Moscow Education (Idaho)

From EIA:

The Chester Upland School Board in Pennsylvania wants to cap charter school enrollment because "charters are draining money from the regular school system." This is not an unusual claim, but it's an unusual story because the statistics that disprove the claim are in the story itself.

 

At a recent public meeting, board Chairman C. Marc Woolley revealed that charters are costing the district $25 million out of an $84.6 million budget. Any program that eats up 29.6 percent of your budget has to be a concern. Except, of course, when that program is educating 38 percent of the students in the district. Charters are, in fact, a bargain.

 

Charters don't drain money from traditional schools. They drain students. The difference is that the school district continues to receive a percentage of funding for students they no longer have the responsibility to teach.

From The Education Intelligence Agency.

From the Associated Press:

Banning baseball caps during tests was obvious -- students were writing the answers under the brim. Then, schools started banning cell phones, realizing students could text message the answers to each other.

Now, schools across the country are targeting digital media players as a potential cheating device. Devices including iPods and Zunes can be hidden under clothing, with just an earbud and a wire snaking behind an ear and into a shirt collar to give them away, school officials say.

"It doesn't take long to get out of the loop with teenagers," said Mountain View High School Principal Aaron Maybon. "They come up with new and creative ways to cheat pretty fast."

Mountain View recently enacted a ban on digital media players after school officials realized some students were downloading formulas and other material onto the players.

From the Associated Press:

Mounting pressures from Muslim parents in the region have prompted the Muslim Educational Trust to open the new coeducational Oregon Islamic Academy – the first high school in the Northwest geared to Muslim students.

Syed Ahmad was one of those parents. He told Wajdi Said, the trust's executive director, that he moved his family from Texas to Oregon for work and they lived in Tigard to be close to the Muslim Educational Trust's Islamic School, which teaches students through eighth grade. But he told Wajdi that he'd return his family to Texas to attend an Islamic high school unless one opened here.

The academy's mission is "to shape the minds and hearts of its students according to the teachings of the Holy Quran and the traditions of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)," the parenthetical phrase an abbreviation for "Praise Be Unto Him."

Said explained that mission will be fulfilled in rigorous classes of math, science, history, language arts, Arabic and other courses to prepare students to excel in college as inquisitive learners, and caring, moral adults who are proud of their Islamic beliefs.

"Hopefully they will be part of the success of America in the 21st century," he said.

The trust's current school has 20 preschoolers. There are 89 K-8 students and a waiting list of 260.

Another one of those polar opposite behaviors by MSD and another local school district. While other districts do the right thing by “right-sizing” to their student population and economic requirements, MSD raises the bloat.

From the 25 April 2007 edition of the Spokesman Review.

Christine Burgess, superintendent at East Valley School District, presented the board of directors and a standing-room-only crowd Tuesday with a list of recommendations for $1.8 million in reductions for the 2007-08 school year.

Seven years of declining enrollment, unfunded state mandates, higher expenses and less revenue than expected will leave the district with an estimated fund balance of $50,000-$60,000 at the end of this school year.

Burgess' recommendation includes eliminating 16.7 certified teaching positions, including 4.5 at the elementary level, six at the middle school level and 6.2 at the high school level. One position is equal to a full-time equivalent, and fractions of positions are based on hours worked.

Note the difference between how the Spokane Public School Board behaves and the way that MSD behaves. Moscow’s parallels with other school districts is only different in MSD’s response.

From the 26 April 2007 edition of the Spokesman Review.

The Spokane Public Schools Board of Directors voted unanimously Wednesday to close Pratt Elementary School starting next year.

About 230 students from the southeast Spokane school will be sent to Lincoln Heights and Sheridan elementary schools, school officials said.

"This is not an issue that any of us wants to grapple with," board member Rocky Treppiedi told parents and community members who came to the meeting at Willard Elementary School in one last effort to save the school. "We also have a very significant funding issue that is very real."

But that was of little comfort to the Pratt students, parents and residents.

"I personally feel Pratt is being picked on," said parent Stephen Latoszek.

In January, Superintendent Brian Benzel proposed closing the school to help fill a budget gap of more than $10 million worsened by years of declining enrollment and state underfunding.

Pratt is the smallest of the district's elementary schools, and according to a study by district staff the most feasible for closure.

