Friday, September 21, 2007
White students' noose hanging, suggestive of racist lynchings, OK under Louisiana law?
First the story of the Jena 6 from Wade Goodman at NPR:
All Things Considered, July 30, 2007 audio: As at hundreds of other high schools across America, black and white students at Jena High School in Jena, La., rarely sit together. The white students gather under a big shade tree in the courtyard, while black students congregate near the auditorium.
But last year, a few days into the first semester, a new student, a freshman African American, asked the principal at an assembly, if he, too, could sit under the tree. He was told he could sit anywhere he liked.
Three white boys on the rodeo team apparently disagreed. The next morning, there were three nooses hanging from the shade tree in the courtyard.
Anthony Jackson is one of two black teachers at Jena High School. He laughs ruefully, as he recalls watching the nooses swaying in the tree.
"I jokingly said to another teacher, 'One's for you, one's for me. Who's the other one for?'"
Many in Jena's black community wanted the three white students expelled. But when the white superintendent and other school administrators investigated, they decided the nooses were a prank. Instead of expulsion or arrest, the three received in-school suspension.
Blacks called the punishment a double standard.
"White students can do things and receive a slap on the hand," Jackson says. But authorities "want to throw the book at blacks," he adds.
An Incident Escalates
A few of the black athletes, the stars of the football team, took the lead in resisting. The day after the nooses were hung, they reportedly organized a silent protest under the tree.
The school called an assembly and summoned the police and the district attorney. Black students sat on one side, whites on the other. District Attorney Reed Walters warned the students he could be their friend or their worst enemy. He lifted his fountain pen and said, "With one stroke of my pen, I can make your life disappear."
That evening, black students told their parents that the DA was looking right at them. Walters denies that. Billy Fowler, a member of the school board, doesn't believe it, either.
"He said some pretty strong things," says Fowler, "but I don't think he was directing it to anyone in particular. I think he just wanted people to calm it down."
But things didn't calm down. Some whites felt triumphant; some blacks were resentful. Fights began to break out at the high school. But that year, the football team was having an unusually good season and the black athletes were a major reason why. So while there were fights throughout the fall, nobody wanted to take any action that would hurt the team.
When the season was over, so was the truce. On Nov. 30, somebody burned down Jena High.
Whites thought blacks were responsible, blacks thought the opposite.
Charges and Public Outrage
The next night, 16-year-old Robert Bailey and a few black friends tried to enter a party attended mostly by whites. When Bailey got inside, he was attacked and beaten. The next day, tensions escalated at a local convenience store. Bailey exchanged words with a white student who had been at the party. The white boy ran back to his truck and pulled out a pistol grip shotgun. Bailey ran after him and wrestled him for the gun.
After some scuffling, Bailey and his friends took the gun away and brought it home. Bailey was eventually charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace. The white student who pulled the weapon was not charged at all.
Photo by Bill Haber, AP: Carwin Jones,
(center), talks to his father, John Jenkins,
outside the LaSalle Parish Courthouse in Jena, La.
Jones is one of five black students still facing
attempted second-degree murder charges
for beating Justin Barker, who is white,
last December. Tina Jones, left, is the mother of
Bryant Purvis, another student charged.
A sixth black student has already been
convicted on lesser charges.
The following Monday, Dec.4, a white student named Justin Barker was loudly bragging to friends in the school hallway that Robert Bailey had been whipped by a white man on Friday night. When Barker walked into the courtyard, he was attacked by a group of black students.
The first punch knocked Barker out and he was kicked several times in the head. But the injuries turned out to be superficial. Barker was examined by doctors and released; he went out to a social function later that evening.
Six black students were arrested and charged with aggravated assault. But District Attorney Reed Walters increased the charges to attempted second-degree murder. That provoked a storm of black outrage.
"Jena has always been a racist town," says Bailey's mother, Caseptla Bailey. "We've understood that….It has been that way since I've lived here."
But school board member Billy Fowler disagrees.
As far as racial problems, our community is no different than any other community," Fowler says.
Fowler is one of the few leaders with the school administration or local law enforcement willing to talk to the media. The principal, the school superintendent and the district attorney all declined repeated calls for comment.
Fowler says he is appalled at reports by outside media outlets that he claims portray Jena as a racist community. But he and many other white leaders agree that the charges are unfair.
"I think it's safe to say some punishment has not been passed out fairly and evenly," Fowler says. "I think probably blacks may have gotten a little tougher discipline through the years.
"Our town is not a bunch of bigots. They're Christian, law-abiding citizens that wouldn't mistreat anybody."
But the black students and their families feel mistreated. The first to go to court was Mychal Bell, the team's star running and defensive back. Bell's court-appointed lawyer refused to mount any defense at all, instead resting his case immediately after two days of government presentation. An all-white jury found Bell guilty.
A talented athlete, Bell had a real shot at a Division I football scholarship. He now faces up to 22 years in prison. The other five black students await trial on attempted murder charges.
Over the weekend, Jena High School had the big shade tree in the courtyard chopped into firewood.
This from the Press Association:
School fight case sparks race march
Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of the little Louisiana town of Jena, in America's Deep South, in support of six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate. (Photo by Damion White, NY Times)
The crowd broke into chants of "Free the Jena Six" as civil rights leader the Rev Al Sharpton arrived at the local courthouse with family members of the jailed teens.
Martin Luther King III, son of the slain civil rights leader, said the scene was reminiscent of earlier civil rights struggles. He said punishment of some sort may be in order for the six defendants, but "the justice system isn't applied the same to all crimes and all people."
