self control factors into future success<br /> • Gifted students and ‘mind-numbing’ schools<br /> • How to talk to kids about violence<br /> • What would Honest Abe Lincoln say?<br /> • “Factoring Fast Food” and other lesson plans for March<br /> • Grade the parents?<br /> • School makes stride in improving attendance<br /> • Music takes Valhalla student to New York for show<br /> • Legislature spotlights bullying in schools<br /> • Teacher layoff plans in Los Angeles pose broad implications<br /> • Bipartisan group backs common school curriculum<br /> • Nonprofit warns schools on seniority-based layoffs<br /> • Community colleges: Times of crisis and opportunity?<br /> • Cajon Valley schools preparing for deep cuts<br /> • School music, arts programs on chopping block<br /> • San Diego to host school charter conference<br /> • Teacher pensions a looming crisis<br /> • Fix district budget, don’t seek rescues<br /> • Deaths at Santana – and a rebirth<br /> • Don’t hamstring our teachers</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Help Needed – Career Awareness Day Booth Presenters &amp; Sponsors</strong></p> <p>Career Awareness Day is the single largest education-related event that the Chamber conducts, involving approximately 1,500 Cajon Valley Union School District 8th graders and over 60 businesses. The date is Monday, April 4th, and the location will be on the plaza in front of the Communication Arts Building at Cuyamaca College. Career Awareness Day is an event that exposes 8th graders to businesses and industries in our area, in order to get them to start thinking about their career path.</p> <p>The San Diego East County Chamber needs businesses to act as booth presenters, and to answer questions from the 8th graders regarding opportunities in their industry, education and skill requirements, etc. Sponsors are also greatly needed to offset costs of transportation for students, food and facility costs. Please contact Judy Dreis at the Chamber if you’re interested in being involved. Her e-mail address is <a href="mailto:judyd@eastcountychamber.org">judyd@eastcountychamber.org</a>.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Layoffs coming to La Mesa schools</strong></p> <p>Up to 80 employees — including as many as 65 teachers and counselors — in the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District could be laid off next year to help the East County education system close a projected $9 million budget gap.</p> <p>The number represents about 5 percent of the district’s 1,600-member workforce.</p> <p>The school board on Tuesday approved a plan that includes reductions in custodial, maintenance, gardening and more.<br /> “No one wants to do any of this at all,” Superintendent Brian Marshall said.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/17/layoffs-coming-la-mesa-schools/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/17/layoffs-coming-la-mesa-sc...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong>The budget threat to community colleges – and jobs</strong></p> <p>In the 18th century, the American statesman Benjamin Franklin once said, “The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.” In the 21st century, this observation is especially pertinent as more and more jobs require some level of college study. The high school diploma is no longer the gateway to gainful employment.</p> <p>In well-paying fields from nursing to radiologic technology to engineering to a host of professions, successful job applicants must have an associate degree, a community college certificate or a baccalaureate degree. The community college is a key element in this equation. California’s 112 community colleges educate more than 1.4 million students each semester in programs leading to university transfer, careers and the improvement of on-the-job skills.</p> <p>Read more by clicking on <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/17/the-budget-threat-to-community-colleges-and-jobs/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/17/the-budget-threat-to-comm...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> Three local residents join East County board overseeing school bonds</strong></p> <p>A retired Marine, a holistic health school director and a UCSD hazardous materials specialist have been selected to serve on the citizens group that oversees the Grossmont Union High School District’s bond construction program.</p> <p>Read more by clicking on <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/23/three-local-residents-join-east-county-board-overs/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/23/three-local-residents-joi...</a></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Is teaching making our teachers sick?</strong></p> <p>The personal cost of teaching may be becoming too high. In my 10 years as a teacher of teachers, more and more of my students are reporting headaches, sleepless nights, irritated stomachs, chronic illness and even cancer. As someone who cares about children, and sees the necessity of having healthy teachers to support them, I can’t help but feel compelled to understand why teachers are getting sick.</p> <p>Here are the reasons I have identified thus far.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/20/is-teaching-making-our-teachers-sick/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/20/is-teaching-making-our-te...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Leader of Teachers’ Union Urges Dismissal Overhaul</strong></p> <p>Responding to criticism that tenure gives even poor teachers a job for life, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, announced a plan Thursday to overhaul how teachers are evaluated and dismissed.</p> <p>It would give tenured teachers who are rated unsatisfactory by their principals a maximum of one school year to improve. If they did not, they could be fired within 100 days.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/education/25teacher.html?ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/education/25teacher.html?ref=education</a></p> <p><strong><br /> GUHSD Superintendent Swenson’s Newsletter</strong></p> <p>There’s a link below to the latest edition of Superintendent Swenson's Newsline.</p> <p>You can check it out by clicking on: <a href="http://newsline.guhsd.net/">http://newsline.guhsd.net/</a></p> <p><strong><br /> Save Great Teachers Campaign</strong></p> <p>We recently received this letter from Michelle Rhee, founder of StudentsFirst.org:</p> <p>In school, having a great teacher is the single most important factor in determining a student's success. Giving America's kids the best education in the world is only possible with the best teachers in the world.</p> <p>States are being forced to make major cuts in education, with 45 states and the District of Columbia predicting huge budget shortfalls totaling $125 billion. And with these cuts our nation is at risk of losing some of our brightest, most effective teachers.</p> <p>Right now in schools across the country, the last teacher hired has to be the first teacher fired, regardless of how good they are. A teacher's performance plays no role in who stays and who goes. This policy, based on seniority rather than effectiveness, is referred to as LIFO (Last In, First Out) -- and it is crippling our schools.</p> <p>That's why we've launched the Save Great Teachers Campaign. Watch our video to learn more and pledge to get involved now:</p> <p><a href="http://studentsfirst.org/saveteachersvideo">http://studentsfirst.org/saveteachersvideo</a></p> <p>We can't afford to pull highly effective teachers out of America's classrooms. This is just the beginning of a very important campaign. In the next few weeks, we will ask you to take specific actions to engage with your legislators. We need your help to save great teachers.