Teachers Refuse State Bonuses

Fairbanks, Ala.

Teachers and staff at a Fairbanks elementary school are turning down bonuses offered by the state.

The staff at Pearl Creek Elementary School appreciate being recognized for the good work they do, but don’t want a monetary reward for doing what they’re already paid to do.

The school was one of 42 across the state whose staff were recently awarded cash bonuses because of student improvement on standardized assessment tests.

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Helping African American Males Succeed in Urban Schools

 

H. Richard Milner, Betts Assistant Professor of Education and Human Development

Helping African American males succeed in urban schools can seem like an intractable problem, but applying some basic principles that empower teachers and students is a key part of the answer, finds Vanderbilt University education researcher H. Richard Milner. In a new article in the journal Theory Into Practice, he argues that teachers and school leaders must move beyond making excuses to turn around failing schools.

“Many black males have been what I call kidnapped into believing that they are inferior and unable to succeed in school,” Milner said. “Teachers have these same misconceptions, and it spills over into their teaching. Both teachers and students need to develop positive images of these students’ abilities to realize how bright their futures can be.”

 

Milner outlines five key principles that he has found through his research and personal experience as a teacher and a student that teachers can use, regardless of the situation the student is facing outside of the classroom, to “teach and empower” students and to help them succeed. Under Milner’s principles, teachers and students:

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Fight Back/Take Back Dallas Oak Cliff

Crime Prevention Alert!!!

Fight Back/Take Back

Oak Cliff

Rally: 9:00am Antioch Church -7550 South Hampton, Dallas, TX.

March:10:00am Antioch Church- Hampton to Camp Wisdom;

Camp Wisdom to Westmoreland, Left on Westmoreland to Lady Di’s/ IBOC

September 8, 2007 9am-12noon

‘Enough is Enough’

(Introduction of the 70/20/10 Safety Plan)

Sponsored By:

Honorable Tennell Atkins & Honorable Dave Neumann

Oak Cliff

Churches, Businesses, Neighborhood Associations, Dallas Quick Response

For more information call: Edna Pemberton 972-780-7544

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Quote To Remember

I will no longer represent only the White House; I will represent the United States of America and its people. I understand the differences between the two roles.

– Alberto Gonzales, who resigned from the office of U.S. Attorney General on Monday, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing in January 2005. (Source: The New York Times )

Black Entrepreneur Develops Business Learning Web-Portal and Provides Grant Money to Start-Up Businesses

Eugene Allen

Dallas, TX (BlackNews.com) – Business Institute Of Texas — The modern age of technology is changing the way people can learn about business. Today, the Business Institute Of Texas launched an online self paced business lecture web portal dedicated to educating individuals about starting and operating a successful and profitable business. There are no academic pre-requisites to enroll. Courses cost less than $100 with a 30 day – money back guarantee, if participants are not completely satisfied.

Courses currently being offered to prepare individuals for business are:

Introduction To Business — designed to provide individuals with a basic understanding of basic business principles. Covering a wide variety of subject matter including; business structure, management, operations, record keeping, location selection, goal setting, forecasting, break-even analysis, financing, incorporation, ten step process in creating a successful business.

Business Plan Writing — teaches individuals how to design a business plan. Providing a frame work which simplifies the process of transforming business ideas to documented strategies. Learning to compile a business plan is an essential element to the success of a business. Topics include: generating a business idea, creating a business image, suppliers and vendors, terms of payment, marketing analysis, pricing policy, sales policy, operations, technology, customer care, and financing (including financial statements).

Marketing 101 — this course involves an analysis of the role of marketing within the total organization. Specific attention is given to the variables affecting consumer behavior, the identification of marketing elements, the development and use of marketing strategies, and the discussion of different forms of media advertising.

Upon completion of two courses participants (start-up businesses) are eligible to submit a business plan to be considered for a grant (awarded four times a year) from the Business Institute Of Texas.

ABOUT THE FOUNDER:
Eugene Allen was born one of twelve children and raised on welfare in Gary, Indiana. While neither of his parents graduated high school, Mr. Allen, a third grade failure, used education as his ticket to get out of the hood. He obtained a Bachelors degree in Marketing, and Information Systems and a graduate degree in Business Administration. Mr. Allen has started and operated a variety of different types of businesses throughout his career and understands the challenges that a start-up business must endure to survive. Now a Professor teaching business marketing and management and author of Business Basics / Keys To Business Success, Mr. Allen believes that learning how to apply basic business principles can improve the earning potential of anyone. And, he intends to prove it by issuing grants to individuals that successfully complete at least two of the courses offered by Business Institute Of Texas.

ABOUT THE COMPANY:
Business Institute Of Texas offers a non-accredited text book guided presentation / lecture business training, for serious minded individuals (18 years of age or older) who want to learn about starting and operating a successful and profitable business. The mini 4 hour presentation / lectures (Introduction To Business 101, Business Plan Writing and Marketing 101) are content produced and presented by University Professors and subject matter experts that blend professional work experience with scholarly achievement. Upon completion of the courses participants are awarded certificates after showing evidence of their knowledge attainment through testing.

