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

How the five web literacies are becoming essential survival skills

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Nieman Journalism Lab - By Justin Ellis - May. 13 (News Report) - Howard Rheingold isn’t too concerned about whether Google is making us stupid or if Facebook is making us lonely. Those kind of criticisms, Rheingold says, miscalculate the ability humans have to change their behavior, particularly when it comes to how we use social media and the Internet more broadly. “If, like many others, you are concerned social media is making people and cultures shallow, I propose we teach more people how to swim and together explore the deeper end of the pool,” Rheingold said Thursday. Rheingold was visiting the MIT Media Lab to talk about his new book, Net Smart: How to Thrive Online, which examines how people can use the Internet not just to better themselves, but also society as a whole. Rheingold has a longer online history than most, going back to The WELL, one of the first online forums back in the 1980s. Ever since writing about that experience, Rheingold has developed a habit for dropping the kind of book that not just probes what it means to be online, but charts what that means for all of us.

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Google’s head of news: Newspapers are the new Yahoo

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

GigaOM - By Mathew Ingram - May. 13 (News Report) - In an interview about the future of the media industry, Google's head of news products Richard Gingras said that newspapers are like old-fashioned internet portals such as AOL and Yahoo, and that unless they can adapt to the web instead of fighting it they are doomed.

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Using ALEC Playbook, Bobby Jindal Radically Reshapes Public Education

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - Apr. 26 (Special Report) - Gov. Bobby Jindal has remade the Louisiana public schools system with impressive speed over the past legislative session. Last week, he signed into law a suite of landmark reform bills that will likely change the direction of public education in Louisiana forever. But not all change is good, and critics say both Jindal’s agenda and the strategy to move it come right from the playbook of conservative advocacy group ALEC, in an effort to revive Jindal’s national political profile.

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Despite Praise & Permission, Detroit Teacher Fired for Helping Students’ Trayvon Martin Fundraiser

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Apr. 13 (Special Report) - An eighth grade charter school teacher in Michigan has been fired after helping her students organize a fundraiser for Trayvon Martin’s parents. Brooke Harris and her students at Pontiac Academy for Excellence drew up a plan to raise money by donating one dollar each to wear a hoodie to school, as Martin had worn when he was shot dead. She obtained permission for the fundraiser but her Superintendent opposed the plan. Harris was initially suspended and then later fired without explanation. "They did not want to walk out of class; they didn't want to wear the hoods over their head. They just wanted to pay a dollar to wear their regular clothes instead of uniform and donate that money to someone else who they saw needed it," Harris says. "I just wanted to know what I specifically did wrong, so I could learn from my alleged mistake and be sure never to do that again." [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Arizona Teacher Sean Arce Fired in Latest Crackdown on Acclaimed Mexican-American Studies Program

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Apr. 13 (News Report) - Sean Arce, the head of the Tucson school district’s banned Mexican-American Studies program, was dismissed Tuesday night amid vocal protests from dozens of supporters. Tucson’s Mexican-American Studies program has been under attack following the passage of a bill which prohibits schools from offering ethnic studies courses. Arce maintains he was fired because he spoke out against what he saw as a discriminatory law targeting Mexican-Americans and Latinos. "I, along with many others, stood up and [saw] this law as unconstitutional," Acre says. "And because we stood up, the district has retaliated." [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Occupy Sunset Park: Seeking Change in Many Languages | Brooklyn Bureau | News & Journalism, Citizen Commentary & Multimedia

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

bkbureau.org - Apr. 10 (News) -

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Fall Preview: Obama vs. Romney (and Ryan)

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

FactCheck - By Eugene Kiely - Apr. 07 (Fact Check) - President Obama says Mitt Romney has embraced a budget that could throw hundreds of thousands of children out of Head Start classrooms, eliminate air traffic control services in some places, and “ultimately end Medicare as we know it.” Romney says that’s just “rhetorical excess”

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Monsanto ‘Biotechnology Book for Kids’ Caught Brainwashing Children

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Nation of Change - By Anthony Gucciardi - Mar. 22 (Special Report) - There is a serious war on for the minds of developing children right now, and it is being waged by government-approved mega corporations who care not for the health of these children but for profits. The claims made within this book are not only scientifically unfounded, but they are seriously dangerous to the health of children and adults alike.