</p> <p> <strong>For Kids, Self-Control Factors Into Future Success</strong></p> <p>Self-control keeps us from eating a whole bag of chips or from running up the credit card. A new study says that self-control makes the difference between getting a good job or going to jail — and we learn it in preschool.</p> <p>"Children who had the greatest self-control in primary school and preschool ages were most likely to have fewer health problems when they reached their 30s," says Terrie Moffitt, a professor of psychology at Duke University and King's College London.</p> <p>Moffitt and a team of researchers studied a group of 1,000 people born in New Zealand in 1972 and 1973, tracking them from birth to age 32. The new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the best evidence yet on the payoff for learning self-discipline early on.</p> <p>Check this very interesting story out at <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133629477/for-kids-self-control-factors-into-future-success?ft=1&amp;f=3">http://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133629477/for-kids-self-control-factors-in...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Gifted students and ‘mind-numbing’ schools</strong></p> <p>The subject of GATE is near and dear to our Committee’s heart, and we found this U-T editorial to be right on point:</p> <p>Lawmakers have returned to Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to confront a host of looming issues. From continued revenue challenges as a result of the economic recession to pension reform and water supplies, the list is long and complex.</p> <p>The temptation during times like these is to focus exclusively on the crisis of the day while letting all issues not seen as critical fester.</p> <p>To the detriment of our students, education policy often falls into the “address later” pile, with education of gifted children at the absolute bottom.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/13/the-mind-numbing-education-of-gifted-students/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/13/the-mind-numbing-educatio...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>How to talk to kids about violence</strong></p> <p>With the recent shooting in Arizona, unfolding chaos in Egypt, and other violent events all over the news, many of us find ourselves having to talk to our children about these issues. Ideally, we’d like to shield younger children from exposure to violence in the news, but that doesn’t always work. So what’s a parent or teacher to do?</p> <p>There is no “one size fits all” answer here. Factors to consider include the age of the child, what he or she has already been exposed to, and what his or her concerns are. Be careful not to give children more information than they can process. Children may not comprehend the entirety of the event, and providing additional information may actually increase the anxiety.</p> <p>Read more from this Josephson Institute article at <a href="http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/02/09/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-violence/">http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/02/09/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-vi...</a></p> <p><strong>What would Honest Abe Lincoln say?</strong></p> <p>What would Honest Abe Lincoln say about the values of today’s American youth? In our survey of more than 40,000 high school students, the gap between what students believe and their actions does not bode well for future generations.</p> <p>This report comes on the heels of our report issued in October of 2010 on bullying in American high schools.</p> <p>Survey highlights: while 89 percent of students believe that being a good person is more important than being rich, almost one in three boys and one in four girls admitted stealing from a store within the past year. Moreover, 21 percent admitted they stole something from a parent or other relative, and 18 percent admitted stealing from a friend.</p> <p>This topic from the Josephson Institute dovetails extremely well with our Ethics in Business program content. You can read more at <a href="http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/02/11/what-would-honest-abe-lincoln-say/">http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/02/11/what-would-honest-abe-lincol...</a>.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>“Factoring Fast Food” and other lesson plans for March</strong></p> <p>March is National Nutrition Month, so we’ve put together a lesson plan that will teach teens to take responsibility for their eating habits. In this lesson, teens examine the fast food they eat, consider its nutritional value (or lack thereof), and learn how to make healthier choices in the future.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/02/15/factoring-fast-food-and-other-lesson-plans-for-march/">http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/02/15/factoring-fast-food-and-othe...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong>Grade the parents?</strong></p> <p>Should teachers be able to grade the parents of their students?</p> <p>Florida state rep. Kelli Stargel (R) thinks so. She’s working on a bill that would give elementary school teachers that power.</p> <p>“We have student accountability, we have teacher accountability, and we have administration accountability,” Stargel told CNN in January. “This was the missing link, which was, look at the parent and making sure the parents are held accountable.”</p> <p>Read more from this interesting article at <a href="http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/02/08/gradetheparents/">http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/02/08/gradetheparents/</a></p> <p> <strong>School makes strides in improving attendance</strong></p> <p>At San Diego Unified’s School of Communication, every Monday morning is a chance for its eight-member attendance team to figure out how to get more students in the seats.</p> <p>The group, headed by Principal Anisha Dalal, sits around a table armed with spreadsheets that list student names, how many days they’ve missed class, when they’ve been late, what administrators have done to keep them on campus and what their next steps might be.</p> <p>“It’s a tough way to start a Monday,” said Rebecca Phillpott, the district’s dropout prevention program manager. “But it’s absolutely vital.”<br /> And it’s effective.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/13/school-makes-strides-improving-attendance/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/13/school-makes-strides-impr...</a></p> <p><strong>Music takes Valhalla student to New York for show</strong></p> <p>A musician would have to be a bit better than good to get a nomination for an audition to the American High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall in New York. Carly Hines, a junior at Valhalla High School in El Cajon, was surprised by the nomination and a bit nervous about the program, at first.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/17/music-takes-valhalla-student-new-york-show/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/17/music-takes-valhalla-stud...</a></p> <p> <strong>More College Graduates Take Public Service Jobs</strong></p> <p>If Alison Sadock had finished college before the financial crisis, she probably would have done something corporate. Maybe a job in retail, or finance, or brand management at a big company — the kind of work her oldest sister, who graduated in the economically effervescent year of 2005, does at PepsiCo.</p> <p>“You know, a normal job,” Ms. Sadock says.</p> <p>But she graduated in a deep recession in the spring of 2009 when jobs were scarce. Instead of the merchandising career she had imagined, she landed in public service, working on behalf of America’s sickest children.</p> <p>Ms. Sadock is part of a cohort of young college graduates who ended up doing good because the economy did them wrong.