CONTACT:
Eugene Allen, General Manager
Business Institute Of Texas
972-334-9224
www.businessinstituteoftexas.com

Reading’s Racial Disparity

Back to School: The First ‘R’ / Race

Thursday, August 30, 2007

By Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette

Seven members of the monthly reading group Sisters That Are Readers (STARS) gather at the Homewood Library. Clockwise from bottom left, are Nichole Jordan, M. Gayle Moss, Mercedes Taylor, Velma Harris, Denice Coker, Vivian Shelton and Donna Stilo.

When it comes to reading, race can matter.

A young black male has a better chance of getting teased for reading books instead of playing sports. Black children are less likely to have parents who read to them at an early age and expose them to books.

Until recently, black adults were largely ignored by some book publishers who believed black people don’t read books. And many black people had not been reading books because there were fewer books on the market that appealed to them.

“The racial disparity in reading is a reflection of the differences in the kinds of backgrounds that children enjoy,” said Helen Faison, director of the Pittsburgh Teachers Institute at Chatham University.

“We have to surround children early on with reading,” Ms. Faison said. “You have to create an environment where books are everywhere.”

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Eli Broad View of Mayoral Authority Over Public School Education

“… The current mayor, though elected with Broad’s support, is not exactly his favorite.

Broad and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa disagreed about how best to assert mayoral authority over Los Angeles schools, with Villaraigosa joining with the teachers union in backing a proposal that would give him partial control over the Los Angeles Unified School District. Broad believed that a stronger measure was needed, and complained to friends that Villaraigosa had sold reform short. (Villaraigosa’s proposal, meanwhile, won legislative approval, only to hit the rocks in court. As a result, it has never been implemented, tacitly vindicating Broad’s opposition.)

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Los Angeles Unified School District prevailed twice in court, securing two rulings that found the state education bill that Mayor Villaraigosa won in the Legislature last year was unconstitutional.”

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(DBB Note: The California State Supreme Court overturned this attempted Mayoral takeover of Los Angeles public schools. Still, Eli Broad wanted total Mayoral control of public education and had a public disagreement with Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa because the Mayor made a compromise agreement with the state legislature for only partial takeover – and even that so-called partial takeover was found to be unconstitutional by the California State Supreme Court. Eli Broad of the Broad Foundation clearly supports Mayoral control of urban public school districts. This is a position against the independent oversight of public education by democratically elected school boards.)

Nelson Mandela Statue ‘A Beacon of Hope’

LONDON: Former South African president Nelson Mandela saluted the heroes of South Africa’s struggle against apartheid yesterday at the unveiling of his statue at a ceremony in London recognising him as one of the greatest leaders of the age.

British Prime Minister GORDON BROWN, who attended the ceremony, called the statue “a beacon of hope”.

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Billionaire Bob Johnson Provides Foreword To Conversations With Black Millionaire Entrepreneurs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 29, 2007 CONTACT:
Meredith
info@howtobeablackentrepreneur.com

Bob Johnson

Detroit, MI (BlackNews.com) – The first Black Billionaire, Bob Johnson, Founder of BET and The RLJ Companies, has provided the Foreword for the Book My Conversations with Black Millionaire Entrepreneurs. The book is a compilation of interviews of some of Black America’s most successful Entrepreneurs.

Here is an excerpt of what Mr. Johnson’s Foreword says, “In My Conversations with Black Millionaire Entrepreneurs you’ll get real life changing information from some of the most successful black entrepreneurs in America today. All in one source, all at the same time. Although I didn’t have a book like this when I started, I believe it is a valuable resource for those who are striving to become successful entrepreneurs.”

When asked about the importance of Bob Johnson being involved Bro. Bedford the book’s author and founder of How To Be A Black Entrepreneur.com said, “This is just a wonderful day, a couple of weeks ago Russell Simmons endorsed what we are doing and now to have a giant like Bob Johnson involved just proves that the message of Black empowerment and Black Entrepreneurship is resonating with Black people. There are some others who are coming on board very soon and we’ll be sure to announce them. I feel Truly Blessed.”

Conversations with Black Millionaire Entrepreneurs is literally sprouting entrepreneurs all over the world and is helping to give clarity to entrepreneurs who have stalled in their endeavors.

The book is available for immediate download at: www.conversationswithblackmillionaires.com

About The Author
Bro. Bedford sees Black Entrepreneurship as the answer to curtail unemployment and corporate dependency at a time when both are proving detrimental to the African-American community, as well as provide solutions to the challenges faced by and the limited information available to African-Americans.

Bro. Bedford has been providing information on Entrepreneurship and Investment/Finance in his free e-zine that goes out weekly to over 2,000 subscribers worldwide. To subscribe and have access to this vital information go to www.howtobeablackentrepreneur.com

-END-

Ex-Texas Southern University President on Trial for Money Misuse

Michael Stravato for The New York Times

Priscilla Slade, the former president of Texas Southern University, arriving for the start of her trial Friday in Houston.

HOUSTON, Aug. 24 — With Texas Southern University struggling to survive as one of the nation’s largest historically black colleges, the former president once hailed as its savior faced a state jury here Friday, charged with misspending hundreds of thousands of dollars on personal luxuries.

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