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Public Education Network
NEWSBLAST! |
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Two
foundations end
financing of education-awareness drive
Ed in '08? About 16 months ago,
two of philanthropy's strongest supporters of education -- the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation and the Broad Foundation -- pledged a
total of up to $60 million to make education reform a top issue in
the 2008 presidential election. But now, after jointly contributing
about $24 million, the two foundations have stopped spending money
on their nonpartisan Strong American Schools campaign (branded "Ed
in '08"), the Puget Sound Business Journal reports. Although
education has had a relatively low profile so far in the
presidential campaign, spokespeople for both foundations say their
efforts have been successful. But the newspaper quotes Arnold Fege
of Public Education Network as saying: "For some reason in 2004,
everyone wanted to be the education president. In 2008, nobody wants
to be the education president." Fege, PEN's director of public
engagement and advocacy, adds that in 2004, much of the public's
attention was generated by the No Child Left Behind Act, while this
year 38 states are cutting their spending on education. All the
same, the link between education and the economy seems clear.
"People are not saying that education is not important," observes
the pollster Mark Hibbits, but "the issue of the day -- and the
remainder of this presidential race -- is going to be dealing with
finance and economic issues."
Read more at
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/09/29/story1.html?b=1222660800^1706214&page=1 |
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The 'ugly reality' of urban education
The takeover of a
troubled high school in Los Angeles's Watts neighborhood
by Green Dot Schools, a private charter school
organization, is the vehicle for a strongly worded
online critique of American urban education in Dissident
Voice, a self-described "radical newsletter in the
struggle for peace and social justice." The writer,
Reggie Dylan, focuses on what he calls "the ugly reality
of the urban cores of this country, and the schools that
serve them. It is producing a massive section of youth,
seething with anger, who have been written off by this
system, told 'there's nothing here for you,' and then
shoved into the prisons at world record rates." Dylan
says Green Dot seeks to close the "achievement gap"
between racial groups by producing "a small number of
students from inner city schools who will help fill the
need for 'knowledge workers' in this society" --
professionals such as engineers, analysts, and
marketers. But Dylan says those who do make it into that
world actually "serve as a political and ideological
force to shore up this system of exploitation and
inequality."
Read more at
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/09/restructuring-inner-city-schools-for-the-global-marketplace-locke-high-school-and-the-green-dot-"solution |
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Alabama bars illegal immigrants from community colleges
Alabama's state education
board has voted to bar illegal immigrants from admission to
Alabama's two-year colleges, according to the Montgomery
Advertiser. The vote was 4-0 with one abstention, and it
came despite the absence of four of the board's nine
members. The new policy holds that, beginning next spring,
applicants to community colleges in the state must show an
Alabama driver's license, a state ID card, or an unexpired
U.S. passport or permanent resident card. International
applicants must provide a visa and an official translated
copy of their high school or college transcript, along with
other information such as exam scores and proof of adequate
financial support. Shay Farley, a lawyer and spokeswoman for
the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, questioned
the policy. "We are bound by federal law to provide
education to any student, K-12, regardless of legal status,"
she said. "A lot of children are brought [to the U.S.] by
their parents -- they did not choose to come here. If we
deny them a two-year college education, where will they go
for their education?"
Read more at
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080926/NEWS02/809260328/1009
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Utah bill would permit alternative approach to testing in
some schools
Utah lawmakers have
passed a bill to allow exemptions from state testing
requirements in some school districts and charter schools so
they can try an alternative approach, the Salt Lake Tribune
reports. If the U.S. Department of Education agrees, some
Utah schools would no longer have to give the standardized
tests that are currently used statewide. Instead, they would
administer the ACT and so-called computer adaptive tests,
which adjust to students' skill levels as they take them.
The goal would be to provide better assessment data,
according to supporters of the alternative program. Critics,
however, say that widespread adoption of the new approach
would increase the amount of time that students spend on
testing.
Read more at
http://www.sltrib.com/education/ci_10575355 |
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