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Why the Racist History of the Charter School Movement Is Never Discussed

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Christopher Bonastia - Mar. 15 (Special Report) - As a historical sociologist who studies race and politics, however, I am disturbed both by the significant challenges that plague the contemporary charter school movement, and by the ugly history of segregationist tactics that link past educational practices to the troubling present.

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Occupy Education: Teachers, Students Resist School Closings, Privatizations, Layoffs and Rankings

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Mar. 01 (Special Report) - we look at the nation’s largest school systems—Chicago and New York City—and the push to preserve quality public education amidst new efforts to privatize schools and rate teachers based on test scores. In Chicago, the city’s unelected school board voted last week to shut down seven schools and fire all of the teachers at 10 other schools. In New York City, many educators are criticizing Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration after the release of the names of 18,000 city teachers, along with a ranking system that claims to quantify each teacher’s impact on the reading and math scores of their pupils on statewide tests.

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Florida Public Charter School Linked To Scientology

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - Feb. 29 (News Report) - The school's Christmas party, for example, was held at a Scientology church in Tampa. The students were given Scientology books and DVDs, shown a play written by Hubbard and photographed with Santa Claus in front of a Scientology cross. Teachers were also required to attend training sessions at Scientology's flagship resort to be educated in Smart Way, a program designed by Scientologists, and were told they had no choice but to implement study tech in their curriculum. From the Times:

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Why Is Public Education Being Outsourced to Online Charter Schools?

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Rania Khalek - Jan. 09 (News Report) - Virtual charter schools, which offer classes online instead of in a classroom, have become the fastest-growing segment of the charter school industry. And while data on their effectiveness is scarce, state legislators across the country are passing laws to expand cyber schools at the behest of privatization advocates and online education companies at an alarming rate, with little regulation.

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Undaunted, Senator Still Trying to Close Decrepit Schools on Military Bases

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

nationofchange.org - By Rachael Marcus - Dec. 10 (News Report) - The Defense Department runs about 60 schools on military bases in the U.S., many of which are run-down, too small, and pose health and safety risks to children, as the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News reported in a series, “The Military Children Left Behind.” Three out of four Pentagon-run schools are beyond repair or require major renovation, the news organization found.

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Report: Thousands of U.S.-Born Kids Languish in Foster Care As Immigrant Parents Detained, Deported

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez - Nov. 10 (Special Report) - A new report looks at how thousands of U.S.-born children are being sent to foster care when their non-U.S. citizen parents are detained or deported. The Applied Research Center investigation, "Shattered Families: The Perilous Intersection of Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System,” finds there are at least 5,100 children currently living in foster care — who are prevented from uniting with their detained or deported parents. If nothing changes, researchers found some 15,000 more children may end up in foster care in the next five years. We speak with Seth Freed Wessler, the principal investigator of the report. [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Decrying Debt and Budget Cuts, Students Stage Walk-Out to Join Growing Occupy Wall Street Movement

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Juan Gonzalez, Amy Goodman - Oct. 06 (News Analysis) - Students made up a large contingent of Wednesday's march in support of Occupy Wall Street. A national day of student walk-outs was held to protest budget cuts and to show support for Occupy Wall Street. According to the website OccupyColleges.org, walkouts occurred at 75 schools across the nation including many in New York City. Democracy Now! met up with several students who walked out of classes at the City University of New York, the New School and New York University to attend Wednesday's march in Lower Manhattan. “I think a lot of students are in the direct lines of sing on this economic crisis is selling people a terrible bill of goods.People got the impression that they are able go to school and have a well paying job, some semblance of security and inclusion in a professional, responsible life,” one of the students says. “We what have seen a lot with students across the sea in Europe and students in Puerto Rico and Chile is that this is really a mirage.” [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Runner carries injured foe half mile to help in middle of rac