The six teens were charged not long after the local prosecutor declined to charge three white high school students who placed nooses in a tree on their high school grounds - evoking for some the image of lynchings in the old South.
Five of the black teenagers were initially charged with attempted murder, but that charge was reduced to battery for all but one. The sixth teenager was charged as a juvenile.
"This is the most blatant example of disparity in the justice system that we've seen," the Rev Al Sharpton said on US television before arriving in Jena. "You can't have two standards of justice."
"We didn't bring race into it," he said. "Those people who hung up the nooses brought race into it."
The nooses appeared after a black student expressed interest in sitting under a tree where whites usually congregated, and inflamed racial tensions in the town. The charges against the six teenagers further escalated tensions.
The district attorney who is prosecuti[ng] the teenagers, Reed Walters, denied on Wednesday that racism was involved in the charges.
He said he did not charge the white students accused of hanging up the nooses because he could find no Louisiana law under which they could be charged. In the beating case, he said, four of the defendants were of adult age under Louisiana law and the only juvenile charged as an adult, Mychal Bell, had a prior criminal record.
From the New York Times: Louisiana Protest Echoes the Civil Rights Era
Eugene Robinson's OpEd in the Washington Post: Drive Time for the 'Jena 6'
Thursday, September 20, 2007
NCLB Plan Risks ‘Slippery Slope’
By Howard P. “Buck” McKeon
This year’s reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act has extraordinarily high stakes, and with high stakes comes heated rhetoric.
After more than a year of public hearings and private consultation with parents, educators, and experts, Congress is drawing nearer to introduction of a bill to reauthorize the landmark law. Unfortunately, it seems the closer we come to introducing a bill, the more our dialogue deteriorates into finger-pointing and a game of “he said, she said.”
U.S. Rep. George Miller of California, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, has offered a thoughtful Commentary entitled “Ending Accountability Loopholes.” His premise is one with which surely no one could argue. A fundamental principle of NCLB was, and is, its unprecedented commitment to accountability for results. Put another way, the law for the first time ever demands that in exchange for billions of dollars in federal education spending, schools must show academic progress for their students.
I strongly agree with Chairman Miller’s assessment that loopholes in the law must be closed, and the issues he identified are prime candidates for bipartisan reform. However, rather than blaming the U.S. secretary of education, I believe our time would be better spent focusing on the future of the law, not its past implementation. But even more than that, I strongly disagree that the solution to our accountability challenges is to close some loopholes while opening others.
The issue of N-size—the minimum number of children needed in a subgroup for that group to be counted in determining adequate yearly progress, or AYP, under the law—is a valid concern. I agree that reducing the maximum N-size to a reasonable figure, such as the cap of 30 proposed in the current legislative draft, is a simple, common-sense solution to ensure that significant student populations are not excluded from NCLB’s accountability systems.
Chairman Miller also takes exception to the use of “confidence intervals” in calculating student proficiency. Here, too, we agree that by inserting these mechanisms into their accountability systems, states may intentionally or unintentionally be skirting genuine accountability and shortchanging their students. These intervals add unnecessary complexity and confusion for schools and states, not to mention the parents who need good, reliable information about student achievement.
Chairman Miller has proposed a cap on confidence intervals, which he describes as margins of error or “wiggle room.” I appreciate that proposal, and would advocate closing this loophole completely by eliminating altogether the use of this statistical subterfuge that could mask the true number of students who are not proficient in reading and mathematics.
Unfortunately, in closing some accountability loopholes, we run the risk of opening new ones through the creation of new mechanisms for assessing school performance—mechanisms that could lead us down a slippery slope of complexity and confusion.
Proposals to introduce new metrics for school performance pose a real threat to the law’s focus on the fundamentals of reading and math. They could dilute current accountability structures and divert attention from the most critical areas. These so-called multiple measures could also greatly increase the number of tests students are required to take. That means increasing the number of tests teachers are required to administer and states are required to develop, all of which runs counter to the most common refrains we’ve heard from parents and teachers.
I also have grave concerns about any proposal that would limit the options available to parents of children in underperforming schools. A hallmark of the No Child Left Behind law is its commitment to offering parents new options when their children are in schools that aren’t making progress. This includes the option to transfer to a better-performing public or charter school or to receive free tutoring, also known as supplemental educational services, or SES. The SES provisions are particularly important to students who may have fallen behind in core subject areas. By getting help quickly, students can catch up. But without the help and support they need, students can fall further behind with each passing academic year that they remain trapped in underperforming schools.
That is why I have proposed making supplemental services available to students even earlier, after two years in which a school does not make AYP. I cannot lend my support to any bill that significantly diminishes existing options for parents. I think we should be doing more to offer meaningful educational choices, not less.
There’s another area of accountability that I think all too often is left out of the discussion, and that’s the issue of highly qualified teachers. Too often, we separate the issue of teacher quality from the broader conversation about accountability and results for students. But research and experience have shown us that one of the single most important factors when it comes to improving student achievement is the quality of the teachers in the classrooms.
Chairman Miller and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings deserve great credit for their willingness to explore innovative strategies to encourage and reward teachers for their success in improving student achievement. It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that the major teachers’ unions have lined up in opposition to even the very modest proposals that have been floated to provide these types of incentives to teachers.
I have long been an advocate of pay-for-performance mechanisms that give teachers the credit they deserve for student achievement. I have championed the creation of a Teacher Incentive Fund to help states design and implement systems for rewarding teacher performance. I commend both Chairman Miller and Secretary Spellings for standing up to the education establishment on this important issue, and I urge them to work together to include even stronger teacher incentives in the final legislation. After all, teacher quality and accountability go hand in hand.
