{"feed":{"date":"2014\/05","num_posts":37,"item":[{"id":"997","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/30\/2014: #ProofPointDay for First Generation College Grads","byline":"","excerpt":"
Good morning. It's Friday May 30. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. New York City schools will receive an additional $730 million in state education aid next year. Most of that funding will go to prekindergarten, arts education, and after-school programs, but some think principals should get more discretion over how those funds are spent<\/a>. Below you will see just a few highlights of what's on the main part of our site this morning and, as always, there is additional content organized by key issue areas on our sidebars. We update the site throughout the day so be sure to check back.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n On this date in 1778 at the age of 83 Voltaire learned the answer to his various musings about religion. During his tumultuous and productive life the writer and thinker created a variety of work from analysis to satire through plays, essays, and books. He was known for his reformist instincts, which got him into trouble but left an indelible mark on the world. Voltaire lived in England from 1726 to 1729 - he was exiled there after a brief and arbitrary imprisonment resulting from a dispute with a French aristocrat. Of the British Voltaire remarked that they were like their beer, \"the top of which is froth, the bottom dregs, the middle excellent.\"<\/p>\n As any fan of \"Downton Abbey\" can tell you the British are known for their rigid class stratification. Yet we're not in much of a position to chastise them for it. Social mobility in England is still a problem but it's improved. Several recent studies indicate that British society has social mobility more or less on par with the United States, where we celebrate and romanticize the idea that talent matters more than birth circumstances.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/30\/realcleared_today_proofpointday_for_first_generation_college_grads_997.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 29, 2014"},{"id":"996","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/29\/2014: Angelou Pushed for Education, Equality","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Thursday May 29. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. Legendary poet Dr. Maya Angelou died Wednesday morning at her home in Winston-Salem, N.C. She was 86. Angelou became known as a modern Renaissance woman who forged her way to the top, and carried with her a love for and commitment to education<\/a>. Below you will see a few highlights of what's on the main part of our site this morning and, as always, there is additional content organized by key issue areas on our sidebars.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Happy birthday Patrick Henry! The American revolutionary was born on this date in 1736 in Virginia. Henry served as governor of Virginia for two different stints with a required break in between, was a farmer, and a failed businessman - he briefly owned a store.<\/p>\n But he is best known as an orator and influential politician. Henry's exact words at Richmond's Saint John's Church are disputed but his first biographer reports that the fiery Virginian said, \"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!\" In any event, he said something to that effect and it was hardly his only impassioned plea against centralized power or the British.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/29\/realcleared_today_05292014_angelou_pushed_for_education_equality_996.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 28, 2014"},{"id":"995","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/28\/2014: FLOTUS' Food Fight","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning. It's Wednesday May 28. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. First Lady Michelle Obama is getting her hands dirty in a political fight over healthy school lunches, pushing back against a GOP measure<\/a> that would ease nutrition rules for some states. Also Tuesday, President Barack Obama announced several initiatives to improve and promote STEM education<\/a>. Below you'll find just a few highlights of what's on our site this morning and, as always, there is also content organized into key issue areas on our sidebars.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletters here.<\/a> Eventually, in the latter part of the 20th Century, Lucchese was sold, moved to El Paso, and some of its boot lines are now made in Mexico. Today, Lucchese offers a variety of boot styles for men and women but its \"Classics\" line of western and roper boots is still made completely by hand in Texas and customized for each purchaser as desired. Whatever your taste in boots - style, leather, and color - you can find it somewhere in Lucchese's lines, but the Classics are the Cadillacs. <\/p> Lucchese has outfitted governors, presidents, prime ministers, and movie stars - John Wayne wrote Sam Lucchese in 1977 to thank him for a pair of boots saying, \"I guess I know where my best Christmas present came from - Sam Lucchese.\" But most Lucchese-wearers are just people who want the most comfortable footwear available. For many, the purchase of a pair of Lucchese Classics is the footwear purchase of a lifetime and to be worn for decades. The Classics fit like no other footwear, shape to the foot even better than most boots, and are made with the most premium hides. It's like being allowed to wear slippers all day. <\/p>","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/28\/realcleared_today_05282014_flotus_food_fight_995.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 27, 2014"},{"id":"992","title":"College Is Even More Worth It Now Than Before -- But We Already Knew That","byline":"","excerpt":" RCEd Commentary<\/em><\/p>\n Is college worth the high cost? After all, everyone knows a college degree doesn't guarantee a good job - English majors all work at McDonalds, right? This lore is gaining acceptance (see discussion of the \"college bubble\" here <\/a>and here<\/a>, for example) but a new review in Science magazine<\/a> by MIT's David H. Autor marshals data suggesting that it's dead wrong.<\/p>\n College graduates not only continue to make more than non-graduates, the education-wage premium is increasing. It has risen in most advanced economies, and nowhere more than the US. In fact the difference between the median incomes of high school graduates and college graduates in 1979 was about $17,400 (in 2012 dollars). In 2012 it had doubled to around $35,000. (Autor doesn't cite these data, but a 2013 OECD report<\/a> also suggested that unemployment rose much less for college graduates during the recent recession.)<\/p>\n The income difference is not an artifact of the wild increases among the top 1 percent of earners. As Autor emphasizes, wage inequality has increased across the spectrum of incomes and is well represented among the \"other 99 percent.\" He cites various studies suggesting that 60 percent or so of the increasing difference in U.S. wages is due to the increase in the education-wage premium. Other factors contributing to the difference include the decline (in real dollars) of income for high school graduates, the declining influence of trade unions, the rise in automation and subsequent loss of jobs calling for minimal cognitive skills, and competition for those jobs in the developing world.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/27\/college_even_more_worth_it_now_than_before_--_but_we_already_knew_that_992.html","image":"http:\/\/images.realclear.com\/240742_5_.jpg","postDate":"May 26, 2014"},{"id":"993","title":"Ed Law Briefly: Can School Security, Police Search a Threatening Parent?","byline":"","excerpt":" RCEd Commentary<\/em><\/p>\n Background:<\/strong> School security officers in Salinas, California, suspected that the father of one of the football players was concealing a gun at a game. They detained him afterward in the parking lot just outside the stadium. The two off-duty probation officers were told by the Everett Alvarez High School varsity football coach that Ronald Henderson Turner had a weapon and had threatened another coach, calling him a racial slur and saying, \"I'll see you after the game.