</p> <p>Read more about this interesting trend at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/business/02graduates.html?ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/business/02graduates.html?ref=education</a></p> <p><strong><br /> For Young, Sex Falls in Survey</strong></p> <p>Fewer teenagers and young adults are having sex, a government survey shows.</p> <p>The study, released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is based on interviews with about 5,300 young people, ages 15 to 24. It shows that the proportion in that age group who said they had never had oral, vaginal or anal sex rose in the past decade to about 28 percent, from 22 percent.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/us/04sex.html?ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/us/04sex.html?ref=education</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Clashes Pit Parents vs. Gay-Friendly Curriculums in Schools</strong></p> <p>After a lesbian student at Jesse Bethel High School in Vallejo joined with the American Civil Liberties Union in 2008 to accuse the local school district of discrimination, district officials agreed as part of a settlement to show films and assign homework depicting same-sex families, beginning in elementary school.</p> <p>But one night last November, more than a dozen parents, rallied by community religious leaders, attacked the school board, asserting that their rights were being violated because they had no control over whether their children received such lessons.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/education/04bcgay.html?ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/education/04bcgay.html?ref=education</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Legislature Spotlights Bullying in Schools</strong></p> <p>The scariest part of the school day for one student in the Austin Independent School District is before classes begin. For the female-to-male transgender 16-year-old, the “nerve-racking” minutes he spends trying to find his friends at school each morning is when bullies are most likely to strike.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/us/04ttbullying.html?ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/us/04ttbullying.html?ref=education</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Teacher Layoff Plans in Los Angeles Pose Broad Implications</strong></p> <p>Last year, when the school district here handed out thousands of layoff notices, Samuel Gompers Middle School in South Central stood to lose half of its roughly 150 teachers. Now, with the district planning to lay off as many as 4,500 teachers under what school leaders call a doomsday budget, the school could have been even worse off.</p> <p>But under a court ruling, not a single teacher at the school would be let go. Instead, Gompers and 44 other schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District would be exempt from any layoffs at all.<br /> The ruling, which ratified a settlement agreed to by plaintiffs and the school district, is being appealed by the teachers’ union. And even as it plays out in a state where schools are facing the prospect of devastating layoffs, it could have implications for districts across the country facing similar cuts. The lawsuit has the support of, among others, Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, who once worked for the teachers’ union here.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/us/05layoffs.html?_r=1&amp;ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/us/05layoffs.html?_r=1&amp;ref=education</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong> Bipartisan Group Backs Common School Curriculum</strong></p> <p>A bipartisan group of educators and business and labor leaders plan to announce on Monday their support for a common curriculum that states could adopt for public schools across the nation.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/education/08curriculum.html?ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/education/08curriculum.html?ref=education</a></p> <p><strong><br /> Nonprofit warns schools on seniority-based layoffs</strong></p> <p>The threat of layoffs looming throughout the San Diego Unified School District has put teachers on edge. But if the board of education votes next week to issue some 900 pink slips, some of the neediest campuses could be hit harder than others.</p> <p>At Mann Middle School in City Heights, for example, more than 26 percent of teachers have less than two years experience — making them vulnerable to seniority-based layoffs.</p> <p>The Public Counsel Law Center has asked San Diego Unified to avoid laying off its newest teachers to preserve the stability of schools that serve needy students.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/28/nonprofit-warns-schools-senority-based-layoffs/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/28/nonprofit-warns-schools-s...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong> Community colleges: Times of crisis and opportunity?</strong></p> <p>The topic was serious, but the mood was light.</p> <p>“Never waste a good crisis,” was the counsel Francisco Rodriguez, president and superintendent of MiraCosta College, shared with about 150 national and international colleagues Monday.</p> <p>The remark drew appreciative, if slightly anxious, laughter from the audience in a packed Hilton San Diego Bayfront meeting room.</p> <p>Rodriguez was joined on a midday panel by Constance Carroll, chancellor of the San Diego Community College District, and Cindy Miles, chancellor of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/28/community-colleges-times-">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/28/community-colleges-times-</a><strong>of-crisis-and-opportunity/</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong> Cajon Valley schools preparing for deep cuts</strong></p> <p>At least 60 Cajon Valley Union School District teachers could lose their jobs next year. School field trips could be canceled. Libraries might be cut again.</p> <p>The board of trustees will weigh these and other proposed cuts at a March 8 meeting in El Cajon.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/03/cajon-valley-schools-preparing-deep-cuts/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/03/cajon-valley-schools-prep...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>School music, arts programs on chopping block</strong></p> <p>This year, there are dozens of San Diego Unified elementary schools that devote about an hour each week to teaching students the basics of musical instruments.</p> <p>Next year, there might only be one.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/06/unifieds-music-arts-programs-chopping-block/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/06/unifieds-music-arts-progr...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong> San Diego to host school charter conference</strong></p> <p>Charter school educators and advocates from around California will descend on San Diego this week for a statewide conference dedicated to the growing arena of independently run public campuses.</p> <p>The California Charter Schools Conference opens in San Diego on Tuesday, 18 years after it held its first meeting here. This time, the host city’s San Diego Unified School District will receive an award from the organization as the state’s top charter authorizer.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/07/sd-host-charter-conference/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/07/sd-host-charter-conference/</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Teacher pension costs a looming crisis</strong></p> <p>Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent decision to revoke two of his predecessor’s appointees to the board of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System is understandable. The governor wants his appointees influencing CalSTRS, not Arnold Schwarzenegger’s.