Today’s Top Picks:

Here’s one way to get stuck on your prom date.
http://goo.gl/Kglx1 (OSE)

Are state technologically prepared to implement the Common Core? There’s an app for that.
http://goo.gl/lPg1V (Ed Week)

Boston Globe looks at Mitt Romney’s education record as governor of Massachusetts.
http://goo.gl/h5nUl (Globe)

Even a Cubs fan has to hand it to the Yankees for using local Bronx schools to develop batboys for the team.
http://goo.gl/g9jqG (NYT)

Hmmm. The ENR School for At-risk Teens. It does have a ring to it. Maybe ENR will put in a bid on eBay.
http://goo.gl/nG62F (AP)

————————————————————
TODAY’S HEADLINES
————————————————————

UTAH

Utah granted waiver for No Child Left Behind Act

Refugee’s first school year ends, future uncertain
Teen made friends and built English skills but faces a long road ahead.

Prom proDUCTion: Fremont High student uses tape to create winning outfits

Full-time teacher ready for Stadium of Fire

Former Weber High assistant principal prepares to appeal termination

ArtsFUSION teaches children the value of art, music

Science program in Mount Ogden Park

OPINION & COMMENTARY

40 years of Title IX
The game-changer for women

UCAS will have to implement the new UCAS

Common core science standards: an early warning

Palpable pride

Utah couldn’t pay up

Public lands are already ours, use money for education

Give inmates hardy, unconditional congratulations for graduation

Why U.S. can’t get back to head of the class (because it was never there)

Slate Readers’ Brilliant Ideas To Fix Science Education
Showcase research in public, put cool engineer characters on TV, and more.

How inspections would embarrass schools

Big Membership Losses for NEA

50 years later, how school-prayer ruling changed America

Fight Club
Are advocacy organizations changing the politics of education?

Summer Learning

Growing Awareness, Growing Support Poll

Spoiled Rotten
Why do kids rule the roost?

NATION

New Tool to Provide Tech Inventory for Common Core
A new readiness tool will provide a national snapshot of school technology in preparation for common-core online assessments in 2014-15

Mitt Romney’s education record was mixed
Two major plans proved ineffective

Oregon Board of Education approves teacher evaluation guidelines
Board of Education approves measure to start in 2013

Special Ed. Students Get a Spot on the Team

Not just chess: Atheists are organizing high school clubs, too

Students who harassed bus monitor Karen Klein suspended one year

Early full-term babies may face later school woes

A Man of Principals

That Batboy Job With the Yankees? It’s a Bronx School Perk

Pa. high school puts itself up for sale on eBay

————————————————————
UTAH NEWS
————————————————————

Utah granted waiver for No Child Left Behind Act

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah is one of five states recently granted a waiver for the No Child Left Behind Act.
The No Child Left Behind Act was first proposed by the George W. Bush administration in 2001 and passed Congress with bipartisan support. It aims to close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility and choice, to ensure that no child is ‘left behind.’
But since its implementation in 2002, the act has received criticism from many educators and politicians. President Obama says that Congress has taken too long to reform the act, so in 2012, his administration has begun granting waivers to states.
http://goo.gl/dlrGk (KSTU)

http://goo.gl/AcMNp (KUTV)

http://goo.gl/J40yH (KCPW)

Refugee’s first school year ends, future uncertain
Teen made friends and built English skills but faces a long road ahead.