The debate over NCLB reauthorization stirs passion in stakeholders of all stripes, and it’s no surprise that critics are speaking with loud voices. As policymakers, I do not believe we need to join the shouting match. Instead, we can work together on common-sense reforms that close accountability loopholes without opening new ones; add new options for parents without taking away existing ones; and adhere to the principles that produced a bipartisan bill in the first place. We have made great progress by listening to stakeholders and, most recently, releasing a discussion draft and seeking public input. We have not yet produced legislation that achieves our shared objectives, but with continued cooperation, I believe we can.
This from Education Week.
This year’s reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act has extraordinarily high stakes, and with high stakes comes heated rhetoric.
After more than a year of public hearings and private consultation with parents, educators, and experts, Congress is drawing nearer to introduction of a bill to reauthorize the landmark law. Unfortunately, it seems the closer we come to introducing a bill, the more our dialogue deteriorates into finger-pointing and a game of “he said, she said.”
U.S. Rep. George Miller of California, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, has offered a thoughtful Commentary entitled “Ending Accountability Loopholes.” His premise is one with which surely no one could argue. A fundamental principle of NCLB was, and is, its unprecedented commitment to accountability for results. Put another way, the law for the first time ever demands that in exchange for billions of dollars in federal education spending, schools must show academic progress for their students.
I strongly agree with Chairman Miller’s assessment that loopholes in the law must be closed, and the issues he identified are prime candidates for bipartisan reform. However, rather than blaming the U.S. secretary of education, I believe our time would be better spent focusing on the future of the law, not its past implementation. But even more than that, I strongly disagree that the solution to our accountability challenges is to close some loopholes while opening others.
The issue of N-size—the minimum number of children needed in a subgroup for that group to be counted in determining adequate yearly progress, or AYP, under the law—is a valid concern. I agree that reducing the maximum N-size to a reasonable figure, such as the cap of 30 proposed in the current legislative draft, is a simple, common-sense solution to ensure that significant student populations are not excluded from NCLB’s accountability systems.
Chairman Miller also takes exception to the use of “confidence intervals” in calculating student proficiency. Here, too, we agree that by inserting these mechanisms into their accountability systems, states may intentionally or unintentionally be skirting genuine accountability and shortchanging their students. These intervals add unnecessary complexity and confusion for schools and states, not to mention the parents who need good, reliable information about student achievement.
Chairman Miller has proposed a cap on confidence intervals, which he describes as margins of error or “wiggle room.” I appreciate that proposal, and would advocate closing this loophole completely by eliminating altogether the use of this statistical subterfuge that could mask the true number of students who are not proficient in reading and mathematics.
Unfortunately, in closing some accountability loopholes, we run the risk of opening new ones through the creation of new mechanisms for assessing school performance—mechanisms that could lead us down a slippery slope of complexity and confusion.
Proposals to introduce new metrics for school performance pose a real threat to the law’s focus on the fundamentals of reading and math. They could dilute current accountability structures and divert attention from the most critical areas. These so-called multiple measures could also greatly increase the number of tests students are required to take. That means increasing the number of tests teachers are required to administer and states are required to develop, all of which runs counter to the most common refrains we’ve heard from parents and teachers.
I also have grave concerns about any proposal that would limit the options available to parents of children in underperforming schools. A hallmark of the No Child Left Behind law is its commitment to offering parents new options when their children are in schools that aren’t making progress. This includes the option to transfer to a better-performing public or charter school or to receive free tutoring, also known as supplemental educational services, or SES. The SES provisions are particularly important to students who may have fallen behind in core subject areas. By getting help quickly, students can catch up. But without the help and support they need, students can fall further behind with each passing academic year that they remain trapped in underperforming schools.
That is why I have proposed making supplemental services available to students even earlier, after two years in which a school does not make AYP. I cannot lend my support to any bill that significantly diminishes existing options for parents. I think we should be doing more to offer meaningful educational choices, not less.
There’s another area of accountability that I think all too often is left out of the discussion, and that’s the issue of highly qualified teachers. Too often, we separate the issue of teacher quality from the broader conversation about accountability and results for students. But research and experience have shown us that one of the single most important factors when it comes to improving student achievement is the quality of the teachers in the classrooms.
Chairman Miller and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings deserve great credit for their willingness to explore innovative strategies to encourage and reward teachers for their success in improving student achievement. It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that the major teachers’ unions have lined up in opposition to even the very modest proposals that have been floated to provide these types of incentives to teachers.
I have long been an advocate of pay-for-performance mechanisms that give teachers the credit they deserve for student achievement. I have championed the creation of a Teacher Incentive Fund to help states design and implement systems for rewarding teacher performance. I commend both Chairman Miller and Secretary Spellings for standing up to the education establishment on this important issue, and I urge them to work together to include even stronger teacher incentives in the final legislation. After all, teacher quality and accountability go hand in hand.
The debate over NCLB reauthorization stirs passion in stakeholders of all stripes, and it’s no surprise that critics are speaking with loud voices. As policymakers, I do not believe we need to join the shouting match. Instead, we can work together on common-sense reforms that close accountability loopholes without opening new ones; add new options for parents without taking away existing ones; and adhere to the principles that produced a bipartisan bill in the first place. We have made great progress by listening to stakeholders and, most recently, releasing a discussion draft and seeking public input. We have not yet produced legislation that achieves our shared objectives, but with continued cooperation, I believe we can.
This from Education Week.
Draft Bill Heats Up NCLB-Renewal Debate
House panel floats plan to adjust law’s accountability measures.
The release this week of a preliminary proposal for reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act starts a busy fall in Congress, as both the House and the Senate try to revamp the NCLB accountability system and ramp up efforts to improve struggling schools.
