Kirkwood School District and Washington DC School Council Have a Common Thread: Education Equity

 We wrote about Washington DC's idea about mandating and paying for all students to take the ACT/SAT and apply for college:


Mandates are in the works for universal preschool and the Washington DC council may be taking the first stab at mandating mandatory post-secondary education.  A bill has been introduced that will mandate that everyone apply to at least one post-secondary institution and take either the SAT or ACT. It apparently doesn't matter if the individual doesn't want to attend a post-secondary institution, he/she will be compelled to apply to a college, trade, seminary or vocational program.  


Kirkwood (Missouri) School District administrators believe in education equity for all students even if they can pay for half-day kindergarten or ACT testing. 

The Kirkwood Patch reported Kirkwood School District's administration wants to offer the ACT test to all junior beginning next year at the cost to the district of $17,000.  Principal Mike Havener wants every junior to take the test for "free", which is somewhat disingenuous as the district will pick up the cost. Why does the district want to provide the test to all students, regardless of their ability to pay?  It is evident the vast majority of students have found a way to pay for the test in past years:

“My goal is to provide opportunities for all of our students to be successful,” Havener said. “We are telling our students that we are preparing them for college – we need to back that up.”


Many Kirkwood students already take the ACT and some take it multiple times, but Havener said that as many as 20 to 30 percent of students don’t take the test at all, for a variety of reasons, including cost.

“This would give all the students at least one opportunity to take it for free,” Havener said.
He said he hoped it would inspire some students to go on to college who might not otherwise have considered it. It also might give students confidence that they could score better on a subsequent test, he said.

Kirkwood is not a high poverty area in Missouri.  Here is  2010 Census information from Wikipedia:

As of the census of 2010, there were 27,324 people, 11,894 households, and 10,276 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,993.5 people per square mile. There were 12,895 housing units at an average density of 1,333.7 per square mile (514.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 89.4% White (88.2% Non-Hispanic White), 7.0% African American, 0.1% Native American, 1.4% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 0.4% from other races, and 1.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.8% of the population.


The median income for a household in the city was $70,261, and the median income for a family was $89,219. Males had a median income of $51,515 versus $36,235 for females. The per capita income for the city was $32,012. About 2.8% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.1% of those under age 18 and 3.6% of those age 65 or over.


Why would the school administration with an area poverty level of 6.1% of those under age 18 living in Kirkwood offer to provide ACT testing for ALL high school juniors at an additional cost of $17,000 to the taxpayers?  The district has just implemented "free" all day kindergarten (half day was paid for and mandated, full day was not funded nor mandated) for ALL residents, regardless if they were above that 6.1% poverty level.  This will cost the district $850,000 to implement the program with continuing costs every year. The superintendent explained in an informational meeting with citizens this was an issue of "educational equity".  Regardless if a family could pay the way for their child to attend kindergarten, it was incumbent on the taxpayers to foot the bill for this unmandated program.  I suppose "educational equity" for kindergartners should be expanded to "educational equity" for high school juniors.  Has the district considered:

• Not all students WANT to go to college. 
• Not all students SHOULD go to college.  
• Not all students ARE READY to go to college. 

Why should the taxpayers foot yet another wealth redistribution program for students whose parents can well afford the $34.00 for the test?  Why should the taxpayers pay for a test some students have no desire to take?
  

If the administration wants ALL students to take the test and it is a financial problem for some students, then maybe the PTOs or the Kirkwood Foundation (a private fund raising group supported by citizens in the district), could raise funding for those students  unable to afford the test.  To burden taxpayers with a cost for test taking because it is "educational equity" is poor financial planning especially as the tax base is shrinking.    Kirkwood School District funding: 

• 92.60% local, county and Prop C monies
• 5.10% state funds 
• 2.30% Federal funds

 KSD relies heavily on local taxes for its operating budget.  The school spends $12,200 per student, well above the average Missouri per pupil expenditure of $9,619.13. If the district is determined to provide this test for all high school juniors, it could review its expenditures in education and see if it can eke out $34.00 per pupil from this $12,200 per pupil yearly figure to accomplish its goal.


If this plan goes to the School Board for a vote, the voters must ask the existing School Board members and the candidates running for election in April their thoughts on this proposed expenditure.  The voters should also ask this administration if applications to colleges (as in Washington DC) should be considered "education equity" as well and if that's the next "free" offer from Kirkwood School District.

Does Actually Getting It Right Even Matter Any More?