Heber City » When KaPaw Htoo arrived in this country, he wanted to be a singer.
After a few months in Utah schools, the Karen refugee aspired to become a doctor.
By the end of his first school year in the U.S., he had a different outlook.
http://goo.gl/IVkH4 (SLT)

Prom proDUCTion: Fremont High student uses tape to create winning outfits

PLAIN CITY — It took Sheridan Moore more than 45 hours and 25 rolls of duct tape to construct a prom dress that was not only indestructible, but also was worthy of landing her in the Top 10 of a nationwide contest.
Sheridan, 17, who will be a senior at Fremont High School, entered the Stuck at Prom Duck Tape scholarship contest after hearing about it from a friend.
“I took a fashion strategies class at school, and my teacher was showing us a whole bunch of cool pictures. There was one outfit that was made entirely out of duct tape,” she said.
“I was telling a friend at work that I wanted to make one, and she told me I could enter this contest and win money and a scholarship.”
The competition challenges students to create and accessorize their prom outfits with Duck Tape, then wear them to the prom for a chance to win scholarship cash prizes, according to the website.
The contest ends July 11, and votes can be submitted once a day.
http://goo.gl/Kglx1 (OSE)

Full-time teacher ready for Stadium of Fire

Several Utah teachers go back to school as students during the summer and some work as — no surprise — tutors. Others are forest rangers, farmers, consultants.
Mindy Nelsen, Lehi High School drama teacher, is the Stadium of Fire operations manager at the LaVell Edwards Stadium. She said she finds the position adds dimension to her teaching career as well as benefits her students.
She has recruited about 20 students and former students who work with her.
http://goo.gl/6Px2L (PDH)

Former Weber High assistant principal prepares to appeal termination

Pocatello police have completed their investigation of allegations against a fired Weber High School assistant principal as he prepares for an appeal of his termination this week.
Lt. Paul Manning said the results of his department’s probe of Jim Bell have been forwarded to the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office. Attorneys there are screening the case for likely charges, he said, or the possibility of no charges.
Prosecutors were not immediately available for comment last week.
Weber School District spokesman Nate Taggart said Bell’s appeal hearing is scheduled for Friday.
http://goo.gl/QVR80 (OSE)

ArtsFUSION teaches children the value of art, music

CEDAR CITY – Children entertained families and community members with music from around the world Friday at the Sharwan Smith Center on the Southern Utah University campus. The performance was part of the finale of the two weeks the children spent in the fourth annual artsFUSION Kids’ Camp.
Artwork the children created during the camp, which was entitled ‘Art, Music and Me’ and began June 18, was displayed throughout the living room area of the Sharwan Smith Center.
http://goo.gl/5QtDz (SGS)

Science program in Mount Ogden Park

OGDEN — Weber State University’s Ott Planetarium will host its summer Science in the Parks program this week with activities at Mount Ogden Park, 3144 Taylor Ave.
Free children’s activities are scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the park today through Friday, except Wednesday because of the holiday.
http://goo.gl/pb960 (OSE)

————————————————————
OPINION & COMMENTARY
————————————————————

40 years of Title IX
The game-changer for women
Salt Lake Tribune editorial

Forty years ago, young women weren’t supposed to do a lot of things. They weren’t supposed to be smarter than young men. They weren’t supposed to be interested in machines or math. But maybe most prevalent of all was the certainty that young women were not supposed to be competitive, especially in sports.
Feminine young women and girls did not sweat, or at least did not admit to it. To do otherwise would have compromised their ability to succeed at what society deemed the one most important achievement of their lives: to get married.
Those stereotypes, held up as fact not only by men but also by many women, did women a huge disservice. They relegated women to a narrow framework of occupational possibilities and, it must be said, kept them under the thumbs of men, who, as a result, controlled the realms of business, medicine, the arts, and, of course, professional athletics.
Then in June 1972, Congress passed a set of amendments to existing federal education laws. The ninth of those, Title IX, prohibits discrimination based on gender in schools and colleges that accept federal funds, and has done more for women’s rights than anything since suffrage.
http://goo.gl/Huyhf

Palpable pride
Salt Lake Tribune op-ed by Zan Paul Burningham, a high school art teacher

The latest batch of newly graduated gay high school students and I were being dropped off, late as usual, for the annual Paul family reunion, a.k.a. the Utah Pride Parade.
I had poster in hand, stating “Only 10% of our Children are Special enough to be Gay” (in my family unit that percentage is much higher for my daughter, brother and nephew are gay).
I began speed walking along the streets of Salt Lake City, frantically looking for the PFLAG (Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays) assigned spot in the parade. As luck would have it, I happened upon the massive Mormons Building Bridges crowd.
http://goo.gl/SyTP1

