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From the publisher: Shine a light

Imogen Radcliffe — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:34:30 +0000

Over the past many years, we have been inundated with articles, columns, essays and rants about the widening red-blue divide in this country. People on one side of the divide can no longer even fathom the perspective of people across the way. We are a long way from reconciliation.

I’m afraid a similar chasm has opened in the world of public education. On one side are people who favor data-driven accountability, school choice, autonomy and pay-for-performance (to name a few issues). I’ll call them (somewhat inaccurately) “outsiders.” On the other are “insiders,” those who feel that market-based reforms and an over-emphasis on testing constitute an assault on public education and specifically on teachers.

Rhetoric on both sides is tilting toward invective. Name-callin

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There’s more to grad school than studying

Matthew Kethel — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:47:28 +0000

The Chronicle of Higher Education shared with graduate students tips on how to get the most out of your academic career. This open letter to graduate students encourages you to network productively within your field, but I also encourage you to expand your horizons and get to know others in your local community.

This week is full of opportunities for you to meet students from other programs and professionals of the Lowcountry.

Tuesday, the Social Media Club Charleston is hosting their Summer Social at Taco Boy Downtown.

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Shuckerow

Luca Kibble — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:48:24 +0000

Loco control

Imogen Radcliffe — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 01:45:45 +0000

Defeat often begets a scapegoat. In the wake of the twice-short Colorado application to R2T, this has now solidified: the judges were “perplexed by local control” which led to a lack of objectivity. This is a familiar refrain — them pointy-headed Eastern elites jest don’t git the way things work out West, what wid our frontier sensibilities ‘n all. So local control is the Western value we refuse to sacrifice to appease these high-fallutin fiscal brutes.

Except I think it would be prudent to entertain, at least briefly, one small possibility:

Um… What if they are right?

Colorado has 178 independent school districts, and the differences in size are staggering. Using CDE da

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POLL National search for new Collier superintendent could cost up to $25,000

Milla Rodgers — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:11:57 +0000

See this entire gallery at full size

No, hire locally Give Thompson another year Bring Ray Baker back

NAPLES Wayne Blanton knows a thing or two about hiring Florida superintendents.

Blanton, the executive director of the Florida School Boards Association, typically helps two or three districts in Florida a year find a new leader.

“You used to have 75, 85, 95 people applying in the searches,” he said. “Tw

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New year brings changes for Falls Elementary, By EMILY GEDDE, Staff Writer

Milla Rodgers — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:06:37 +0000

New parking lot and bus loading zone helps make school a safer place

The start of a new school year will bring a few changes to Falls Elementary School, including a new parking lot and bus loading zone.

Principal Jerry Hilfer and Transportation Director Jeff Veeder said the parking lot work is intended to create a safer situation with separate school bus and vehicle pick-up and drop-off areas.

“It has been a problem for a long time,” Hilfer explained. “We’ve always needed to do something about the parking lot congestion and just never had the money to do anything.”

An accident last year involving a bus and a young student helped spur decisions about the parking issue.

“

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Looking for a College With a Diverse Student Body?

Matthew Kethel — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 05:40:48 +0000

Many prospective college students and their parents believe that an ethnically diverse student body enhances the education of every pupil on campus. A university is truly diverse if there are many different ethnic groups enrolled on campus and those groups have around the same percentage of students enrolled.

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Ready for 2020? Advice for every career stage

Lachlan Dease — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:39:04 +0000

Information technology has always been a fast-changing field. But nothing compares to the expected sea changes in the next decade that will impact the career plans of every generation of IT worker.

“The rate of change has accelerated dramatically,” says Alain Chesnais, president of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and founder of Visual Transitions, which specializes in computer graphics and social networks. Consider, he says, that graphics chips are doubling in capacity every six months. That translates into a thousandfold increase in capacity over a five-year period — the average shelf life of most game platforms. “We’ve never seen anything like it in any industry,” he says.

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Screw the Feds! Onward to reform!

Imogen Radcliffe — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:29:00 +0000

So we did not get the Race to the Top funds. Many are asking now what?–as if our future rested on securing these funds. What has been the reaction in the trenches to the bad news? Cue the crickets. School is in full swing, teachers are dealing with new students and curriculum, and many schools are dealing with massive layoffs.

