Half of States Now Offer Online-Learning Programs

More than half of U.S. states now operate online-learning initiatives for K-12 students, an increase over the 15 states that did so just two years ago, according to a new survey.
Most of the 26 states that have online programs have seen significant growth in enrollments in recent years, with a dozen of them reporting jumps of 25 percent or more since 2007, according to the report, “Online Learning Policy and Practice Survey: A Survey of the States.”
But funding and other issues are still roadblocks to the creation or expansion of such programs in some states, the survey concludes.
Education Week

Education Department to Demand School Pay Data

Goal Is To Find Out How Spending Between Title I and Other Schools Differs
U.S. Department of Education officials plan to require districts receiving economic-stimulus aid to report school-level salaries—a sign, observers say, that the Obama administration might seek key changes to district accounting procedures for federal Title I funds.
The reporting—the first collection of its type undertaken by the federal government—could give a clearer picture about the extent to which district spending on salaries differs between schools that receive Title I dollars for disadvantaged students and those that do not.
The results of the data collection, which is to take place this winter, are likely to give more ammunition to school finance experts and lawmakers who maintain that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act should be changed to require districts to address such disparities before receiving the federal aid.
Education Week

Should teachers put price tag on lesson plans?

Thousands of teachers are cashing in on a commodity they used to give away, selling lesson plans online for exercises as simple as M&M sorting and as sophisticated as William Shakespeare.
While some of this extra money is going to buy books and classroom supplies in a time of tight budgets, the new teacher-entrepreneurs are also spending it on dinners out, mortgage payments, credit-card bills, vacation travel and home renovation, leading some school officials to question who owns material developed for public-school classrooms.
Just about every imaginable lesson for preschool through college is up for sale, on individual teachers' blogs and commercial sites where buyers can review and grade the material.
Seattle Times

U.S. Solicits Input for New Ed-Tech Plan

Federal education officials are soliciting input for a new plan for educational technology that would put student learning at the center of the nation’s strategy for transforming schooling in the digital age.
But even though today’s Web 2.0 tools can spread information broadly and quickly and foster collaboration on such projects, the effort has apparently been slow in attracting recommendations from educators and ed-tech experts that could help guide its development, some people in the field say.
“The new plan is a critical component to moving education forward in the digital age,” said Donald G. Knezek, the executive director of the International Society for Technology in Education, or ISTE, based in Washington. “The draft is shaping up to have all the right placeholders focused on learning and effective and competent teaching.
Education Week

Race To The Top: Funding for Common Assessments Poses Challenge

Near the end of a public meeting held here Thursday, the director of the Race to the Top Fund competition at the U.S. Department of Education, Joanne Weiss, asked a group of assessment experts to summarize their thoughts about how the federal agency could work to improve the country’s assessment systems.
“Good luck,” deadpanned Lauress Wise, a scientist for the Alexandria, Va.-based Human Resources Research Organization, a nonprofit evaluation group.
The remark drew laughter from the researchers, federal officials, state assessment directors, and test vendors in attendance. But it also underscored the challenges the department faces in spending $350 million in economic-stimulus money to aid consortia of states in developing common assessments in reading and mathematics.
Three common messages emerged from the testing experts convened for the first of three meetings being held to advise the federal officials on how to design the competition for those funds:
• State consortia should consider devising assessments to aid instructional practices, in addition to the annual accountability tests now required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
• Teachers must be much more involved in the development, use, and possibly even the scoring of assessments.
• The Education Department should seek to structure state consortia in such a way that the one-time infusion of cash will leverage sustained work.
Education Week

Rules Set for $4 Billion 'Race to Top' Contest

For a good shot at the $4 billion in grants from the federal Race to the Top Fund, states will need to make a persuasive case for their education reform agenda, demonstrate significant buy-in from local school districts, and develop plans to evaluate teachers and principals based on student performance, according to final regulations set for release Thursday by the U.S. Department of Education.
Those three factors will rank as the most important to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his staff as they weigh states’ applications based on more than 30 criteriaRequires Adobe Acrobat Reader, including how friendly their charter school climates are and how well they use data to improve instruction.
At stake for states is a slice of the biggest single discretionary pool of education money in the economic-stimulus package passed by Congress in February—a $4.35 billion prize, of which $350 million has been pledged to help states develop common assessments as part of a separate nationwide effort.
Education Week