UCAS will have to implement the new UCAS
Commentary by Charter Solutions President Lincoln Fillmore

That’s the “Utah Comprehensive Accountability System.” I guess that replaces U-PASS. It rhymes, so it will be a tough habit or educators to break.
With the granting of Utah’s waiver from NCLB that occurred on Thursday, I know one charter school board member who is very happy, and all others that ought to be because Utah will no longer be held to the completely unreasonable standard that every student in the state, regardless of anything, will have to be at grade level proficiency in reading and math.
I’d predict that more waivers are coming.
http://goo.gl/vw3t7

Common core science standards: an early warning
Deseret News commentary by columnist Mary McConnell

While I’ve acknowledged mixed feelings about the common core math and language arts standards themselves, I think the process for adopting these standards stank. Neither teachers nor parents had much time to review these major changes to education policy before they were hastily adopted to meet the administration’s very tight Race to the Top application deadlines. We’re paying the price now as suspicion of the standards spreads and opposition mounts.
Next on the common core agenda is science standards. That the U.S. needs stronger science standards seems pretty indisputable. American students continue to earn dismaying scores on international science tests, even as the demand for graduates adept at math, science and technology significantly outpaces the supply.
Nevertheless, the draft science standards have sparked considerable concern from sources I tend to trust, including the Fordham Institute, which has helped lead the fight for the common core standards.
http://goo.gl/i3ZCb

Utah couldn’t pay up
Salt Lake Tribune letter from Bob Stackhouse

All of the stories about the many wildfires in Utah started me thinking.
If Utah were ever successful in taking over the federal lands, how could we ever afford to pay for operation and maintenance costs? The cost of fighting these fires could never be covered by Utah’s budget.
Utah politicians say they want these lands for schools, etc., but few mention how we could manage them. Or do they simply plan to sell to the highest bidder?
http://goo.gl/G7eWb

Public lands are already ours, use money for education
Deseret News Letter from Gary Nichols

I’m tired of “take back our public lands” talk. They are already ours. Our state leaders are trying to make us believe that education will benefit and we will gain billions of dollars. They don’t mention the costs. The only way to make the money they talk about is to sell or lease our lands to oil and coal companies.
Oil shale is an iffy proposition, and coal is already losing its value as we use more of the cleaner burning natural gas. These are polluting industries that have a great health cost in increased autism, asthma, pregnancy problems, ADHD, anxiety and cancer.
Our leaders are also not telling us how they will pay for managing any lands that are left for the public. We will lose the federal money we’ve been getting for these lands and gain the costs of maintaining trails, campgrounds, roads, fighting fires, etc.
http://goo.gl/MJMTF

Give inmates hardy, unconditional congratulations for graduation
Deseret News letter from David R. Scott

The recent article “Inmates Stick it Out to Earn High School Diplomas” (June 14) put a positive light on the 340 Utah State prison inmates for graduating with their high school diplomas. The article’s accompanying photo showed the men lined up wearing blue graduation gowns and mortarboard tasseled caps giving readers an upbeat school-like image of their accomplishments under adverse circumstances.
But regrettably, one graduate mentioned by name, a 76-year-old inmate, had his decades-old specific and especially humiliating charges mentioned. This was certainly hurtful to him, his wife, family and friends.
http://goo.gl/lpNV5

Why U.S. can’t get back to head of the class (because it was never there)
Washington Post commentary by David E. Drew, Joseph B. Platt chair at the Claremont Graduate University