After a 90-day public input process, Benzel recommended at the school board's regular meeting that the school be closed to save about $450,000 a year.

How much money would be saved if Russell were closed and all the students there relocated to West Park, AB McDonald, and Lena?

Is that discussion even on the table?

I got a flier in the mail for Connections Academy: an accredited, tuition-free, K-11, online public school.

The Idaho branch is Inspire Connections Academy.

If you are looking for an online, government alternative to MSD, check it out.

As reported in today’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Question of whether New Saint Andrews College students will be considered for Idaho grad schools still exists

New Saint Andrews College administrators want their students' applications to be considered when they apply for graduate school at Idaho's public universities.

NSA Executive Vice President Bob Hieronymus said that hasn't been the case because of what he calls "accreditation discrimination."

Students at the Moscow-based Christian college face challenges because their institution is nationally accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools instead of the regional accreditation organization recognized and preferred at places like the University of Idaho - the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

In one example, an NSA graduate received a rejection letter from the UI this spring despite achieving a perfect score on his graduate record examination, or GRE.

Hieronymus said he wants to find a way to get NSA students through the "needless roadblocks" that stand in their way, and he believes a ruling by the State Board of Education last week is a step in the right direction.

It might not be that easy.

Board spokesman Mark Browning said there is a lot of confusion after the board's most recent meeting, when the board ruled that NSA "would still need (SBOE) approval for the transfer of academic credit to Idaho's public postsecondary educational institutions."

NSA's problems began in August, when the SBOE adopted a rule that was meant to cut down on diploma mills by strengthening the state's registration process for higher -education institutions. One of the unintended consequences was that NSA and Boise Bible College were caught in that net, Browning said.

By November, the board realized it needed revisions and accreditation surfaced as a component of the registration process.

The board made three changes in its final ruling: It simplified the registration process, it expanded the accrediting institutions recognized by the state to include those under both the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, and it amended its exemption language, which affected NSA.

NSA always has been registered with the state, and Hieronymus said last week's ruling will allow students to have their degrees recognized. It also opens up the possibility for the transfer of some credits on individual classes.

"I'm confident we can work it out so students will be given a fair consideration in the future," he said.

However, Browning said the board's ruling doesn't affect the transferability of credits.

"Accreditation, registration and transferability are very separate things," he said. "I think (NSA is) trying to stretch that net back out there in a different direction."

UI Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management Bruce Barnes said debates over regional-versus-national accreditation are going on across the country. Individual institutions have to come up with their own standards.

"Until some of the policy is changed at the national and state level, we have to live within what we have," he said.

The UI's admissions Web page explains that it accepts baccalaureate-level credits from accredited schools, providing the schools are accredited by one of six regional accrediting associations. These regional associations include: the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools; the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools; the New England Association of Schools and Colleges; the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges; the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

During the last three semesters, the UI's College of Graduate Studies received 3,538 applications. Only 1,321 were accepted.

"It's a very sought-after and a very competitive program," Barnes said.

UI Registrar Nancy Krogh said there are students with important and significant accomplishments who may be denied simply because their coursework doesn't match the graduate program.

Students who aren't accepted can request a review of their records with the UI's University Curriculum Committee. Barnes said individuals have the right to have their transcripts looked at both initially and through appeal.

Browning said students still should be aware of the potential challenges.

"New Saint Andrews is a very fine school, but it's a different type of institution," he said. "There will be situations that you'll have to address."

That doesn't mean its students can't attend graduate school. Hieronymus said about 30 percent of NSA's graduates continue their education at programs like Duke University, the University of Kentucky, and Boise State University. [DMC: And George Mason! But we all know that UI is more reputable, selective, and has higher academic standards and reputations than any of these…]

"Our students had to go through a lot of extra hoops to be admitted to these organizations over the years," Hieronymus said.

Many faith-based schools like Northwest Christian College of Eugene, Ore., and BYU-Idaho are working with the regional accrediting body. NSA could have pursued accreditation through the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, but chose not to.

Hieronymus said nationally recognized schools like Notre Dame have had difficulties receiving accreditation through regional associations because of faith-based issues. NSA did not want to pursue the same trouble and risk wasting time and money when it could earn accreditation through another body.

It is a fundamental question of religious liberties, Hieronymus said. NSA decided it would rather work with a like-minded group that wouldn't question its mission and statements of faith "rather than being asked to conform to the standards that are upheld at secular universities."

More bad news about UI football players.

As reported in today’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Marvin Jones, a sophomore defensive tackle at the University of Idaho, was arrested Thursday for three counts of delivery of a controlled substance, cocaine, according to a Moscow Police Department press release.

Jones, who came to Idaho from Vallejo, Calif., was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Latah County Jail for booking.

According to the press release, the arrest was the result of a two-week investigation after information was gathered that identified Jones as allegedly purchasing and selling cocaine in the Moscow area.

Jones' apartment was searched and $1,605 was seized, which included money allegedly provided to Jones from a previous drug transaction, the release stated.

Jones played in nine games for the Vandals last season and finished the year with 19 tackles.

The following article ran in today’s Lewiston Tribune.

Unprecedented growth in research funding at the University of Idaho has tapered off, with grants and contracts dipping below the $100 million mark for the first time in four years.

But UI President Tim White said new leadership in the university's research office will be the key to restoring the former trend.

"While I wouldn't say that we are stagnant in our research programs, I would say that we've hit a plateau," White told UI employees Thursday during an address assessing the current state of the university. "We need to reignite this research engine because it is so much of what the University of Idaho is and needs to be in this nation of ours."

…

In 2003, research funding at the UI cracked the $100 million level for the first time, just six years after funding levels stood at $60.7 million. The upward trend reached its high point in 2004 at almost $105 million.

At the time, continually growing research grants and contracts were seen as a primary way the UI could help dig itself out of the financial hole created by a mismanaged attempt to develop a branch campus in Boise.

But in 2005 the trend reversed by $4.5 million. Research funding for the current fiscal year dropped even further, to $96.5 million.

As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

A record number of Moscow School District patrons turned out to pass the $1.1 million supplemental levy increase. Sixty-three percent, or 3,237 residents, voted in favor of increased taxes, while 37 percent, or 1,903, voted against it.

Compare that 63% pass rate 5 years ago to the 56% pass rate this year. At this rate and in another 5 years, MSD won’t be able to pass another eternal levy on the MSD tax payers. There’ll be enough conservatives to vote “no” to property tax extortion.

Read between the lines on this one — other areas in Idaho are seeing student enrollment growing. Moscow is seeing student enrollment declining. But watch the way that Driskill spins it as reported in today’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Also, Moscow is so expensive that we’re effectively running lower wage earners out of town.

Why this comes as a surprise to MSD is beyond me. You cannot make Moscow into a bed-and-breakfast community and not expect the poor to be able to survive here.

The Moscow School District got little warning that its Title I funding for supporting low-income students was going to drop by 13 percent this year, even though the funding increased for other districts in the state.

Title I provides school districts with extra money to hire teachers and staff to work with students in schools that have high levels of poverty. The allotment of funding is based on census data that reveals the number of students in the free and reduced lunch program.

Superintendent Candis Donicht told the Moscow School Board at its Tuesday night meeting that the district normally gets a notification from the Idaho Department of Education if funding is going to decrease.

"This one just came as a total surprise," she said.

Business Manager Sue Driskill said there is a smaller amount of Title I money to be spent throughout the state because Idaho is receiving less of the federal funding this year. She said the decrease in local funding is the result of population growth in regions like Boise and Meridian, which has caused needed funds to be pulled away from other districts.

"We're getting 87 percent of what we got last year," she said.

The following article ran in today’s Lewiston Tribune.

The Idaho Supreme Court could get involved in the University of Idaho Foundation's $7 million lawsuit against California-based developer Civic Partners.

The lawsuit is the last remaining legal action stemming from the foundation's costly attempt to build a satellite UI campus in Boise. It was headed for trial in January until 4th District Judge Daniel Hurlbutt ruled against one of the foundation's three claims last November.

Under that claim, the foundation contends it is not contractually obligated to make $13 million in payments over 30 years to Boise's urban redevelopment agency in lieu of property taxes, foundation attorney Beth Andrus said Wednesday.

"The foundation took the position that it never had that obligation," Andrus said from her Seattle office. "The obligation was passed on to the university."

If Hurlbutt doesn't reverse his own ruling, Andrus said she will appeal to Idaho's highest court.

You would think that this article was about Moscow.

And it would be great if the Daily News were to do a similar article — hint, hint!