</p> <p>Nonetheless, given that one of the revoked appointees, Stanford researcher Cameron Percy, is a leading skeptic of pension financing policies, we worry that Brown’s abrupt move may have been influenced by a desire to maintain the pension status quo.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/02/teacher-pension-costs-a-looming-crisis/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/02/teacher-pension-costs-a-l...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Fix district budget, don’t seek rescues</strong></p> <p>The task facing the San Diego Unified School District – cutting $120 million out of a $1.2 billion 2011-12 budget – is daunting. Unless state voters approve a continuation of 2009’s temporary tax hikes in a special election that Gov. Jerry Brown hopes to hold in June, the district appears likely to have to lay off more than 900 workers, or 6 percent of its work force.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/03/fix-district-budget-dont-seek-rescues/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/03/fix-district-budget-dont-...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Deaths at Santana High – and a rebirth</strong></p> <p>Santana High School has come a long way since that horrible March 5 of 10 years ago.</p> <p>That day, a student with a troubled past and a victim of bullying brought a gun to the East County campus and opened fire from the boys’ bathroom, killing two students and wounding 13 more. He eventually pleaded guilty and is serving a sentence of 50 years to life.</p> <p>Ten years, and those associated with the school and the Grossmont Union district itself have long since passed through the five stages of grieving. They have changed for the better.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/04/deaths-at-santana-high-and-a-rebirth/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/04/deaths-at-santana-high-an...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Don’t hamstring our teachers</strong></p> <p>Some news reports state that the education of today’s children in America is behind many countries in the world. Many are quick to blame teachers. Never mind that America educates all children, not just top achievers. And never mind that a government that cannot even manage itself seems to think it knows what is best in educating America’s youth and has become involved.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/03/dont-hamstring-our-teachers/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/03/dont-hamstring-our-teachers/</a></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><ul class="links inline"><li class="addtoany first last"><span><span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 a2a_target addtoany_list" id="da2a_9"> <a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastcountymagazine.org%2Fdeane%25E2%2580%2599s-list-education-news-notes-march-8-2011&amp;title=DEANE%E2%80%99S%20LIST%3A%20EDUCATION%20NEWS%20NOTES%20-%20MARCH%208%2C%202011"><img src="/sites/all/modules/addtoany/images/share_save_171_16.png" width="171" height="16" alt="Share this"/></a> </span> </span></li></ul> Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:54:32 +0000 miriamg 5646 at https://www.eastcountymagazine.org https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/deane%E2%80%99s-list-education-news-notes-march-8-2011#comments
DEANE’S LIST: EDUCATION NEWS NOTES
https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/deane%E2%80%99s-list-education-news-notes <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 a2a_target addtoany_list" id="da2a_12"> <a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastcountymagazine.org%2Fdeane%25E2%2580%2599s-list-education-news-notes&amp;title=%20DEANE%E2%80%99S%20LIST%3A%20EDUCATION%20NEWS%20NOTES"><img src="/sites/all/modules/addtoany/images/share_save_171_16.png" width="171" height="16" alt="Share this"/></a> </span> <div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-4 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6819"> February 2011 Articles</a></li></ul></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-5 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/1219">education</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3925">Doug Deane</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/7034">education news</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/7523">Deane&#039;s List</a></li></ul></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p> <img align="left" alt="" border="1" height="150" hspace="6" src="http://www.dsdinc.com/files/r_doug.jpg" vspace="6" width="125" /></p> <p>By Doug Deane </p> <p> February 6, 2011 (San Diego's East County)--The following local, state and national education news items are excerpted from a very informative e-newsletter published by Doug Deane, chair of the Business Education Committee at the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce.</p> <p>  </p> <p>Our picks for Deane’s top education stories from the latest issue include:</p> <p> <strong>• C. Allen Paul Award Winner and the Chamber Gala<br /> • We the People Competition (Granite Hills)<br /> • California is failing at Civic Engagement<br /> • GUHSD Superintendent Swenson’s newsletter<br /> • Bullying Prevention<br /> • Service learning: lessons beyond the classroom from Edutopia<br /> • “Third Age” program proves interested education for the mature<br /> • San Diego High to screen “Race to Nowhere” documentary<br /> • Book rentals available for community college students (Grossmont-Cuyamaca)<br /> • Incentive program aimed at raising test scores (Hilltop Middle School)<br /> • School district maneuvers on the odd side (Sweetwater Union)<br /> • Education: a matter of national security<br /> • For teens, a decade of lost opportunities<br /> • Plan offered to overhaul discipline of teachers<br /> • To really learn, quit studying and take a test<br /> • Few students show proficiency in science, tests show<br /> • GOP governors take aim at teacher tenure<br /> • It may be a Sputnik moment, but science fairs are lagging</strong></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>C. Allen Paul Winner and the Chamber Gala</strong></p> <p>At the East County Chamber’s annual gala February 25th, the C. Allen Paul Award honors the one person in the East County who our committee believes did the most in the past year to bring the business and education communities together. The award’s namesake, C. Allen Paul, was one of the original founders of Grossmont College, and was the first Dean of the college’s Business Department.</p> <p>This year’s honoree is Elana Levens-Craig. Aside from being the owner of Packaging Solutions in Santee, Elana is the President of the Santana PTA and the incoming President of the GUHSD Prop H&amp;U Citizens Bond Oversight Committee. She is also our Vice-Chair for Entrepreneurial Activities, she works extremely closely and tirelessly with JA, and she is on the board of the League of Women Voters. In that capacity, she helped organize the GUHSD board candidates’ debate and made sure that the Chamber was one of the co-sponsors.</p> <p>Elana works tirelessly on behalf of education in our region, and on behalf of instilling the entrepreneurial spirit in our students. She has more energy and spirit than five people, and we’re proud to be able to honor her with this award.</p> <p>For details and tickets on the Chamber’s 100th annual Inaugural Gala at the Crystal Ballroom in El Cajon, click here: <a href="http://eastcountychamber.chambermaster.com/Events/details/the-inaugural-gala-celebrating-100-years">http://eastcountychamber.chambermaster.com/Events/details/the-inaugural-...</a>.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>We The People Competition</strong></p> <p> Granite Hills High School Social Science Teacher Ron Whitney and students showcase their trophy from the 23rd Annual Competition on the Constitution and Bill of Rights at the University of San Diego last month.