Policy makers and politicians like to talk about “restoring America’s leadership” in education. Our high school students rank low when tested in math and science compared with their counterparts in other countries, but, they say, we can move our students back into the top ranks with effective reforms.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan frequently gives speech about restoring America’s leadership in education. Not to be outdone, the subtitle of the Romney education policy statement is “Mitt Romney’s plan for restoring the promise of American education.”
The slogan of the ExxonMobil National Math and Science Initiative is “Let’s get back to the head of the class.”
To be sure, effective educational reforms can significantly improve the academic performance of American students. But the idea that the United States once was a world leader in elementary and secondary education, while a compelling part of our belief system, is false. We never ranked #1. We can’t get back to the head of the class because we never were the head of the class.
In fact, we always have scored at, or near, the bottom of the rankings.
http://goo.gl/gGCkJ

Slate Readers’ Brilliant Ideas To Fix Science Education
Showcase research in public, put cool engineer characters on TV, and more.
Slate commentary by columnist David Sydiongco

On June 1, we asked Slate readers for ideas on how to improve science education in America. Since then, you’ve responded with more than 100 proposals that address funding, teaching strategies, closing the gender gap — even flatulence.
Here are our 10 favorite reader submissions.
http://goo.gl/dB5o9

How inspections would embarrass schools
Washington Post commentary by columnist Jay Mathews

If we got rid of standardized tests to rate public schools, what would we have instead? The most likely alternative is the inspectorate used in England. Scholars like Richard Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute say school visits by well-trained inspectors would reveal more about what needs fixing than test score averages.
Would teachers, parents, voters and taxpayers support such a system? Some D.C. schools are getting a taste of this approach. A just-released report should generate second thoughts about letting independent experts roam our schools and report what they see and hear. I think inspections are a good idea, but schools should know that the results can be embarrassing, as they were in the District.
http://goo.gl/uy5OG

Big Membership Losses for NEA
Education Week commentary by columnist Stephen Sawchuk

Delegates to the National Education Association’s Representative Assembly knew the news about their union’s loss of membership would be bad, but it isn’t clear that they knew it would be this bad.
NEA officials said the union has lost more than 100,000 teachers and education support personnel since 2010, and it projects that it will lose even more in the future. By the end of its 2013-14 budget, NEA expects it will have lost 308,000 members and experienced a decline in revenue projected at some $65 million in all since 2010. (The figures are expressed in full-time equivalents, which means that the actual number of people affected is probably higher.)
There was no sugarcoating these ghastly figures at today’s hearing on the NEA’s strategic plan and budget.
http://goo.gl/lU9w5

50 years later, how school-prayer ruling changed America
First Amendment Center commentary by Charles C. Haynes, Director, Religious Freedom Education Project

Fifty years ago this week, on June 25, 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court declared school-sponsored prayers unconstitutional in the landmark case Engel v. Vitale.
Public outrage was immediate and widespread. For millions of Americans, the Court had “kicked God out of the schools,” to use a phrase that has entered the culture-war lexicon.
Five decades later, Engel continues to be reviled by a good number of televangelists and politicians who take every opportunity to rail against the “godless public schools.” Eliminating school-sponsored prayer, they argue, set America on the road to moral and spiritual ruin.
Over the years, the absence of “school prayer” has been linked to almost every social ill, from schoolhouse shootings to drug addiction.
One popular YouTube video asks why God doesn’t do something about the terrible things happening to our students in public schools — and a deep voice replies in ominous tones, “I am not allowed in schools.”
That the high court’s prayer ruling is to blame for America’s decline makes a compelling narrative, raising millions of dollars for advocacy groups year after year.
But here’s the catch: It isn’t true.
http://goo.gl/MvwOV

Fight Club
Are advocacy organizations changing the politics of education?
Education Next commentary by Patrick McGuinn, associate professor of political science and education at Drew University