But, alas, this one is about Montpelier’s Bear Lake School District.

Look at the difference between the way Mountpelier handles the ever declining enrollment — by closing facilities to save money — and the way that MSD handles the decreasing enrollment — by raising property taxes.

From today's Spokesman Review.

Despite being surrounded by a booming housing market, a school district in southeastern Idaho faces cuts because of a lack of students.

The problem, officials say, is that many of the home buyers are part-time residents from outside the Bear Lake School District who are purchasing second homes.

The district has seen enrollment numbers fall from 1,852 students in 1996-97 to 1,206 for the current school year, a decline that has officials considering closing two schools.

But during that same period, as many as 500 new homes have been built in the area, Superintendent Cliff Walters said.

An Idaho Transportation Department study predicted that by 2025 Bear Lake County will have 1,624 new homes but only 548 will be occupied by full-time residents.

Next month, area voters will decide between reducing the number of teachers and programs, or closing two older schools and moving the remaining students to other schools in the district. The May 15 school district election asks whether Bear Lake Middle School and Georgetown Elementary School should be closed.

Does this not seem like a common sense answer?

Has anyone in Moscow asked about closing one of our elementary schools and distributing the kids to the remaining schools?

How much does it cost to run Russell, West Park, AB McDonald, and Lena? Russell only has 161 students (Fall 06 enrollment). What does it cost to run an entire infrastructure for 161 students?

From today's Spokesman Review.

Police are asking for help finding anyone involved in a bomb hoax that shut down the Lakeland School District's 10 schools Wednesday.

"We will prosecute the individuals involved to the fullest extent possible," said Chuck Kinsey, superintendent of the Lakeland School District. The district, which serves about 4,400 children in the Rathdrum and Spirit Lake area, is offering a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest. So far, police have no leads.

A custodian at Athol Elementary School found the first of 10 notes in the district about 5 a.m. Wednesday on the front door of the school. The note claimed bombs were at two of the district's schools, said Assistant Superintendent Ron Schmidt.

The note did not name the schools, prompting officials to close all 10 for the day, Kinsey said. Identical notes were found at all but two district buildings – Timberlake Junior High School and Timberlake High School in Spirit Lake – including the district office and the bus depot. School was expected to resume today.

The Quaker school has an interesting take: if the parents say that homosexuality is a sin, we (the teachers) are telling the kids that their parents are wrong and not to listen to them. Listen at the 7:37 point.

From WorldMagBlog:

Two YouTube videos document how faculty at a Quaker school and a New York public school teach kids to accept homosexuality. At the Quaker school, one teacher asks if the school, in celebrating "Gay and Lesbian Pride Day," means to teach kids that homosexuality is right even if certain kids' parents teach them that it is wrong.

Another faculty member answers yes: "I think we are asking kids to believe that this is right...We're educating them and this is part of what we consider to be a healthy education."

The "education" appears to working: The Quaker school video shows a boy, about seven or eight, saying that if you're not "open-minded" about homosexuality, then you're "prejudiced." Later in the video, at the Gay Pride Day assembly, kids sing "This Little Light of Mine" and applaud wildly in celebration of a gay teacher's coming out.

At the public school, a teacher invited 3rd-grader Emily to share with a class about how she celebrated Mother's Day differently than most kids, because she has two mommies. The children are later shown arguing that being opposed to homosexuality is the same as racial prejudice.

Note: The title of the videos is incendiary, but the content actually appears meant to be pro-homosexual, or "diversity," education. The videos show, without commentary, what went on in classrooms and assemblies at each of the two schools.

The following is a City of Moscow Police Department press release:

On Tuesday, April 24, 2007, at 11:02 a.m. the Moscow Police Department responded to a robbery call at the Commons Building on the University of Idaho campus. The victim was not injured and gave the follow information to our detectives:

He was inside the restroom located on the second floor. He was accosted by a white male who held a sharp object against his neck. The male pulled the victim’s wallet out of his pants and removed all the cash. The victim stated the suspect then left the restroom.

Additional information on the suspect is that he is stocky built, of average height, wearing blue jeans, Nike High Tops, and possibility a black sweatshirt. Detectives are currently gathering evidence and have several leads which will be investigated. More information will be released when corroborated.

The victim is a white male and is a student at the University of Idaho. No other information will be released on the identity of the victim at this time.