</p> <p>Students at Granite Hills High School will represent San Diego County when they travel to Sacramento this month to compete in the statewide competition of the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program.</p> <p>The Granite Hills students outperformed students from San Diego High School and Calvin Christian Academy at the 23rd Annual Competition on the Constitution and Bill of Rights at the University of San Diego on December 9, 2010. They will now represent the county in the state competition in Sacramento in February. If they win at the state hearings they will represent California at the national finals in April, 2011 in Washington, D.C. They need to raise $6,000 to cover the cost of the competition, room and board. Please contact Ron Whitney at <a href="mailto:rwhitney@guhsd.net">rwhitney@guhsd.net</a> or (619) 593-5605 if you can assist, or know someone who can.</p> <p>Ron Whitney, Granite Hills High School Social Science Teacher, encouraged his students to participate in the We The People competition this year and has facilitated their preparation for this event. Participating students have studied the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights for months in preparation for their roles as experts testifying on selected constitutional issues. Through delivering formal oral presentations and working collectively as a class, students enhance their knowledge of the Constitution and develop a deeper appreciation for their rights as American citizens. The competition is modeled after a congressional committee hearing.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>California is Failing at Civic Engagement</strong></p> <p>In a related story …</p> <p>One government failure and apathetic citizen at a time, civic illiteracy is eroding the Golden State. That’s the forecast for California, according to data recently collected on civic involvement in the democratic process.</p> <p>Start with the recently published California Civic Health Index that revealed that the state’s population is threatened by languor. Apathy is deadly for civic activity from volunteerism to voting to community service. Nonprofits California Forward, the Center for Civic Education and Pepperdine University’s Davenport Institute for Public Engagement collaborated to gauge civic proficiency statewide.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/28/california-is-failing-at-civic-engagement/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/28/california-is-failing-at-...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>GUHSD Superintendent Swenson’s Newsletter</strong></p> <p>There’s a link below to the latest edition of Superintendent Swenson's Newsline.</p> <p>You can check it out by clicking on: <a href="http://newsline.guhsd.net/">http://newsline.guhsd.net/</a></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Bullying Prevention</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>The Josephson Institute is paving the way for dissemination of ethics curriculum throughout the nation, and for the prevention of bullying. Their January 18th newsletter was devoted to bullying prevention, and contained these great articles which we thought we’d pass along to you:</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Decrease bullying by increasing empathy</strong><br /> Is bullying like a disease? For which the only antidote is a little taste of social exclusion? The findings of a recent study suggest that those who haven't been bullied underestimate its effects.</p> <p><a href="http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/01/07/decreasebullying/">http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/01/07/decreasebullying/</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Lesson plans to beat bullying and celebrate February’s holidays</strong><br /> In this lesson, students identify troublesome behaviors and use critical thinking to determine which Pillars they can lean on to counter them. Also: lesson plans for Black History Month, Valentine's Day, and President's Day.</p> <p><a href="http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/01/18/lesson-plans-to-beat-bullying-and-celebrate-februarys-holidays/">http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/01/18/lesson-plans-to-beat-bullyin...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>A One-of-a-Kind Find</strong><br /> If you're looking for a gourmet bullying-prevention resource, try Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun: Having the Courage to Be Who You Are, a spicy story about Lucy, a wide-eyed, curly-locked child with a uniquely flavored zest for life.</p> <p><a href="http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/01/04/a-one-of-a-kind-find/">http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/01/04/a-one-of-a-kind-find/</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Showing kids the way</strong><br /> We can combat bullying by punishing bullies, but we also need to prevent kids from becoming bullies in the first place. In a November column in the New York Times, David Bornstein writes about Roots of Empathy, a Canadian program that teaches children to be compassionate.</p> <p><a href="http://charactercounts.org/chron/2010/11/19/showing-kids-the-way/">http://charactercounts.org/chron/2010/11/19/showing-kids-the-way/</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Additionally, Edutopia ran these articles:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Bullying: How Educators Can Make Schools Safer</strong><br /> Schools can reduce incidents by adopting a schoolwide anti-harassment policy with a social and emotional perspective.</p> <p>Find it at <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/bullying-making-schools-safer">http://www.edutopia.org/bullying-making-schools-safer</a></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Service Learning: Lessons Beyond the Classroom from Edutopia</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>There is a great series of blogs in Edutopia regarding service learning in our schools:</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>How to Bring Service Learning to Your School</strong><br /> Edutopia blogger Maurice Elias offers easy tips for fostering civic engagement in our students.</p> <p>Find it at <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/service-learning-how-to">http://www.edutopia.org/blog/service-learning-how-to</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Academic Gains from Community Service </strong><br /> One school district weaves farm-focused service learning throughout the curriculum.</p> <p>Find it at <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/service-learning-fowler">http://www.edutopia.org/service-learning-fowler</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Service Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. </strong><br /> The Freedom Project helps teachers use the hard-fought history of racial equality to inspire power and perseverance.</p> <p>Find it at <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/sunflower-county-freedom-project">http://www.edutopia.org/sunflower-county-freedom-project</a></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>“Third Age" Program Provides Interesting Education for the Mature</strong></p> <p>Not even all of those who attend the University of the Third Age at the University of San Diego are quite clear on what the “third age” is.</p> <p>But Professor Pierre Vellas, who created the program in 1973 at a university in Toulouse, France, defined it as the stage of life after age 55. And his intention was to ensure that vital educational opportunities existed for retired people.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/17/third-age-program-provides-interesting-education/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/17/third-age-program-provide...