Character education has focused on building a student's self esteem, primarily by never criticizing or even critiquing what they do. Everything is good.  Just making the effort is good. Actual success in what they are doing is secondary.  We have raised a generation of kids who think everything they do, no matter how lame, trite, cliched or even inaccurate is good.  They have little or no experience with someone pointing out these flaws because the system graded them with a happy purple pen and extended them multiple tries to "get it right" in a skewed view that this was education. We are now seeing the quality of what this generation produces.  I think we need to bring back the red pen.

The movie "American Teacher" is making the rounds in many cities, usually for a one night showing. The movie is about The Equity Project, TEP, a charter school which pays teachers $125,000 a year plus up to $25,000 in bonuses. TEP's  goal is to improve education by bringing dignity and respect back to the teaching profession by paying top dollar for top teachers. It claims this is done through the normal pupil funding process. As with most education reform, the icing on top sounds great. 

The movie was cheered by the NEA and AFT which should raise some concerns. Its tour is being sponsored by Bill Gates which should raise even more.

A writer for Great Schools America went to such a showing in Portland OR and was amazed by the story and facts presented in the movie. She was so amazed that she just had to find out if it could possibly be true. Alas, it was not.

1. IRS returns do not list one person as being paid more than $100,000. Since paying teachers $125,000 is the primary tenet of the school and the movie, this is either a major oversight or something more nefarious. Teachers agree to work other jobs and forgo benefits to earn the higher salary. So, why would the school make extraordinary claims and then forget to report compensation on its tax return? And, why if teachers are giving up benefits, does the school list over $90,000 in employee benefits

2. TEP claims to enroll 480 students on its tax return, 2009-2010. The New York City Report Card sets that number at 125. Perhaps TEP intends to grow the school to 480 at some later date, but the IRS likes facts not aspirations. In its first year, 2009, The Equity Project Charter School enrolled 125 fifth-grade students.

3. The school is funded by more than the government per pupil expenditure. Both the annual report and tax returns state clearly that the school receives over a million dollars in local, state, and federal grants, and generous private contributions and loans in addition to the annual per pupil expenditure. According to the TEP’s web site, the school is seeking investors"

There seems to be much more that is wrong with the message portrayed in the movie which, given the ease of verifying such facts, you would think its three writers, Ninive Calegari, Daniel Moulthrop, and Dave Eggers, would have corrected. For instance, though the movie didn't specifically claim TEP was doing a phenomenal job with actual teaching, improved student performance was implied.  However,

According to the Annual School Report Card (Accountability and Overview Report 2009-2010, p. 13), only 24% of [TEP] students tested proficient in language arts and 37% tested proficient in math. It seems that paying teachers much higher salaries does not buy an excellent education.

The movie makers didn't present either actual salary figures or test scores and I question whether it is simple marketing strategy that encouraged them to weave such an inaccurate tale or whether it is the message we are feeding everyone today.

We live in an age when we can combine technology, which has capacity to deliver a message to a very wide audience, with the message "you can change the world." The bar is set very high. Don't just clean up your area.  Change the whole world. That's a lot of pressure. However, the ability to reach so many people doesn't mean that you will or, that your message will be openly welcomed. We have been trying to fundamentally change the situation in Afghanistan for four decades, with all our military might and buckets of money, and have not succeeded. But our children are taught  that the simple act of recycling in their school could magically make the whole world recycle. "It all starts with one person" they are told. While there is usually someone who had the original idea, such global change rarely occurs overnight through the simple action of a few. Our media presents the Occupy Wall Street movement was the act of a few simple students, when infact there are recordings of power brokers planning the effort over a year before it started. 

So are factually flawed movies like "American Teacher" the product of people who don't think it is necessary to get the facts straight?  Who think that their inaccuracies are only purple pen worthy, not red pen?  Has the message "you can change the world" been so heavily drilled into them that they will do anything to avoid the failure of not changing the world including overstating or outright lying about their case? Everyone wants to be the person who came up with the one magic bullet that addresses all our educational woes.  Their drive to change the world overrides their desire to look at the problem objectively and realize that the solutions are many and the only magic key is to have access to the many possible solutions to find the one that best fits your situation.

Character education would serve us all better if it would start with teaching that truth is the ultimate goal and at the very heart of character.  Self esteem is not the cause of an easy life, it is a reward earned by facing difficult realities and learning you are strong enough to handle them. And the first world you are going to change is your very own, which is very small - maybe just your room - and just changing that world is a good thing in itself.

