Tag : KHDA working to the benefit of Dubai students

OU, OSU to raise tuition, fees

Posted by RedRose64 at

By RICKY MARANON World Staff Writer
Published: 6/19/2010  2:20 AM
Last Modified: 6/19/2010  5:54 AM

OKLAHOMA CITY — Tuition and fees may be going up at both of the state’s two largest universities.

The Oklahoma State University Board of Regents approved a 4.4 percent tuition increase for in-state OSU students on Friday. According to a preliminary agenda, OU President David Boren will ask for an increase from that university’s regents when they meet Monday through Wednesday.

“We tried everything we could to make sure we didn’t have to raise tuition at all,” OSU President Burns Hargis said.

OU and OSU didn’t raise tuition last year.

Stimulus funds are helping the budget situation, Hargis said, but he cautioned that after this fiscal year, that money will no longer be available.

“I’m not an economist, but I do think things are getting better,” Hargis said. “If they don’t and we are in the same situation this time next year, we could see some very tough decisions made.”

This year, even with a tuition increase, the budget didn’t include salary increases for OSU employees.

Hargis said he was encouraged by the state’s revenue collections in May but is concerned about a ballot initiative this November that could put higher education in an even worse predicament this time next year.

State question 744, which would require the state to bring per-pupil school spending to the regional average, could affect tuition increases in the future, Hargis said.

“If this passes, any recovery we could see would be spent on common education
and not higher education,” he said. “In addition to stimulus funds being depleted next fiscal year, if we can’t experience a share in the recovery because all of that money is required to go elsewhere, we could see another increase.”

According to a preliminary agenda released by the OU Board of Regents, OU President David Boren will ask for a 4 percent tuition increase — raising the cost per credit hour at the OU-Norman campus from $117.90 to $122.60 before additional fees are added.

Both schools also are seeing small increases in mandatory fees.

Hargis said OSU is experimenting with cost-saving measures that could save OSU and the Oklahoma A&M Regents thousands in operating costs.

“We are going to begin to pilot a test program using iPads,” Gary Shutt, OSU spokesman, said.

The Apple iPads will be used to cut down on textbook costs for students. OSU could also cut printing costs by sending out fewer mailers and more e-mail, Shutt said.

Students in the test program will be journalism and strategic communications majors at the Stillwater campus and some entrepreneurial business majors at the OSU-Tulsa campus.

Hargis said if the program proves to be cost-efficient, the university will look at implementing a plan to have an iPad campus.

“This will be just like the laptop is today,” Hargis said. “Students will get one in junior high and high school and take it with them to college, and we need to be ready.”

Hargis said by saving in other areas of the budget, OSU can deal with the rising costs of health care for employees.

OSU increases tuition by 4.4 percent

Posted by RedRose64 at

By RICKY MARANON World Staff Writer
Published: 6/18/2010  1:21 PM

OKLAHOMA CITY— Tuition and fees will be going up at the state’s two largest universities.

The Oklahoma State University Board of Regents approved a 4.4 percent tuition increase for in-state OSU students on Friday. According to a preliminary agenda, OU President David Boren will ask for an increase from that university’s regents when they meet June 21-23.

“We tried everything we could to make sure we didn’t have to raise tuition at all,” OSU President Burns Hargis said.

OU and OSU didn’t raise tuition last year.

Stimulus funds are helping the budget situation, Hargis said, but he cautioned that after this fiscal year, that money will no longer be available.

“I’m not an economist, but I do think things are getting better,” Hargis said. “If they don’t and we are in the same situation this time next year, we could see some very tough decisions made.”

This year, even with a tuition increase, the budget didn’t include salary increases for OSU employees.

Hargis said he was encouraged by the state’s revenue collections in May, but is concerned about a ballot initiative this November that could put higher education in an even worse predicament this time next year.

State question 744 — which would require the state to bring per-pupil school spending to the regional average — could affect tuition increases in the future, Hargis said.

“If this passes, any recovery we could see would be spent on common education and not higher education,” he said. “In addition to stimulus funds being depleted
next fiscal year, if we can’t experience a share in the recovery because all of that money is required to go elsewhere, we could see another increase.”

According to a preliminary agenda released by the OU Board of Regents, OU President David Boren will ask for a 4 percent tuition increase — raising the cost per credit hour at the OU-Norman campus from $117.90 to $122.60 before additional fees are added.

Both schools also are seeing small increases in mandatory fees.

Hargis said OSU is experimenting with cost-saving measures that could save OSU and the Oklahoma A&M Regents thousands in operating costs.

“We are going to begin to pilot a test program using iPads,” Gary Shutt, OSU spokesman, said.

The Apple iPads will be used to cut down on textbook costs for students. OSU could also cut printing costs by sending out fewer mailers and more e-mail, Shutt said.

Students in the test program will be journalism and strategic communications majors at the Stillwater campus and some entrepreneurial business majors at the OSU-Tulsa campus.

Hargis said if the program proves to be cost-efficient, the university will look at implementing a plan to have an iPad campus.

“This will be just like the laptop is today,” Hargis said. “Students will get one in junior high and high school and take it with them to college, and we need to be ready.”