Compare that to the stabbing at the UI back on 2 Nov 2006.

http://right-mind.us/blogs/moscoweducation/archive/2006/11/02/47561.aspx

From KREM News in Spokane:

Lance Cpl. Riley F. McNeal, a senior at the University of Idaho, will receive a Purple Heart award from the U.S. Marine Corps on Thursday, May 3. Open to the public, the ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. in the university's Janssen Engineering Building, Room 104.

McNeal entered the University of Idaho following his graduation from Bellarmine Prep High School in Tacoma, Wash. In January 2005, just a semester shy of completing his four-year degree in secondary education, he took a detour from his studies and enlisted in the Marine Corps through the National Call to Service program. The NCS program enables volunteers to sign up for 15 months active duty service followed by 24 months in the reserves.

"This war is a cause I believe in. I wanted to do my part – put in a couple of years," said McNeal.

One year later, he began a tour in Iraq in direct support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As route security clearance detail, his platoon was responsible for locating improvised explosive devices (IED). During combat operations in the Al Anbar Province, McNeal was in a M1114 high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle when it was struck by an IED. He sustained a laceration to the left side of his head. He was treated for his injuries and returned immediately to full duty. McNeal completed his enlistment obligation and was honorably discharged in November 2006. He returned to the University of Idaho, and will complete his degree this semester. He plans to teach high school history.

He's honored to receive the Purple Heart. "This solidifies everything that happened over there," he said. "We found roadside bombs and I'm receiving a Purple Heart for a roadside bomb. It was a sacrifice I'm proud of."

From EIA:

• "Teacher applicants exceed job openings in Kanawha"
  —headline of April 19 story written by Charleston Daily Mail reporter Jessica M. Karmasek.
  

• "Officials debate coming teacher shortage" 
  —headline of April 23 story written by Charleston Daily Mail reporter Jessica M. Karmasek.

From The Education Intelligence Agency.

From EIA:

Public education has its share of weird stories. Here are three from last week:

• A student at Lew Wallace High School in Gary, Indiana, was slightly injured when she got between a teacher and an angry student with mace - not the spray, but the medieval spiked ball and chain attached to a stick. The student assailant is being held in the county juvenile lock-up while school officials determine how she got the weapon past the school's metal detectors.
  
• Amber Alchalabi missed 22 school days (12 paid) from her 4th-grade teaching job in Texas because of "personal issues." No one was especially interested in the nature of her personal issues until she was spotted as a contestant on ABC-TV's The Bachelor.
  
  I am surprised and saddened that my personal life and pursuit of a long-term relationship would upset my community," Alchalabi responded in a written statement.
  
• The large Hmong community in Madison, Wisconsin, wants a new elementary school named after General Vang Pao, who fought against communist forces in Laos during the Vietnam War. The choice was controversial, and now the Madison teachers union is involved, suggesting in a letter to the school board that the name could have a "potential negative impact on children attending the school if information set forth by professor McCoy's paper is accurate."
  
  Professor McCoy is University of Wisconsin-Madison history professor Alfred McCoy, who accuses Vang Pao of war crimes and drug trafficking. But before the school board goes off investigating Vang Pao, they might spend some time investigating McCoy, who claims he was once almost assassinated by CIA mercenaries.

 

From The Education Intelligence Agency.

Is there any wonder they cannot pass the WASL? From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

About 20 percent of 10th- and 12th-graders in Washington schools have been drunk at school in the past year -- up from 15 percent two years ago.

That's just one statistic that jumps out of the optimistically titled "Biannual Healthy Youth Survey," which came out of Olympia on Wednesday.

It is conducted every two years among sixth-, eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders at 1,028 Washington schools. Almost 200,000 students participated in this survey, conducted by several state agencies in fall 2006.

…

The 2006 survey included a first-time question about using painkillers to get high. Ten percent of 10th-graders reported that they had gone on a painkiller high in the past 30 days.

Another question new to the 2006 survey asked if students had been drunk or high within the past 30 days. Saying yes were 22.8 percent of 10th-graders.

What happens to a whistle-blower.

From the U.K. Daily Mail:

A former teacher who went back to the classroom to make an undercover TV documentary exposing pupil disorder is to face a four-day disciplinary hearing.