Lobbyists and advocates spent the last week of the August congressional recess reading through the 435-page draft bill that outlines key House members’ plans to change the accountability system by measuring students’ academic growth and adding other indicators to those in reading and mathematics.
Most education groups reacted cautiously to the draft as they considered the impact of changes proposed in the House Education and Labor Committee document, which committee leaders called a “work in progress” in an open letter to “education stakeholders” .
“The committee has not endorsed this staff discussion draft,” wrote the panel’s chairman, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and his colleagues. “However, we believe it represents a starting point from which to receive input.”
The ranking Republican on the committee, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, also signed the Aug. 27 letter, as did the chairman and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
On the Senate side, lawmakers worked on an NCLB bill throughout the August recess and are aiming to have their bill win the Senate’s approval by the end of the year, said Melissa Wagoner, a spokeswoman for the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee....
This from Education Week.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Teacher 'had sex with pupil while driving bus'
This from the Telegraph:The head of a school sixth form engaged in a sex act with one of his pupils while driving a school minibus, a court heard today.
Andrew Riley, a married father-of-two, spoke to a colleague on a mobile phone as the 17-year-old girl performed a further sex act upon him, Preston Crown Court was told. Giving evidence today, the alleged victim also described how the teacher allegedly gave her cocaine during two nights they spent together in a Manchester hotel.
"I'd gone to the toilet and he'd put the cocaine out in lines on the desk that was in the hotel room," she said. "Then Andrew did a line or two."
When asked if she had taken any, she replied: "Yes."
Riley, of Wentworth Drive, Lancaster, denies two counts of an abuse of trust and sexual activity with a child and a single count of offering to supply cocaine between May and July 2005.
It is alleged the head of sixth form at Baines High School in Poulton, Lancs told his wife he was attending a parents evening in order to meet the girl.
Dennis Watson, prosecuting, read out pages of Yahoo Instant Messages recovered from the girl's computer.
One message from the girl referred to their alleged minibus encounter: "How funny is it that some year 12s will be sitting where we had sex and I can't believe you spoke to Tindle on the phone... I'm impressed."
The court heard that she sent him a topless picture of her over the internet, and he sent a video to her.
She told the court: "It was a video of him removing his boxers, from the front. I was showing my breasts while he was showing everything."
Mr Watson said he sent her a message saying: "Can you believe you have got a video of the head of your year getting his shorts off?"
The girl allegedly wrote back saying "Trust me", to which he replied: "I have to because you could get me locked up."
The jury heard that Riley repeatedly told the girl to delete the videos he had sent, and wrote: "If this relationship goes tits up, you could batter me."
After the girl went away to study at Oxford, the relationship cooled and she eventually showed her old school the email messages. The police were then called in.
Riley told officers he "emphatically denies" having sex with the teenager or supplying her with cocaine.
He did not deny spending nights in hotels with her, but denied any sexual activity took place, the court heard.
New high in Kentucky's college degree awards
LOUISVILLE - The state's public universities and colleges reached a record recently, handing out more than 43,900 degrees and credentials during the last academic year, officials said.
The 43,902 degrees and credentials issued during the 2006-07 school year marked a 3.3 percent increase from the previous year, state officials said Friday. It also continues a trend that started in 1997, when Kentucky lawmakers passed legislation aimed at boosting higher education for citizens.
"This is excellent news," said Charles McGrew, director of information and research for the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. "It just continues to go up every year."
The Kentucky Community and Technical College System accounted for more than half of the awards last year that were either diplomas, certificates and associate's degrees. Meanwhile, state schools awarded more than 14,700 bachelor's degrees.
David Adkisson, president and chief executive of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, said the numbers were good news. "Business people are increasingly interested in a skilled work force because that's the only way to remain competitive in an information-driven society," he said.
The University of Louisville had the largest growth among state schools. U of L increased the number of bachelor's degrees it awarded by 3.3 percent to 2,328. Meanwhile, the University of Kentucky conferred 3,613 bachelor's degrees, the most in state history.
Kentucky's goal is to double the number of adults with bachelor's degrees to 791,000 by 2020.
This from the Cincinnati Post.
The 43,902 degrees and credentials issued during the 2006-07 school year marked a 3.3 percent increase from the previous year, state officials said Friday. It also continues a trend that started in 1997, when Kentucky lawmakers passed legislation aimed at boosting higher education for citizens.
"This is excellent news," said Charles McGrew, director of information and research for the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. "It just continues to go up every year."
The Kentucky Community and Technical College System accounted for more than half of the awards last year that were either diplomas, certificates and associate's degrees. Meanwhile, state schools awarded more than 14,700 bachelor's degrees.
David Adkisson, president and chief executive of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, said the numbers were good news. "Business people are increasingly interested in a skilled work force because that's the only way to remain competitive in an information-driven society," he said.
The University of Louisville had the largest growth among state schools. U of L increased the number of bachelor's degrees it awarded by 3.3 percent to 2,328. Meanwhile, the University of Kentucky conferred 3,613 bachelor's degrees, the most in state history.
Kentucky's goal is to double the number of adults with bachelor's degrees to 791,000 by 2020.
This from the Cincinnati Post.
Universities need money and energy to maintain momentum
Somewhere at the top of the next Kentucky governor's to-do list must be a push to rev up state government support for our publicly assisted universities.
I say "publicly assisted" because state colleges and universities increasingly have had to develop their own sources of funding -- not just by jacking up tuition, although that certainly has been a frequent resort in recent years, but also by competing for more research money and expanding their lists of private givers.
Only 18 percent of the University of Kentucky's budget comes from Frankfort.
