Indianapolis - Gov. Mitch Daniels has promised that change will continue to dominate the last two years of his administration. When the legislature goes into session in January, education will be at the top of that list.
In the first of three parts of our year-end conversation with Gov. Mitch Daniels, he talks to Eyewitness News the type of change he would like to see in Indiana schools.
WTHR: "Let's start with the obvious here. You have a Republican majority in the House and the Senate. It makes me think of the quote, 'to whom much is given, much is expected.'"
Daniels: "We expect a lot of ourselves. We asked to be entrusted with the leadership in the legislature as well as here and now we have to turn that into positive change for Hoosiers, but that is exactly what we intend to do."
WTHR: "Where do you want to take the state? I know you want to start with education so let's start there. What are your key points there?"
Daniels: "Teacher quality by runaway margin the most important predictor of how our children will do. It trumps everything - poverty, class size they are small by comparison. So teacher quality first. More flexibility. We have more accountability in the system now. Starting this year every school is graded A through F. Every parent will be able to understand it. We've got to get the local superintendents and school boards and principals enough authority and flexibility to meet the expectations. And then finally more options for our families and we will be able to choose among public schools, among charter public schools or even non-government schools. Whatever they think is best for their child. We trust them to make that decision."
WTHR: "The devil is always in the details as it is negotiated, but on teacher accountability I have talked to some instructors who have said, 'It is not always what we do. Sometimes it is the class. It can vary from year to year.' How do we address all that is out there?"
Daniels: "Right. Well let's start by saying nothing is less fair then it is today. The very very best teacher gets absolutely no credit or advantage for that compared to the very poorest teacher in a given school. They get the same raise at the end of the year. It's all seniority-based. So that can't be the best answer. It's very fair to say that we should evaluate teachers not on how children do in absolute terms because some classes will start out well behind others, but how much did they grow? How much did they learn during the year? We can measure this now and local leadership can devise their own ways of evaluating which teachers are the most often helping children wherever those kids started grow at least a year for every year in school."
WTHR: "On the issue of early graduation, there are several questions, like who will get the money and whether it will be universal."
Daniels: "Visiting Indiana high schools I kept running into seniors who had already completed their graduation requirements and they would tell you they were more or less cruising through senior year, which led me to the idea that maybe, purely on a voluntary basis, if they would rather have the money we're gonna spend on them and begin applying it to the high cost of college or some kind of post-secondary education might be a good idea."
Daniels said 77 percent of students polled said they'd love to have that choice.
Daniels: "I think the idea is to - at the student's option - let them direct if not all, at least most of the money we would otherwise spend on a wasted senior year - as long as they're gonna use it somewhere in the state to pursue their education and growth."
WTHR: "Is there some concern by schools that they might lose more money that way?"
Daniels: "Schools are always concerned about money, sometimes I think more than they seem to be about how the students are doing. But we have to focus in Indiana education on the young people, on the students, what is best for them? What will help them grow the most? Everything else is a means to that end. If a family or a student through his or her own diligence completes graduation requirements in less than 12 years, let's help them with the cost of college. Let's think about them first and this idea would accomplish that."
Tuesday night, we'll talk to the governor about the state's dire need for jobs.
Source: Eyewitness Politics
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
www.BestEssayHelp.com | Education should trump tax breaks in Kansas
Kansans not only placed Sam Brownback in the governor’s seat in 2010, they cleared out any semblance of potential political obstacles.
The GOP sweep in Kansas leaves Democrats a token force in the Legislature. For Brownback’s agenda in 2011, that’s the good news. It should be smooth sailing.
Here’s the not-so-good news: The governor-elect will arrive in office facing a $500 million revenue shortfall. The early signs for how he will deal with it aren’t good.
Brownback keeps talking about backing economic development in the state, but at the same time he is looking at slashing funding to our greatest economic development tool: education at Kansas schools and universities.