Two years ago Angela Mason returned to teaching after an absence of 30 years, secretly filming scenes of appalling disruption and indiscipline for Five's highly acclaimed programme Classroom Chaos.

…

Working under the pseudonym of Sylvia Thomas, Ms Mason enrolled as a supply teacher and taught in 14 schools over a three-month period.

She faced, and secretly filmed, physical violence and obscenity-laden invective from pupils between the ages of 12 and 15.

Among the most shocking scenes was a full-scale classroom fight in which a 6ft boy wields a rubber truncheon as she cries for help.

In another, boys in a computer class are seen accessing hardcore porn sites. Her appeals for 'quiet' are met with clearly audible obscene replies.

Classroom Chaos was broadcast in April 2005 shortly before the last General Election. Its impact was so great that it pushed classroom discipline to the top of the Election agenda.

HT: Dave G.

I didn’t catch this before, but Betsy Russell points out that the funding increases for UI, BSU, and ISU put the tuition/fees for all three at about the same level.

Details from Spokesman Review Betsy Russell's blog An Eye on Boise.

The state Board of Education yesterday approved tuition and fee increases for the state’s four-year colleges and universities, giving them slightly less than they asked for, but getting the three biggest ones to about the same place. BSU wanted an 8 percent increase but got 6 percent, up to $4,410. The University of Idaho wanted 5.95 percent, but got 5 percent, up to $4,410. ISU asked for 5.5 percent, but got 5 percent, up to $4,400 a year.

That puts all three universities within $10 of each other!

She does note that UI has a handicap when it comes to tuition, though.

Just one thing: The UI can’t charge tuition. It’s in the Idaho Constitution. The other schools and Lewis-Clark State College couldn’t, either, until 2005, when lawmakers lifted the tuition ban for those schools, over strong protests from student leaders. But they couldn’t lift the UI tuition ban because of the constitutional requirement.

“So what they call it is a matriculation fee,” said Mark Browning, spokesman for the state Board of Education. “They don’t charge tuition, but they charge a matriculation fee that is the equivalent.”

Today is Moscow’s 11^th Annual Hempfest.

 It’s four-twenty campaign on 4/21.

As reported in today’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

The University of Idaho found success during the second half of the State Board of Education meeting when the board gave unanimous approval for its proposed academic programs, Kibbie Dome renovations and administrative actions.

During its Friday morning session in Moscow, the board approved:

• Replacement of the artificial turf in the Kibbie Dome;
• Renovating the athletic training center;
• Launching a master's of science and Ph.D. program in water resources;
• Starting an executive master's of business administration program in Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene;
• Establishing an independent trust for self-funded health benefits plan; and
• Transferring 42 acres of property on Moscow Mountain from the UI Foundation to the UI.

The new projects will be under way immediately.

Recall my post Rules of Admission / The ins and outs of NSA. 19 year-old NSA student, Brad Littlejohn, was denied attending graduate school at the UI despite his perfect score on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE).

On Thursday night, the Idaho State Board of Education restored accreditation recognition to all USDE- and CHEA-recognized accrediting bodies, which include TRACS and ABHE.

This is excellent news for New Saint Andrews graduates who want to attend the University of Idaho.

According to the Latah Eagle,  102 students in Potlatch made it on the honor roll.

That’s over 40% of all the students are honor students.

Things must be going really well in the government schools. When I was a kid, only about 10–15% made it onto the honor roll.

What happens when over half of the students are on the honor roll? Is it any longer an “honor”?

Yup. That’s the article in the University of Idaho’s Argonaut. 

Virginia Tech professor Nikki Giovanni taught one of Cho's writing classes.

She's not buying into the "troubled kid" kid story. She says he was just mean.

"I knew when it happened that that's probably who it was," Giovanni said, referring to her former pupil. "I would have been shocked if it wasn't."

Cho's poetry was so intimidating -- and his behavior so menacing -- that Giovanni had him removed from her class in the fall of 2005, she said. Giovanni said the final straw came when two of her students quit attending her poetry sessions because of Cho.

"I was trying to find out, what am I doing wrong here?" Giovanni recalled thinking, but the students later explained, "He's taking photographs of us. We don't know what he's doing."

Giovanni went to the department's then-chairwoman, Lucinda Roy, and told her, "I was willing to resign before I was going to continue with him." Roy took Cho out of Giovanni's class.