</a></p> <p> <strong>San Diego High to Screen "Race to Nowhere" Documentary</strong></p> <p>San Diego High School on Tuesday night will screen “Race to Nowhere,” a documentary that focuses on issues public schools have grappled with in recent years.</p> <p>The film covers topics like cheating, burnout and stress found in American classrooms as students feel pressure to achieve. The documentary’s release follows that of “Waiting for Superman,” another high-profile and somewhat controversial education documentary.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/19/san-diego-high-screen-buzzed-about-documentary/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/19/san-diego-high-screen-buz...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Book Rentals Available for Community College Students</strong></p> <p>Students at Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges in El Cajon are now able to rent many textbooks rather than purchasing them.</p> <p>The partnership between the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District and Barnes &amp; Nobel College Bookstores allows students to rent a book for about 45 percent of the cost of buying one, according to district officials.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/26/book-rentals-available-community-college-students/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/26/book-rentals-available-co...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Incentive Program Aimed at Raising Test Scores</strong></p> <p>Hilltop Middle School’s 200 top performing test takers were treated to a barbecue celebration last week as part of the school’s new Power Pass incentive program. Those who scored 80 percent or better on two or more final exams qualified for the event.</p> <p>Read more by clicking on <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/27/incentive-program-aimed-raising-test-scores/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/27/incentive-program-aimed-r...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>School District Maneuvers on the Odd Side</strong></p> <p>The leaders of the Sweetwater Union High School District deserve praise for deciding not to follow through on plans to borrow $58 million in voter-approved bond funds to pay operating costs this fiscal year and to then backfill the bond borrowing with state funding arriving early in the 2011-12 fiscal year. But their willingness to entertain the scheme is alarming.</p> <p>Dianne Russo, Sweetwater Union’s chief financial officer, cites language in the California Education Code allowing a temporary transfer of funds. But the Education Code is trumped by the California Constitution, which says school bond funds cannot be used for operating expenses. What’s more, district auditors had already warned the district over similar borrowing in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 fiscal years.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/03/school-district-maneuvers-on-the-odd-side/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/03/school-district-maneuvers...</a></p> <p> <strong>Education: A Matter of National Security</strong></p> <p>A continuing surge in patriotism among young people – coupled with high unemployment – has made military service increasingly attractive to thousands of young adults entering the work force.<br /> But there is a challenge. A report by the nonprofit Mission: Readiness estimates that 75 percent of young Americans are not able to join the military – and one of the leading reasons is a failure in our education system.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/16/education-matter-national-security/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/16/education-matter-national...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Teens, A Decade of Lost Opportunities</strong></p> <p>If you hopped into a time machine – DeLorean or hot tub, doesn’t matter which – and traveled back to a fast-food operation at the start of the decade, you’d probably notice something different, but you might have a hard time putting your finger on it.</p> <p>Prices might be marginally lower, but that probably won’t be what’s bothering you: a value menu is a value menu, after all. The packaging might be a little bit different, but that’s not it either. It’s the staff that’s caught your eye. They seem so much younger than they are now, and there are so many more of them.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/27/teens-decade-lost-jobs/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/27/teens-decade-lost-jobs/</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Plan Offered to Overhaul Discipline of Teachers</strong></p> <p>Teachers accused of misconduct should have their cases decided within a speedy 100 days by a special examiner and not be cast into an interminable limbo of waiting, said Kenneth R. Feinberg, the arbitration expert, who investigated teacher discipline at the request of the American Federation of Teachers.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/education/20teachers.html?_r=1&amp;ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/education/20teachers.html?_r=1&amp;ref=edu...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test</strong></p> <p>Taking a test is not just a passive mechanism for assessing how much people know, according to new research. It actually helps people learn, and it works better than a number of other studying techniques.</p> <p>The research, published online Thursday in the journal Science, found that students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?_r=1&amp;ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?_r=1&amp;ref=education</a></p> <p> <strong>Few Students Show Proficiency in Science, Tests Show</strong></p> <p>On the most recent nationwide science test, about a third of fourth graders and a fifth of high school seniors scored at or above the proficiency level, according to results released Tuesday.</p> <p>Only one or two students out of every 100 displayed the level of mastery that the federal panel governing the tests defines as advanced, the government said.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/education/26test.html?ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/education/26test.html?ref=education</a></p> <p> <strong>G.O.P. Governors Take Aim at Teacher Tenure</strong></p> <p>Seizing on a national anxiety over poor student performance, many governors are taking aim at a bedrock tradition of public schools: teacher tenure.</p> <p>The momentum began over a year ago with President Obama’s call to measure and reward effective teaching, a challenge he repeated in last week’s State of the Union address.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/us/01tenure.html?adxnnl=1&amp;ref=education&amp;adxnnlx=1297022430-MaNsxJATPwiI/0Y7CPNpOg">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/us/01tenure.html?adxnnl=1&amp;ref=educatio...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>It May Be a Sputnik Moment, but Science Fairs Are Lagging</strong></p> <p>Rarely have school science fairs, a source of pride and panic for generations of American students, achieved such prominence on the national stage. President Obama held one at the White House last fall. And last week he said that America should celebrate its science fair winners like Sunday’s Super Bowl champions, or risk losing the nation’s competitive edge.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/us/05science.html?ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/us/05science.html?ref=education</a></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><ul class="links inline"><li class="addtoany first last"><span><span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 a2a_target addtoany_list" id="da2a_11"> <a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastcountymagazine.org%2Fdeane%25E2%2580%2599s-list-education-news-notes&amp;title=%20DEANE%E2%80%99S%20LIST%3A%20EDUCATION%20NEWS%20NOTES"><img src="/sites/all/modules/addtoany/images/share_save_171_16.png" width="171" height="16" alt="Share this"/></a> </span> </span></li></ul> Mon, 07 Feb 2011 02:07:48 +0000 miriamg 5427 at https://www.eastcountymagazine.org