While there may be some short-term gain in tax incentives attracting new businesses, it will be a long-term failure if it comes at the expense of a high-quality education. Without good employees, businesses fail, regardless of the tax situation. And without high standards from elementary school through postgraduate levels, the state fails to produce not only the skills needed in the work world, but minds nimble enough to adapt and evolve, an essential for the modern business world.
Brownback has said he wants to avoid cutting economic development specialty areas, such as the KU Medical Center and pharmacy school, Kansas State’s veterinary medicine school and Wichita State’s aviation institute, while perhaps dropping less economically productive degree tracts.
Successful university systems, however, cast broad nets to bring in students in a wide range of majors, many of whom will benefit their states in unexpected ways.
Disappointing some supporters, Brownback has said he sees no way to reverse the penny sales tax increase passed this year under Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson. This is smart. Parkinson didn’t back the tax because he favored big government. He did so because life in the Sunflower State without it would be life without essential services.
But Brownback is talking about targeted economic development tax cuts. If the state cannot afford $50 million to beef up our universities (which he says it cannot), it also cannot afford more tax cuts. Already, the Kansas tax burden is shouldered by too few.
For every penny of sales tax collected in Kansas, the state exempts 2 cents. Brownback should be looking at ways to spread, not increase, the tax burden more fairly so everyday Kansans aren’t asked to prop up breaks for businesses.
Brownback has resisted the notion of tax increases to shore up state coffers. Surely, though, even a small reduction in subsidies so easily handed out by lawmakers to everyone from manufacturers to Girl Scouts makes more sense than to see a proud education system fail.
By the end of the 2011 legislative session, Brownback will not be able to complain that he couldn’t get through his agenda for political reasons.
But if his agenda cripples education, future Kansans will look back on the broom that swept the Republican Party into complete control in the state with great sadness.
Editor’s note: This is part two of an editorial series on issues that cross over from 2010 to 2011.
Source: Kansas City
The GOP sweep in Kansas leaves Democrats a token force in the Legislature. For Brownback’s agenda in 2011, that’s the good news. It should be smooth sailing.
Here’s the not-so-good news: The governor-elect will arrive in office facing a $500 million revenue shortfall. The early signs for how he will deal with it aren’t good.
Brownback keeps talking about backing economic development in the state, but at the same time he is looking at slashing funding to our greatest economic development tool: education at Kansas schools and universities.
While there may be some short-term gain in tax incentives attracting new businesses, it will be a long-term failure if it comes at the expense of a high-quality education. Without good employees, businesses fail, regardless of the tax situation. And without high standards from elementary school through postgraduate levels, the state fails to produce not only the skills needed in the work world, but minds nimble enough to adapt and evolve, an essential for the modern business world.
Brownback has said he wants to avoid cutting economic development specialty areas, such as the KU Medical Center and pharmacy school, Kansas State’s veterinary medicine school and Wichita State’s aviation institute, while perhaps dropping less economically productive degree tracts.
Successful university systems, however, cast broad nets to bring in students in a wide range of majors, many of whom will benefit their states in unexpected ways.
Disappointing some supporters, Brownback has said he sees no way to reverse the penny sales tax increase passed this year under Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson. This is smart. Parkinson didn’t back the tax because he favored big government. He did so because life in the Sunflower State without it would be life without essential services.
But Brownback is talking about targeted economic development tax cuts. If the state cannot afford $50 million to beef up our universities (which he says it cannot), it also cannot afford more tax cuts. Already, the Kansas tax burden is shouldered by too few.
For every penny of sales tax collected in Kansas, the state exempts 2 cents. Brownback should be looking at ways to spread, not increase, the tax burden more fairly so everyday Kansans aren’t asked to prop up breaks for businesses.
Brownback has resisted the notion of tax increases to shore up state coffers. Surely, though, even a small reduction in subsidies so easily handed out by lawmakers to everyone from manufacturers to Girl Scouts makes more sense than to see a proud education system fail.