"I know we're talking about a troubled youngster and crap like that, but troubled youngsters get drunk and jump off buildings; troubled youngsters drink and drive," Giovanni said. "I've taught troubled youngsters. I've taught crazy people. It was the meanness that bothered me. It was a really mean streak."

This is a disaster in the making--federalizing accreditation for colleges and universities.

Having completely screwed up education under its control, the government now wants total control over colleges and universities, private and public.

Welcome to the Union of Soviet American States.

File Attachment: Proposed_Changes_in_Accreditation_Regulation.pdf (2632 KB)

From the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA):

On Wednesday, April 18, we at CHEA received materials from the U.S. Department of Education that include proposed changes in regulations that govern the federal recognition of accrediting organizations, likely applicable to your regional accreditor as well as many of your programmatic accreditors. These are the regulations used to implement those sections of the Higher Education Act that address accreditation (Part H, Program Integrity). A "redlined" version of the proposed rules, the easiest means by which to view the changes that the Department is proposing and what this means for colleges and universities, is attached.

As you are aware, the Department has been holding negotiated rulemaking on accreditation since February 2007, one of a number of actions resulting from the report of the Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education. The proposed rules are the Department's current position in this negotiated rulemaking process. As you are also aware, CHEA is participating in the negotiated rulemaking on accreditation as one of a number of nonfederal negotiators.

CHEA has done a preliminary analysis of the proposed new rules. Our lens for evaluating the Department proposals is captured by a straightforward question: "Does a college or university remain in charge of its academic decisions and its academic policies?" Unfortunately, our response is "no."

We believe that the proposed rules mean that the Department seeks to significantly diminish institutional responsibility for academic decision-making and for setting academic policy. This responsibility will be transferred to federally recognized accreditors. Accreditors, in contrast to institutions, will be required to set standards for student achievement. Accreditors, in contrast to institutions, will be required to define indicators of student success. Accreditors, not institutions, will judge the efficacy of transfer of credit.

It is not that accreditors are seeking these new roles. Rather, the federal government is forcing these roles on accreditors. The new rules mean that federal government will hold accreditors accountable for dictating the standards for student achievement, defining indicators of student success and judging transfer of credit.

It is not that accreditors are seeking these new roles. Rather, the federal government is forcing these roles on accreditors. The new rules mean that federal government will hold accreditors accountable for dictating the standards for student achievement, defining indicators of student success and judging transfer of credit.

An important and delicate balance is shifting. In an ideal world, accreditation standards are the product of consultation between institutions and the accrediting organizations that institutions have created. Institutions agree that these standards will be used for judgments about institutional quality. The proposed rules upend this ideal world by asserting that accreditation standards, however determined, must meet the test of federal acceptance—thereby federalizing accreditation.

Specifically, the proposed rules make clear that the Department is federalizing accreditation by requiring that accreditors:

• Establish "bright line" or hard indicators to judge an institution's determination of what counts as successful performance.
• Establish what counts as an indicator of successful institutional performance, e.g., meeting "external criteria" and "external validation"—neither of which is defined. Accreditors "permit" (!) an institution to establish an expected level of performance with regard to student achievement.
• Identify what counts as acceptable expected performance in "vocational" programs (itself undefined).
• Audit transfer of credit activity—although nothing in the Higher Education Act addresses transfer. This includes stipulating what must be in an institution's transfer policy.
• Be subject to greatly expanded control by the National Advisory Committee that reviews accrediting organizations. This includes significant expansion of the committee's scope of decision-making, its investigatory authority and the number of years that an accreditor is federally recognized.
• Require that accreditors function as a kind of Title IV police force—with requirements that the accreditors report to the Department about Title IV irregularities at an institution while specifically instructed not to inform the institution of what the accreditor is doing.

The final negotiated rulemaking session is scheduled for April 24-26—next week. CHEA's intent is to do as much as we can to thwart efforts to diminish the role of institutions in academic decision-making and academic policy-setting. The proposed rules are the penultimate, not the final version of negotiated rulemaking on accreditation.

The US Department of Education has a website with statistics on campus security.

The UI’s stats are over at http://www.ope.ed.gov/security/InstDetail.asp?00162600

One of the criteria that caught my eye was that there are zero “hate offenses” for the years of record.

Second was the very low crime-rate in Moscow.

Compared to other college towns, Moscow is an incredibly safe town to live in.