It is disappointing to see some leaders revel in the bad news by making dubious claims that SB 191 was supposed to make the state a shoe-in for the funds. This is disappointing because they miss the point of SB 191. It wasn’t about securing our chances. It was about reforming how we evaluate teachers.

Yes, the funds would have assisted in implementation of the new evaluation system. So

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POLL: School district, local Christian group hoping to resolve Bible distribution dispute

Milla Rodgers — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:06:17 +0000

No. I don’t know.

COLLIER COUNTY A federal judge has ordered the Collier County School District and a local Christian organization to mediation over whether the organization should distribute free Bibles on campus.

U.S.

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Reaching across the state: WSU offers engineering degree in Bremerton

Luca Kibble — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:15:04 +0000

ME 303 Fluid Mechanics is a cooperative course taught via telecom-
munications to WSU, University of Idaho and Olympic College, Bremer-
ton, students. Konstantin Matveev, of the WSU School of Mechanical
and Materials Engineering, is shown teaching the class in the Electri-
cal/Mechanical Engineering Building on the Pullman campus.
(Photo by Tim Marsh, WSU Today)
From the Kitsap Sun newspaper BREMERTON - For the first time ever, 15 students recently sat down at desks at Olympic College to earn bachelor degrees in mechanical engineering from Washington State University. T Full Post…

¡Adiós, España!

Matthew Kethel — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:28:56 +0000

This is the fifth and final installment of Tiffany Dixon’s (M.Ed.- Languages) travel journal of her time studying abroad in Trujillo, Spain. She’s seen some amazing historical sites, danced until she dropped in a discoteca, and even dipped her toes in “the other side of the Atlantic” in Portugal. Now that she’s at her journey’s end, she and Tommy la Tortuguita (her terrapin travel companion) are taking a moment to reflect about their life-changing experiences. In case you

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Transfers rare under ‘No Child’ law

Imogen Radcliffe — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 20:24:45 +0000

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – More than 120,000 children are eligible to transfer from their struggling Connecticut schools to better schools this fall, but there’s no mass exodus in the making.

Many parents are finding that even when they try to transfer their children under provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind law, neighboring schools often aren’t performing any better — and if they are, they often don’t have space for newcomers.

Education improvement activists say the promise of transferring to a better school is a fundamental flaw in the No Child law, disappointing parents when they discover the roadblocks to making such a switch.

In Connecticut, new state figures show that students in about 160 elementary and middle schools and dozens of high schools could request transfers because their schools haven’t met federal standards for at least two consecutive years.

Most are in Connecticut’s struggling cities, and many have fallen short of standards for up to seven or eight years.

“That’s an awful lot of schools where kids would be there for their entire tenure,” said Alex Johnston, a New Haven school board member and chief executive officer of ConnCAN, the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now.

Last year, only about 2 percent of eligible Connecticut students’ parents requested a transfer. I

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PHOTOS: Tommie Barfield Elementary Open House

Milla Rodgers — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:58:57 +0000

See all
6 photos
at full size

Tommie Barfield Elementary hosted an ‘Open House’ Friday afternoon from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm. The ‘Open House’ provided a chance for new children, returning children, and parents to familiarize themselves with the school before the first day of school. The schoo

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The Power of Article Writing in a Web 2.0 World

Lachlan Dease — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:06:31 +0000

Does article writing still have a place in this new interactive Web 2.0 world? It’s a question many Virtual Professionals and online business owners may be asking themselves as Social Media Marketing and Video Marketing gain prominence.

Well, we would argue that article writing does have a place and that it is still a prolific marketing channel in this Social Media Arena. Here are some of the key reasons why:

• Increases brand visibility and interest.

• Establishes authority and thought leadership.

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Doctoral student honored: Noteworthy potential may include invisible plastics

Luca Kibble — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 01:58:31 +0000

Bin Li and Katie Zhong. (Photo by Michelle White) PULLMAN – Important research by a WSU doctoral student has earned him a prestigious award and even opened the future possibility of invisible plastics. Bin Li, who is pursuing his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, recently received a second place award in the Flightglobal Achievement Award: Boeing Engineering Student of the Year competition. The annual global contest honors students whose work has or will have a significant impact on the engineering field, especially in the area of aerospace engineering. Li was nominated for the award by his adviser, Weihong (Katie) Zhong, a professor in mechanical and materials engineering (MME), for his work in multifunctional nanocomposites. ” Full Post…