NRU education edition

Here is one that was supposed to go in the last round ... the LAUSD budget.  I do hope those activists keep tabs on where the money goes and how it is used.

This story is almost as much about the recession as it is about education.  But, I guess it is one story of how the recession is affecting education.  It is also part of the story we like to pretend doesn't exist - the amorphous middle class is

So, how does the regime of high stakes testing affect schools?  How do charter schools impact other schools in the community? Who are these charters and magnets serving, primarily?  These two articles detail the demise of one parochial school and the changes wrought in admission standards at a magnet high school.

This story is supposed to be about a game show and a guy who won a lot of money which he shared with a program he helped to get off the ground.  But it is really much more about the program -- one that helps students who have a talent for basketball to make the most of the educational opportunities available to them.  I love it.  This is a sports program I can get behind!

For all those teachers out there who never knew inspiration they provided, this one's for you.  I loved this storycorps.  Ok, which one don't I love? It's true, I love many of them, but this one was really worth it! What is truly lovely about this is that the student called his teacher to tell him!  The teacher's humble response makes the story even more powerful:

"I was flabbergasted," Siedlecki remembers. "I said, 'Of all the people in your entire career, you want to thank me?'
"It was the same feeling I had when ... my kids were born," Siedlecki continues. "I started to cry. It made me feel really important that I had that influence."

The Mississippi Blues Trail Curriculum -- I have always wanted to create a curriculum based on historical markers, this one hits the spot on so many levels.  I wish them success.

And in other curricular news, the River Rover is out and about teaching young folks about the Los Angeles River, yes, it's a real river.  A big thank you to the tenacious Friends of the Los Angeles River.  The children of Los Angeles deserve to learn about this important water source and flood abatement tool ... especially in these times of drought, they need to know the water comes from somewhere, and goes somewhere, and is important to all of us.

Guess what? Incarcerated children and youth are not getting adequately educated.  On the one hand, no surprise there since man of the poor children in Los Angeles county are likewise not getting adequately educated.  On the other hand, the article points out how much money we could save by giving these kids the chance to stay out of jail once they are freed.  We are shooting ourselves in the foot, again.

It seems like we have been rife with cheating scandals from the schools in Atlanta and DC, to the military facilities, to that high school in the OC and now the schools in India.  High stakes do not appear to translate into high standards or even high achievement except at creating cheating schemes.  At some point, we must come to understand that teaching and learning is not served by measurement... no, I don't know what I would put in its place.

This is an early piece on the court case in California designed to neuter the unions.  I just forgot to post it - way back when the trial started.   Now we wait for a verdict...