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

yahoo.com - By Jonathan Wall - Sep. 22 (News Report) - Josh Ripley didn't have to stop. Running in a recent cross country meet for Andover (Minn.) High, the junior varsity runner was making his way through the trail at the Applejack Invite when he heard a loud scream during the first mile of a two-mile race.

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The "Shock Doctrine" Comes to Your Neighborhood Classroom

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By David Sirota - Sep. 06 (News Analysis) - "Let's hope the fiscal crisis doesn't get better too soon. It'll slow down reform." -- Tom Watkins, a consultant, summarizes the corporate education reform movement's current strategy to the Sunday New York Times.

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The Towerlight » Move in, welcome weekend events postponed

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Towerlight - Sep. 05 (News) -

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Almost everything is getting better

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Long Now Foudation - By Kirk Citron - Aug. 10 (News Report) - Last week The Millennium Project released its 02011 State Of The Future report, looking at trends for the past twenty years and projecting ahead for the next decade. (Not the 10,000 year future, but still of interest.) You can read an executive summary of the report here. While the report finds many things to worry about – global warming, terrorism, corruption – overall the trends are surprisingly hopeful, as shown in their chart called “Where we are winning”

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Failed Education Reform in Chile Prompts Hunger Strikes, Protests by Thousands of Students

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Aug. 04 (News Report) - They are demanding an end to privatized education in Chile, which has left generations of students deep in debt.

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Matt Damon Defends Teachers Against 'Sh***y' Reason.tv

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - Aug. 02 (News Report) - Following his keynote address, the actor took offense to a Reason.tv reporter who contended that, as opposed to the environment faced by teachers in a tenure system, the lack of job security in acting functions as an incentive for hard work.

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Teaching Empathy to the ‘Me’ Generation

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Miller-McCune - By Eric Leake - Jul. 18 (Special Report) - A Midwestern university experiments in teaching empathy not merely through classroom curriculum, but by having students live the lives of the working poor. The six participating students and their community partners are introduced in turn. Diana Crandall, a first-year psychology major in a smart black jacket and tie, talks about the children she worked with through the Children’s Hunger Alliance. “I know that I can’t walk away from this and be the same person I was before.”

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Fiscal FactCheck

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

FactCheck - By Brooks Jackson - Jul. 15 (Fact Check) - Washington's spending has recently been higher as a percentage of the nation's economic output than at any time since World War II. But by the same measure, Washington's revenues are the lowest in more than 60 years. So does the U.S. have "a spending problem," as Republicans keep repeating in the current debate over how to reduce the nation's record deficits? Or is the problem that taxes are not high enough? Those questions frame a long-running partisan debate, and as usual we won't offer an opinion one way or the other. But for those seeking their own answers, we can offer some fiscal history and factual context.

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The Hardest Cases: When Children Die, Justice Can Be Elusive

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By A.C. Thompson, Chisun Lee, Joe Shapiro, Sandra Bartlet - Jun. 28 (Investigative Report) - If Lopez is ultimately exonerated, his case will not be unique. An investigation by ProPublica, PBS "Frontline" and NPR has found that medical examiners and coroners have repeatedly mishandled cases of infant and child deaths, helping to put innocent people behind bars.

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The military children left behind: Decrepit schools, broken promises

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

iWatch News - By Kristen Lombardi - Jun. 27 (Special Report) - The nation’s reliance on a limited pool of volunteers to safeguard U.S. interests and wage two wars has had ripple effects on the home front. Altogether, parents of 220,000 children — including 116,000 of school-age — are currently doing the work the nation expects of them and that sends them far from home.

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