ISIL Channels

“As the Internet replaces library databases as students’ primary research option, a new discussion is emerging in academic circles: Is the vast amount of information at students’ fingertips changing the way they gather and process information for the better–or for worse? In a recent Atlantic Monthly article titled ‘Is Google Making Us Stupid,’ author Nicholas Carr asserts that technology has changed the way we think, making our minds a ‘high-speed data-processing’ machine under the influence of internet search engines. But he questions whether this development has led to a focus on surface-level skimming at the expense of deeper reading.” (10/15/08)

http://tinyurl.com/4n99lj

“Ohio University’s Faculty Senate voted 23-18 with three abstentions Monday to endorse a movement toward unionization — calling on professors to ‘begin the process of organizing themselves into a collective bargaining unit for the purpose of negotiating a contractual agreement with the university, instituting meaningful shared governance, to which the university administration would be bound by law.’ Professors supporting unionization stress the three words ‘meaningful shared governance’ as being something a collective bargaining unit can achieve that, amid administrators’ disregard, the Faculty Senate has not” (10/15/08)

http://tinyurl.com/4b7glq

“Smaller school buses will have to be equipped with lap-and-shoulder seat belts for the first time under a government rule drafted after the deaths of four Alabama students on a school bus that nose-dived off an overpass. Larger buses also will have higher seat backs under the new policy, which was announced Wednesday. The design change is supposed to keep older, heavier students from being thrown over the seats in a collision.” (10/15/08)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27200604/

“With the presidential race between John McCain and Barack Obama the focus of national attention, political speech on our nation’s campuses has come under sharp attack. In recent weeks, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has investigated open and blatant attacks on political expression at colleges and universities across the country, from a previously unreported case at Oklahoma, to better-known cases at Illinois and Texas, to cases at smaller schools across the country. This alarming trend towards silencing political expression has prompted FIRE to release a Policy Statement on Political Activity on Campus today.” (10/15/08)

http://tinyurl.com/4z33xp

“It’s mid-October, and with the Presidential Election less than a month away public education is still not playing a major part in the campaign, or in voters’ decisions. The crumbling financial situation, concerns over health care, and the war in Iraq are all more important to the voters and the candidates. And yet, come January, our new President will appoint a Secretary of Education and begin to influence, if not direct, federal education policy. Unfortunately, too many education advisers these days are not educators, and not in touch with the daily successes – and struggles – of schools and schoolchildren. I thought about this on the way home from school on Tuesday, October 7.” (10/14/08)

http://www.forumforeducation.org/blog/index.php?

“Is education one of your top priorities in the State Legislative races in LD-26? If so, your choice comes down to this: Do you like the idea of vouchers for private schools, or don’t you? All three candidates will tell you they’re big supporters of public education. They want more money for schools, higher teacher salaries and lower class sizes. No surprises there. If asked, I’m sure they’d all take equally bold stands in support of motherhood and apple pie.” (10/15/08)

http://tinyurl.com/4kw6pu

“The Brownsville Independent School District in Texas won what may be the nation’s most important prize for excellence in urban education on Tuesday, the same day that Texas authorities announced that the district had failed to meet achievement targets for two years under the federal No Child Left Behind law. Erica Lepping, a spokeswoman for the foundation that administers the $1 million Broad Prize for Urban Education, said the 10-member prize jury, which included two former secretaries of education, was aware that Brownsville had missed its testing targets under the federal law last year but had considered many other academic quality indicators in making its choice.” (10/14/08)

http://tinyurl.com/4lnjms

“The Philadelphia School Reform Commission should move forward with plans to close Germantown Settlement Charter School. With a final vote set for today, the commission has an opportunity to usher in a new era in school reform by shutting down a charter school for the first time since the movement began in the city 11 years ago. Three charter schools are under federal investigation. The time has come for more accountability and oversight by the School District and the state Department of Education.” (0/15/08)

http://tinyurl.com/54ozld

“Vouchers and school choice have long been a political debate that advocates promise will solve every problem facing public schools and the property tax dilemma that supports public schools. Does this political movement hold promise or is it just another philosophical volleyball of broken hopes and promises? In this month’s article, we will explore the facts. When one takes the subjectivity out of the equation and looks strictly at objective data, there is virtually no data or scientifically credible statistics to support such a philosophical move.” (10/15/08)

http://tinyurl.com/4hg6mk

“Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad has probably never met Soledad Moya, an eighth-grader at Middle School 302 in the South Bronx. But both are big believers in an approach that has people wringing their hands and wagging their fingers: paying students to perform on standardized tests. Moya’s school is a 45-minute subway ride from the Manhattan hotel where Broad took the stage at last month’s Clinton Global Initiative to announce a $6-million grant to help launch EdLabs — an initiative at Harvard University to advance innovations in public schools. EdLab’s first order of business is to determine if Spark — the pilot financial incentive program at Moya’s school and 58 others in New York City — leads to concrete improvements in academic achievement.” (10/15/08)

http://tinyurl.com/46x3pf