Every few weeks, a group of education reform advocacy organizations (ERAOs) gathers in Washington, D.C., to compare notes and plot strategy in what is (half in jest) referred to as “fight club.” Like the subject of the 1999 David Fincher movie, this fight club sees itself as the underdog in an epic struggle for freedom and equality. While the target of the film’s ire is consumerism, these national ERAOs and their counterparts at the state level are focused on enacting sweeping education policy changes to increase accountability for student achievement, improve teacher quality, turn around failing schools, and expand school choice. As Terry Moe documents in his recent book, Special Interest, for decades the politics of school reform have been dominated by the education establishment, the collection of teachers unions and other school employee associations derisively called the “blob” by reformers. But the past two years have witnessed an unprecedented wave of state education reforms, much of it fiercely opposed by the unions. The ERAOs played an active role in pushing for these changes, and it is clear that they are reshaping the politics of school reform in the United States in important ways. But does the reform blob really stand a chance of defeating the education blob?
Interviews with ERAO leaders reveal that the challenges of implementing No Child Left Behind (NCLB)—in particular, states’ efforts to game its accountability, choice, and school restructuring mandates—spawned the creation of policy advocacy organizations that could push for reform in state capitols.
http://educationnext.org/fight-club/

Summer Learning
National Journal commentary by Fawn Johnson, Chad Wick, Cynthia G. Brown, Kevin Welner

I got an e-mail last week from my rising fifth grader’s school coordinator with his summer reading assignments and an approved list of books. I loved that the e-mail offered no explanation or apologies; it assumed that its students’ families knew the importance of summer learning.
The stagnation of a child’s reading and math abilities during the off months of school has earned the catchy title of “summer slide.” A study released last year from the Rand Corporation found that summer learning loss was cumulative, contributing to long-term academic deficiencies. The slower learning rate was most pronounced for low-income kids. Summer school classes, both mandatory and voluntary, helped to mitigate this effect, the study found.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan wants to go farther than that. He has suggested a longer academic school year to keep students’ minds active and catch up to other countries in academic achievement. Kids in other countries spend 20 percent to 30 percent more time in school that our kids do, he says. Barring a longer school year, which costs money, the Education Department recently outlined several ways to keep a child engaged in reading during the summer months. The suggestions, such as keeping books around the house for easy reading, seem a weak substitute for longer school years or summer classes.
How serious is learning stagnation during the summer months? Are there good reasons for sticking with the current school 180-day year? If resources weren’t an issue, what is the ideal amount of time a child should spend in school? How can educators make sure time isn’t wasted during school hours? Are there other effective ways to stem “summer slide” other than summer school?
http://goo.gl/k8JP9

Growing Awareness, Growing Support Poll
Achieve analysis

Continuing Achieve’s work to gauge the public’s awareness of and support for the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and aligned common assessments, a national poll was commissioned in May 2012 to build on the results of Achieve’s August 2011 poll. In those 8-9 months, awareness among teachers on the CCSS and common assessments increased and their support also increased. The voting public continues to give high marks to the idea of having common standards and assessments. When given additional information about the CCSS and the related assessement, their support remains high. It will be crucial to maintain teacher and public enthusiasm for CCSS as they are implemented in thousands of schools across 46 states and the District of Columbia.
http://goo.gl/CUlXW

Spoiled Rotten
Why do kids rule the roost?
New Yorker book review by Elizabeth Kolbert

…
With the exception of the imperial offspring of the Ming dynasty and the dauphins of pre-Revolutionary France, contemporary American kids may represent the most indulged young people in the history of the world. It’s not just that they’ve been given unprecedented amounts of stuff—clothes, toys, cameras, skis, computers, televisions, cell phones, PlayStations, iPods. (The market for Burberry Baby and other forms of kiddie “couture” has reportedly been growing by ten per cent a year.) They’ve also been granted unprecedented authority. “Parents want their kids’ approval, a reversal of the past ideal of children striving for their parents’ approval,” Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, both professors of psychology, have written. In many middle-class families, children have one, two, sometimes three adults at their beck and call. This is a social experiment on a grand scale, and a growing number of adults fear that it isn’t working out so well: according to one poll, commissioned by Time and CNN, two-thirds of American parents think that their children are spoiled.
The notion that we may be raising a generation of kids who can’t, or at least won’t, tie their own shoes has given rise to a new genre of parenting books. Their titles tend to be either dolorous (“The Price of Privilege”) or downright hostile (“The Narcissism Epidemic,” “Mean Moms Rule,” “A Nation of Wimps”). The books are less how-to guides than how-not-to’s: how not to give in to your toddler, how not to intervene whenever your teen-ager looks bored, how not to spend two hundred thousand dollars on tuition only to find your twenty-something graduate back at home, drinking all your beer.
http://goo.gl/QeOJS