California could get up to $700 million in U.S. education funds

Guidelines for the Race to the Top money for states will be released Thursday. State legislators will have to scurry to make the application deadline.
California could be eligible for up to $700 million in federal education stimulus funds under guidelines scheduled to be released today by the U.S. Department of Education.
Earlier this year, the Obama administration proposed a series of reforms, including abolishing charter school caps and using student test score data to evaluate educators, as part of a $4.35-billion competitive grant known as Race to the Top. The administration accepted public comment for several months before finalizing the regulations.
...States will be judged on a 500-point scale that will measure their plans to enact a variety of reforms, including implementing data systems, turning around low-performing schools and paying effective teachers and administrators more.
States now have 60 days to apply for federal funding, which puts more pressure on California Assembly members, who are currently in a special legislative session focused on education. The deadline to apply for the first round of federal dollars is in mid-January...
Los Angeles Times

Hofstra's School of Education, Health and Human Service Receives Accreditation from the Teacher Education Accreditation Council

Hofstra's School of Education, Health and Human Service Receives Accreditation from the Teacher Education Accreditation Council
The School of Education, Health and Human Services has received accreditation by the Teacher Education Accreditation Council ( TEAC ). The TEAC accreditation is effective between September 11, 2009 and September 11, 2014.
Dean David Foulk, Ed.D., said the TEAC encourages and rewards program innovation and creativity in its accreditation process.
"After our extensive preparation for the TEAC audit, the School of Education, Health and Human Services is honored to have earned this credential," said Dean Foulk. "This is validation of the quality of work being done at Hofstra University's School of Education, Health and Human Services that we are accredited by the same body as many other prestigious institutions regionally and nationally. This accreditation is the result of thorough and collaborative work on the part of faculty, staff and administrators in our School."
Among the other institutions that have TEAC accreditations are: New York University, Rutgers University and Johns Hopkins University.
"The recent accreditation from TEAC confirms the School of Education, Health and Human Services and Hofstra's success in preparing competent, caring and qualified educators," said Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz. "This recognition demonstrates the quality programs we provide and the high caliber of our faculty and students."
Media Newswire

Green Career Opportunities Available in Surprising Fields

Clean technology is a growing industry. As the world grapples with the energy crisis, jobs in sectors such as wind power, solar, biofuels and biomaterials, conservation and efficiency are in higher demand. But college students don't have to study science or engineering to work in green industries. At Penn State, a wide variety of students are preparing to work in green professions in some surprising areas.
Vivienne Wildes, an assistant professor of hotel, restaurant and institutional management, teaches a course at Penn State called "Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility," which highlights sustainability. She said green jobs are universal.
"If you choose to work in a green environment, you can," she said. "People working in sustainable jobs are working in teams across every discipline."
Media Newswire

U.S. School Sells Students Grades for Cash

A middle school in North Carolina is selling better test scores to students in a bid to raise money.
The Raleigh News & Observer newspaper reported Wednesday that a parent advisory council at Rosewood Middle School came up with the fundraising plan after last year's chocolate sale flopped.
The school will sell 20 test points to students for $20. Students can add 10 extra points to each of two tests of their choice. The extra points could take a student from a B to an A on those tests or from a failing grade to a passing one.
Principal Susie Shepherd said it's not enough of an impact to change a student's overall marks.
Officials at the state Department of Public Instruction said exchanging grades for money teaches children the wrong lessons.
The Canadian Press