DEANE'S LIST: EDUCATION NEWS NOTES
https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/deanes-list-education-news-notes <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 a2a_target addtoany_list" id="da2a_14"> <a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastcountymagazine.org%2Fdeanes-list-education-news-notes&amp;title=DEANE%27S%20LIST%3A%20%20%20EDUCATION%20NEWS%20NOTES"><img src="/sites/all/modules/addtoany/images/share_save_171_16.png" width="171" height="16" alt="Share this"/></a> </span> <div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-4 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6818"> January 2011 Articles</a></li></ul></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-5 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/922">San Diego East County Chamber of commerce</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/1219">education</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/1510">California education</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3925">Doug Deane</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/7034">education news</a></li></ul></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em><img width="130" vspace="6" align="left" border="1" hspace="6" height="156" src="http://www.dsdinc.com/files/r_doug.jpg" alt="" /></em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>January 20, 2011 (San Diego's East County)--The following local, state and national education news items are excerpted from a very informative e-newsletter published by Doug Deane, chair of the Business Education Committee at the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce. </em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>Our picks for Deane’s top education stories from the latest issue include:</em> </p> <p> • GUHSD Superintendent Swenson’s Newsletter<br /> • Vacancies on the Grossmont Union-High School District Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee<br /> • ‘No-Child’ Change has Bipartisan support<br /> • A Challenge to States and Districts: Policies That Put the Students First<br /> • High School to College: The New Alignment<br /> • Financial Aid Grants on the Rise<br /> • DREAM Act Boosts Attention on Illegal Immigrant College Students<br /> • Learning with Disabilities<br /> • Rethinking Advanced Placement<br /> • College’s Policy on Troubled Students Raises Questions<br /> • How California Ranks<br /> • Challenging Times: California Schools Cope with Adversity and the Imperative to Do More<br /> • School Finance Highlights 2010-11</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>GUHSD Superintendent Swenson’s Newsletter</strong><br /> Check out the latest edition of Superintendent Swenson's <em>Newsline </em>at this link:<br />  <a href="http://newsline.guhsd.net/">http://newsline.guhsd.net/</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong>Vacancies on the Grossmont Union High School District Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee</strong></p> <p>The Grossmont Union High School District is seeking applications to fill three (3) vacancies within the eleven-member Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC). The CBOC oversees the implementation of Proposition H, the $274 million general obligation bond measure passed in March 2004 to bring facility improvements and renovations to the district’s schools. In addition, the CBOC also oversees Proposition U, the $417 million general obligation bond measure passed in November 2008 to substantially complete the modernization of all District schools, provide classrooms and equipment for Career Technical Education, and construct a new high school in the Alpine/Blossom Valley area.</p> <p>Two (2) appointees will serve a two-year term beginning April 2011 in the capacity of “Community Member-at-Large” and will be eligible for a second two-year term. One (1) appointee will serve a two-year term beginning April 2011 in the capacity of “Parent-at-Large” and will also be eligible for a second two-year term.</p> <p><a href="/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/Bond%20Oversight%20Application%20Press%20Release.pdf" rel="nofollow">View the application press release here</a>.</p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong>'No Child' Change Has Bipartisan Support</strong></p> <p>Michael Harrison from Congressman Hunter’s office forwarded us this interesting article from the Washington Post, regarding likely changes to NCLB:</p> <p>President Obama will mount a fresh attempt this year to rewrite the No Child Left Behind education law, a top administration official said this week, and key congressional Republicans said they are ready to deal.</p> <p>"The president is ready to move on this," Education Secretary Arne Duncan told The Washington Post.</p> <p>Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of a subcommittee on elementary and secondary education, said there is bipartisan consensus that the 2002 law should be overhauled.</p> <p>"We have a lot of common ground," Hunter said. "We also see a major need. It's time to get it done."</p> <p>Read more by clicking on <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/11/AR2011011107014.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/11/AR201101...</a><br /> And there’s a related article at <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2011/01/obama_on_no_child_left_behind.html">http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2011/01/obama_on_no_chil...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong>A Challenge to States and Districts: Policies That Put Students First</strong></p> <p>Michelle Rhee’s organization, StudentsFirst.org, has just released their policy agenda for American school districts, saying,” In too many American schools, current laws, policies, and practices put adult interests ahead of students. The result is an increasingly broken education system that, if not corrected, will keep America from leading in the increasingly competitive global marketplace.”</p> <p>“This agenda is a call to action and a roadmap for state and local lawmakers who want to make the changes necessary to put American students back at the top of the international rankings.”</p> <p>You can download the entire policy statement by clicking on <a href="http://www.studentsfirst.org/page/-/StudentsFirst%20Policy%20Agenda%20.pdf?nocdn=1">http://www.studentsfirst.org/page/-/StudentsFirst%20Policy%20Agenda%20.p...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>High School to College: The New Alignment</strong></p> <p>Chancellor Cindy Miles, recently sent us a link to this great article in Education Week:</p> <p>For a number of years now, we have been hearing how high schools are not doing the job they need to do and that students remain woefully unprepared for college and careers. In fact, high schools have been doing exactly what we ask of them, but it is time to reassess what we ask of our secondary educational institutions and how we judge the job they do.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/01/03/15horowitz.h30.html?tkn=ULUF6qplR057opcOKi71tfJo3LkK147tORE1&amp;intc=es">http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/01/03/15horowitz.h30.html?tkn=ULU...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Financial Aid Grants on the Rise</strong></p> <p>Grossmont College distributed $21.8 million in financial aid during the 2009-10 academic year, well ahead of the $14.8 million made available in the previous year.