————————————————————-
NATIONAL NEWS
————————————————————-

New Tool to Provide Tech Inventory for Common Core
A new readiness tool will provide a national snapshot of school technology in preparation for common-core online assessments in 2014-15
Education Week

A national inventory of educational technology is evolving as school districts try to determine what digital tools they have—and what they’ll need—to deploy online testing for all students on common academic standards just a few years from now.
A new tool released by the two coalitions helping to develop those online assessments is intended to aid states and districts in taking a snapshot of their current rosters of laptops, netbooks, and other mobile devices, as well as their overall technological bandwidth. It then will highlight where districts are lacking in their capability to assess students under the Common Core State Standards by 2014-15, when such testing is set to be introduced.
The free, Web-based Technology Readiness Tool is kicking up myriad concerns among educators, who worry that there’s little new money to bring their technology capabilities up to the level needed, that such testing could overwhelm district infrastructure, and that assessments could end up evaluating students’ technology skills more than their mastery of common-core material.
http://goo.gl/lPg1V

Mitt Romney’s education record was mixed
Two major plans proved ineffective
Boston Globe

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney campaigned for governor in 2002 in favor of scrapping the nation’s first bilingual education law and instead immersing non-English speakers in classrooms where only English would be taught. The effort proved to be a failure.
Romney’s other big initiative as governor — trying to loosen union rules so teachers could be held more accountable — ran into a wall of opposition in the Democrat-controlled Legislature and went nowhere. Even a scholarship program Romney introduced to get top scorers on the state’s high school exit exams to enroll in Massachusetts’ public colleges failed to make a difference in the lives of most high-achieving students.
Now, running for president, Romney boasts of a record as an educational innovator, but a review of his efforts to impose changes on Massachusetts public schools reveals a wide disconnect between what he says on the stump and what he accomplished during his single term in office.
While he is widely credited for holding out for high standards and more charter schools, the high-profile initiatives proposed by the former private-equity businessman — much of it driven by the Republican orthodoxy of the time — suffered from a variety of practical problems.
Romney did not adequately account for the complexities of language acquisition, and without providing adequate money to train teachers, non-English speaking students quickly floundered. He made little attempt to woo the Legislature, let alone teachers and superintendents, to go along with his plans, unveiled via PowerPoint, to pay good teachers more and get rid of bad ones.
And his much hyped John and Abigail Adams Scholarships cover only tuition at state colleges, not fees, which account for more than 80 percent of yearly costs at some schools. Just a quarter of the recipients actually choose to attend state colleges.
http://goo.gl/h5nUl

Oregon Board of Education approves teacher evaluation guidelines
Board of Education approves measure to start in 2013
Associated Press via Salem (OR) Statesman Journal

PORTLAND — The state Board of Education has approved guidelines for how Oregon teachers and administrators will be evaluated.
Starting in 2013, multiple measures will be used to evaluate how well individual teachers are doing in three broad areas: professional practice, professional responsibility and student learning and growth. The evaluations will not be made public and standardized test scores will not be the sole measure of student progress.
The Oregon Legislature approved a bill last year to create statewide teaching standards, and Friday’s action satisfied that requirement. Moreover, states seeking waivers from the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law must have teacher evaluation systems that factor in student progress. State education officials hope to obtain a waiver in the next week or two.
The board endorsed guidelines rather than the specific framework for evaluations, which is still being modified as the state seeks the waiver.
http://goo.gl/K0oBw