Make Better Decisions: E-Learning That Advances Business Goals

Most organizations today are developing competency models that have defined proficiency levels for specified jobs and career paths. You can look at these, in conjunction with the methods and tools for e-Learning, and start making better decisions that will help learning to advance business goals.
Competency models and proficiency scales should be defining the performance of the workforce and giving us methods, or at least good clues, as to how we can measure performance. That means that training professionals should have a better opportunity to train toward better performance. In this article, I’m only addressing online learning, but I’m sure the comparisons to other learning environments will be clear.
Learning Solutions Mag

State Council Begins Talking About Tuition Increases

Last April, in recognition of the poor economy and its effect on students and their parents, the council limited in-state tuition increases for the current 2009-10 academic year to between 3 percent and 5 percent. The University of Louisville and University of Kentucky were permitted to raise their in-state student tuition by 5 percent. The state's six regional universities were limited to increases of 4 percent, while tuition couldn't rise more than 3 percent in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, which includes Jefferson Community & Technical College.
But while council members agreed at the meeting that tuition increase for next school year were not preferable, they remained cautious about setting limits prior to Gov. Steve Beshear and the state legislature beginning budget talks. At the same time, they recognized that the state’s higher education institutions have sustained significant budgets cuts, while trying to provide services to more students, many of whom are returning to school seeking new training.
“Nobody wants to see tuition go up. But there comes a point when the institutions cannot do the impossible,” said council chair and former Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton. “At all cost, we want to maintain quality. We’re not running diploma mills.”
Courier Journal

More Report Cards Go Online

When report cards went out for students in the Clarksville-Montgomery County school district in October, most of the 29,000-plus students did not have a printed version for their parents to sign.
That's because the district went largely paperless with its report cards for the first time, making grades available to parents with secure accounts online, says communications manager Michelle Newell.
A growing number of districts nationwide are making the change says Ann Flynn, director of education technology with the National School Boards Association.
Districts in Louisiana, Colorado, South Carolina and Texas are among those that have gone paperless since 2008. Although Flynn could not say how many other districts are doing it, she says those making the change "are no longer the exception. They are becoming the rule."
USA Today

Online Education, Growing Fast, Eyes the Truly 'Big Time'

Online education is a runaway best seller. Its growth rate -- 12.9 percent -- dwarfs the overall pace of academe’s student expansion. More than 25 percent of all students may have taken at least one online class this year, according to a speculative estimate suggested at a distance-education conference that wraps up here today.
But the success isn’t smashing enough. Not even close.
That’s the case made by A. Frank Mayadas, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation program director who called on online educators gathered here to meet what he sees as a major need -- fast. And Mr. Mayadas, considered the Father of Online Learning, suggested in an interview following his speech that the government should step in with some $500-million to support traditional online courses -- not just the experimental “free” courses that have emerged as a darling of the Obama administration.
Chronicle of Higher Education

Knovel Bridges Knowledge Gap for Engineers

Knovel, an online resource that helps engineers find reliable technical information faster, today announced it has launched Engineering Cases, a regular content feature that aims to bridge the knowledge gap for engineers by sharing examples of best practices, rules of thumb, new uses of applications or technologies. The articles, written by engineers and reviewed by experienced editors, highlight specific examples of how engineers have applied innovative and fresh approaches to both common and uncommon challenges.
Written in a case study format and released on a rolling basis, the articles will focus on four engineering practice areas: Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Product Lifecycle Management and Sustainable Development.
Forbes

More districts use income, not race, as basis for busing

More than 60 school systems now use socioeconomic status as a factor in school assignments, says Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, which studies income inequality. Students in Champaign, Ill.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Louisville have returned this year to income-based assignments.
"To the extent we can eliminate the highest concentrations of poverty or spread more thinly those concentrations of poverty, I think we make the environment a little less challenging for students and staff to be successful," says Kalamazoo Public Schools Superintendent Michael Rice.
USA Today

School chooses Kindle; are libraries for the history 'books'?