In that sense, taxpayers are getting a real bargain, especially at the Kentucky institutions that are getting better and better, and earning more distinction and recognition in the American higher education community. ...
...While you were spending time at the water cooler speculating on who would complete the most passes, Brian Brohm or Andre' Woodson, UK president Lee Todd was embarking on a "See Blue" tour across the state, and the reference isn't to the color of football jerseys.
Along with the UK provost, deans and others, Todd will be selling the importance of a college degree and explaining his school's push to grant more of them, while earning a place among the nation's top 20 public research campuses.
He's right. Kentucky deserves to have a university on that list.
In a message to the state last week, Todd pointed out that both UK and U of L "have dramatically increased their efforts, hiring faculty and earning more external resources to push the boundaries of discovery…." Last year, UK's research expenditures reached a record $324 million, and that's no abstraction, unrelated to the daily life of Kentuckians. ...
...A college degree shows up not only in bigger paychecks but in "greater tax revenue and a stronger democracy."
The statistics show that "no matter how you classify it -- intellectual curiosity, empathy, etc. -- those with the highest degrees were more likely than others to say it's important to understand the opinions of others."
This from David Hawpe at the Courier-Journal.
I say "publicly assisted" because state colleges and universities increasingly have had to develop their own sources of funding -- not just by jacking up tuition, although that certainly has been a frequent resort in recent years, but also by competing for more research money and expanding their lists of private givers.
Only 18 percent of the University of Kentucky's budget comes from Frankfort.
In that sense, taxpayers are getting a real bargain, especially at the Kentucky institutions that are getting better and better, and earning more distinction and recognition in the American higher education community. ...
...While you were spending time at the water cooler speculating on who would complete the most passes, Brian Brohm or Andre' Woodson, UK president Lee Todd was embarking on a "See Blue" tour across the state, and the reference isn't to the color of football jerseys.
Along with the UK provost, deans and others, Todd will be selling the importance of a college degree and explaining his school's push to grant more of them, while earning a place among the nation's top 20 public research campuses.
He's right. Kentucky deserves to have a university on that list.
In a message to the state last week, Todd pointed out that both UK and U of L "have dramatically increased their efforts, hiring faculty and earning more external resources to push the boundaries of discovery…." Last year, UK's research expenditures reached a record $324 million, and that's no abstraction, unrelated to the daily life of Kentuckians. ...
...A college degree shows up not only in bigger paychecks but in "greater tax revenue and a stronger democracy."
The statistics show that "no matter how you classify it -- intellectual curiosity, empathy, etc. -- those with the highest degrees were more likely than others to say it's important to understand the opinions of others."
This from David Hawpe at the Courier-Journal.
College life 101
You can buy all the coolest and newest dorm room supplies. You can buy your books, schedule your classes and fill your closet with official college-team sportswear. But nothing totally prepares one for your first week of college. My first five weeks at the University of Kentucky were nothing short of amazing. . .
Last month, I was raring to go. My parents moved me into my dorm and then left me to fend for myself on UK's campus, which was abuzz with move-in's, lawn parties, movies on big screens and free food everywhere. The awesome official "K-Week" activities included a charter bus ride to Meijer Mania, where there was yet more free stuff and promotional sales. There was a Student Center Spectacular and an open-house in the new "hub" of the W.T. Young Library.
On Sunday night there was a picnic with UK's first lady, Patsy Todd. But Monday was the most awesome experience of all. More than 1,000 UK students and staff gathered on Haggin Field and then fanned out to perfom mission work in the Lexington area. More than 5,000 hours of community service were performed at 63 sites on that day alone. I worked with five other girls at the Explorium, a Lexington children's museum. We painted primer on the walls of a huge children's playroom in the middle of downtown Lexington.
Then, on Wed., Aug. 22, classes started, and I'm just now coming up for air. It's been more difficult than I anticipated. Much is expected of students at UK -- many hours of reading, writing and independent study. I really wasn't ready to work this hard, but I can honestly say that I LOVE TO LEARN. I love being with professors who really know their stuff, who want their students to learn and to succeed, and who engage students to help propel them toward successful careers. . .
My motto for college freshmen is "Engage Yourself." But classes and hours of homework aren't the only engaging elements of campus life. There's also the sheer excitement of college sports, and the campus spirit on game day. I've also made new friends in the fellowship of a campus ministry, and all of this, my friends, is what college is all about!
This Op Ed by Rebecca Owens, from the Courier-Journal.
Last month, I was raring to go. My parents moved me into my dorm and then left me to fend for myself on UK's campus, which was abuzz with move-in's, lawn parties, movies on big screens and free food everywhere. The awesome official "K-Week" activities included a charter bus ride to Meijer Mania, where there was yet more free stuff and promotional sales. There was a Student Center Spectacular and an open-house in the new "hub" of the W.T. Young Library.
On Sunday night there was a picnic with UK's first lady, Patsy Todd. But Monday was the most awesome experience of all. More than 1,000 UK students and staff gathered on Haggin Field and then fanned out to perfom mission work in the Lexington area. More than 5,000 hours of community service were performed at 63 sites on that day alone. I worked with five other girls at the Explorium, a Lexington children's museum. We painted primer on the walls of a huge children's playroom in the middle of downtown Lexington.
Then, on Wed., Aug. 22, classes started, and I'm just now coming up for air. It's been more difficult than I anticipated. Much is expected of students at UK -- many hours of reading, writing and independent study. I really wasn't ready to work this hard, but I can honestly say that I LOVE TO LEARN. I love being with professors who really know their stuff, who want their students to learn and to succeed, and who engage students to help propel them toward successful careers. . .