</p> <p>And, said Michael Copenhaver, the college’s director of financial aid, the upward trend is continuing.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/11/financial-aid-grants-rise/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/11/financial-aid-grants-rise/</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>DREAM Act Boosts Attention on Illegal Immigrant College Students</strong></p> <p>An impromptu class where Mark Farrales taught other immigrant detainees English vocabulary brought him a sliver of normalcy while lost in legal limbo.</p> <p>Nouns and verbs helped Farrales avoid thinking about his pending deportation to the Philippines as he waited for five weeks behind high fences.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/12/dream-act-boosts-attention-illegal-immigrant-colle/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/12/dream-act-boosts-attentio...</a></p> <p> <strong>Learning With Disabilities</strong></p> <p>Rayne Nelson, a 21-year-old sophomore at Landmark College in Putney, Vt., does not let her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder throw her off track.</p> <p>Ms. Nelson is paying most of her own way at Landmark, a two-year college exclusively for students with learning disabilities and A.D.H.D. She wants to graduate on time this spring, and with tuition and fees alone at $48,000 a year — more than any other college in the nation — she cannot give in to distraction.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09landmark-t.html?_r=1&amp;ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09landmark-t.html?_r=...</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Rethinking Advanced Placement</strong></p> <p>WHEN Joan Carlson started teaching high school biology more than 30 years ago, the Advanced Placement textbook was daunting enough, at 36 chapters and 870 pages. But as an explosion of research into cells and genes reshapes our sense of how life evolves, the flood of new material has been staggering. Mrs. Carlson’s A.P. class in Worcester, Mass., now confronts a book with 56 chapters and 1,400 pages, along with a profusion of animated videos and Web-based aids that supplement the text.</p> <p>And what fuels the panic is that nearly every tongue-twisting term and microscopic fact is fair game for the year-end test that decides who will receive college credit for the course.<br /> “Some of the students look at the book and say, ‘My gosh, it’s just like an encyclopedia,’ ” Mrs. Carlson says. And when new A.P. teachers encounter it, “they almost want to start sobbing.”</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09ap-t.html?ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09ap-t.html?ref=educa...</a></p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong>College’s Policy on Troubled Students Raises Questions</strong></p> <p>Many people had a glimpse of the deep delusions and festering anger of Jared L. Loughner, but none seemed in a better position to connect the dots than officials at Pima Community College.</p> <p>After the release of detailed reports the college kept of Mr. Loughner’s bizarre outbursts and violent Internet fantasies, the focus has turned to whether it did all it could to prevent his apparent descent into explosive violence.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/us/14college.html?ref=education">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/us/14college.html?ref=education</a></p> <p><strong><br /> How California Ranks</strong></p> <p>Public education supports California's economic growth and creates opportunities for the state's youth. Given that, it is important for Californians to understand how much the state is investing in its schools and how that money is being spent. Comparing California with the nation and other similar states can provide a useful perspective in answering these questions, but such comparisons are complex and different organizations frequently pick and choose among the data for the numbers that best support their position.</p> <p>EdSource examined the available data sources and interpretations with care and also consulted extensively with experts when we encountered questions or inconsistencies. Throughout this report, you will find straightforward explanations of what we found and—as necessary—notes about the data we chose and why we chose it. Based on our research, we feel confident in reporting the following:</p> <p>• California's public schools serve the country's largest student population, one that is quite diverse and faces substantial challenges. (Page 3)<br /> • California's effort to support its schools financially does not quite match its capacity. (Pages 4-6)<br /> • California's per-pupil expenditure lags the national average, and the gap grows if labor costs are considered. (Page 7)<br /> • California's high labor costs and modest per-pupil expenditures mean that its school districts have low staff-to-pupil ratios compared with the country as a whole, with some staff categories particularly low. (Page 8)<br /> • California school districts are for the most part similar to the rest of the country in their spending patterns, with about two-thirds of funds going to instruction. (Page 9)</p> <p>Read more by clicking on <a href="http://www.edsource.org/pub10-how-ca-ranks.html">http://www.edsource.org/pub10-how-ca-ranks.html</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Challenging Times: California Schools Cope with Adversity and the Imperative To Do More</strong></p> <p>California school districts are being expected to "do more with less." They face critical and competing pressures to improve academic achievement while remaining fiscally solvent in a time of increasing budgetary pressures.</p> <p>This report examines the financial circumstances of California's school districts and the actions they have been taking to cope with these competing demands. It looks at the various forces that govern both the revenues they receive and the expenditures they make, and the added pressures they face due to the insolvency of California's state budget and the fact that the 2010-11 budget was the latest in the state's history.<br /> Read more at <a href="http://www.edsource.org/pub10-challenging-times.html">http://www.edsource.org/pub10-challenging-times.html</a></p> <p><strong><br /> School Finance Highlights 2010-11</strong></p> <p>California entered 2010–11 with a longstanding imbalance between ongoing spending and income.</p> <p>To help close that gap, state policymakers suspended Proposition 98, the minimum funding guarantee for K–12 schools and community colleges. In total, revenues for K–12 schools are down nearly 10% this year compared with 2007–08. Yet more cuts loom as the state faces a massive 2-year budget shortfall, including $6.1 billion in 2010–11.</p> <p>This EdSource report discusses the budgetary decisions made in 2010–11 that are affecting K–12 education this year and going forward. It also makes clear how tightly linked school funding and the budget are in California.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.edsource.org/pub11-school-finance-highlights.html">http://www.edsource.org/pub11-school-finance-highlights.html</a><br />  </p> </div></div></div><ul class="links inline"><li class="addtoany first last"><span><span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 a2a_target addtoany_list" id="da2a_13"> <a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastcountymagazine.org%2Fdeanes-list-education-news-notes&amp;title=DEANE%27S%20LIST%3A%20%20%20EDUCATION%20NEWS%20NOTES"><img src="/sites/all/modules/addtoany/images/share_save_171_16.png" width="171" height="16" alt="Share this"/></a> </span> </span></li></ul> Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:45:33 +0000 miriamg 5274 at https://www.eastcountymagazine.org https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/deanes-list-education-news-notes#comments