This weekend, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal reported that two area students, Andrew Fierova and Taylor Peterson, have been selected to attend Juilliard School, a private conservatory for the performing arts, in New York City.Peterson, 18, will enter the freshman class in September, and Fierova, who turns 22 Monday, was admitted to the graduate school.Applicants to this school have a six percent
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Purge at ETV is no surprise, thanks to Haley board
Posted on 10:48 AM by Unknown
I'm still curious about The State's coverage of the recent purge of 17 employees from South Carolina Educational Television. Writer Gina Smith covered the subject a couple of weeks ago with a slight tone of surprise:ETV may have won its veto war with Gov. Nikki Haley, but it still is losing employees.
Educational Television said Tuesday it is eliminating 15 full-time and two part-time positions
Educational Television said Tuesday it is eliminating 15 full-time and two part-time positions
Congratulations to Darlington Superintendent Rainey Knight
Posted on 7:40 AM by Unknown
It appears that Darlington's public schools have discovered and are using some effective strategies to reduce its high school dropout rate. The question for the rest of us is, What is Darlington -- and Superintendent Rainey Knight -- doing that can be replicated elsewhere?The Darlington County School District lowered its high school dropout rate by 0.2 percentage points in 2009 – 2010 from 1.4
Congratulations to technology grant winners
Posted on 7:17 AM by Unknown
Congratulations are in order for seven school districts:Seven South Carolina school districts are sharing $1.3 million in federal technology grants.
The state education department's Office of eLearning said Tuesday the seven winners are receiving between $120,000 and $240,000 each.
The districts are Bamberg 1, Colleton County, Dillon 3, Dillon 4, Horry County, Lexington 2, and Marion 7.
The
The state education department's Office of eLearning said Tuesday the seven winners are receiving between $120,000 and $240,000 each.
The districts are Bamberg 1, Colleton County, Dillon 3, Dillon 4, Horry County, Lexington 2, and Marion 7.
The
Educators opposed Haley Public Employment Tax
Posted on 7:10 AM by Unknown
After writing last night about the Haley Public Employment Tax -- the 4.5 percent tax levied by the Budget and Control Board last week against all public employees in the form of an unnecessary health insurance premium increase -- I learned this morning that representatives of one educator organization -- but only one -- was present and "opposed the increase in the strongest terms."
The South
The South
Teachers facing uphill battles as school year begins
Posted on 6:25 AM by Unknown
National Public Radio did a service last week by highlighting the mood of teachers as they return to the classroom this month. And thank goodness for NPR; when was the last time your local newspaper surveyed the mood of teachers, asked them to comment on what's happening to them, published much more than a political cartoon at their expense?As students prepare to begin another school year, their
Thursday, August 18, 2011
'Haley Public Employment Tax' levied on public employees
Posted on 7:33 PM by Unknown
From the beginning of her political career -- seems like only months ago -- Governor Nikki Haley has made it clear that she thinks taxes are too high and should be cut.
Which made it stunning news last week to hear that she had initiated, supported and led passage of a brand-new tax on public employees. Apparently, some taxes are good and fine, depending on who is subject to pay them.
This is a
Which made it stunning news last week to hear that she had initiated, supported and led passage of a brand-new tax on public employees. Apparently, some taxes are good and fine, depending on who is subject to pay them.
