Posts for 'Education Planning' Category

A bold prediction of success was the silver lining to the Thursday night's "annual punishment" for the members of Farmington Municipal School District's Board of Education. Robert Emerson, the assistant superintendent of technology, gave the board a presentation on how Farmington schools did when testing for Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP. The results were made public in New Mexico last week.

Emerson referred to it as punishment because no school in the district made AYP.But he also talked about progress made throughout the district and said by giving students incentives for AYP tests, Farmington high schools will improve the percentage of proficient students by 15 to 20 percent next year.

AYP for schools is achieved by a week-long test for a federally determined percentage of "proficient" children. The percentage increases every year and if a school fails to make that percentage in one of around 37 subgroups, the whole school fails.

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President Barack Obama has been working vigorously to resurrect the education system in the United States of America back to its glory of previous generations. As the graduation rates and overall quality of education has dipped in the United States in recent history in comparison to other states in the world, President Obama made it his personal agenda to raise those rates.

On Tuesday, the United States House of Representatives passed the bill proposed by Obama, which would bring $26 billion dollars to the Education Department in order to save the jobs of teachers. The bill, which had already made its way through the United States Senate, passed by a vote of 247 to 161 in the House.

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Chinese International School (Singapore), after more than three years of exploration, innovation, construction and harvesting, has gained achievements and success. This shows that China's education, not only can go to the world, but also can contribute to upgrading of China's soft power, a school principal has said.

The school was established by Beijing Huijia Educational Institutions in September 2006. Based on international Baccalaureate (IB) standards, the school is characterized by the Chinese culture and integration of Eastern and Western culture.

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Congress is unlikely to take up its school financing bill, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, until next year. But teachers unions and other forces of the status quo are already trying to subvert the measure by discrediting President Obama’s signature education initiative, the Race to the Top, which requires the states to make reforms in exchange for federal grants.

The grant program has focused the country’s attention on school reform and has angered the unions, especially by pushing the states to take student performance into account in teacher evaluations. The attacks picked up in earnest this week, when a coalition of civil rights groups that included the National Urban League and the N.A.A.C.P. signed onto a statement that attacked not just Race to the Top, but the very idea of using competitive grants to spur reform.

President Obama came out swinging on Thursday, before the National Urban League in Washington. He pledged to protect Race to the Top, even if it meant using the veto pen. He seemed particularly incensed by the baseless claim that Race to the Top had shortchanged minority children.

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President Barack Obama is defending his administration's education policies, responding to criticism that so far they have not substantially helped minority students. The president blames some of the criticism of his plan on teachers and others resistant to change.

Obama was to speak Thursday at the centennial convention of the National Urban League, one of eight civil rights organizations that released a report this week calling the president's $4.35 billion education initiative an ineffective approach for failing schools.

In excerpts released ahead of the president's speech, Obama says his program's goal is to spur innovate education reform in states and turn around failing schools, many in minority communities, not just label them as troubled and then walk away.

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I was pleased to see the province honour its commitment to fund teacher raises this fall. As a parent with young children, I saw first-hand the stress that budget cuts were going to cause our schools. While I am happy to see the 2.92 per cent increase was funded.

I am disappointed at the long delay from Education Minister Dave Hancock. How much money has been "wasted" putting together several budgets, only to now scramble to get another funding plan done for September? The province needs to stop looking at education from such a short-term perspective and realize the investment that our schools truly are. Our kids are certainly worth it.

The US on Thursday assured the government of Pakistan that it would provide $334 million for the promotion of primary and higher education in far-flung areas of the country, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Director of Education David Barth told the media on Thursday.

At a joint press conference after the session of Pak-US Strategic Dialogue on Education, Barth said $264 million would be given to Pakistan for basic education, while $70 million are allocated for the higher education sector, including Fulbright Scholarships for Pakistani students.

He said that many USAID projects have been initiated in Pakistan over the years for enhancing education facilities, as well as equipping teachers with modern teaching techniques. Focus: “Pakistan and the US have been enjoying long-term relations and the present government has extended its foreign policy to seek guidance from them in education sector,” Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Social Sector Shahnaz Wazir Ali said.

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Public education is the cornerstone of our nation’s economic might. When we make a true commitment to educating a future generation, we are not only producing a workforce that is better equipped to tackle the problems of today, but we are planting the seeds for the innovation of tomorrow. If we are going to prepare our children for the future, I believe Florida must change its course and make a proper investment in public education.

Our failure to make this investment triggers the scourges of every society: poverty, crime, discrimination. It’s our responsibility as a community to combat these issues and make sure that every child has the chance to succeed. We cannot do this when we put more of an emphasis on testing than teaching.

Tallahassee’s obsession with standardized testing has harmed our schools in more ways than can be counted. One glaring example has been in the recent failure by Pearson Education Inc. to properly grade and code the FCAT on time. Rather than finding ways to improve our schools by putting money into the classroom, our state is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in testing – and getting a bad return.

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Ted Kulongoski's Reset Cabinet recommends major changes to Oregon's education system, from preschool through college. But the plans are drawing a lukewarm reaction from education leaders. It's a rehash of a lot of old ideas that have been tested in the Legislature and either didn't make it or have been successful and are underway," said Chuck Bennett, director of government relations for the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators.

"It looks like the Governor has chosen to exploit the economic challenges we're facing to push an agenda that doesn't make any sense," said Gail Rasmussen, president of the Oregon Education Association, which represents many of the state's teachers.

Among the proposals: -Legislatively mandate that education service districts take over specified school district functions  including business, accounting, information technology, transportation, human services and special education  by July 1, 2012. Then statutorily dissolve existing ESDs and create a new structure of fewer regional service providers by June 30, 2014.

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What would school look like if we got it right for learners? This is the sort of question that we ask in faculties of education. As demonstrated in the Inspiring Education document released by Education Minister Dave Hancock two weeks ago, the issue is front and centre for Alberta Education and citizens of this province.

It is also one asked by learners themselves. Last week, during a presentation to parents, school board members and university professors, a group of Grade 8 students at the Calgary Science School opened their multimedia response with a quote from philosopher Bertrand Russell: "The wish to pursue the past rather than the hope of the future dominates the minds of those who control the teaching of the young."

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