My motto for college freshmen is "Engage Yourself." But classes and hours of homework aren't the only engaging elements of campus life. There's also the sheer excitement of college sports, and the campus spirit on game day. I've also made new friends in the fellowship of a campus ministry, and all of this, my friends, is what college is all about!
This Op Ed by Rebecca Owens, from the Courier-Journal.
National experts question UK's use of smoke in dorm fire drills
LEXINGTON: 17 Sept - Theatrical smoke will roll through the corridors of Ingels Hall tonight in a drill meant to simulate a real fire.
UK fire marshals say the unannounced twist on a fire drill helps prepare students, staff and the fire department for an emergency.
But some national and local experts question whether the practice could create an emergency instead."I would be concerned because when you're in a dorm situation you have different languages, disabilities, health issues and lots of different people coming in and out," said Ken Farmer, branch chief of prevention and leadership for the U.S. Fire Administration, a division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"Not everyone will understand it's a drill. What if a student went through the smoke and hit something?"Sherry Kenyon, secretary and treasurer of the national Center for Campus Fire Safety and fire safety educator for the fire department in Boulder, Colo., said she uses smoke to train resident advisers at the University of Colorado, but they know about it before the drills.
"You have to be really clear on the learning objective in such a drill," Kenyon said. "I'm afraid that creating a fire situation that people don't know about beforehand might send mixed messages. I don't believe in scaring people. No one likes to be taught by being tricked." ...
...The first drill, at Keeneland Hall on Sept. 10, offered some learning opportunities, [UK Assistant Fire Marshal Greg] Williamson said."One young lady said there was no other way for her to get out when we questioned her as to why she came through the smoke," he said. "There are three other stairwells she could have exited from."In all, 12 students came through the smoke instead of finding an alternative exit, he said. ...
...Stu Silberman, superintendent of Fayette County Public Schools, had similar sentiments and said he would not use smoke in school fire drills.
"I think that, at least in my opinion, you don't want kids thinking you are crying wolf," he said.
"You just run your drills with the idea you're preparing for the real thing. In my 34 years of experience, I've found that if the teachers and staff take it seriously, then the students will too."
[Maj. Mike ] Bossert, of the Lexington Fire Department, doesn't think the smoke should affect students' reactions.
"There is no issue with us crying wolf because if everyone is doing what they're supposed to be, then everyone would be evacuating during a drill," he said.
Tiffani Prichard, a psychology junior and RA at Keeneland Hall, said the Sept. 10 drill caused some panic and that some of her residents were in tears.
Daniel Root, a linguistics sophomore and RA at Keeneland, said the explanation after the drill calmed people down.
"I think that if they didn't explain the smoke it would have been a bad idea," Root said, "but after the drill the fire marshals had a debriefing outside that explained everything."
This from the Kentucky Kernel.
UK fire marshals say the unannounced twist on a fire drill helps prepare students, staff and the fire department for an emergency.
But some national and local experts question whether the practice could create an emergency instead."I would be concerned because when you're in a dorm situation you have different languages, disabilities, health issues and lots of different people coming in and out," said Ken Farmer, branch chief of prevention and leadership for the U.S. Fire Administration, a division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"Not everyone will understand it's a drill. What if a student went through the smoke and hit something?"Sherry Kenyon, secretary and treasurer of the national Center for Campus Fire Safety and fire safety educator for the fire department in Boulder, Colo., said she uses smoke to train resident advisers at the University of Colorado, but they know about it before the drills.
"You have to be really clear on the learning objective in such a drill," Kenyon said. "I'm afraid that creating a fire situation that people don't know about beforehand might send mixed messages. I don't believe in scaring people. No one likes to be taught by being tricked." ...
...The first drill, at Keeneland Hall on Sept. 10, offered some learning opportunities, [UK Assistant Fire Marshal Greg] Williamson said."One young lady said there was no other way for her to get out when we questioned her as to why she came through the smoke," he said. "There are three other stairwells she could have exited from."In all, 12 students came through the smoke instead of finding an alternative exit, he said. ...
...Stu Silberman, superintendent of Fayette County Public Schools, had similar sentiments and said he would not use smoke in school fire drills.
"I think that, at least in my opinion, you don't want kids thinking you are crying wolf," he said.
"You just run your drills with the idea you're preparing for the real thing. In my 34 years of experience, I've found that if the teachers and staff take it seriously, then the students will too."
[Maj. Mike ] Bossert, of the Lexington Fire Department, doesn't think the smoke should affect students' reactions.
"There is no issue with us crying wolf because if everyone is doing what they're supposed to be, then everyone would be evacuating during a drill," he said.
Tiffani Prichard, a psychology junior and RA at Keeneland Hall, said the Sept. 10 drill caused some panic and that some of her residents were in tears.
Daniel Root, a linguistics sophomore and RA at Keeneland, said the explanation after the drill calmed people down.
"I think that if they didn't explain the smoke it would have been a bad idea," Root said, "but after the drill the fire marshals had a debriefing outside that explained everything."
This from the Kentucky Kernel.
Monday, September 17, 2007
SCAAC TO MEET
(FRANKFORT, Ky.) – The School Curriculum, Assessment and Accountability Council (SCAAC) will meet Tuesday, September 18, in the State Board Room on the first floor of the Capital Plaza Tower in Frankfort.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. Agenda items include discussion of norm-referenced testing, data releases and proficiency standards for English-language learners.
The 17 voting member council, appointed by the governor, advises the Kentucky Board of Education on the testing and accountability system and curriculum issues.
A full agenda follows.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. Agenda items include discussion of norm-referenced testing, data releases and proficiency standards for English-language learners.
