In September, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California threw out 2002 regulations from the U.S. Department of Education that said No Child Left Behind’s highly qualified teacher designation could be applied to someone working on their certification. The rule allowed teaching interns and teachers in training to count as “highly qualified.”
A group of California parents and advocacy groups had sued the federal Education Department, saying teachers in training were more likely to be found at schools where a majority of students were members of a minority group, and those parents would have no way of knowing their children’s teachers were still in training since they were labeled “highly qualified.” (No Child Left Behind required all teachers, at all schools, with a few exceptions, to be considered “highly qualified by the 2005-06 school year.)
But in December, Congress slipped a provision into an appropriations bill that essentially undid the California court’s ruling.
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Last week, Harriet Ball, a renowned educator whose unorthodox teaching methods helped inspire the founders of the KIPP charter schools network, died from a heart attack. She was 64.
An obituary in the Houston Chronicle notes that Ball taught for about 35 years in the Houston and Austin school districts. After leaving the classroom, she became a motivational speaker, training thousands of teachers with her techniques, which included the use of rhymes and rhythm to captivate students.
But she’s best known for the influence she had on KIPP, which has grown into a prominent national network of 99 public schools in 20 states and the District of Columbia. The schools bring an intensive, college-preparatory focus, and mostly serve low-income and minority families.
“There would be no KIPP without Harriet,” KIPP co-founder Mike Feinberg told the Chronicle.
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The other day my husband Michael, who is my business partner, showed me a personal-business email he had received from the mother of a child at our daughter’s high school. The email was about a carpooling situation.
Just above the mother’s name at the end of her email was this “close”:
XXXOOO
Can you imagine my surprise? This was a letter to my husband.
(Note: If XXXOOO is not used in your culture, in our culture it stands for “Kiss kiss kiss hug hug hug.”)
And it was not the first time the mother (I will call her that instead of making up a name) had used the affectionate close. Michael showed me an entire email thread, which she had started days earlier. Each message ended with XXXOOO.
Because all her messages end that way, it is obvious the mother uses XXXOOO in her automatic signature.
Whew! So
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February 7th, 2011 in
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A Senate education committee heard testimony on a bill to give Oregon public universities more independence. While business leaders support the measure, faculty and students raised concerns. Senate Bill 242 would sever the university system from its status as a state agency, allowing it to operate free of legislative oversight. In exchange, the universities would be expected to meet performance goals. I assume Oregon universites could also set their tuition rates without state approval . This decision was given to Virginia Universities several years ago.
This is Ryan Holmes. He seems to be eating a burrito. Ah, FB.
I got to know Ryan when he was a MATCH Corps tutor. He went on to take a 2-year stint doing parent organizing for the 14 Boston charter schools, where he was fantastically effective. Now he teaches middle school math at Excel Charter School in East Boston, one of the best in the nation. Also, he has an uncannily accurate jump shot from about 17 feet.
In October, I blogged about Mike Schmoker’s view of “differentiated instruction.” Schmoker opposes it.
In every case, it seemed to complicate teachers’ work, requiring them to procure and assemble multiple sets of materials. I saw f
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