Science in the News

Long Island Administrators Part 2

2008-03-26T21:26:00.002-04:00

So I think I figured out what that first article was about. In today's newsday paper there was a release of the schools on Long Island that has failed to meet state standards in specific subject areas. article . This article was also written by the same author, so it seems that there was some reasoning for the first article.

So to sum up the article. The article points out a few things. First of which is that the number of schools that were on the list of under performing or in need of improvement schools went from 6 to 12, this is still counting one school which is on the list because they have not yet completed two years of constant gains. The article also points out that all of these schools districts have on average a lower income level and also districts with larger then average number of students who are english language learners.

So the challenges that face many more schools in NYC face are the same sorts of challenges on Long Island. The same sorts of factors hurt schools scores in both areas. Which leads me to ask why he wrote that first article on administrators salaries in the first place.

Long Island Administrators

2008-03-25T19:26:00.002-04:00

So this past tuesday I was getting my usual morning breakfast from a deli near my house and I saw something on the local newspaper Newsday that made me buy the papers. The paper had a head line on it that basically showing how many many long island school administrators were being paid much more then the chancellor of the entire NYC school system. So I read through it and this is what I can conclude.

Long Island administrators are paid a lot more compared to both the city and other areas of new york. Long Island has more administrations per student, per dollar spent, and per dollar procured then compared to the city as a whole and compared to the rest of New York. Two of the stats that they threw at me while I read through this was that there are almost as many admins in Long Island as compare to NYC, while NYC spends nearly twice as much on education as a whole compare to Long Island. The second is that there are more admins in Long Island, 48, compared to 37 in NYC whom worked on state and federal aid, while the money comparison is 2.9 to 8.8 billion.

So what is this article trying to say. I think the article is trying to target high paid administrators in as a part of the problem people have with education and asking "where did all my tax money go?" Which is completely fine, I have no problem listening to this argument. But, where is the other side of the story? Can this article include just a little bit of something about performance comparison between NYC schools and Long Island schools? Can they spend some time about why there is more administrators on Long Island, and just get into how much more efficient most of the Long Island school districts are managed as a whole? Can they talk a little bit about how schools get state and federal aid, and why Long Island gets less yet they have more people working in their offices? Much of these things are news worthy, but a lot of it just seems to be trying to build up negative views of high paid education administration.

Here is the article, see what you think. Article from Newsday

Random thought about the websites

2008-03-23T19:12:00.002-04:00

So just random thought about the websites in general. Obama's and Clinton's sites are essentially the same when it comes to their major points in education. Both provide some new ideas, but essentially harping on some old democratic ideals. Here is my observation, Obama's site seems SOOO much more professionally done then clintons. From the overall set up of the website, and the features offered by both sites, Obama's is better hands down. Obama's looks fresh and up to date, while Clinton's looks like something I would make because I lack the graphic programming skills that someone should have when they create such an important website. Take a look at both sites and I think you will agree, whoever is creating and updating Obama's website is certainly outdoing whomever is doing the same for the Clinton's.

Education with Clintion

2008-03-23T18:58:00.002-04:00

So last time I spent some time, probably bit too much time on education from Senator Obama's site. Today I am going to try to give you the same for Hillary Clinton, hopefully in a more short winded way.

In Clinton's section on education, there really isn't much significant at all. First, this site looks like a set of very vague bullet points on what she plans to do, with almost nothing in terms of HOW she plans to do these things. My biggest problem with her site is the big promises with nothing in terms of follow through. She says on her site that she wants to "Cut minority dropout rates in half", "Recruit, retain thousands more outstanding teachers and principals.", and provide a lot more money for afters school programs, create job programs for high school students etc. Basically the same stuff that Obama has been talking about on his website as well.

Some specifics that I found interesting was her issue of providing more funding for special education, and her idea of creating "green schools". But it really isn't that much, and green schools falls more under her energy plan then her education plan. Overall, this is basically another generally weak set of ideas from one of the three remaining presidential candidates.

CHANGING IT UP

2008-03-19T19:56:00.002-04:00

so, I had a hard time deciding what this blog was going to be about, but finally I think I have stumbled upon something. I will be posting from this point on, educational policy. This blog will now be focused on the 2008 presidential election, as well as a blog on current trends in education in America.

So first blog, breaking down the democratic candidates. The candidates left standing at this point is Obama and Clinton. Neither of these candidates provide that much information about education in their campaign websites. I will focus on the the K-12 section which both of them have outlined and compare and contrast both of them in terms of strength, weakness, and plan of action.

Obama's has a few areas of interest.
No Child Left Behind, the one thing that hit me about this issue for him was his statement about standardized testing. He says we should not be preparing kids for standardized tests and wants to change this system in order to better assess students without these tests.
He wants to address the dropout levels by trying to add funding to schools, especially in middle school which I applaud.
Expansion of after school programs as well as expanding and developing new programs in the summer to try to bridge the achievement gap.
Obama also has a section on teacher recruitment, he wants to try to attract science and math minded professionals to try to elevate the education system in those specific areas. He also speaks vaguely about paying teachers more money in some ways. Paying for education for teachers, giving incentives to teachers who teach in high needs areas, and providing money for teachers who perform at a high level in their classrooms. Obama's Site

Couple of comments and thoughts. As with many of these candidates on many of their issues, where is the plan? I keep reading information about expanding this aspect of education or improving this aspect of education etc, but what is the actual plan. As much as I hate teaching to standardized tests, they still have some validity especially when trying to compare large numbers of students. Should we modify and change how the SATs are administers because it is a standardized test? My other issue is with this is the implication of paying teachers who perform better on test results. I think it is important to pay teachers who are willing to teach in high needs areas, but I think it will be counter productive to pay teachers based on test results. If this is what he is suggesting, then what is going to happen when tons of teachers try to leave their low performing schools to get into high performing schools because their salaries are so dependent on those test results? Just some scattered thoughts when I read through his positions.
Ok, Ill blog on Hillary and then Mccain's positions at a later time. Please post any thoughts.

NEWB

2008-02-14T17:18:00.001-05:00

This is a new blog. This blog will help keep people informed of new information in the news related to science especially in the fields of Earth Science. Hooray for Earth Science.