Category: Education
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Corruption “Widespread” in Illinois
A new poll finds that a whopping majority of state residents believe that not only state government but Illinois business is plagued by serious misconduct. According to the survey of 1,271 registered voters by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, 76.8 percent agree that “corruption in Illinois government is widespread.” via…
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East Coast Liberals: Smartest Students in CPS are the Gang Leaders
… Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker and former New York Gov. David Paterson — who spoke Tuesday morning about recidivism and racism at a panel hosted by Stroock law firm — say. During the talk, Paterson observed the smartest students in the Chicago Public School system are the gang leaders because they’re giving kids what…
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Embarassing Americans — And These People Vote
I received this via email this morning. I thought it was timely because just yesterday Howard Stern played audio of his producers in Harlem interviewing Obama supporters. There is something very very wrong with the educational system in this country whereas so many can be so ignorant of the most basic facts. There is no…
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Legislative Change Means $670 million More for Teachers’ Pensions
The state will have to come up with another $670 million for the teacher pension system in the next budget after a retirement fund panel crunched the numbers and adjusted its assumptions. The Teachers’ Retirement System lowered what it expects from investments from 8.5 percent to 8 percent. The pension fund’s leadership also increased a…
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Quick Pension Analysis
Ok, so I was getting asked about this the other day both in person and in the comments about why the pensions are really in such bad shape and what the latest GASB positions mean to the funds. GASB first. GASB Changes I did some poking around and the recent GASB changes really mean nothing.…
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One Word for CPS Teachers: Save
Save. Save as much money as you can. Live well below your means. The pension time-bomb is coming. One of the most vexing problems for Chicago and its teachers went virtually unmentioned during the strike: The pension fund is about to hit a wall. The Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund has about $10 billion in assets,…
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Student Denied Entry to Michelle Obama’s Speech
A conservative student was denied entry into a rally featuring First Lady Michelle Obama at the University of Florida on Wednesday because he was wearing a t-shirt in support of Republican John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2007 campaign for the White House. … A conservative student was denied entry into a rally featuring Michelle Obama at the…
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Harvard vs. South Dakota Mine School
Which Grads make more? Harvard University’s graduates are earning less than those from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology after a decade-long commodity bull market created shortages of workers as well as minerals. Those leaving the [SDSMT] college of 2,300 students this year got paid a median salary of $56,700, according to PayScale…
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Wealthy Donors Work to Improve Schools
The union and HuffPo object: Stand for Children is a non-profit education reform group advocating for the inclusion of standardized test scores in teacher evaluations, charter schools and decreased teacher union power. Over the past three years, the group’s political action committee has raised more than $4 million and doled out more than $1 million…
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Dark Energy Camera — Science Rocks!!
The highest-resolution camera ever built has begun its quest to pin down the mysterious stuff that makes up nearly three-quarters of our Universe. The Dark Energy Survey’s 570-million-pixel camera will scan some 300 million galaxies in the coming five years. via BBC News. Very v e r y cool.