We are especially interested in candidates who could contribute to institutional interdisciplinary priorities with theories of racial, ethnic, feminist and/or environmental politics.
St. Michael's help wanted ad
We don't have enough of those in Vermont already? What ever happened to "diversity?"
(thanks to phi beta cons at nro)
John McCain laid out his education position, consisting of a focus on school choice and teacher quality, to the NAACP. Why the NAACP? Because, despite African-Americans overwhelmingly voting for Democrats, they also are big supporters of school choice. Unfortunately for them, the NEA has more clout within the Party.
One of Peter Berger's "Poor Elijah" columns showed up today in the Rutland Herald. I confess that I am a huge fan of this common sense educator. He, however, is no fan of No Child Left Behind. Nevertheless, he ridicules a group called Common Core, that has been highly critical of NCLB for supposedly robbing curriculum of content in social studies, science, and the arts.
I might add that the Manhattan Institute has very recently released a study that concludes that high stakes testing in reading and math leads to more proficiency in these other subjects.
The Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators is proposing a streamlined process for educator relicensure and is soliciting public comment. Gone will be individual professional development plans (IPDPs), and gone will be local relicensing boards.
A memo recently sent out to educators by Board Chair Brian Howe cited two main reasons for the new proposal: "First, the process has become more complicated than intended and some local boards are asking for more information/documentation from teachers than what may be necessary. Second, there is a lack of consistency within the local standards board structure."
Early in my career, the Department of Education ceded its relicensing responsibilities over to local relicensing boards, which each SU/SD would have. (And they started charging significantly more for the licenses, even though they weren't doing any of the work.) These boards would approve the IPDPs and approve the nine required recertification credits. As an incentive to get educators to serve on the local board, recertification credits were offered. Because committee work would count the same as course work, recertification credits were handed out as a way to get educators to work on various extra projects without pay.
Local boards had, in many instances, gotten out of control. They would send teachers back to rewrite some little piece of verbiage in their IPDPs several times before being accepted. And the verbiage might be verbatim what was in somebody else's IPDP that the local board had recently approved!
If the new process can save teachers some time, that's a good thing. Teachers should have more time to concentrate on teaching. Verbiage in an IPDP doesn't guarantee effective teaching anyway.
"I think it is safe to say the the political "golden era" for the NEA is long past."
So says Joel Williams of Democrats for Education Reform, noting that Barack Obama has chosen not to attend the NEA Convention this weekend. It's nice to know that there are Democrats that enjoy their freedom from NEA dominance. Unfortunately for Vermont school children and taxpayers, the golden era of Vermont-NEA, is very much now. But then again, a Vermont Democrat is a different animal entirely.
Friday's Burlington Free Press: "Symington said if she becomes governor, she would 'confront the underlying causes of property tax increases -- the costs of health care, energy and special education.'"
Why would we believe this woman who declared in February of 2007 that "the Legislature is committed to working with the Douglas administration to contain property taxes" and then flip-flopped on Act 82?
Zogby International is showing opposition to private school vouchers in Florida. But put vouchers together with a requirement that schools spend no more than 35 percent of their funds outside the classroom, and all of a sudden there's all kinds of support. That's what Florida's amendment 9 will do, if passed.
The operative wording of the 1997 Vermont Supreme Court's Brigham decision, which set up the basis for Act 60, is
Children who live in property-poor districts and children who live in property-rich districts should be afforded a substantially equal opportunity to have access to similar educational revenues. Thus....we hold only that to fulfill its constitutional obligation the state must ensure substantial equality of educational opportunity throughout Vermont.
Although many thought that Act 60, and Brigham, meant that the state would and should provide the funding to increase spending among low spending districts, others were concerned that some districts were spending too much and ought to be prevented from doing this, even though the higher-than-average education spending was paid for entirely by local taxpayers.
It now appears that a similar situation is occurring in Massachusetts, where the citizens of Wellesley want to build a new $159 million high school, with most of that coming from their own tax base. Massachusetts State Treasurer Timothy Cahill is opposed, saying
Just because you have the money doesn't mean you should be allowed to do it. One community should not be able to provide better opportunities for kids versus another community just because they have the money.
In essence, Mr Cahill does not want the residents of Wellesley--a group with higher-than-average income--to spend their own money on their children. I suppose it is better for them to buy fancier cars or spend more on dinners out at tony restaurants. But better school facilities? Absolutely not!
Mr Cahill's one-size-fits-all principle has many implications. For example, why should wealthier parents be allowed to hire tutors for their kids? Or give them private music lessons? Or send them to pricey summer camps? If Mr Cahill thinks that people should not be able to spend their own money to improve the lives of their children, the Wellesley High School is only the first step of a much larger project.
On the plus side, revenue this year is running higher than anticipated and has prevented the deficit from ballooning more.
Freeps
Now that's looking on the bright side.
Last week, I got forwarded an email from a University of Vermont student with "Meeting with Principle [sic]" as its subject line. This student is the state director of an organization called Teach Against Genocide (TAG). Its mission is to "pass state-level legislation which directs school boards to incorporate genocide education into public school curricula."
The email proposed to meet with our school principal in order to find ways to make educators part of the process. "I know that mandated curricula is a sore subject among teachers, but that is precisely why I am working so diligently to make sure that they play a defining role and have a final say in the legislative language."
Read into that: "Come listen to me, a UVM student who can't spell, cram this curriculum down your throats."
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