By the end of the 2011 legislative session, Brownback will not be able to complain that he couldn’t get through his agenda for political reasons.
But if his agenda cripples education, future Kansans will look back on the broom that swept the Republican Party into complete control in the state with great sadness.
Editor’s note: This is part two of an editorial series on issues that cross over from 2010 to 2011.
Source: Kansas City
Friday, December 24, 2010
www.BestEssayHelp.com | Scott transition team’s education plan worries voucher advocate
The “universal voucher” proposal floated this week by Gov.-elect Rick Scott’s transition team is drawing opposition from at least one longtime supporter of school vouchers.
In documents released this week, Scott’s education advisers — led by Patricia Levesque, a veteran of the Department of Education under Jeb Bush and the current director of one of his school reform groups — outlined a hypothetical program that would allow parents of public schoolchildren to receive 85 percent of the money the state spends per student, which they could keep in “education savings accounts” to use as they see fit on online “virtual schools,” private schools, tutoring or even college expenses.
Andrew Coulson, a voucher advocate from the libertarian Cato Institute, worries that the idea couldn’t fly in Florida, and should instead be tried in states with friendlier legal climates, according to the St. Petersburg Times.
He bases his thinking on a 2006 ruling by the Florida Supreme Court, which struck down a voucher program floated by then-Gov. Bush on the grounds that the state constitution provides for universal public education, and channeling public money to private institutions violates that principle. For Scott’s plan to pass legal muster, the court would probably have to overturn its own ruling.
What’s more, Scott’s plan calls for phasing out the corporate income tax, which currently allows for the state’s existing voucher program, the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, in which companies can sponsor student vouchers in exchange for tax breaks.
According to the Times, Coulson writes:
The result of simultaneously passing the [education savings accounts] program and abolishing the corporate income tax would thus be to gut Florida’s existing, successful, popular, money-saving scholarship donation tax credit program without providing a viable alternative. That would decimate school choice in Florida.
The ideas laid out by Scott’s transition advisers bear many hallmarks of the Bush education agenda, but don’t provide many specific ideas for overcoming the same constitutional barriers that stymied the former governor.
Source: The Florida Independent
In documents released this week, Scott’s education advisers — led by Patricia Levesque, a veteran of the Department of Education under Jeb Bush and the current director of one of his school reform groups — outlined a hypothetical program that would allow parents of public schoolchildren to receive 85 percent of the money the state spends per student, which they could keep in “education savings accounts” to use as they see fit on online “virtual schools,” private schools, tutoring or even college expenses.
Andrew Coulson, a voucher advocate from the libertarian Cato Institute, worries that the idea couldn’t fly in Florida, and should instead be tried in states with friendlier legal climates, according to the St. Petersburg Times.
He bases his thinking on a 2006 ruling by the Florida Supreme Court, which struck down a voucher program floated by then-Gov. Bush on the grounds that the state constitution provides for universal public education, and channeling public money to private institutions violates that principle. For Scott’s plan to pass legal muster, the court would probably have to overturn its own ruling.
What’s more, Scott’s plan calls for phasing out the corporate income tax, which currently allows for the state’s existing voucher program, the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, in which companies can sponsor student vouchers in exchange for tax breaks.
According to the Times, Coulson writes:
The result of simultaneously passing the [education savings accounts] program and abolishing the corporate income tax would thus be to gut Florida’s existing, successful, popular, money-saving scholarship donation tax credit program without providing a viable alternative. That would decimate school choice in Florida.
The ideas laid out by Scott’s transition advisers bear many hallmarks of the Bush education agenda, but don’t provide many specific ideas for overcoming the same constitutional barriers that stymied the former governor.
Source: The Florida Independent
Thursday, December 23, 2010
www.BestEssayHelp.com | Woman who promoted education after 9/11 loss dies
Sarah "Sally" Goodrich lost her son on Sept. 11. Struggling in 2004 with how to memorialize him with the $49,000 donated to them from family and friends, she and her husband, Donald, helped start a school for girls in Afghanistan.