Hargis said by saving in other areas of the budget, OSU can deal with the rising costs of health care for employees.

By RICKY MARANON World Staff Writer

Newcomer school closing It’s been losing students, and their test scores are lagging, the school board is told.

Posted by RedRose64 at

By ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer
Published: 6/17/2010  2:20 AM

The Tulsa school board voted 5-1 on Wednesday to close Newcomer International School, which has seen declining enrollment in recent years.

Superintendent Keith Ballard’s recommendation to close the school and reuse its building as an early childhood education center was tabled in early May amid questions from board members and opposition from parents and teachers at the school.

District administrators had been monitoring the drop in enrollment at the school, which is a transitional program for students who are still learning English.

The official student count for 2009-10 was 146, down from almost 275 in 2005.

Anna America, the board member who represents the area that includes the school at 10908 E. Fifth St., opposed its closure.

She questioned whether data other than enrollment figures had been considered.

The board was shown test results for students from Newcomer and other schools Wednesday.

America said: “When we initially asked for these test scores, they weren’t available. I have some real problems with getting this far in the process without having done that research.

“My preference would be that we maintain some type of Newcomer program, maybe modified and at a different site until we get the data. We need to be looking at what’s working in other districts and nationally.”

“It is imperative to reform Newcomer International and provide instead a dual-language program in the location you choose,” she said.

Amanda Peregrina, another Newcomer teacher, likened the comparison of Oklahoma Core Curriculum Test results for Newcomer students and other ELL students in the district to comparing a “sample of contaminated water of a puddle to a sample of water from a big lake.”

The Newcomer students did not perform well on the test in comparison with the other ELL students.

“We’re not asking for a building, and we’re not asking for a program. We are asking for a solution,” Peregrina said.

Area Superintendent Millard House said administrators also looked at the results of another test, called Access, which showed that students at traditional elementary schools performed better than Newcomer students in almost every case.

“We really found that our neighborhood programs have really done a fairly good job in comparison with Newcomer,” House said.

Newcomer International started as a small program in the mid-1990s and grew into a full school in fall 2002 because of Tulsa’s burgeoning Hispanic population.

Board Vice President Brian Hunt said, “It seems to me that it was the right program at the right time.”

He continued, “In the era of declining resources that we have at TPS, I think the declining enrollment is telling us something — that parents are making other choices.”

He said he supported the recommendation by another board member, Oma Copeland, to hold district administrators accountable for their plan to shore up ELL services to all students and America’s suggestion that teacher allocations may need to be boosted at the schools the Newcomer students will attend this fall.

Ballard asked the board Wednesday to hold off on voting on repurposing the Newcomer building for an early childhood center. He did not give a reason for his request.

TCC offers science school: To get free gear, teachers need only pay attention TCC offers science school

Posted by RedRose64 at

By SARA PLUMMER World Staff Writer
Published: 6/17/2010  2:20 AM
Last Modified: 6/17/2010  10:00 AM

Teachers became students this week as high school and middle school science instructors put on lab coats, safety glasses and latex gloves to learn lab experiments with new equipment that they can take into their classrooms in the fall.

Tulsa Community College has offered the three-day biotechnology summer academies for teachers and students previously, but this year the high school science teachers who participate can keep the equipment.

Funded through the National Institutes of Health, the Oklahoma IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — the stimulus package — the workshop will let each teacher acquire nearly $4,000 worth of lab equipment and materials.

Teachers said that helps schools that have little or no money budgeted for science classes.

Diana Nunes, a workshop participant and science chairwoman at East Central High School, said her school has no budget for science equipment in the coming year.

“I paid out of pocket last year. We had to keep labs extremely simple,” Nunes said.

Having thousands of dollars worth of equipment and materials makes a huge difference, she said.

“Now we can do real science.”

The high school teachers complete three labs that include chromatography, DNA electrophoresis and ELISA, a test that detects the presence of certain antigens or antibodies.
Mark Hamilton, a biology teacher at Collinsville High School, said having Spencer lead the workshops really helps.

“She knows where we come from and knows what we need,” he said. “It’s invaluable instruction. She teaches methods we can pass on to students.”

Gregg Moydell, who teaches science at Fort Gibson High School, said the experiments and equipment would let students get a taste of what working in biotechnology would be like.

“This is invaluable to me, the hands-on experiments that will pique the interest of students,” he said. “Any type of program that will get kids excited is worth a teacher’s time.”

Before the federal stimulus money was awarded, teachers or schools could only borrow equipment and materials. With the stimulus funds, TCC was able to buy the equipment for this year’s participants.

So far, 29 teachers from 24 school districts have completed the workshops. The latest group of 11 teachers will finish on Thursday and take the equipment back to their high schools: East Central, Hale and Memorial in Tulsa; Union Intermediate; Caney Valley; Chouteau; Frontier; Fort Gibson; Kiefer; Collinsville and Pryor.

Being on the other side of the classroom doesn’t seem to be a problem for the science teachers.