 Read the full story of American Teachers on Great Schools For America http://greatschoolsforamerica.org/wordpress/?p=900

The Global Agenda in America and the Players Setting the Educational Agenda for your Human Capital

When I turn on my computer every morning, I wonder what information I will find today relating to education or other matters.  When we first started the blog a couple of years ago, there wasn't much on the common core standards, longitudinal data system, etc.  But as the information spigot has been turned on from federal agencies, educational websites, global sites, news organizations and blogs, it's becoming easier and easier to connect the dots.

The dots in all areas of life (energy, financial, education, social, health systems, etc.) are interconnected to the globalization of services and resources.  We've written about the increasing federal agency (Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, EPA) involvement into education and the move to data track your child (and the family) from the child's birth to the workplace.  The ultimate goal is not for educating the child for academic learning so he/she can determine his/her best path in life,  the goal for education is to supply the workforce.

Education is not in the interest of the individual, rather it is for the collective good.  Did you catch Arne Duncan's statements while speaking in Florida on workforce development and education?

 Arne Duncan said that TCC's Center for Workforce Development is doing an excellent job training individuals to meet specific needs of local employers.

Education has morphed into training for businesses, rather than for the academic discipline and investigation needed for students to become their own employers and entrepreneurs. Education has become the avenue to fill an existing need for the existing employers.  This collective good goes far beyond the borders of each state; the collective good encompasses the globe and America has become a willing participant.


Look at the dots contained in this site, The Network of Global Agendas Council (it will be easier to read the screen shots when you link directly into the site) developed for the World Economic Forum

From Wikipedia:

The World Education Forum is a premium body comprising representatives of major organisations involved in education and related activities across the world. Major organisations involved in the forum include: UNESCO, and the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank. The World Education Forum also involves representatives from governments and education departments across the world. The World Education Forum (Dakar, Senegal, April 2000) adopted the Dakar Framework for Action reaffirming the commitment to achieving Education for All by the year 2015 and entrusted UNESCO with the overall responsibility of co-ordinating and significant international players in this work. 


Take time to click on this highly interactive web of connected agendas.  Check to determine who is on what council.  Wendy Kopp of Teach for America is on the Education Systems council...maybe she can be labelled as "Teach for the World".  See how education is so much more than reading, writing and arithmetic.  It's now connected to genetics, health and well being, water security and other global concerns.

Note that very few of the council members on Education systems are actually educators.  The majority of them are connected to international business or political organizations.

 

Study these elite players and understand they are setting the script in "nudging" America and other countries into the global common goal of education: to data mine human capital for the good of the collective.  Whatever you do, however, do not click on "learn more about this issue" listed on the Education Systems site.  You will receive this warning:

What an appropriate warning!  Why should we trust these elitists to shape our educational system?  When did we elect international players to direct American educational goals?  Why are our common core standards "internationally" benchmarked?  Why will data on our children be shared with foreign entities for "research" purposes?

  Oh, how I wish if we did click "Get Me Out of Here" we could truly exit from this nightmare of losing the right to educate our children as spelled out in the Constitution.  All the ruckus about teacher pay, charter schools, tax credits, tenure, etc really pales in comparison when compared to the ultimate goal of education: globalization in the education of human capital.  I sure hope you like the curriculum the elitists provide....that we are paying for.

Keeping An Eye On The Prize of Quality Legislation

The Missouri legislature has hit the ground running, as it always does this time of year, and is moving forward rapidly on a number of proposed bills.  Yesterday Senate Bill 706, which attempts to provide framework for fixing the problem associated with the unaccredited school districts transferring students to the adjoining accredited districts, got its first public hearing. The cyber world was abuzz with issues about it and several groups provided input through the public hearing process.  It should have been a time to admire the legislative process, where elected officials perform their duty to address issues that cannot be addressed solely by private citizens, and private citizens can provide input to their elected officials on the specific work they are doing.  But in the world of politics, it seems, it is very difficult to separate ego from process.

The way the process is supposed to work is that citizens can approach their legislator with issues that need some sort of legislative action. Those citizens, who may be businesses, individuals, associations, unions or lobbying groups can supply suggested legislative language or, they can leave it up to the legislator to write the draft legislative language. Once the draft bill has been assigned to committee and received initial committee review, it is typically opened up to public comment through the hearing process.  Here, the same citizens who asked for consideration in the first place, can comment on whether the proposed language meets their needs.  It is also where others affected by the proposed legislation can provide insight as to; where they find the language confusing or, how it might affect them and, show possible unintended consequences of the bill.

This is a critical step in the passage of quality legislation. The language must be clear and consistent. It should consider how the rules laid out in the bill will be applied in the future.  And consideration must be given to unintended consequences. When Missouri statute 167.131 of the Outstanding Schools Act was written in 1993,  allowing students in unaccredited districts to transfer to adjoining accredited districts, all the ramifications of that bill were not fully considered, and we are left, two decades later, to try to figure out exactly how to accomplish those transfers.  We cannot say, "Well, the great Senator X Intended for those kids to go to schools with already open slots"  because the intent of the authors is not noted nor binding several years later. The only thing we can rely on is the specific language of SB380.

Too often ego gets thrown into this step of the process. Some legislators don't like others critiquing their work and take such comments as personal attacks.  Lobbyists take it personally when a legislator says they cannot accommodate their request because it would not apply the rules uniformly. The worst is when lobbyists and legislators have so strong a personal relationship that they cannot see that, what they have both agreed to in discussion, is not actually included in the language.  Because they both understand what they were trying to say, it is hard for them to see what is actually on the page. The focus is rapidly thrown off the process of perfecting the bill (a term the legislature uses) and Jefferson City devolves into a sea of ad hominim attacks and useless argument whose only goal is to preserve ego.

We need to keep the focus on the process and the final goal: clear honest legislation. This should apply to everyone in the process, whether patriot or office holder, average citizen or paid lobbyist.

One more thought - If we are going to require high quality teachers in our schools, should we not require high quality legislators in our congress? If we are going to use the objective measurement of student test scores to define a quality teacher, couldn't we use objective measure of quality legislation as a yard stick for our legislators?

Should Parents be the Target Group for Polar Bracelets? Forget the Students, It's the Parents who Need to be Tracked.

Keep your eyes looking southward for educational reforms heading Missouri's way.  Many of the reforms being instituted in Florida are being brought up via bills in our legislature such as the expansion of charter schools, virtual schools, tax credits, etc.  

Will Missouri see a parental bill here that is being introduced in Florida grading parental accountability for their children in public schools?  Here's a recap of Florida HB543 relating to parental involvement and accountability in public schools:

HB 543: Parental Involvement and Accountability in the Public Schools

 GENERAL BILL by Stargel; (CO-INTRODUCER) Hager

Parental Involvement and Accountability in the Public Schools; Specifies purpose to provide information & tools to parents of preK-5 students & to set minimum standards for parental involvement; specifies causes for student underachievement; requires prek-5 teachers to evaluate parental involvement & send evaluation to parents under certain circumstances; requires dispute process; requires certain reporting. 

Here's a bit of history on this bill from a Florida educational activist who has been following Florida education for the last several years:

This bill was introduced last session and failed. The bill requires schools to provide a handbook, get a signature and receipt, issue grades on parents quarterly, and report the "evaluation data" to the FL DOE. The data will also go to the Governor and legislature.

The legislative analysis indicates that the cost impact on schools is "indeterminate." It states there will be costs to publish the handbook, grade, and collect/report data.

The legislative analysis says the "evaluation data" will become a part of the student's permanent record and be confidential following FERPA guidelines.

So now parents (move over, teachers) are held accountable via data for student achievement or lack thereof?  Parents who are utilizing a public service to benefit their children would now be mandated to participate in an accountability exercise themselves.   The data will be entered into the child's record and promised confidentiality even as these records are shared with various federal agencies and private research entities.

On its face, it sounds fabulous!  Get those parents involved!  Get them to CARE about their child's education.  Get parents to care by mandating parental behavior.  

Do you see the fallacy in that last sentence?  The government or anyone cannot mandate CARING for any human being.  Either a parent is going to be a committed parent, or not.  And whose definition of caring is the legislature going to ascribe to? 

• By signing forms?  
• By showing up to conferences?  
• By requiring reading to children at home?  
• By feeding them the right foods determined by the government?
• By volunteering in the schools? 
• By agreeing with all the teachings from the school, including a national sex ed curriculum? 

The bill is vague in setting specifications. This wording is particularly intriguing... specifies causes for student underachievement.  In theory, a kindergarten teacher can determine why a child is failing, and it may not be because of faulty teaching, or curriculum or that the school is not fulfilling the needs of the child; it could quite possibly be because the parents are not deemed to be appropriate for the child's achievement by the kindergarten teacher.

If this bill in Florida passes, not only will a public school have the access to you and your child's personal data to share with various federal agencies and private organizations without your active permission, you, as a parent will have to "pass the test" crafted by the state to determine if you are a "good" parent or a "bad" parent.


Watch for this bill to be introduced at some point in Missouri.  California and Alaska have laws fining parents if children are in gangs or have excessive absences.  There is a bill pending in South Carolina requiring parents to volunteer in their school.

Maybe the states and districts will jump on the bandwagon for the Polar monitors after all for the parents to wear. It would help if the polar bracelet had a webcam on it so you document what the parents are doing at home to ensure a child's success.  Think of it as reality television.  Now the school can document what a parent is providing the child...or not providing the child.  That could be rather subjective, right?  It is correct that much of the problem starts in the home, but there are other issues, like providing intact families....but the government can't mandate that either...yet. 

 

When Did Physical Education Become An Issue of Social Justice? Do School Districts Using Polar Bracelets Understand the Goals of Producing Fit Workers for the System?

The Suburban Journal  wrote about Polar bracelets in use at the Parkway School District (suburban St. Louis area) and questioning privacy issues involved in wearing them not only in PE classes, but also about the plan to have the students wear them 24/7 for one week and tracking activity from home.  We followed up on the story and included the video from the School Board meeting in December where the district representative said to the Board members:

We don't want to just assess fitness we want to assess behavioral change w/regard to physical activity patterns with our students and then we know we've done our job and this tool here will help us do that.


Other news services and bloggers wrote about Polar bracelets and their use became more widely known and researched.  As we wrote in the previous posting about the Polar bracelets, we wondered where the line was drawn between better health and surveillance.  Subsequent articles by the Revered Review included information about Polar's ability and data sets available to track health of students, including information about sexual history, diabetes and drug use. 


In one Iowa school district, apparently the use of data gathered from Polar bracelets echoes what the parkway District representative said in the Board meeting, except this behavioral change is not restricted to just Parkway or Iowa students, it is directed to all children on a global scale. As a result of a global forum held in Grundy and subsequent statement from the forum, schools should be:

“establishing physical education and health programs as models of social justice which foster a safe learning environment, promote the joyful participation of physical activity with appreciation of cultural, racial, ethnic and social and economic differences.”

So now physical education is to be looked upon as data driven and leveling the playing field (no pun intended) in terms of cultural, racial ethnic, social and economic differences.  The Revered Review ("TRR Investigates, Part 2: Rural Iowa-A Decade of Polar Monitor Use") has an excellent article on what it found in Grundy, Iowa and the research provided from its students for the last several years on a global scale:

The Grundy Center School District, located in the American Heartland, has 700 students who have been using Polar monitors for a decade. The small town of Grundy, Iowa, is where 2,700 residents call home and the county of Grundy has a total population of 12,500—a small rural community by any measurement.

However, its school district is on the leading edge of technology: All students have school-issued laptops, and its physical education department has used Polar monitors for years. In fact, Grundy is where Polar Electro researched its monitors in a school setting, according to Superintendent Cassandra Murra.

School Garners International Attention

This small school district has even garnered both national and international attention. Politicians and delegates from around the world have visited the school, many looking to the school as a possible role model for physical education, using the monitors, and the fight against childhood obesity........

Read more here from the Revered Review on the decade long use of Polar bracelets and how this research has attracted international attention and visits from researchers and educators.


Parkway School District agreed to pull the bracelets from their programs due to privacy concerns.  If the Parkway District or other school districts institute the Polar bracelet in the future, they might want to review the Grundy Iowa school district's use of data.  It has been used not only for individuals to track their physical progress, but its ultimate use points to providing data to achieve social justice via physical education programs. 


Is this the main reason for this increased use of technology in PE classes and the tracking of data on students?  From a 1998 paper, Social Justice in Education in 'new times', delivered to the Australian Association for Research in Education:

What we see within schools is that most of what is done is drawn into the production of the 'flexible' worker. Parent participation is seen as good, not in relation to the happiness of the child but for the way it can improve a child's performance in school. Social skills are taught so the child will become a better worker. Physical Education is important as it will produce a fitter healthier worker. In such a curriculum all areas of school life are attuned to the 'production' of a 'flexible' worker who can stake a claim for the individual or corporation in the market place.


Parkway District may have just dodged a bullet in terms of providing sensitive physical information of their children to unknown research organizations in the quest for social justice.  When the Parkway District employee was explaining to the School Board about tracking students and effecting behavioral changes, did he know that these behavioral changes were to "produce a fitter, healthier worker"?  Did he think or know that most of what is done in schools is for the "production of the 'flexible' worker"?

Here are some agencies in Missouri for the years 2002-2010 receiving funding for physical education outreach from the Carol M. White Physical Education Fund via the Department of Education.  However, you might want to check with your district if it purchased (as my district did) Polar bracelets with funding from its regular budget:

2010:

About Our Kinds, Inc. (MO) – $750,000
Serving 1, 205 rural, high-need students, the mission of this project is to wrap students in a blanket of wellness strategies by integrating physical activity into a child’s day at school and in the community. WAVE’s philosophy is that physical education and activity is not just an event or a class that you attend but a cardinal part of a healthy, happy life. This approach not only assigns value to engaging in regular physical activity but also challenges students to “Catch the WAVE.” WAVE is designed to expand and improve PE programming to make progress toward meeting State PE standards by providing (1) equipment and support to enable students to participate actively in PE and physical activity and (2) funds for professional development. The collaboration joins a community-based organization, About Our Kinds( AOK), Inc with three schools, two local governments and nine community groups. AOK is an experienced federal grantee. Under this leadership, staff and coordination is in place.


Chilhowee R-IV School District (MO) - $202,561
The Commit to be Fit program will help the district and rural community develop a fitness-oriented PE programs for K-12 that meets PE state standards and improves the instructional skills of PE teachers, Specialists, classroom teachers and after-school program staff.  Additionally, this program will implement nutrition components of the Comprehensive School Health Plan and Wellness Policy to promote health eating habits and good nutrition.  Through the Commit to be Fit program, the district will integrate outdoor activities into the PE program that motivate students to increase the number of hours that they spend in physical activity out of school.

The schools listed below are previous PEP winners and the entire list including other states may be found here.

2009: 

MISSOURI

Q215F090560
Wentzville R-IV School District
P.O. Box 311
Wentzville, MO 63385
Contact: Gregg Klinginsmith

$484,105

2007:

MISSOURI

Q215F070072

Kansas City # 33                                                                              $459,868

1211 McGee Street

Kansas City, Missouri  64106

Contact:  Nancy Bailey

(816) 418-1272

Q215F070108

Ferguson-Florissant School District                                             $283,086

1005 Waterford Drive

Florissant, Missouri  63033

Contact:  Laura Beckmann

(314) 506-9052

2006:

St. Louis--Support a Child International  (no amount provided)

2005:

Young Women's Christian Association-St. Louis
Webb City R-7 Schools-Webb City
Dunklin R-5 School District-Herculanuem

(no amounts provided)


2004:

Excelsior Springs School District #40-Excelsior Springs
Cornerstones of Care-Kansas City
Maternal and Child health Coalition-Kansas City
Lamar Community Betterment-Lamar
Twin pike Family YMCA-Louisiana
Ozark R-VI School Distirct-Ozark
Pierce City R-VI School District-Pierce City

(no amounts provided)


2003:


Kansas City-Kansas City #33
Sullivan-Sullivan Public Schools
St Louis-St Louis Public Schools
St Joseph-St Joseph School District
Lamar-Lamar Community Betterment


(no amounts provided)

The Sunday Education Weekly Reader 01.29.2012

Welcome to the Sunday Education Weekly Reader for 01.29.2012.  

Interesting tweets of the week in education:

• Here's a way to solve the dilemma in paying for college....Obama tells University of Michigan rich should pay more http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/27/obama-tells-university-of-michigan-rich-should-pay-more/ Class warfare at its finest.

• Note to Benjamin Braddock in "The Graduate".  It's not "plastics".  It's "education"....
  Education industry accounted for an estimated $10 billion in mergers & acquisitions last year: bit.ly/xFSrFs 

• Oops...Potty-mouthed science teacher resigns after allegedly having raunchy convos with kids http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/potty-mouthed-science-teacher-resigns-allegedly-raunchy-convos-kids-article-1.1013341

• This might be difficult given our $16 Trillion national debt and states facing budget shortfalls....Obama Education Secretary: Teachers Should Be Paid Six-Figure Salaries http://bit.ly/yIPyEm

• The Department of Education employees need to take accounting and citizenship courses to become good role models instead of following Timothy Giethner's example...Dept of Education and Housing/Urban Development employees OWE MOST BACK TAXES! http://is.gd/puNmMP 

Educational thought for the week:

The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it's the same problem you had last year. --John Foster Dulles