"The idea that we could go to Afghanistan where the Afghan people were taken advantage of by al-Qaida, manipulated, and where the planning for our son's death took place and provide an alternative way of looking at the world, was very appealing to us," Donald Goodrich said.
Sally Goodrich, a former teacher, died Saturday of cancer at her home in Bennington. She was 65. The E.P. Mahar and Son Funeral Home in Bennington confirmed her death to The Associated Press.
Her 33-year-old son, Peter, was aboard the second plane that hit the World Trade Center in 2001.
The school project grew out of an e-mail from a neighbor, a friend of her late son, who was serving as a U.S. Marine in Afghanistan. He wrote about a school that needed supplies, which prompted Sally Goodrich to get involved.
"She was a person who loved humanity. And if there was any love in your soul you would reciprocate with my wife. And that's really what has allowed us to do what we've been able to do," Donald Goodrich said.
David Edwards, a professor of anthropology at Williams College and an Afghanistan expert, at first discouraged Goodrich's idea of starting a school after seeing a lot of well-intentioned projects go awry. But before he knew it, he had agreed to go to Logar province to inspect the school site.
"Sally had a kind of relentlessness to her, and I say that and it sounds like it could be a negative thing. But she had just a quality of determination that was really striking, but also a real sense of humor," he said.
Edwards ended up connecting her with Afghanistan's deputy minister of interior - his former research assistant. After meeting the provincial director of schools and the director of education, they found a better, safer site for the school, Edwards said. The Goodriches went on to build one for $230,000.
Goodrich had visited Afghanistan numerous times, met struggling Afghanis and regained a sense of hope.
"I found that suffering is a universal language that allows for a greater understanding," she told the AP in 2006.
The Goodriches also helped to bring at least 14 exchange students from Afghanistan to schools including the Berkshire School, many of them staying in their small Vermont home during the summer and holidays. The students have gone on to get scholarships at colleges such as Williams, Mount Holyoke and Bates.
Goodrich is survived by her husband, a daughter and son, three brothers and five grandchildren, according to the funeral home's obituary.
Sourse: Washington Post
"The idea that we could go to Afghanistan where the Afghan people were taken advantage of by al-Qaida, manipulated, and where the planning for our son's death took place and provide an alternative way of looking at the world, was very appealing to us," Donald Goodrich said.
Sally Goodrich, a former teacher, died Saturday of cancer at her home in Bennington. She was 65. The E.P. Mahar and Son Funeral Home in Bennington confirmed her death to The Associated Press.
Her 33-year-old son, Peter, was aboard the second plane that hit the World Trade Center in 2001.
The school project grew out of an e-mail from a neighbor, a friend of her late son, who was serving as a U.S. Marine in Afghanistan. He wrote about a school that needed supplies, which prompted Sally Goodrich to get involved.
"She was a person who loved humanity. And if there was any love in your soul you would reciprocate with my wife. And that's really what has allowed us to do what we've been able to do," Donald Goodrich said.
David Edwards, a professor of anthropology at Williams College and an Afghanistan expert, at first discouraged Goodrich's idea of starting a school after seeing a lot of well-intentioned projects go awry. But before he knew it, he had agreed to go to Logar province to inspect the school site.
"Sally had a kind of relentlessness to her, and I say that and it sounds like it could be a negative thing. But she had just a quality of determination that was really striking, but also a real sense of humor," he said.
Edwards ended up connecting her with Afghanistan's deputy minister of interior - his former research assistant. After meeting the provincial director of schools and the director of education, they found a better, safer site for the school, Edwards said. The Goodriches went on to build one for $230,000.
Goodrich had visited Afghanistan numerous times, met struggling Afghanis and regained a sense of hope.
"I found that suffering is a universal language that allows for a greater understanding," she told the AP in 2006.