\" The duo saw two suspicious acts that caused them to seize Henderson Turner. First, he was gathered with a group (with beer cans nearby) \"looking a little intimidating.\" Second, he walked away from the group when he saw a marked police car appear.<\/p>\n The district said these acts alone were the level of suspicion needed to confront Henderson Turner and determine whether he possessed a weapon. He was handcuffed by police officers who arrived on the scene and they found he was carrying a loaded black revolver. Henderson Turner says both the police who arrested him and the school system violated his right under the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.<\/p>\n Issue:<\/strong> Does the report of a weapon give the school district a right to detain a parent or to have police search him, without more of a justification?<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/27\/ed_law_briefly_can_school_security_police_search_a_threatening_parent_993.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 26, 2014"},{"id":"994","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/27\/2014: College Is Still Worth It -- Duh.","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Tuesday May 27th. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. This week, Dan Willingham writes about a new study<\/a> that offers data for what education researchers and educators already knew -- that the college-wage premium persists, and that the value of an education continues to show in wage gaps. The Practical Education Law Team's brief takes a look at a Fourth Amendment case in California, where school security officers suspected a parent of concealing a gun at a football game<\/a>. Below you'll see just a few highlights of what's on our site this morning and there is also content organized into key issue areas on our sidebars.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p> Today is Rachel Carson's birthday. The biologist-turned-conservation-hero was born on this date in 1907, she died in 1964. A marine biologist by training, Carson originally attracted public notice for her book The Sea Around Us<\/em>. She followed that book, which won a National Book Award, with two other books about the ocean.<\/p> But it was her 1962 book Silent Spring<\/em> that seared Carson into the public consciousness. Carson's work was controversial at the time and remains so, but its impact is beyond dispute. Carson not only catalyzed action on the regulation of pesticides but called attention to more fundamental conflicts inherent in how pesticides were regulated. Among other reforms this ultimately helped spur was the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency during the Nixon administration.<\/p>","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/27\/realcleared_today_05272014_college_is_still_worth_it_--_duh_994.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 26, 2014"},{"id":"991","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/26\/2014: Another State Votes to Repeal Common Core","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Monday May 26th, Memorial Day. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. Oklahoma on Friday became the latest state to take a legislative step toward repealing Common Core<\/a> -- the overwhelmingly approved bill to scrap the academic standards now goes to Gov. Mary Fallin. Today we will not be compiling an afternoon update because of the holiday. Below, as always, you'll find just a few highlights of what's on our site this morning but much more content is there.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n It's Levon Helm's birthday. The musician, best known for his work in The Band, was born on this date in 1940. He passed away two years ago after a long bout with cancer. Helm was also an actor. He played Loretta Lynn's father in Coal Miner's Daughter<\/em> and a slightly fictionalized version of Air Force test pilot Jack Ridley in The Right Stuff<\/em>. He also wasn't named Levon, rather Mark Lavon, but Levon turned out to be easier for bandmates to pronounce. It also worked for Elton John, although his song is named for Levon but not about him.<\/p>\n Songs were Helm's thing, though. He started out in a band called the Hawks and ended up backing Bob Dylan. That led to The Band, an arrangement that allowed Helm and others to continue to work with Dylan but also release their own work. Music from Big Pink<\/em> and The Last Waltz<\/em> are standouts in the pantheon of American music and songs like \"The Weight\" are now standards. After his first go-round with cancer, Helm came back in 2007 and released an acclaimed album that brought him back to his roots, Dirt Farmer<\/em>. His first album in a quarter-century, it won a Grammy.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/26\/realcleared_today_05262014_another_state_votes_to_repeal_common_core_991.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 25, 2014"},{"id":"989","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/23\/2014: Another 'Parent Trigger' Victory in California","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Friday May 23. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. Keep an eye out later in the day when we'll have an exclusive interview with a parent involved in the latest parent trigger resolution in West Athens, Calif. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. <\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n On this date in 1609 the Second Charter of Virginia was signed. The document outlined the jurisdiction where the London Company could operate in what's now Virginia and extended that charter \"sea to sea.\" It also named the investors in the venture, so it was basically an early private equity deal.<\/p>\n Some historians believe this was the last time the word \"charter\" was uttered in relation to the Commonwealth. There was actually a third Virginia charter a few years later in 1612 that extended the charter to what's now Bermuda, but if you were only studying educational history and policy it's easy to see how you might think this given Virginia's approach to charter schools.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/23\/realcleared_today_05232014_another_parent_trigger_victory_in_california_989.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 22, 2014"},{"id":"990","title":"California School 'Parent Trigger' Deemed 'Historic' Step in Power Movement: 5 Questions","byline":"","excerpt":" Winter Hall and daughter Neia, a 1st-grader at West Athens Elementary School in California.<\/em><\/sub><\/p>\n A group of California parents are set to announce a deal this afternoon with the Los Angeles Unified School District to bring changes to their school, West Athens Elementary. The resolution marks one of just a handful of victories in the movement for parental power in schools.<\/p>\n West Athens Elementary School in southern Los Angeles is a historically low-performing school serving a low-income community. In addition to poor academic results, the campus was rampant with student-on-student violence and bullying, parents say.<\/p>\n Now, nearly a full academic year after West Athens parents banded together to pressure district officials to fix problems at the failing school, LAUSD is committing $300,000 in new resources to pay for a psychiatric social worker, counselor, heightened security, and programs and policies to improve school culture, Parent Revolution Executive Director Ben Austin said. Parent Revolution, a group founded in 2009, lobbies for parent empowerment laws known as a \"parent trigger.\"<\/p>\n For years, parents across the country had little legal ability to transform underperforming public schools -- until 2010, when California pioneered the nation's first parent trigger law<\/a>, laying out provisions for how parents can legally petition poorly performing schools to enforce turnaround efforts that could include dismissing the principal, replacing the staff, or converting the school to a charter.