The 17 voting member council, appointed by the governor, advises the Kentucky Board of Education on the testing and accountability system and curriculum issues.
A full agenda follows.
AGENDA
School Curriculum, Assessment and Accountability Council
September 18, 2007
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
State Board Room, 1st Floor - Capital Plaza Tower
500 Mero Street
Frankfort, Kentucky
1. Welcome
2. Roll Call
3. Norm Referenced Testing (NRT)
4. 2007 Data Releases
a. No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
b. Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS)
5. Concordance Table for 2007 Reporting
Lunch
6. English Language Learners (ELL) Proficiency Standards
7. Test Administration Issues
a. Administration Code (703 KAR 5:080)
b. ACT Prep Courses
c. Inclusions Regulation (703 KAR 5:070)
Next Meeting - November 20, 2007
SOUREC: KDE press release
CATS DATA RELEASE DELAYED
(FRANKFORT, Ky.) – The public release date for information related to the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) has been rescheduled.
The data is now set to be released publicly on Tuesday, October 2. The information will be embargoed until 12:01 a.m. EDT on that day, meaning that it may be published or broadcast at any time beginning on Tuesday, October 2.
The rescheduling will provide district and school officials with additional time to review the data and perform quality control measures prior to the public release.
Embargoed data will be made available prior to the public release to news media outlets and other interested parties.
SOURCE: KDE press release
The data is now set to be released publicly on Tuesday, October 2. The information will be embargoed until 12:01 a.m. EDT on that day, meaning that it may be published or broadcast at any time beginning on Tuesday, October 2.
The rescheduling will provide district and school officials with additional time to review the data and perform quality control measures prior to the public release.
Embargoed data will be made available prior to the public release to news media outlets and other interested parties.
SOURCE: KDE press release
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Uncle Jay Explains the News
Thanks to Myra for passing this along.
Now sit back, boys and girls, while Uncle Jay teaches us why recess is so important.
Now sit back, boys and girls, while Uncle Jay teaches us why recess is so important.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Superintendent charges education report contained 'contaminated data'
HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) -- Some western Kentucky school officials are disputing the data that shows Henderson, Union and Webster counties failed to make "adequate yearly progress."
The districts are contesting what they say is inaccurate information released as part of "No Child Left Behind" program from the 2006-2007 academic year. District officials say there are many results turning up with blank or minimal scores even while it is certain that students took the tests.
Superintendent Thomas Richey of the Henderson County school district said Wednesday "As far as I'm concerned, it's contaminated data."
State Department of Education Spokeswoman Lisa Gross said some changes were made in core content standards that are affecting student scores. She added that there are always other issues that make it necessary for the state to deal with clean up and quality control.
This friom WAVE TV.
The districts are contesting what they say is inaccurate information released as part of "No Child Left Behind" program from the 2006-2007 academic year. District officials say there are many results turning up with blank or minimal scores even while it is certain that students took the tests.
Superintendent Thomas Richey of the Henderson County school district said Wednesday "As far as I'm concerned, it's contaminated data."
State Department of Education Spokeswoman Lisa Gross said some changes were made in core content standards that are affecting student scores. She added that there are always other issues that make it necessary for the state to deal with clean up and quality control.
This friom WAVE TV.
Not sure where you stand on NCLB reauthorization issues?
Alexander Russo over at This Week in Education has compiled a list of resources surrounding the NCLB reauthorization debate
Feeling a little bit overwhelmed and bored over all this NCLB reauthorization action (already)? Me too. Plus which, I'm too lazy to read everything. So here are some handy-dandy resources to consider, with thanks for all the hard work you've done:
What You Should Think About the New Version of No Child Left Behind
TQATE"A good accountability system is a fragile thing, and making the law more complex also makes it more vulnerable to those who disagree with the principles themselves."
Miller-McKeon draft thoughts
Sherman Dorn"The first page is my attempt to cross-reference common criticisms of NCLB with pages/sections of the discussion draft that may address those criticisms."
Who's saying what about NCLB Reauthorization?
ECS"To better inform the national debate on NCLB reauthorization, ECS collected and analyzed these recommendations and created a one-stop source that allows you to easily find out who’s saying what about revising the law."
Cheat Sheet
NCLB Part IIEdWeek's David Hoff dissects the M[ultiple] M[easures] draft in three sections (see also Part 1 and Part 2).
Handy-Dandy NCLB Reauthorization Resources
Feeling a little bit overwhelmed and bored over all this NCLB reauthorization action (already)? Me too. Plus which, I'm too lazy to read everything. So here are some handy-dandy resources to consider, with thanks for all the hard work you've done:
What You Should Think About the New Version of No Child Left Behind
TQATE"A good accountability system is a fragile thing, and making the law more complex also makes it more vulnerable to those who disagree with the principles themselves."
Miller-McKeon draft thoughts
Sherman Dorn"The first page is my attempt to cross-reference common criticisms of NCLB with pages/sections of the discussion draft that may address those criticisms."
Who's saying what about NCLB Reauthorization?
ECS"To better inform the national debate on NCLB reauthorization, ECS collected and analyzed these recommendations and created a one-stop source that allows you to easily find out who’s saying what about revising the law."
Cheat Sheet
NCLB Part IIEdWeek's David Hoff dissects the M[ultiple] M[easures] draft in three sections (see also Part 1 and Part 2).
Colbert takes on NYC schools Chancellor Joel Klein
New York city schools Chancellor Joel Klein wants to pay students (using Mayor Michael Bloomberg's money) for good grades.
Good idea?
See what Stephen Colbert thinks kids ought to be paid for.