The Goodriches also helped to bring at least 14 exchange students from Afghanistan to schools including the Berkshire School, many of them staying in their small Vermont home during the summer and holidays. The students have gone on to get scholarships at colleges such as Williams, Mount Holyoke and Bates.
Goodrich is survived by her husband, a daughter and son, three brothers and five grandchildren, according to the funeral home's obituary.
Sourse: Washington Post
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
www.BestEssayHelp.com | Italian students demonstrate against education reforms
Thousands of students are demonstrating in Italy ahead of a Senate vote on controversial education reforms.
Rome police have sealed off the area around parliament after last week's violent protests when Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi survived a no-confidence motion.
Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini says reforms will save billions and create a more merit-based system.
Critics say universities are already severely under-funded.
On the march
In Rome, students in their thousands have been marching peacefully through the streets.
"We are in the square to protest against minister Gelmini and to show that after the 14th of December we are not divided, we are not violent, we are simply here to demonstrate and to validate our ideas," a student called Franco told Reuters TV.
But clashes have been reported in Palermo, Sicily, where some students were reported to be throwing stones at police and trying to enter a local government building.
In the northern city of Turin, protesters attacked a publishing house owned by the prime minister, while in Naples students reportedly brought traffic to a standstill.
Demonstrations are taking place in other cities across Italy, including Milan, Venice, and Perugia.
Reforming the system
The reforms will cut the number of university courses, merge some smaller universities, reduce funding for grants, increase the role of the private sector and limit the duration of rectorships.
The BBC's David Willey in Rome says there is excessive power in the hands of ageing professors and teachers.
But while many agree that reforms of the education sector might be needed, there has been criticism of the swingeing cuts, thought to total around 9bn euros (£8bn, $12bn).
Italy spends less than 5% of its Gross Domestic Product on education - lower than many developed countries.
But the cuts are part of wider austerity measures that the government is introducing in order to reduce its public debt.
Job losses
Students have held a number of demonstrations in recent months over the cuts, which some estimate will lead to the loss of about 130,000 jobs in the education sector.
"We are asking for this bill to be blocked and for the whole public education system to be refinanced," the Student Network said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Education Minister Ms Gelmini said she was open to talks on the reforms.
But she has insisted the measures were urgently needed to equip Italian students for employment.
"It is essential to restore dignity and usability to Italian university degrees," she said in an open letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Our correspondent says there is heavy youth unemployment in Italy and many university graduates take years to find jobs.
The education bill proposed by Ms Gelmini is being discussed in the Senate on Wednesday, although the vote may be delayed until Thursday.
If it is passed, Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano would then have to sign the bill into law.
A student delegation is expected to meet the president later to present a list of complaints.
Rome police have sealed off the area around parliament after last week's violent protests when Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi survived a no-confidence motion.
Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini says reforms will save billions and create a more merit-based system.
Critics say universities are already severely under-funded.
On the march
In Rome, students in their thousands have been marching peacefully through the streets.
"We are in the square to protest against minister Gelmini and to show that after the 14th of December we are not divided, we are not violent, we are simply here to demonstrate and to validate our ideas," a student called Franco told Reuters TV.
But clashes have been reported in Palermo, Sicily, where some students were reported to be throwing stones at police and trying to enter a local government building.
In the northern city of Turin, protesters attacked a publishing house owned by the prime minister, while in Naples students reportedly brought traffic to a standstill.
Demonstrations are taking place in other cities across Italy, including Milan, Venice, and Perugia.
Reforming the system
The reforms will cut the number of university courses, merge some smaller universities, reduce funding for grants, increase the role of the private sector and limit the duration of rectorships.
The BBC's David Willey in Rome says there is excessive power in the hands of ageing professors and teachers.
But while many agree that reforms of the education sector might be needed, there has been criticism of the swingeing cuts, thought to total around 9bn euros (£8bn, $12bn).
Italy spends less than 5% of its Gross Domestic Product on education - lower than many developed countries.
But the cuts are part of wider austerity measures that the government is introducing in order to reduce its public debt.