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/23\/california_school_trigger_deemed_historic_step_in_parent_power_movement_990.html","image":"http:\/\/images.realclear.com\/241891_5_.jpeg","postDate":"May 22, 2014"},{"id":"986","title":"Open Data in Education: A Case for Pricing Transparency","byline":"","excerpt":" RCEd Commentary<\/em><\/p>\n Imagine the wealth of non-personal data that sits behind every education institution in America. There are approximately 100,000 schools and 7,000 colleges nationwide, all of which collect or provide institutional purchasing information and so much more. Most of this information is kept private, mainly because that's the way it's been done for years.<\/p>\n But these individualized and private purchasing methods used by America's schools place our education system at an economic disadvantage. The public has a right to know how its money is being spent and, according to Charles Kenny and Jonathan Karver of the Center for Global Development<\/a>, transparency in contract publication can \"shorten the chain of accountability - to help citizens see what they are paying for, so they are in a better position to judge if they are getting it.\" Openly publishing purchasing data can help school districts better understand the product they are getting, its true cost and quality, and improve their purchasing processes for the benefit of our nation and its students.<\/p>\n Why Purchasing Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/22\/open_data_in_education_a_case_for_pricing_transparency_986.html","image":"http:\/\/images.realclear.com\/228850_5_.jpg","postDate":"May 21, 2014"},{"id":"987","title":"Common Core in the States: Mapping the Future of Testing in America (INTERACTIVE)","byline":"","excerpt":" Common Core is roiling the country. The new set of national education standards are attracting attention not only from wonks and teachers but also from late-night talk shows and celebrity parents.<\/p>\n This spring, students across the country are taking the first iterations of year-end exams aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core is a set of benchmarks - not a curriculum - that lays out what students across the country should know by the end of each grade level. Individual states and districts determine how to teach and assess their students to meet those standards. These standards were developed by educational experts and interest groups representing state leaders in an effort to ensure students are college-and career-ready by the time they graduate high school.<\/p>\n [Jump to the interactive graphic<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n Nationally, 45 states, Washington, D.C. and three territories adopted the standards between 2010 and 2011, but Indiana became the first state to drop out of the Common Core in March following months of backlash against the education benchmarks.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/22\/common_core_in_the_states_americas_future_testing_landscape_987.html","image":"http:\/\/images.realclear.com\/232162_5_.jpg","postDate":"May 21, 2014"},{"id":"988","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/22\/2014: What Does the Future of American Testing Look Like?","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Thursday May 22. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. With the turmoil over Common Core, we sought to break down where the states are in their consortium membership and future testing plans. Check out the interactive graphic and map here<\/a>. Daniel Owens of The Learning Accelerator also makes a case this morning for pricing transparency among school districts<\/a>, The Practical Education Law Center's brief this week breaks down a case in Pennsylvania<\/a> on a popular after-school dance program and trademark infringement. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. At the bottom of this email are just a few highlights of all the new material on our site this morning.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n On this date in 1970, the Nixon Administration was trying to figure out what to do about the Kent State shootings and other protests against the war in Vietnam and its expansion in Southeast Asia. Earlier in May, National Guardsmen had killed four protesters and wounded nine more at Ohio's Kent State. The administration's response to that incident had wildly been seen as clumsy and indifferent even though in polls at the time, more Americans blamed the students than the guardsmen for the tragedy. There was additional violence after Kent State, including another shooting incident at Jackson State where two black students were killed. Ultimately a commission was appointed to examine campus unrest and it concluded, among other findings, that the actions of the Guardsmen at Kent State were unjustified even if they felt threatened.<\/p>\n Today's campus protests have a decidedly different flavor. Forget the expansion of a war into Cambodia, far graver issues are at stake. For instance students at Harvard's Graduate School of Education demanded that administrators rescind a commencement speaking invitation to Democratic Colorado State Sen. (and school alum and former principal) Mike Johnston because he thinks test scores should matter to school accountability. The dean politely rebuffed the students, reminding them that education is about exposure to ideas, not the censorship of them.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/22\/realcleared_today_05222014_what_does_the_future_of_american_testing_look_like_988.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 21, 2014"},{"id":"983","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/21\/2014: School Lunch Fight","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Wednesday May 21. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. The school lunch fight is heaing up as GOP lawmakers and First Lady Michelle Obama go head-to-head on healthy rules for school food. The Agriculture Department decided Tuesday that it will let some schools delay for two years<\/a> a requirement on adding more whole grains to school meals. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n It's Judge Reinhold's birthday today. The actor was born on this date in 1957 in Delaware. He spent some of his childhood in Virginia and was a student at Mary Washington College for a while. Reinhold's known for leading roles in Beverly Hills Cop and an acclaimed role as the \"close talker\" on Seinfeld. But for Americans of a certain age he'll always be best recalled as high school senior Brad Hamilton in Cameron Crowe's Fast Times at Ridgemont High.<\/em><\/p>\n That film had a who's who of future movie talent in addition to Reinhold: Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Forrest Whitaker, Eric Stoltz, Anthony Edwards, Nicholas Cage (who appeared under his true name, Nicholas Coppola), and, of course, Phoebe Cates. Ray Walston, who perhaps is best known as a Broadway song and dance performer, is unforgettable as Mr. Hand. \"What are you, people? On dope?\" The film was based on Cameron Crowe's book, which he wrote while posing undercover as a student at a California high school in 1979.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/21\/realcleared_today_05212014_school_lunch_fight.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 20, 2014"},{"id":"982","title":"Finally Talking About It: What Improves College Learning? Damn Near Anything.","byline":"","excerpt":" RCEd Commentary<\/em><\/p>\n When you think of a college class, what image comes to mind? Probably a professor droning about economics, or biology, or something, in an auditorium with several hundred students. If you focus on the students in your mind's eye, you're probably imagining them looking bored and, if you've been in a college lecture hall recently, your image would include students shopping online and chatting with friends via social media while the oblivious professor lectures on. What could improve the learning and engagement of these students? According to a recent literature review, the results of which were reported by Science<\/a>, Wired<\/a>, PBS<\/a>, and others, damn near anything.