Critics see the value — and inevitability — of increasing libraries' digital collections but say that to remove virtually all printed materials is a mistake.
"This is not necessarily a model for other school libraries," says American Library Association President Camila Alire. "It's a private prep school, it's a residential campus, and they also have the funds to do things like this."
Actually, Tracy says, that's the point: The school can afford it, so why shouldn't it? He wants to share what he learns with other schools — and is partnering with Oxford University to offer any materials it develops as a free, open-source guide.
As for the students' ability to pay for the gadgets, Tracy says, that's an even stronger argument. Though many are on financial aid, his students, for better or worse, are "going to have disproportionate influence" on the world. What better place than Cushing to teach them how to navigate the world wisely and with "humanizing values?"
Cassandra Barnett, president of the American Association of School Librarians, says most reference materials are going online, but she wonders how Cushing librarians will attract kids to books they might not otherwise seek out. "I can't display … a whole bunch of Kindles with the covers of books."
USA Today

College Tuitions Rise Again

The report, released Tuesday by the non-profit College Board, analyzes annual trends in college prices and student aid. While findings provide insight into how the recession is affecting students and institutions, they also underscore the complex relationship between what colleges charge and what families pay. "We really have to figure out how to make it simpler and more transparent," says author Sandy Baum.
Among factors that influence cost to students:
•Institution type. Community colleges posted the fastest one-year growth but remain the most affordable option. Sticker prices are highest at private institutions, but their students also get the most aid. (Average cost to low-income students, after calculating grant aid, declined from 2003-04 to 2007-08 in inflation-adjusted dollars.)
•Geography.New England posted the highest average tuition, room and board at public four-year colleges ($18,394); the South had the lowest ($13,026).
•Family income. Average grant aid at public four-year institutions ranged from $1,340 for students with parent incomes below $32,500 and $900 for students whose parents' income was $100,000 or higher.
•Debt. For-profit schools have lower sticker prices than private non-profit colleges, but median debt was higher for bachelor's degree recipients at for-profit schools ($31,190 vs. $17,040).
USA Today

Med school enrollment up 11th year in a row, still 70% white

U.S. medical school enrollment is up for the 11th consecutive year as colleges seek to meet a growing demand for physicians.
First-year enrollment climbed 2% over 2008, and now totals nearly 18,400 students. The number of applicants remained mostly stable at around 42,000. Four new medical schools opened their doors this year; several others expanded class size.
USA Today

Go back to school to smooth career changes But experts suggest doing a little homework before signing up for classes

Extra education -- whether an advanced degree, a seminar or a series of classes leading to certification -- can pave your career transition path or help those returning to work after several years' absence, career counselors say. It also may be helpful for some lateral moves in competitive fields.
"It is sort of a strategic decision -- education," said Bill Stokes, an executive recruiter and chairman of the Washington Networking Group. "The smarter, long-term, strategic thinking person does it" and adds to their talents and their networks with every class or seminar.
If you're currently employed, find out what your employer thinks is important for your advancement. Or check your organization's Web site -- many government agencies and some other employers have fairly specific career development plans. Knowing what is on that ladder will make your class selection easier.
Before you sign up for a class, ask yourself some questions about your career and career goals, said Dennis Sullivan, a career counselor at Northern Virginia Community College. Among the questions he recommends: "Is it time for me to change careers or to shift? Is there another skill set or competency that would make me more employable with this company?"
A big question often hits people as they're facing a layoff: "Is it time to go back and complete the degree I didn't finish?" When their job is in jeopardy or disappearing, they suddenly realize they may not be qualified to get in the door for a similar position elsewhere, Sullivan said.
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Sullivan helps individuals plan their studies at Northern Virginia and update their skills. He and Stokes suggest three areas that are ripe for a career-enhancing class or two:
-- Computer and technical training, whether advanced or basic. "You can't have too many technical skills for today's workplace," said Sullivan.
-- Foreign language or ESL classes. Brush up on your second language or add a third. Sullivan suggests that professionals who grew up in another country ask the college to benchmark their English-speaking skills and then sign up for English as a Second Language classes to improve.
-- Professional certifications. A growing number of professions -- from project management to human resources -- offer advanced training and certifications that can help open doors.
Washington Post