Job losses
Students have held a number of demonstrations in recent months over the cuts, which some estimate will lead to the loss of about 130,000 jobs in the education sector.
"We are asking for this bill to be blocked and for the whole public education system to be refinanced," the Student Network said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Education Minister Ms Gelmini said she was open to talks on the reforms.
But she has insisted the measures were urgently needed to equip Italian students for employment.
"It is essential to restore dignity and usability to Italian university degrees," she said in an open letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Our correspondent says there is heavy youth unemployment in Italy and many university graduates take years to find jobs.
The education bill proposed by Ms Gelmini is being discussed in the Senate on Wednesday, although the vote may be delayed until Thursday.
If it is passed, Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano would then have to sign the bill into law.
A student delegation is expected to meet the president later to present a list of complaints.
www.BestEssayHelp.com | Kno Education Tablet Pre-Orders Begin Shipping This Week
If you happen to be in the group that pre-ordered a tablet from Kno, then it looks like you will soon get a holiday gift. Well, a holiday gift that you ordered (and most likely paid for), but still, the Kno tablets will begin shipping out as of this week.And for those wondering what the Kno tablet is, worry not because it is not yet available for anyone and everyone to buy. Furthermore, it is aimed at the education market, with special emphasis that students would be able to read and take notes at the same time. Hence the dual-display version.
The tablets are sporting a 14.1 inch display and are available as a single, or a dual-display version. To touch a little bit on the ability to take notes, while that is possible, the Kno tablet also allows the user to annotate and highlight as well as take handwritten notes in the margins. Basically, they are made to be used just like a regular textbook.
That said, while regular textbooks are certainly not inexpensive, the Kno tablet comes with a starting price of around $900. And on top of that, there has been few (if any) reviews and current sales numbers remain a mystery. Given that, I would be a little nervous to buy in.
Of course, it is not all that easy to just make a purchase at this time. Despite those early pre-orders going out as of now, the product is not open for any and all. At present the order system was still described as being invitation only and that invitation is dependent on a “request for purchase” that must be filled out. Basically, it sounds like you need to get approval from the company before you can make a purchase.
Bottom line, we can only hope a few of those who pre-ordered and are about to receive a unit will be kind enough to post some pictures and share some thoughts.
Source: TFTS
BestEssayHelp | EEOC sues Washington Post subsidiary over the use of credit checks in hiring
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against an education company for rejecting a class of black job applicants because of their credit history.
The EEOC claims that Kaplan Higher Education — a subsidiary of the Washington Post — had been doing this since at least 2008.
"This practice has an unlawful discriminatory impact because of race and is neither job-related nor justified by business necessity," the EEOC said in a statement.
A Kaplan spokeswoman Michele Pore told the Associated Press that the company does background checks on all prospective employees, including checking credit histories of those whose duties would entail financial matters. Pore added the company as a diverse work force and doesn't discriminate.
The EEOC in October held a hearing to address the growing use of credit checks in hiring.
Lawyers representing employers at the hearing says credit checks have become necessary because former employers give little information in references for fear of being sued. Worker advocates argued that someone's credit record has nothing to do with how they would perform on a job.
Source: The Baltimor Sun
The EEOC claims that Kaplan Higher Education — a subsidiary of the Washington Post — had been doing this since at least 2008.
"This practice has an unlawful discriminatory impact because of race and is neither job-related nor justified by business necessity," the EEOC said in a statement.
A Kaplan spokeswoman Michele Pore told the Associated Press that the company does background checks on all prospective employees, including checking credit histories of those whose duties would entail financial matters. Pore added the company as a diverse work force and doesn't discriminate.
The EEOC in October held a hearing to address the growing use of credit checks in hiring.
Lawyers representing employers at the hearing says credit checks have become necessary because former employers give little information in references for fear of being sued. Worker advocates argued that someone's credit record has nothing to do with how they would perform on a job.
Source: The Baltimor Sun
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