“They’re the best students. They have a good time,” Spencer said, adding that they’re motivated despite budget constraints and growing class sizes. “We respect the secondary teachers for their impact on society and students,” she said.

Former Anadarko school employee accused of lunch money theft pleads guilty

Posted by RedRose64 at

By SHEILA STOGSDILL World Correspondent
Published: 6/17/2010  4:41 PM

ANADARKO – A former Anadarko Public Schools employee charged with stealing children’s lunch money pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 days in the Caddo County jail and received a three year deferred sentence, court officials said Thursday.

Tricia Nicole Bunnell, 28, Chickasha, entered the plea to embezzlement in Caddo County District Court in Anadarko on June 1 to embezzlement.

She was fined $1,610 in court costs, ordered to pay $3,435.39 in restitution and perform 24 hours of community service before Dec. 1, according to court records.

Bunnell, who was responsible for keeping track of students’ cafeteria accounts, took money from Anadarko Public Schools between January and May 28, 2009. She would divert funds from students intended to pay for school meals for her own use.

School officials told investigators at the time of Bunnell’s arrest the school would run out of food because the cafeteria staff had cut back on the number of meals prepared to match bookkeeping records.

Bunnell accepted cash payments from staff members, teachers and students but failed to post payments to their accounts.

Nature program takes flight: Teachers hold butterfly workshop

Posted by RedRose64 at

By CLIFTON ADCOCK World Staff Writer
Published: 6/17/2010  2:21 AM

The butterfly rested for a moment, its bright orange and black wings slowly moving as it enjoyed some of the fruit juice that had been put on the tip of the woman’s nose.

“I can’t see it very well,” said Karen Lindley, as she tried crossing her eyes to get a better view. “Ahhh! It tickles!” she laughed before the butterfly took flight.

Lindley was one of several teachers from around 15 Broken Arrow schools, from pre-kindergarten to high school, who attended Wednesday’s Monarch Teacher Network workshop at Leisure Park Elementary School, a program designed to bring learning and experiences of monarch butterflies into the classroom.

This week’s workshop was the first such exercise held in Oklahoma by the Monarch Teacher Network, which has participating teachers in states including Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, Maryland and Connecticut.

The goal is to give the teachers experience in the raising, care, tagging, capture and release of monarchs so they can then incorporate the butterflies into classroom studies ranging from science, math, social studies, the arts and a host of other subjects, said Brian Hayes, project coordinator for the Monarch Teacher Network.

Dena Kephart and Nancy Dowe, both fourth-grade math and science teachers at Leisure Park Elementary, were responsible for helping to bring the program to Broken Arrow, and both said they are excited to see the program take off.

Even older students are likely to take interest once the butterflies are brought into the classroom, said Lindley, a 10th-grade biology teacher at Broken Arrow’s South Intermediate.

The flight of the monarch
Each year, millions of monarch butterflies migrate 2,000 miles from Canada to the mountains of Mexico for the winter before heading to the Gulf Coast states in the spring to lay their eggs and die, according to the Monarch Teacher Network. The new monarchs only live long enough to travel to Canada and lay their eggs, at which point the cycle begins again.

The butterflies are threatened by deforestation in Mexico, loss of summer habitat in the U.S. and Canada and global warming.

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION NEWS

Posted by RedRose64 at

Study plays major rule in our life. It brings manners and provide ability to recognize right or wrong. It is also important to go along with new pattern of study and keep yourself up to date regarding news and announcements from various institute. Therefore, Notesmela.com have decided to provide you all the latest news and updates regarding Education and International Educational institutes. Please subscribe to receive daily update via email or keep checking this page for up to date news.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST UPDATES OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL NEWS

KHDA working to the benefit of Dubai students

Posted by RedRose64 at

21 June 2010
The schools’ inspection regime, launched two years ago by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) of Dubai Government, has shown its value by forcing a clear improvement in the standards of schooling in Dubai. More schools are getting ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ ratings and fewer schools are getting ‘acceptable’ and ‘unsatisfactory’ ratings. This is a clear demonstration to educationists and parents that something is going right.

The KHDA has come under attack from many groups, including some school managements who want to raise their fees and some teachers who resent the two-year-old inspection regime, and many parents, managements and teachers who are confused by the apparently blurred authority between the KHDA and the federal Ministry of Education. But the figures from the latest round of inspections show that there is no doubt that the KHDA’s inspection regime is doing its job and working to the benefit of Dubai’s students.

Any schools’ inspection regime needs both the inspectors and the school managements to work together to understand their different perspectives and Dubai’s new inspection system is no different. It has made allowances for the many different curricula available in Dubai. It would clearly be silly for Indian curriculum schools to be inspected by someone trained by England’s Ofsted. Many school managements have worked hard to understand and meet the KHDA’s requirements and the KHDA has been willing to listen to well-informed suggestions on how to improve the inspection regime.

But the KHDA has to get tough with many schools who continue to get away with lip-service to teaching Arabic as well as Islamic studies. These two subjects have been at the heart of most of the disputes with the KHDA, but the KHDA has been right to insist that they are taught to the same standards as any other core subject.

© Gulf News 2010