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Russians to Develop Operating System for Public Schools

As in a skillful one-upsmanship, the Russian government most recently announced it is working to create a national operating system for all it's schools.

Some believe that this instrumental leap forward - Russia's race to enter the first world economy by means of a bolstered education system is in direct response to India's most recent announcement that it is making Linux compulsory in schools.

the Russian government is working to create a national operating system for schools:
Russian OS is to be installed on every school computer in Russia by 2009. Furthermore, every pupil will get the opportunity to operate the applied software produced in Russia, Leonid Reiman, acting Minister of Communication stated at a press conference.

Experts and market participants consider the terms within which software is to be developed quite reasonable. According to Mr. Reiman, that might significantly reduce Russian dependence on foreign software.

" The question of coarse is at what level does state control of the infrastructure increase innovation as opposed to stifle it."

Linux Today reader Artem Vakhitov notes that the project is probably not as ambitious as the Minister stated. As he understands it, “several Russian Linux vendors and solution providers, including ALTLinux, formed an alliance to jointly participate in a bid to develop and implement a FOSS operating system and necessary software packages for Russian schools.” There is no guarantee that the government will actually move ahead with the plan. (See the ALT Linux statement…)

Income Differences Do Not Explain the Black-White Scoring Gap on the SAT

Reprint from Journal of Blacks in Higher Education

A number of reasons are advanced to explain the large and persisting black-white SAT scoring gap. Sharp differences in family incomes are a major factor. Always there has been a direct correlation between family income and SAT scores. For both blacks and whites, as income goes up, so do test scores.

In 2007, 25 percent of all black SAT test takers were from families with annual incomes below $20,000. Only 4 percent of white test takers were from families with incomes below $20,000. At the other extreme, 10 percent of all black test takers were from families with incomes of more than $100,000. The comparable figure for white test takers was 33 percent.

But there is a major flaw in the thesis that income differences explain the racial gap. Consider these observable facts from The College Board’s 2007 data on the SAT:

• Whites from families with incomes of less than $10,000 had a mean SAT score of 980. This is 118 points higher than the national mean for all blacks.

• Whites from families with incomes below $10,000 had a mean SAT test score that was 32 points higher than blacks whose families had incomes of more than $100,000.

Ed-Polliwog Suggestions:

SITES

The Institute for Education and Social Policy (IESP)

PAPERS

Racial Segregation And The Black-White Test Score Gap

Race, Income and College in 25 Years:

The Continuing Legacy of Segregation and Discrimination

Alan Krueger, Jesse Rothstein, Sarah Turner, May 2005

David Card, Jesse Rothstein

Featured Program of the Day

The Project Citizen

This civic education program is administered with the assistance of a national network of state and congressional district coordinators in every state and is conducted with the assistance of the National Conference of State Legislatures. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Education by act of Congress. Additional funding at the state level is also provided by an increasing number of state legislatures.

(See video clip of this exciting program)

Center for Civic Education, American Association of School Administrators Offer Free Constitution Day Lessons Online

The Center for Civic Education and the American Association of School Administrators are offering free lesson plans on the U.S. Constitution for Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, September 17, and Constitution Week, September 17–23. The materials for grades K–12 were adapted from the Center’s We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution and Foundations of Democracy curricular materials.

The Center for Civic Education is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization that fosters the development of informed, responsible participation in civic life by citizens committed to values and principles fundamental to American constitutional democracy. The Center offers a wide range of curricular materials, teacher trainings,community-based programs, and other free resources including the

National Standards for Civics and Government

.

AALF Picks New Executive Director

The Anywhere Anytime Learning Foundation (AALF), the major advocacy group for creative, collaborative anytime, anywhere learning for all children, announced Susan Einhorn as the newly created position of executive director. AALF, who's mission to promote the effective use of personal computers and associated technologies in building powerful learning experiences, is the premiere 1:1 laptop consortium in the country.

The group serves as an information clearinghouse for educators, policy-makers, industry and members of the media interested in one-to-one computing in education AALF also sponsors research regarding the benefits and effective practices of one-to-one computing in learning.

"Susan has the right mix of vision, experience and leadership skills to help us take AALF to the next level," said AALF President Bruce Dixon. "I've known Susan for a long time and believe that with Susan on board, there is much more AALF will be able to do to make sure all children are granted an education that fosters their innate motivation to learn, encourages academic rigor through relevant application, and connects them with the world they will enter.'