This is a
Posted in Haley Public Employment Tax, health care, moral budget, Nikki Haley, retirees, Sam Griswold, taxes
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Wilkerson, Morrison discuss migration and civil rights
Posted on 4:41 PM by Unknown
The Riley Institute and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Furman University hosted a fascinating discussion on equality and civil rights on Tuesday, the last of a four-part summer series there. Furman President Rod Smolla opened the evening with a great presentation on civil rights in contemporary America, seen through the lens of recent Supreme Court rulings and arguments on affirmative
Wake County, NC, offers a lesson to South Carolinians
Posted on 10:22 AM by Unknown
A friend sent a link to this short film about what's happened to the Wake County Public Schools system in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Wake system has built a reputation for school quality with a deep and abiding focus on inclusivity and socioeconomic integration as part of its district assignment policies. But that has changed in the last two years, as a political organization has inserted
Schools to be used as cultural battlefields all over again
Posted on 9:26 AM by Unknown
Silly season is definitely here now. Slate magazine has posted an item on the significance of Michele Bachmann's rise in political power, and it has a lot to do with public education. Naturally, this means that educators should pay attention, if they're not already. If you wade through the political stuff, you'll find in the Slate article a number of issues that raise important and scary
Posted in Kristin Maguire, Michele Bachmann, Mick Zais, Mitt Romney, NCLB, public education, Sarah Palin
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Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Public schools are no budget priority in South Carolina
Posted on 2:51 PM by Unknown
I appreciate reading Bill Davis's columns in Statehouse Report, as they're usually quite cogent and pertinent analyses of the state's unncessary misfortunes. His item in the August 5 edition was no different, titled "State avoids fully funding education."Comprehensive and sensible public education reform could benefit, or be the victim of, competing political agendas in the days ahead.
South
South
Posted in Bill Davis, Jay Ragley, Mick Zais, moral budget, school funding, Statehouse Report
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Record scholarships defy state's NCLB ratings
Posted on 2:28 PM by Unknown
I noticed an odd juxtaposition of facts earlier this month when news came that all but one of South Carolina's school districts failed to meet federal adequate yearly progress goals.
By one measure, South Carolina's public schools have failed, failed, failed their students. By another measure, South Carolina's schools have surpassed their students' wildest dreams, meeting and exceeding their
By one measure, South Carolina's public schools have failed, failed, failed their students. By another measure, South Carolina's schools have surpassed their students' wildest dreams, meeting and exceeding their
Santorum: Early childhood education is "fascism"
Posted on 1:20 PM by Unknown
I did not know much about Rick Santorum before I Googled his name, but now I know too much about Santorum -- more than I wanted to know.
I Googled his name because he used a visit to South Carolina in May to make disparaging remarks about early childhood education.Rick Santorum, a possible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, even raised the specter of Benito Mussolini's Fascist
I Googled his name because he used a visit to South Carolina in May to make disparaging remarks about early childhood education.Rick Santorum, a possible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, even raised the specter of Benito Mussolini's Fascist
Spartanburg 1 honors retiring educators
Posted on 12:30 PM by Unknown
This is a good and decent thing to do.
Administrators across the state, especially those pushing their most veteran educators out of the classroom as cost-saving strategy, would do well for themselves and their school communities to give due honor and recognition to men and women who have devoted their careers -- the prime years of their lives, in abundance -- to the education of other people's
Administrators across the state, especially those pushing their most veteran educators out of the classroom as cost-saving strategy, would do well for themselves and their school communities to give due honor and recognition to men and women who have devoted their careers -- the prime years of their lives, in abundance -- to the education of other people's
Intelligence plus character, the goal of true education
Posted on 12:06 PM by Unknown
As schools re-open for classes across the state, it's a good time to recall what some of our wiser thinkers have said and written about education and its purposes. This item was published by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in 1947, in the Morehouse College student newspaper, the Maroon Tiger.As I engage in the so-called "bull sessions" around and about the school, I too often find that most college men
S.C. Policy Council eschews schools, promotes online education
Posted on 11:50 AM by Unknown
In the world imagined by the good folks at the South Carolina Policy Council, public education in South Carolina's future will be double-plus-good, without all the trouble of teachers and schools. In the coming world, education will be a matter of turning on your viewscreen and following instructions.
This pleasant, almost anesthetic, note was published by the Charleston Post and Courier a
This pleasant, almost anesthetic, note was published by the Charleston Post and Courier a
Public education is nowhere to be found in this chart
Posted on 10:23 AM by Unknown
Notice that spending on public education has not added to the national debt.
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Public education is always at the top of this list
Posted on 10:18 AM by Unknown
Notice what gets proposed for cuts first when the economy falters.
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Midlands schools open, many veteran educators gone
Posted on 10:08 AM by Unknown
The State published an item on Sunday that carried an aroma of relief, though it noted that the relief isn't felt by everyone.As Midlands public schools open this week, the disaster scenarios that swirled during debates over the state budget have given way to a slightly rosier outlook. Still, most districts are opening schoolhouse doors with fewer teachers, a situation that commenced with the
Did Spartanburg 5 students get their textbooks from Zais?