<\/p>\n Scott Freeman and his associates conducted a meta-analysis of 225 studies <\/a>of college instruction that compared \"traditional lecturing\" vs. \"active learning\" in science, technology, engineering and math courses. Student performance on exams increased by about half a standard deviation. Students in the traditional lecture classes were 1.5 times as likely to fail as students in the active learning classes.<\/p>\n Previous studies of college course interventions have been criticized on methodological grounds. For example, classes would experience either traditional lecture or active learning, but no effort would be made to evaluate whether the students were equivalently prepared when they started the class. Freeman et al. categorized the studies in their meta-analysis by methodological rigor, and reported that the size of the benefit was not different among studies of high or low quality.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/20\/what_improves_college_learning_damn_near_anything_982.html","image":"http:\/\/images.realclear.com\/241353_5_.jpg","postDate":"May 19, 2014"},{"id":"984","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/20\/2014: What Improves College Learning? Damn Near Anything.","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Tuesday May 20. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. Dan Willingham's column today takes a look at the latest focus on improving college learning and student engagement<\/a>. The Practical Education Law Team breaks down a case in Pennsylvania<\/a> on a popular after-school dance program and trademark infringement. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. At the bottom of this email are just a few highlights of all the new material on our site this morning.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n On this date in 1932, Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland on her way to Europe. It was not Earhart's first time crossing the ocean but was to be the first solo transatlantic by a woman. Fourteen hours later, Earhart landed in an Irish field, also making her the first person to fly the Atlantic twice. A farm worker saw her plane land and came over to inquire, asking if she had flown far to get there. \"From America,\" she responded.<\/p>\n Earhart had a tumultuous childhood. The family moved around as her father struggled to keep jobs and her parents divorced. In the end, she finished high school in Chicago. She was also homeschooled for a time. Erratic finances ended her higher education and she took a job as a social worker and teacher in Boston in the 1920s at Denison House, a settlement house for immigrants, especially Syrian, Italian and Greek immigrants. Earhart found a way to combine her growing love of flying with social work by dropping leaflets about Denison House over Boston and flying at Denison events. Children from the time remember her as a roadster driving non-conformist - and an inspiring figure.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/20\/realcleared_today_05202014_what_improves_college_learning_damn_near_anything_984.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 19, 2014"},{"id":"985","title":"Ed Law Briefly: After-School Dance Program Prompts Trademark Infringement Lawsuit","byline":"","excerpt":" RCEd Commentary<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>Background:<\/strong> An after-school dance program called REACH!, became a popular activity for students in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Jason Reed was the hometown creator of REACH!, which combines mentorship with learning dance moves. The Chambersburg Area School District contacted Reed about starting a chapter. The district hired him to offer dance lessons to students but also allowed him to retain all of the intellectual property rights associated with the program. Pretty quickly the relationship soured.<\/p>\n Reed, who is African American, alleged that district officials starting treating him \"in a very racial stereotypical and dismissive manner,\" while also making comments bearing \"strong racial overtones.\" They also assigned him the job of disciplining African-American and Hispanic students. His list of complaints included not being able to view key performance and budget reports, not being paid according to his contract, and not being trusted to handle cash.<\/p>\n Reed says he was \"abruptly and unjustly terminated.\" Afterward, the school reinstated the program under a different name and hired two people at a higher combined hourly rate than Reed made. Reed sued the district for trademark infringement. REACH! is federally registered.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/20\/ed_law_briefly_after-school__dance_program_prompts_trademark_infringement_lawsuit_985.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 19, 2014"},{"id":"981","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/19\/2014: Brown v. Board Turns 60","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Monday, May 19th. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world -- including a roundup of the weekend's coverage of Brown v. Board of Education's 60th anniversary. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. At the bottom of this email are just a few highlights of all the new material on our site this morning.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n On this date in 1920, violence was unfolding in Matewan, W.V. The town on the Kentucky border was ground zero in the fight over organizing West Virginia's mines. It was a high-stakes conflict and on that spring morning 96 years ago, detectives from the Baldwin-Felt agency arrived in town to evict some miners involved with the organizing effort. Afterwards on their way out of town, they were confronted by Matewan Sherriff Sid Hatfield. Hatfield, who sympathized with the miners, said he had arrest warrants for the detectives. They countered that they had an arrest warrant for him. Matewan's mayor said the warrant was fraudulent but by then paperwork didn't matter. Armed miners lay in wait and a shootout ensued that ended with seven detectives and three people from the town - including the mayor - dead in a close-quarters battle. Many more were wounded. The incident is recounted in the film \"Matewan,\" but West Virginia author Denise Giardina's \"Storming Heaven\" contextualizes the events in the larger conflict dividing the state.<\/p>\n Hatfield, who became something of an activist after the battle, would be killed a year later in an ambush on the steps of a courthouse by Baldwin-Felt detectives as he, his wife, his deputy, and the deputy's wife were in McDowell County to face trumped up charges that he had dynamited coal tipple. That and the Matewan incident set the stage for the biggest act of West Virginia's coal wars, the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/19\/realcleared_today_05192014_brown_v_board_turns_60_981.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 18, 2014"},{"id":"980","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/16\/2014: Who Gets to Graduate?","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Friday May 16. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. Paul Tough's latest piece for this weekend's New York Times Magazine is out: he writes about the University of Texas and some new approaches a psychologist and school administrator are implementing<\/a> to help students acquire their diplomas. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. At the bottom of this email are just a few highlights of all the new material on our site this morning.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \"Wouldn't it be nice if we were older. Then we wouldn't have to wait so long...\" It was 48 years ago today The Beach Boys released \"Pet Sounds.\" The enormously influential album put an indelible mark on popular music and influenced many other artists. Paul McCartney cited \"Pet Sounds\" as helping to develop Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band.