Good idea?
See what Stephen Colbert thinks kids ought to be paid for.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Should School Buses Have Seatbelts?
Money and Enforcement Issues Add to the Safety Question
Ever wonder if the present compartmentalization system is safe enough for school children on school buses? No seat belts. No side protection. Children in padded seats spaced close together, like eggs in a carton.
When a former Grant County bus driver was sentenced to 22 years in prison for a near fatal wreck (while she was under the influence of drugs) many Kentuckians saw the video taken by the bus camera. Students were shaken violently and several were seriously injured.
Aside from safe vehicle and a sober driver can the busses that carry school children be made safer?
Some have suggested seat belts for all children but there is reason to believe that might even produce more - and more serious - injury to children. Texas recently required seat belts and shoulder restraints on their schoo busses.
Check out the crash test video and compare for yourself the present compartmentalization system, seat belts and seat belts with shoulder restraint.
This from Edmunds.
Should children use seatbelts on school buses? Think this is a no-brainer? Not so fast. Some experts say yes, others say no, and the government's highway safety agency hasn't been able to make a decision.The government agency involved, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA), invited all points of view to be heard at a roundtable in July 2007.
Here's what we found out:
Safest Form of Transportation
First, school buses, the big yellow variety, are incredibly safe.
According to NHTSA, of the 23.5 million school children who travel an estimated 4.3 billion miles on 450,000 yellow school buses each year, on average, six die in crashes. At the summit, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters asked, "How can we make this number lower still, so that no parent ever has to hear...that the cherished child they sent off in the bus...is never coming home...even if it requires opening up old decisions and challenging old assumptions?
"In 2002, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) found an additional 815 fatalities related to school transportation per year. But here's the difference: 75 percent of those school children were traveling in passenger cars, not school buses, and just over half of those were teenagers driving themselves to school. Another 22 percent of the 815 fatalities occurred during walking and bicycling.
Only 2 percent were school bus-related — referring to children who were hit by buses.
Robin Leeds, spokesperson for the National School Transportation Association, which represents private school bus contractors, says, "The focus on seatbelts ignores the fact that we lose 800 children going to and from school in some other mode. Our challenge is not to make kids in school buses safer. Our challenge is to make kids safer, and the way to do that is to put them in school buses."
Can Buses Be Made Safer Still?
Fatalities aren't the only measure of safety. A NHTSA crashworthiness study of large school buses found that properly used lap/shoulder belts would mean fewer head injuries compared to unbelted passengers. (Lap belts alone, though, showed some potential to cause head and spinal injuries to young children.)
In 1977, federal regulation mandated that large school buses must have strong, closely spaced seats with energy-absorbing seatbacks, a built-in protection called "compartmentalization" that is based on the way crash forces are distributed. The buses were exempted from carrying lap belts. But the government required that small buses (with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less) carry lap belts, because the design and weight of the smaller vehicles would not offer protection similar to large ones.
Despite these measures, government accident studies from the 1980s say that passengers are still endangered in large school buses when they crash with an even bigger or heavier vehicle, such as a loaded tractor-trailer truck, or if they roll over an embankment....
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
AG files lawsuit over political appointees at universities
FRANKFORT, Ky. --Two of the state's top elected officials are heading to court to resolve a dispute over the political makeup of governing boards at Kentucky's public universities.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher has appointed more Republicans than Democrats to the boards, and Attorney General Greg Stumbo contends that's a violation of state law.
Stumbo, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday asking a judge to weigh in on whether the Republican governor has complied with state law in making appointments at several state universities.
In the lawsuit, Stumbo argued that Fletcher has violated a law requiring "proportional representation of the two leading political parties" based on voter registration. Kentucky has more registered Democrats than Republicans.
"I think it's a simple problem to remedy," Stumbo said during a news conference at the Capitol where he announced the filing of the lawsuit. "You can't just obey the laws you choose to obey. This governor has yet to learn that lesson." ...
This from the Herald-Leader.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher has appointed more Republicans than Democrats to the boards, and Attorney General Greg Stumbo contends that's a violation of state law.
Stumbo, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday asking a judge to weigh in on whether the Republican governor has complied with state law in making appointments at several state universities.
In the lawsuit, Stumbo argued that Fletcher has violated a law requiring "proportional representation of the two leading political parties" based on voter registration. Kentucky has more registered Democrats than Republicans.
"I think it's a simple problem to remedy," Stumbo said during a news conference at the Capitol where he announced the filing of the lawsuit. "You can't just obey the laws you choose to obey. This governor has yet to learn that lesson." ...
This from the Herald-Leader.
School Apologizes After Banning Reporter from Game
A Clark County School is apologizing to the local newspaper Monday after banning one of its reporters at the Homecoming game.The Winchester Sun says the Principal at George Roger's Clark High School would not allow a reporter in the press box because he didn't like an article the newspaper ran that day.
That story was about four white students, at George Roger's Clark, who gave a black student a racially charged note, according to Ronda Hopewell, the mother of the student who received the note. The note depicts a white person whipping a black person, it also shows a noose and includes racial statements like "the south will rise again." The banned journalist says reporting the news is their job and the action Principal Gordon Parido took was shocking.
"I get a phone call saying, you're banned from the press box tonight and I said you're kidding right? He said no Mr. Parido doesn't want you to be in the press box," [sports editor Keith] Taylor explained.
"I said why? and I was told well the story in the paper, he didn't like it very well," Taylor said.
Since banning the reporter the paper says Parido has called to apologize. While relations seem to be smooth again between the school and the newspaper, Hopewell says she is still dissatisfied with the school district's response to the incident.
This from WTVQ.
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