Posted on 9:44 AM by Unknown
When was the last time you heard of the state's chief advocate for public education declaring that a school district had no need for textbooks in one subject, and that students in that district should study another subject instead? For example, students deprived of biology textbooks by their state Department of Education should take physical science instead, and be happy with it?
Technically
Technically
Students in Chile demand access to high quality education
Posted on 9:15 AM by Unknown
Is it conceivable that one day, in another generation or two, Columbia's Main Street could be filled with demonstrators demanding that South Carolina's students be given the same quality of education that Chilean students receive?Student protesters who have snarled Chile's universities and high schools with weeks of strikes and demonstrations called Monday for a national referendum on their
Mizell: Educators want useful, high-quality professional development
Posted on 8:24 AM by Unknown
From education researcher Hayes Mizell:
When educators enter a new professional learning experience, what are they thinking? Many teachers and administrators participate in professional development they did not seek or plan. They come to the experience with a variety of thoughts and feelings that influence the extent to which they will benefit. Most educators don't articulate what they are
When educators enter a new professional learning experience, what are they thinking? Many teachers and administrators participate in professional development they did not seek or plan. They come to the experience with a variety of thoughts and feelings that influence the extent to which they will benefit. Most educators don't articulate what they are
Haley shines in bright yellow at photo op; children still suffer
Posted on 8:17 AM by Unknown
When too few people were aware that Governor Nikki Haley had signed a law eliminating sales taxes on second homes, Haley leaped into action: She dressed in bright yellow and traveled to Daniel Island for a ceremonial re-signing of the bill in front of cameras. Thanks to her quick thinking and bold leadership, more people now know that she signed this bill into law. The Charleston Post and Courier
Four-year-old L.B. Moran of Beaufort awaits his answer
Posted on 7:29 AM by Unknown
According to yesterday's edition of The State newspaper, anyone visiting the state Department of Education can pick up a copy of a letter that Su-Pretendent Mick Zais sent to the U.S. Department of Education regarding his refusal of its $144 million in federal funding to pay for educators' jobs in our state. That letter, according to the article, includes this line -- "underlined and in bold type
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Are South Carolina's wealthy more selfish than the rest?
Posted on 10:08 AM by Unknown
This note is not about Nikki Haley or Mick Zais -- in the strictest sense of the words, anyway -- but it may be about their campaign contributors.
Reporter Brian Alexander, writing at MSNBC online, describes a recent series of studies that reveal significant findings about the wealthy members of our communities.Psychologist and social scientist Dacher Keltner says the rich really are different,
Reporter Brian Alexander, writing at MSNBC online, describes a recent series of studies that reveal significant findings about the wealthy members of our communities.Psychologist and social scientist Dacher Keltner says the rich really are different,
Deadline passes; Zais, Haley agree on destruction of public schools
Posted on 9:28 AM by Unknown
Albert Einstein was one sharp cookie cutter. Without ever visiting South Carolina or meeting General Mick Zais, Einstein once said, "The world has become a dangerous place to live in, not because of some evil men, but because of the many that do not do anything about it."
It is very sad that Zais, Her Excellency Nikki Haley and others are so intent on leaving their mark on South Carolina that
It is very sad that Zais, Her Excellency Nikki Haley and others are so intent on leaving their mark on South Carolina that
Posted in Ben Tillman, federal funding, Jay Ragley, jobs, Lee Atwater, Mick Zais, moral budget, Nikki Haley, Strom Thurmond
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Monday, August 15, 2011
South Carolina accepts $125M in federal funding -- for sand
Posted on 8:44 PM by Unknown
If anyone still labors under the misimpression that South Carolina has a state Superintendent of Education, their delusion shall have no leg to support it past midnight tonight, the deadline for General Mick Zais to request our waiver for $144 million in federal funds -- South Carolinians' own tax money, set aside by Congress for South Carolinians to spend on saving teachers' jobs.
Zais,
Zais,
Posted in federal funding, Jim DeMint, jobs, Lindsay Graham, Mick Zais, moral budget, Nikki Haley, unemployment
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