Special Ed. Students Get a Spot on the Team
Education Week

For years, Tumaini Mporampora attended the same schools as students with intellectual disabilities.
It wasn’t until her senior year, when her high school began mixing students with disabilities with other students on the basketball team, the dance squad, and in track and field, that some of them became her friends.
“It’s almost like … they’re in their own little school,” Ms. Mporampora, 18, said of some of her classmates here at Overland High School outside Denver, where the integrated sports teams helped to break down the barriers.
The 2,200-student Overland High is one of a growing number of schools across the country to add Unified Sports teams to its selection of activities for students. Unlike traditional high school athletic teams, Unified Sports teams are designed to immerse students with intellectual disabilities in a facet of school culture that has largely eluded them.
http://goo.gl/vwpzI

Not just chess: Atheists are organizing high school clubs, too
Religion News Service via Washington Post

High school kids can join the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Jewish Student Union, the Muslim Students Association and, in some schools, a Hindu or a Buddhist club.
Now they can join the young atheists club, too.
In another sign of the emergence of nonbelievers in American society, the Secular Student Alliance, a national organization of more than 300 college-based clubs for atheists, humanists, agnostics and other “freethinkers,” is helping to establish clubs for high school students to hang out with other teens who share their skepticism about the supernatural.
http://goo.gl/I7Bs1

Students who harassed bus monitor Karen Klein suspended one year
Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle

The four middle school students who verbally harassed bus monitor Karen Klein will each be suspended from school and bus transportation for one year and must complete 50 hours of community service with senior citizens, according to a statement released this afternoon by the Greece Central School District.
In the statement, Superintendent Barbara Deane-Williams said the students and their families waived their right to a due process hearing and agreed to the disciplinary measures.
The students will be transferred to the district Reengagement Center in a non-school facility, where students can stay on track academically and “take responsibility for their actions by completing community service hours and receiving formal instruction related to conduct and behavior that prepares them for a productive future,” according to the district’s statement.
http://goo.gl/q1oDp

Early full-term babies may face later school woes
Associated Press

CHICAGO — Even for infants born full-term, a little more time in the womb may matter.
The extra time results in more brain development, and a study suggests perhaps better scores on academic tests, too.
Full-term is generally between 37 weeks and 41 weeks; newborns born before 37 weeks are called premature and are known to face increased chances for health and developmental problems.
The children in the study were all full-term, and the vast majority did fine on third-grade math and reading tests. The differences were small, but the study found that more kids born at 37 or 38 weeks did poorly than did kids born even a week or two later.
http://goo.gl/wWy0d

A Man of Principals
Harvard Edcast

Roland Barth, founder of The Principals’ Center at HGSE reflects on the unique and evolving position of school leader.
http://goo.gl/mqUrF

That Batboy Job With the Yankees? It’s a Bronx School Perk
New York Times

As an avid Yankees fan for years, Edwin Tavarez often noticed bat boys on the field catching foul balls outside the first- and third-base lines and retrieving bats flung by hitters. But Edwin, an 18-year-old senior at Urban Assembly School for Careers in Sports, never imagined that one day he would have the opportunity to become one.
“I didn’t know how they got the job,” he said, “so I didn’t think I’d get it.”
A selection process little known outside of a couple of high schools in the Bronx, however, made it possible for Edwin and his classmate, Bryan Jimenez, 17, to both land batboy posts this season, a feat only dreamed of by many youths their age.
http://goo.gl/g9jqG

Pa. high school puts itself up for sale on eBay
Associated Press

LANGHORNE, Pa. — Forget magazine drives and candy sales. A cash-strapped high school near Philadelphia hopes to raise money by auctioning itself on eBay.
Officials at The Learning Center in Langhorne, Pa., are seeking bids starting around $600,000 to offset steep budget cuts.
The eBay listing (http://bit.ly/KOxAPp) describes the public alternative school for at-risk teens as “pre-owned” and “slightly used.”
The winner won’t own the school. But he or she will get a naming opportunity, a free large pizza and the satisfaction of “delivering an education to a group of kids who could really use it.”
http://goo.gl/nG62F

Related posts: