NewsTrust - Education - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

Who Is Profiting From Charters? The Big Bucks Behind Charter School Secrecy, Financial Scandal and Corruption

Sat, 11 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By kristin Rawls - May. 11 (Investigative Report) - Studies shows that charter schools don’t typically outperform public schools and they often tend to increase racial and class segregation. So one must wonder, what exactly is motivating these school “reformers”? And why have they pushed for more and more closure — and new charter schools — at such an unprecedented rate in recent years?

NewsTrust Rating: 4.5 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Do visas for skilled foreigners shut out U.S. tech workers?

Sun, 05 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

seattletimes.com - By Kyung M. Song, Janet I. Tu - May. 05 (Special Report) - Though he was then in his late 50s, Erickson figured the drumbeat of complaints from Microsoft and other tech companies about a dearth of good applicants promised an easy career switch. Nine months past his graduation, however, Erickson has yet to find full-time work. “When I saw my (philosophy) career was going to be over, I retrained myself,” Erickson, now 60, said. “What good is that if I’m not actually going to get a job?”

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

16-Year-Old Girl Arrested and Charged With a Felony For Science Project Mistake

Thu, 02 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - May. 02 (News) -

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Exposed: The Billionaire-Backed Group Strong-Arming Parents into Destroying Their Kids' Public Schools

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Yasha Levine - Apr. 30 (Investigative Report) - The parents told me that a Los Angeles-based group calling itself Parent Revolution organized a local campaign to harass and trick them into signing petitions that they thought were meant for simple school improvements. In fact those petitions turned out to be part of a sophisticated campaign to convert their children’s public school into a privately-run charter — something a majority of parents opposed. At times, locals say, the Parent Revolution volunteers’ tactics were so heavy-handed in gathering signatures that they crossed the line into harassment and intimidation. Many parents were misled about what the petition they signed actually meant. Some told me that the intimidation with some of the undocumented Latino residents included bribery and extortion

NewsTrust Rating: 4.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

6 Ways College Admissions Offices Game Their Rankings

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By By Marian Wang, ProPublica - Apr. 24 (Investigative Report) - As college-bound students weigh their options, they often look to the various statistics that universities trumpet—things like the high number of applications, high test scores, and low acceptance rate. But students may want to consider yet another piece of info: the ways in which schools can pump up their stats.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

America Is Ruled by Billionaires, and They Are Coming After the Last Shreds of Our Democracy

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Michael Brenner - Apr. 06 (Special Report) - The United States today qualifies as a plutocracy – on a number of grounds. Let’s look at some striking bits of evidence. Gross income redistribution upwards in the hierarchy has been a feature of American society for the past decades. The familiar statistics tell us that nearly 80% of the national wealth generated since 1973 has gone to the upper 2%, 65% to the upper 1 per cent. Estimates as to the rise in real income for salaried workers over the past 40 years range from 20% to 28 %. In that period, real GDP has risen by 110% – it has more than doubled.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

NRA's School Security Plan Cites Phony Shooting

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Mark Follman - Apr. 03 (Special Report) - Is it a good idea to entrust the National Rifle Association with a role in shaping safety policies for schools? There are various reasons for answering that question in the negative ( gun industry profits, for example ) but a fresh one became evident on Tuesday when the NRA unveiled its plan for securing schools from shooters: Its strategy includes the use of fake evidence.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How College Hoops' Cinderella Pulled Itself out of the Swamp

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Tim Murphy - Mar. 29 (News) - The Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles, the first 15-seed ever to reach the NCAA basketball tournament's second weekend, are the toast of March Madness on the basis of their high-flying style (nickname: " Dunk City ") and up-from-nowhere story. Less than two decades ago, FGCU was little more than a collection of trailers looking out over a swamp. Today its hoops team is hanging with the heavyweights. The less inspiring story, however, is how FGCU rose up out of the swamp. To put it bluntly: The school paved over it, using government connections to pressure the US Fish and Wildlife Service into green-lighting the development and in the process wiping out one of the last vital habitat areas of the severely endangered Florida panther. FGCU's is a particularly extreme version of a familiar story. For a century, South Florida developers have stared down all comers—and methodically reshaped the environment in the process. Continue Reading ...

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

CEOs explain how H-1B visa hurts U.S. competitiveness

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

epi.org - By Daniel Costa - Mar. 15 (News Report) - on March 14 a briefing was held on Capitol Hill to inform Senate staffers about the H-1B program’s impacts on the labor market and job opportunities for U.S. workers in STEM fields. The briefing offered facts and perspectives about the H-1B that are usually ignored or overlooked by the media; including from CEOs who use the program.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Student Debt Tripled in Eight Years

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Natasha Lennard - Mar. 02 (News Report) - Total student debt stands at $966 billion as of the end of 2012, with a 70 percent increase in both the number of borrowers and the average balance per person. The overall number of borrowers past due on their student loan payments has also grown, from under 10 percent in 2004 to 17 percent in 2012.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Sequester Spin

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

FactCheck - By Eugene Kiely - Feb. 27 (Fact Check) - Barring a last-minute deal, the automatic spending cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act are scheduled to take effect March 1. Under the law, the Office of Management and Budget will direct all federal departments to cut spending across the board this fiscal year by $85 billion and overall by nearly $1 trillion over 10 years. The cuts would be equally divided among domestic and defense programs.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Study Demolishes the Myth That U.S. Workers Lack Skills

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

In These Times - By Roger Bybee - Feb. 27 (Special Report) - in a study released this week called “The Skills Gap and Unemployment in Wisconsin: Separating Fact From Fiction,” urbanologist Marc Levine, a professor of history and economic development at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, applies a data-laden sledgehammer to this notion. And while Levine’s report focused primarily on Wisconsin, his critique of the “skills gap” notion has national implications.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Finding Their Voices

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

heifer.org - By Maggie Carroll - Feb. 26 (Special Report) - as I traveled for hours to a small village so that I could meet with several young girls about their lives and education system, the conversation with my sister suddenly meant so much more. Is education such an ingrained part of everyday life that I was satisfied with “fine” and “usual” as descriptive responses? Do we take school for granted in the Western world? Nearly the entire village greeted us

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Toddler Math | New Republic

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

newrepublic.com - By Jonathan Cohn - Feb. 18 (News Analysis) - President Obama's preschool proposal has provoked predictable grousing from some predictable sources. House Speaker John Boehner said last week that getting the federal government involved in early childhood was "a good way to screw it up." But the idea is also picking up some support on the right. "President Obama has taken on a big challenge in a realistic and ambitious way," New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote on Friday. "If Republicans really believe in opportunity and local control, they will get on board." And at least one Republican, Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, seems ready to join the cause. On Saturday, while appearing on MSNBC’s "Up with Chris Hayes," Isakson called universal preschool "a great idea."

NewsTrust Rating: 2.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Florida’s School-to-Prison Pipeline is Largest in the Nation

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Julianne Hing - Feb. 16 (Special Report) - in Florida, more than any other state, that schoolyard fight can lead to the student’s arrest and even felony charges. Last year 12,000 students were arrested 13,870 times in Florida public schools, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The arrests are meted out unevenly. Black students are just 21 percent of Florida youth, but make up 46 percent of all school-related referrals to law enforcement, according to the Sun Sentinel

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Corporations Advise School Closings, While Private Charters Suck Public Schools Away

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Kristin Rawls - Feb. 15 (News Report) - Philadelphia became the latest major American city to recommend sweeping school closures for the next academic year. Under this new proposal, a total of 37, or about 16 percent, of the district’s 237 public schools will be shuttered this June. That’s down from the 40 schools the city designated for closure back in May, but still represents an unprecedented move in Philadelphia’s history.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Charter Schools That Start Bad Stay Bad, Stanford Report Says

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Joy Resmovits - Jan. 31 (News Report) - "There are very predictable lanes on quality, and once you get into a lane, a new school tends to not move very much," said Macke Raymond, the economist in charge of the university's Center for Research on Education Outcomes institute and an author of the report. "High stays high and low stays low."

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The great reset: Will smart machines create a world without work?

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Gazette - By BERNARD CONDON,AP Business Writers PAUL WISEMAN,AP Business Writers WASHINGTON (AP) — - Jan. 25 (Investigative Report) - This yearlong series by The Associated Press looks at the major changes wrought by the Great Recession since it began in December 2007. This week’s installments document the recession’s profound impact on jobs. WASHINGTON (AP) — They seem right out of a

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How Our Universities Have Been Turned into Corporate Marketing Centers

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Jim Hightower - Jan. 13 (Special Report) - The "ivory tower" of academia has become overshadowed by a new edifice on campus that is reaching ridiculous heights: the tower of mammon. As public universities have been driven by budget-whacking lawmakers to seek ever-more private funding, schools that once prided themselves as being centers of free thinking are increasingly dominated by corporate-think, turning their institutions into sales centers.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Conjuring a High-Tech Labor Shortage

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Stan Sorscher - Jan. 02 (Special Report) - We hear two views about the high-tech work force. On one hand, employers warn of a dire labor shortage. On the other, recent high-tech graduates can't find jobs. Many face crushing student loans that they may never pay off. Mid-career high-tech workers are steadily being let go. Discouraged mid-career workers take lower-paid service jobs after months of searching for a job as good as the one they lost.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Will Colleges Kick Coal Out of Their Stockings?

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Kate Sheppard, Tim McDonnell - Dec. 19 (Special Report) - Can college students reshape energy politics in the US by reforming their colleges' endowments? That's the hope of idealistic students on 189 different campuses across the country, who have launched campaigns to encourage their school administrators and trustees to dump all their investments in fossil fuels. The campaign, the students say, gives them a direct check on the power of the oil, coal and gas industries, which they hope will have broader effects nationwide. "We were feeling, like the rest of the climate movement, pretty frustrated with the political situation in the US," said Alli Welton, a sophomore at Harvard University and the co-coordinator of the school's divestment campaign. "We felt that fossil fuel corporations just had too much control over Congress, and it was really hard to see how we could overcome that barrier." "Divestment was really exciting," Welton, a native of Washington state studying the history of science, continued. "It was striking directly at the fossil fuel ...

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Transcript: Obama’s Statement on Newtown Shooting - Washington Wire - WSJ

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

blogs.wsj.com - By Barack Obama - Dec. 14 (Breaking News) -

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The $10,000 Degree

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

National Review - By Katrina Trinko - Dec. 13 (Special Report) - As college costs rise rapidly in most places, Texas and Florida are trying to implement something that has become a radical notion: a degree that costs only $10,000.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Returning Migrant Children Pose Educational Challenge in Mexico

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New America Media - By Alfredo Valadez Rodriguez - Nov. 25 (Special Report) - In different migrant-sending regions of Mexico, educators are coping with the new challenge of teaching children of return migrants who speak little or no Spanish. In the north-central state of Zacatecas, for instance, 150 teachers began a crash course this month in English to help them communicate with new students coming from the United States.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

STEM labor shortages?:

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0800

epi.org - By Daniel Costa - Nov. 19 (Investigative Report) - (Microsoft 2012, 10). The study that produced these recommendations contains a number of flaws, the most obvious of which are addressed in this memorandum. Specifically, this paper finds:

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer