New Content at SusanOhanian.Org!

[Susan Ohanian <susano@gmavt.net>]

It's a big news day. Many of the articles deal with same issue: Who's in charge?  I draw your attention to a strong set of interrelated pieces included in Special Needs News.

Also, since I've forgotten to send Outrage of the Days summaries, I'm including several of the latest ones now.
Susan

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Schools Accused of Criminalizing Disability
Harvey Rice
Houston Chronicle
2003-12-29
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1562

Matthew Herzog hurled his book bag onto his desk during a ninth-grade class at a Texas high school. The desk broke and Matthew ended up handcuffed in a police car. Whether or not Matthew's Tourette's caused him to toss the bag, the school's reaction seems more than extreme. They aren't talking. 

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For Their Own Good: Limit Student Rights
Richard Arum
Washington Post
2003-12-29
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1563

The author, a sociologist, argues that the current debate over unreported violence in urban schools misses the mark, distracting us from one of the fundamental causes of increased disorder and violence in our schools: the U.S. legal system. At a time when schools face increased challenges to socialize youth for productive roles in society, the courts have created a complex set of requirements, including increased reporting, that have made well-meaning teachers and administrators reluctant to respond to and control student violence and misbehavior in ways the public would support.



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Gap Founder Big Booster of KIPP Schools
Meredith May
San Francisco Chronicle
2003-12-29
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1564

In an interview in his art-filled corporate high-rise on the San Francisco waterfront, the 75-year-old founder of Gap Don Fisher said he helped get KIPP off the ground with $25 million because entrepreneurial ideas are the jackhammers that will bust through public school mediocrity.

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A Reporter Demonstrates Her Love for KIPP
Meredith May
San Francisco Chronicle
2003-12-29
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1565

Another puff piece on the wonders of KIPP. Caution: High saccharine content.

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State and County Math Standards Hurt Student Performance
Elliott Wolf
Silver Chips Online
2003-12-18
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1566

Changes in the Algebra I curriculum brought about by the new Maryland High School Assessment Tests (HSAs) and a push by MCPS to have more middle school students take algebra have caused many students to be seriously unprepared for higher level math, according to numerous Maryland teachers and administrators. 

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School Reform Options: Rock or Hard Place?
Neal McCluskey
Cato Institute
2003-12-26
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1567

A policy analyst for the Cato Institute has a few things to say about school boards and mayors taking control. 

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A Social-Education Project and a PBS Television Documentary Series
David Boulton
New Horizons
0000-00-00
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=1568

All I can say is YOU try reading this and see what you make of it. I see plenty of red flags but haven't taken the time to dig in and tried to trace out all the links.

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A Memo to the International Reading Association


2003-12-20
http://susanohanian.org/show_outrages.html?id=100

Reid Lyon, Chief, Child Development and Behavior Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, is a featured speaker at the IRA spring convention in Reno. Plenty of people find this offensive, and Susan Harman is doing something about it.  

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Questions Everybody Should Ask Reid Lyon


2003-12-21
http://susanohanian.org/show_outrages.html?id=101

Ken and Yetta Goodman ask Reid Lyon some questions.

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University of Chicago Application Essay
University of Chicago

0000-00-00
http://susanohanian.org/show_outrages.html?id=102

Here are some whacky college application questions from the University of Chicago.

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Big Business in Schools
Jake Wagman
Post-Dispatch
2003-12-25
http://susanohanian.org/show_outrages.html?id=103

When corporate turnaround specialists took over the St. Louis public schools, they changed things in both appearance and attitude. For starters, they used words like "liquidity" and "deliverables" instead of education jargon. Now the expensive management consultants have begun departing, but they are leaving a legacy that could create a permanent corporate culture in the city schools. 


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Tutoring Services Bribe Students
Associated Press
Times-Picayune
2003-12-26
http://susanohanian.org/show_outrages.html?id=104

Private companies are offering televisions, electric scooters and video game consoles to students who complete tax-paid after-school tutoring programs at Presscott Middle School. 


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NCLB Leaves Gifted Behind
Daniel Golden
Wall Street Journal
2003-12-29
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atrocities.html?id=304

Daniel Golden details how, to abide by NCLB,  schools are shifting resources away from programs that help their most gifted students. You may not agree with Golden's premise that NCLB is helping non-proficient students but he presents a searing portrait of an African-American second grader almost lost in the shuffle. 

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Gaming the System
Tracy Dell\'Angela
Chicago Tribune
2003-12-29
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atrocities.html?id=305

An increasing number of Illinois high schools are excluding some of their lowest-performing juniors from taking the mandated test for 11th graders--a practice critics say unfairly boosts the test scores by which schools are judged under federal education reform.


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Illinois Tosses Out Thousands of Tests
Diane Rado, Stephanie Banchero and Darnell Little
Chicago Tribune
2003-12-28
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atrocities.html?id=306

Illinois tossed out more than 80,000 tests used to determine whether schools met academic standards this year in reading and math, inflating scores at nearly 1,400 schools and causing some to be judged on only a fraction of students tested. Look at the figures. For some Chicago schools, an astounding percentage of tests were tossed. But the story is more complicated than the headlines suggest.