\" The first rock concept album, The Beach Boy's work inspired others including influential work by The Who, Pink Floyd, and Marvin Gaye.<\/p>\n \"Pet Sounds\" combined The Beach Boys' sound with a trippier element that caught a changing Rock and Roll scene and a changing country like a surfer slicing into a wave in fast water. As a 1972 Rolling Stone review noted, the Beach Boys' earlier music had a candy-like aesthetic tied to the suburban Southern California surf scene, \"But Pet Sounds...nobody was prepared for anything so soulful, so lovely, something one had to think about so much.\" It was not a huge seller at the time, although it spun off several well-received singles including \"Caroline, No,\" the derivative \"Sloop John B\" and its opening track, \"Wouldn't It Be Nice.\" \"Pet Sounds\" also marked a turn in Brian Wilson's music and a change in The Beach Boys' commercial prospects. Yet \"Pet Sounds\" has stood the test of time, is lionized by critics, and was included in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/16\/realcleared_today_05162014_who_gets_to_graduate_980.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 15, 2014"},{"id":"978","title":"What Advanced Placement Means for the Future of American Education and Common Core","byline":"","excerpt":" In many ways, education reform initiatives have become like boy bands from the 1990s. They'll score one Billboard hit and then fade away into obscurity. Take something like small schools. For a while, everyone hailed the approach as the solution to all of our education woes. But within a few years, the reform strategy had been tabled as reformers moved to the next Big Thing.<\/p>\n But when it comes to education reform, there's one approach that's proved largely successful: The Advanced Placement program. The AP program is run by the College Board and allows students to earn college credit in high school. A couple decades ago, the program began with just a few schools. Over the years, growth in the program has been massive, and AP exams are being administered to millions of high schoolers around the country this week.<\/p>\n What might be the most striking, though, is that the AP programs offers a glimpse of the kind of success that we can expect from the Common Core State Standards. To date, 44 states and the District of Columbia have adopted these new, more rigorous standards, which detail what students should know to be ready for college or a job. But in recent months, the new standards have sparked controversy. Last month, for instance, comedian Louis C.K.'s online rant against the Common Core<\/a> and its associated tests went viral.<\/p>\n But given the success of the AP program, the controversy around the Common Core standards seems misplaced. After all, the AP program suggests that high standards and robust exams are a successful reform approach. What's more, both the AP program and the Common Core originate from a realization among educators that far more needs to be done to raise expectations for students. In short, critics should look to the AP program as a model of what the Common Core can become -- a successful education reform that improves teaching and raises student expectations.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/15\/what_advanced_placement_means_for_the_future_of_american_education_and_common_core_978.html","image":"http:\/\/images.realclear.com\/234498_5_.jpg","postDate":"May 14, 2014"},{"id":"979","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/15\/2014: Data Mining Your Kids?","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Thursday May 15. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. Center for American Progress' Ulrich Boser and Max Marchitello write today about similarities in the Advanced Placement program and the Common Core -- but the disparities in how people respond to them<\/a>. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. At the bottom of this email are just a few highlights of all the new material on our site this morning.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Today is Dan Patrick's birthday. A native of Ohio, the popular sportscaster and longtime ESPN broadcaster is 58. Patrick, along with Keith Olbermann, helped define the style and impact of the all-sports network as it was gaining traction in the 1990s. Today he hosts his own sports show and appears on a variety of media.<\/p>\n ESPN is now an enormous and iconic brand worthy of its own send-ups (think Jason Batemen covering a dodgeball tournament in the 2004 film \"Dodgeball\"). Yet that was not predestined. There was a lot of skepticism that there was sufficient audience for a network just focused on sports when ESPN first went on the air in 1979. Sports were part of what the big networks did, the conventional media wisdom went, along with entertainment and news.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/15\/realcleared_today_05152014_data_mining_your_kids_979.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 14, 2014"},{"id":"976","title":"Let’s Get Engaged","byline":"","excerpt":" RCEd Commentary<\/em><\/p>\n As anyone following higher education knows, there's a growing movement to assess colleges by measuring the post-graduation earnings of their graduates. The underlying - and quite reasonable - assumption is that on some level, a good college education ought to translate into a good post-college salary.<\/p>\n Even so, the recently released Gallup-Purdue University Index of college and life outcomes<\/a> may have identified an even more pressing issue: most college graduates in the U.S. aren't truly \"engaged\" in their employment. As a matter of fact, the index reports that of the 30,000 graduates they surveyed who are working full-time, a meager 39 percent feel they are actually engaged in what they do for a living.<\/p>\n According to Gallup, disengaged employees drag morale and corrode their teams' performance. They pass their workdays in general disgruntlement and make the workplace less productive for everyone. On a human level, this is disturbing enough - but considering that the nation's economic health depends on innovation, creativity, and drive, it's downright alarming. As such, graduates' salaries ultimately may be less of a problem than the apparent national crisis of professional malaise.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/14\/lets_get_engaged_976.html","image":"http:\/\/images.realclear.com\/240465_5_.jpg","postDate":"May 13, 2014"},{"id":"977","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/14\/2014: Let's Get Engaged","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Wednesday May 14. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. Northeastern University President Joseph Aoun writes today about the Gallup-Purdue Index of college and life outcomes and the role of student engagement in education and society<\/a>. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. At the bottom of this email are just a few highlights of all the new material on our site this morning.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletters here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p> It's Mark Zuckerberg's birthday! The billionaire Facebook founder was born on this date in 1984. One of his presents this year is a new mayor in the city where he pledged $100 million to help improve the schools - Newark, N.J.<\/p> Yesterday, former high school principal and city councilman Ras Baraka defeated former assistant attorney general Shavar Jefferies to serve as Newark's next mayor. Baraka isn't the first principal to become a city's chief executive but he may be the first one who was also featured on a Fugees album.<\/p>","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/14\/realcleared_today_05142014_lets_get_engaged_977.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 13, 2014"},{"id":"973","title":"Data Isn't Everything: Qualitative Research's Bad Rap","byline":"","excerpt":" RCEd Commentary<\/em><\/p>\n Last week I discussed<\/a> the case Carl Wieman made that education research and physics have more in common than people commonly appreciate. I mentioned in passing Wieman's suggestion that random control trials - often referred to as the \"gold standard\" of evidence - are not the be-all and end-all of research, and that qualitative research contributes too. But I didn't say how it contributes, and neither did Wieman (at least in the paper I discussed). Here, I offer a suggestion.<\/p>\n Qualitative research is usually contrasted with quantitative research. In quantitative research the dependent variable - that is, the outcome -is measured as a quantity, usually using a measurement that is purportedly objective. In qualitative research, the outcome is not measured as a quantity, but as a quality.<\/p>\n For example, suppose I'm curious to know what students think about their school's use of technology. In a quantitative study, I might develop a questionnaire that solicits students' opinions about, say, the math and reading software they've been using, and also asks students to compare them to the paper versions they used last year. I'd probably try to get most or all of the students in the school to respond. I would end up with ratings which I can treat as quantitative data.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/13\/data_isnt_everything_qualitative_researchs_bad_rap_973.html","image":"http:\/\/images.realclear.com\/238293_5_.jpg","postDate":"May 12, 2014"},{"id":"974","title":"Ed Law Briefly: The Whole Truth","byline":"","excerpt":" RCEd Commentary<\/em><\/p>\n Background:<\/strong> Jon White, a teacher at Thomas Paine Elementary School in Urbana, Illinois, sexually abused two girls. That is an undisputed fact. White previously worked at the Colene Hoose Elementary School in Normal, Illinois, and left under terms of a settlement agreement struck after school officials became aware of \"White's teacher-on-student sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and\/or sexual ‘grooming' of minor female students.\" He pled guilty to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.<\/p>\n The incidents were never recorded in his personnel file. Building officials also failed to report the abuse as mandated by state law and declined to investigate parent complaints. The Normal, Illinois district did discipline White for his reprehensible behavior. However, the settlement agreement concealed his abuse of students and included a \"falsely positive letter\" about his abilities. The written recommendation intentionally made no mention of his sexual proclivities.<\/p>\n The mothers of the girls claimed that Thomas Paine Elementary school officials were misled by false information when they hired White. The duo sued the Colene Hoose principal and assistant principal along with the superintendent of the McLean County Unit School District No. 5, and the director of human resources.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/13\/ed_law_briefly_the_whole_truth_974.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 12, 2014"},{"id":"975","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/13\/2014: Data Isn't Everything -- A Bad Rap","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Tuesday May 13. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. Last week, New York City teachers' union chief Michael Mulgrew boasted about the union's deal with the city and its steps toward winning a \"war with the reformers.\" Richard Whitmire writes about why those wins may lead to a long-term loss<\/a>. Daniel Willingham's weekly column highlights qualitative research's bad reputation<\/a> compared to quantitative measures, and the Practical Education Law Team's brief this week looks at a case in Illinois<\/a>, where a teacher's sexual misconduct wasn't recorded in his personnel file. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. At the bottom of this email are just a few highlights of all the new material on our site this morning.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletters here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p> It was on this date in 1880 that Thomas Edison first tested his electric railway in Menlo Park, N.J. It was a three-car train and the test didn't go all that well. The locomotive had to return to the shop after developing some problems going a short distance. But the potential was clear and Edison was encouraged to build a longer track to further test the idea. He did that in Menlo Park in 1881. Now, such trains are a key part of the transportation system. For his part, Edison loved trains, electric and otherwise. In 1930, in his 80s, he was at the helm of an inaugural multi-car electric train run from Hoboken.<\/p> Transportation is a basic human impulse and constraint. In the education sector it's more often the latter. Ideas like allowing students in low-performing schools to transfer to better ones, and school choice plans more generally, are all hamstrung by limits on available transportation for students. When public charter schools move as they grow, they frequently lose students because transportation suddenly becomes an obstacle for families.<\/p>","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/13\/realcleared_today_05132014_data_isnt_everything_--_a_bad_rap_975.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 12, 2014"},{"id":"971","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/12\/2014: Unions and Common Core","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Monday May 12th. This morning at RealClearEducation we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. NPR has a take on Kansas' new rules that would make it easier to fire underperforming teachers, and California is just one of the latest states to face problems with computerized field tests. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. At the bottom of this email are just a few highlights of all the new material on our site this morning.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p> It's David Letterman's birthday. The pioneering comedian was born on this day in 1947 in Indianapolis. He attended Ball State and got involved in college broadcasting. That led to gigs on talk radio and doing the news, but most notably as a weatherman, where Letterman honed his offbeat style. It wasn't a clean jump from those jokes to late-night, but he moved to California and worked his way up, even having his first NBC comedy show canceled for low ratings. But Letterman found his niche in late-night and transformed the genre.<\/p> Letterman guest and fellow comedian Louis C.K. is making news with his criticism of the Common Core standards on Twitter and late night television. Reasonable people can disagree about the Common Core math that obstensibly has the comedian upset but as New York City teacher Sasha Growick pointed out there is more to the Common Core shifts than the caricatures and more challenging math won't break Louis C.K.'s daughters or other girls. And, of course, there is a big difference between the actual Common Core standards and some of the material being used to implement them in classrooms.<\/p>","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/12\/realcleared_today_05122014_unions_and_common_core_971.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 11, 2014"},{"id":"972","title":"Union 'Wins' Against Reformers Are Real Losses in Education 'War'","byline":"","excerpt":" RCEd Commentary<\/em><\/p>\n New York City teachers' union boss Michael Mulgrew is feeling victorious in what he calls the \"war with reformers.\" He should; Mulgrew and other anti-reformers are on winning streaks.<\/p>\n Problem is, Mulgrew and others are pursuing strategies that in the long run will prove to be losers.<\/p>\n Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, last week bragged to his 3,400-member Delegate Assembly that the recent contract negotiated with New York's very progressive Mayor Bill de Blasio was the union's best shot at winning the war with reformers.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/12\/unions_might_be_winning_battles_against_reformers_but_will_lose_the_war_972.html","image":"http:\/\/images.realclear.com\/238948_5_.jpg","postDate":"May 11, 2014"},{"id":"970","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/09\/2014: Cheating Educators","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning. It's Friday May 9th. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. Yesterday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Ted Mitchell as under secretary of education<\/a>. Mitchell is CEO of the NewSchools Venture Fund and former president of Occidental College. In Texas Thursday night, the Houston School Board fired five of 16 teachers investigated for cheating on students' standardized exams<\/a>. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. At the bottom of this email are just a few highlights of all the new material on our site this morning.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p> Today is a day you might think would be a holiday at colleges across the land. On this date in 1797, British engineer and inventor Joseph Bramah patented his beer pump. Now a fixture in bars everywhere, the ability to draw beer through taps rather than straight from casks was revolutionary at the time. A pioneer in the field of hydraulic engineering, Bramah conveniently also played a role in the development of toilets. His early toilet designs are still operational today. He was also a master with locks: he designed a lock that it took 67 years for someone to figure out how to pick. The British lock company that bears his name still operates.<\/p> Drinking by college students seems unlikely to slow down anytime soon. But it increasingly seems as though it won't be six decades before fraternities and sororities face a reckoning. Just this week, Amherst reaffirmed its ban against Greek life and other colleges seem likely to follow. Data on sexual assault indicate that participation in fraternity or sorority events raises the likelihood someone will experience sexual assault. All manners of liability issues plague Greek organizations.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/09\/realcleared_today_05092014_cheating_educators_970.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 8, 2014"},{"id":"967","title":"Coming Education Debate an Opportunity","byline":"","excerpt":" RCEd Commentary<\/em><\/p>\n Growing up, my parents taught me that hard work and education were the keys to achieve a life better than their own.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, they didn't make enough money to save for my college tuition, nor did I qualify for academic scholarships. Instead, I had to rely on Pell grants and student loans to pay for my undergraduate and legal education. Without these financial assistance programs, I never would have been able to afford a higher education. But even with them, I racked up over $100,000 in student loans, which I only finished paying off a couple years ago.<\/p>\n My story is not unique. Over 70 percent of new graduates last year had student loan debt. Making this worse is the fact that our economy is failing to provide these graduates with enough middle and higher-income job opportunities.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/08\/coming_education_debate_an_opportunity_967.html","image":"http:\/\/images.rcp.realclearpolitics.com\/239398_5_.jpg","postDate":"May 7, 2014"},{"id":"968","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/08\/2014: Marco Rubio Digs into Higher Ed","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Thursday May 8th. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. Today, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) recounts personal experiences and digs into opportunities for higher education reform<\/a>. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. At the bottom of this email are just a few highlights of all the new material on our site this morning.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p> On this date in 1967, boxer Muhammad Ali was indicted for his refusal to be inducted into the United States Armed Forces the previous month. Ali refused to serve, saying, \"My conscience won't let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what?\" Although his conviction was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court and he didn't serve the jail time he was sentenced to, it was still not a decision without consequence. Ali was, most notably, out of the fight game for a few years at the prime of his career.<\/p> Refusal to obey public directives and the consequences for those actions are back in the education news as states try to implement the Common Core standards. Some teachers are saying the standards, new curriculum states are developing, and ensuing tests are an affront to their academic freedom they are entitled to resist. It's an old argument when it comes to standards, and also one the courts don't have a lot of sympathy for. Teachers are agents of the state and are consequently required to execute duly enacted policies that govern their work. Don't like the policies? Don't take the job. Academic freedom is a concept with more roots in higher education. In K-12 schools, \"tenure\" is a formal due process protection from unfair or capricious treatment. It's not a license to teach whatever you want or ignore the public rules you don't like. There are legal disputes around the appropriate boundaries of the state's authority, but only on the blogs and Twitter is the core issue in dispute.<\/p>","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/08\/realcleared_today_05082014_marco_rubio_digs_into_higher_ed_968.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 7, 2014"},{"id":"966","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/07\/2014: $11B in Student Aid Fraud? What Goldman Sachs Has to Do with It","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Wednesday May 7th. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. Education Management Corp., a for-profit college operator owned in part by Goldman Sachs, lost a bid Tuesday<\/a> to dismiss a suit arguing it fraudulently acquired $11 billion in student aid. Stanford University also announced yesterday that it would divest its $18.7 billion endowment of stock in coal-mining companies<\/a>, becoming the 12th and most prominent university to purge investments in fossil fuels. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. At the bottom of this email are just a few highlights of all the new material on our site this morning.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p> New Orleans was founded on this date 296 years ago. It wasn't the \"Big Easy\" then, it was just the highest piece of land closest to the end of the Mississippi River's route to the Gulf of Mexico. It was subsequently controlled by France and Spain before it became part of the United States. The Arcadians arrived, adding an unmistakable element. The result is a mixing bowl of cultures that is nonetheless singularly unique. New Orleans' strategic location made it a focal point of major battles in the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The city was flattened by a 1722 Hurricane and rebuilt in the grid pattern of the charming French Quarter.<\/p> It was another Hurricane, Katrina in 2005, that seared New Orleans into the nation's consciousness. Overnight, the looseness that made the city an adult playground of food and music became a life-threatening liability. Among the dysfunction was New Orleans' public school system. A system with a stronger culture of corruption than learning.<\/p>","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/07\/realcleared_today_05072014_11b_in_student_aid_fraud_what_goldman_sachs_has_to_do_with_it_966.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 6, 2014"},{"id":"963","title":"People Aren't Stupid; Science Is Just Hard -- Why We're Wrong to Quickly Dismiss Ed Research","byline":"","excerpt":"","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/06\/people_arent_stupid_science_is_just_hard_963.html","image":"http:\/\/images.realclear.com\/238292_5_.jpg","postDate":"May 5, 2014"},{"id":"964","title":"Ed Law Briefly: It Takes More Than a Hunch to Justifiably Search a Student's Backpack","byline":"","excerpt":" RCEd Commentary<\/em><\/p>\n Background:<\/strong> In a Florida high school, T.S. arrived at school early with her mother for a meeting with Barbara Meshna, her guidance counselor. At the end of the meeting, since T.S. had her bookbag with her, Meshna reminded T.S. that school rules prohibited students from carrying bookbags in the halls during the school day. Therefore, Meshna offered to allow T.S. to leave her bag in her office, and she did so.<\/p>\n On four occasions during the day, T.S. came to Meshna's office asking to retrieve her bookbag. Citing school policy, Meshna denied the requests. Because of the number of times T.S. requested access to her bag, Meshna became suspicious and \"started wondering why it was so important to her.\" As a result, Meshna searched T.S.'s bookbag and found marijuana and drug paraphernalia, which led to criminal charges against T.S.<\/p>\n T.S. argued that the search of her bookbag was a violation of her Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure and that evidence from the illegal search should be excluded. Prosecutors argued that guidance counselor Meshna had reasonable suspicion to search T.S.'s bookbag and the evidence from the search should be admissible.<\/p>\n","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/06\/ed_law_briefly_legal_literacy_for_educators_964.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 5, 2014"},{"id":"965","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/06\/2014: People Aren't Stupid, Science Is Just Hard","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Tuesday May 6. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have top headlines in education news, commentary, analysis, and reports. Daniel Willingham's column this week takes on the difference -- or lack thereof -- between educational and scientific research, and explains why we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss education research<\/a> as poor quality with too many variables. The Practical Education Law Team's weekly brief breaks down students' Fourth Amendment rights<\/a> when suspected of drug possession. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p> It was on this date 60 years ago that Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile. He did it at a track meet in Oxford, England and about 3,000 people witnessed the feat. Bannister covered the mile in 3:59. <\/p> Many experts thought it was not humanly possible to run a mile that fast. Now it's a regular occurrence for elite runners. Four minutes remains more elusive for high schoolers, but four American high school students have broken the barrier. Most recently it was Virginia's Alan Webb who did it in 3:53 in 2001. Elite high school students can run in the low 4-minute range.<\/p>","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/06\/realcleared_today_05062014_people_arent_stupid_science_is_just_hard_965.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 5, 2014"},{"id":"962","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/05\/2014: Teachers vs. Students","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Monday, May 5. This morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. New reports indicate that American teachers are far less diverse than their students<\/a> -- less than 20 percent of teachers are minorities, compared to nearly half of all U.S. students who are nonwhite. The fight against healthier school lunches continues as schools ask Congress and the Agriculture Department to roll back nutrition standards<\/a> championed by First Lady Michelle Obama. As we do each weekday, we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - on our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth. Below are just a few highlights of what is already there.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p> On this date in 1926, Sinclair Lewis formally refused the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Arrowsmith, a story about science that came at a time when the way Americans viewed science was evolving. Lewis was annoyed at a Pulitzer snub of his Main Street several years earlier. In a letter to his editor about speculation that Arrowsmith would get the Pulitzer nod, Lewis wrote, \"You know, don't you, that ever since the Main Street burglary, I have planned that if they ever did award it to me, I would refuse it, with a polite but firm letter which I shall let the press have, and which ought to make it impossible for any one ever to accept [it] thereafter without acknowledging themselves as willing to sell out.\" Lewis was setting himself up to opt out!<\/p> Opting out is in the education news these days. Some parents -- sometimes encouraged by activists and teachers unions -- are seeking to exempt their students from the annual standardized testing that occurs in public schools. It's an understandable impulse. After all, schools have turned the tests into three-ring circuses despite the fact that in they frequently carry no consequences for students. The tests themselves are often higher quality than you'd believe from the rhetoric and also developed with more teacher vetting than you'd gather from the crazy claims. Still, in too many places the quality is lacking or the assessments are not well aligned with what teachers are supposed to teach in the classroom.<\/p>","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/05\/realcleared_today_05052014_teachers_vs_students_962.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 4, 2014"},{"id":"961","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/02\/2014: #ReachHigher","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Friday, May 2. Just a reminder, there are only 243 days left in 2014 so use this one wisely. To help you do that, this morning at RealClearEducation<\/a> we have news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the top of the education world. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced yesterday that the city had struck a deal with the teachers' union<\/a>, ending a nearly five-year labor dispute. The deal raises wages by 18 percent over nine years and includes $3.4 billion in back pay. In exchange, teachers would see a $1.3 billion reduction in health care costs. (De Blasio's predecessor Michael Bloomberg had said the city couldn't afford back pay, so many unions stopped negotiating, choosing just to wait for another mayor). The agreement could be a template for the city's 150 other labor unions that have all been working with expired contracts.<\/p>\n Sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth.<\/p> Fourteen years ago on this date, President Bill Clinton liberalized access to satellite GPS data to make GPS far more precise for all users. Specifically, Clinton ended what was known as the intentional degradation or \"selective availability\" of GPS data for civilian use. The result was that in an instant, GPS became about 10 times more accurate. <\/p>","author":"","link":"http:\/\/www.realcleareducation.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/02\/realcleared_today_reachhigher_961.html","image":"5","postDate":"May 1, 2014"},{"id":"960","title":"RealClearEd Today 05\/01\/2014: When Common Core Becomes a Punch Line","byline":"","excerpt":" Good morning, it's Thursday May 1. At RealClearEducation<\/a> we have the morning's top headlines in news, commentary, analysis, and reports. Politico takes on Common Core's image problem<\/a>, leading with actor\/producer Louis C.K.'s recent tweet jabbing at the standards. Just this morning, musical artist Regina Spektor took to Twitter to side with C.K. and denounce testing<\/a>. As we do each weekday, we'll update the site throughout the day with new content - our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the education sector in depth.<\/p>\n
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On this date in 1929, the Lucchese Boot Company was incorporated in San Antonio, Texas. Originally known as Lucchese Bros., the company was established by brothers Salvatore and Joseph Lucchese in 1883 after they immigrated from Italy. The brothers originally made cavalry boots but word of their unparalleled quality spread and the company grew - by the early part of the 20th Century the company already had an international reputation for excellence.<\/p>