Ms. Einhorn will oversee the day-to-day operations of AALF. She will report directly to President Bruce Dixon.

Tracking Teacher Quality

Tracking Teacher Quality
States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico submitted the following figures to the                                                            federal government on "highly qualified" teachers.

	Classes taught by	Classes taught by
States	"highly qualified"	"highly qualified"
	teachers statewide	teachers in high-          poverty schools
Alabama	35.30%	29%
Alaska	16	16
Arizona	-	-
Arkansas	97	97
California	48	35
Colorado	85.7	84.6
Connecticut	96	94.7
Delaware	85	85
District of Columbia	74.6	65.4
Florida	91.1	92.9
Georgia	94	95
Hawaii	86.7	84
Idaho	98.1	98.6
Illinois	-	-
Indiana	96.2	95
Iowa	94.8	94.7
Kansas	80	80
Kentucky	95	97
Louisiana	-	-
Maine	-	-
Maryland	64.5	46.6
Massachusetts	96 *	93 *
Michigan	95	90
Minnesota	96 **	94.1 **
Mississippi	85	81
Missouri	94.7	93.6
Montana	-	-
Nebraska	90	82
Nevada	50	50
New Hampshire	86	84
New Jersey	-	-
New Mexico	-	-
New York	-	-
North Carolina	-	-
North Dakota	91.1	93.8
Ohio	82	78
Oklahoma	64	57
Oregon	81.8	71.5
Pennsylvania	95	93
Puerto Rico	25	25
Rhode Island	63	58
South Carolina	-	-
South Dakota	85.7	16.4
Tennessee	-	-
Texas	75.8	69.3
Utah	95.9	96.4
Vermont	92	93
Virginia	80	73
Washington	83	88
West Virginia	94	96
Wisconsin	98.6	96.9
Wyoming	95	99

--  State did not provide data.
*   Margin of error is plus or minus 1 percent, from samples.
** Percentage of teachers who are "highly qualified," rather than percentage of classes taught by "highly qualified" teachers.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education 2007

Download Spreadsheet :Download teach_quality.xls

Can it Be Done? Yes It Can!

Take a look at these two charts. These two schools are in the Bay Area. They both have a high percentage of Hispanic, African American and socio and economically disadvantaged kids and yet their charts reflect a school leadership with high expectations for their kids.

These two particular schools both principals expressed the importance of looking at data regularly in their schools transformation.

Both principals speak very little about moving their kids to “proficient” by 2013. They are up all night worrying about how to move their kids to “advanced”, today!

African American

Hispanic

Socioeconomic Disadvantaged

English Learners

AYP minimum proficency

Can Congress Apply money to Science and Technology Education Programs Effectively

Recently, President Bush signed into law historic legislation that makes significant new investments in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.  These investments will help us to maintain our place at the forefront of the worldwide economy. However, if we truly intend to take advantage of the resources we are devoting to these efforts, if we want to continue to be the global leaders of the new economy, we’re going to have to think locally.

In 2005, the Augustine Commission, made up of some of the most distinguished national leaders in academia, industry and government, issued a startling report entitled “Rising Above the Gathering Storm.” Their report expressed serious concern that “the scientific and technological building blocks critical to our economic leadership are eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength.” Fortunately, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and other House Democrats responded to this clarion call with concrete action, passing historic legislation called the America COMPETES Act. It authorizes $33.6 billion in spending over the next three years to enhance and expand STEM Education.

Moving forward, it will be important for us to remember that training a new generation of math and science teachers, and subsequently a new generation of mathematicians, scientists, and engineers, is only half the battle. We also have to ask ourselves: How do we expect this new generation of technically inclined workers to grow our economy? By investing in STEM education, we are creating a new national resource. How can we shape that investment to get the most bang for our buck?

National Educational Technology Standards

the NETS for Students: Achievement Rubric defines four achievement levels in relation to the NETS. The rubric is being developed to assist state and school-district leaders in their efforts to measure and monitor the development of student technology literacy throughout the elementary and secondary grades.

Student Rubric

Teacher Rubric

NETS Standards are reprinted with permission from National Educational Technology Standards for Students: Connecting Curriculum and Technology, Copyright © 2000, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191