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	<title>Assigned Reading</title>
	<link>http://assignedreading.org</link>
	<description>by a Rhode Island teacher</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 06 Aug 2010 18:20:14 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Poll: Firing Central Falls Teachers was Right</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Brown University conducted a poll the last week in July to gauge voter opinions about the economy, our elected officials, and candidates for office.  One of the most interesting questions for those in Rhode Island education came at the very end.  Here&#8217;s the question as posed by the pollsters to 702 registered RI [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://assignedreading.org/?p=869</link>
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		<title>Expect a Year of Court Challenges</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Teachers unions and Department of Education bureaucrats will be seeing a lot of each other in the coming year.  Mostly in courtrooms.
The Providence Journal calls one court challenge &#8220;inevitable&#8221;, and rightly so.  Commissioner Gist&#8217;s assertion that the Basic Education Program, or BEP, authorizes her to alter the way teachers are assigned to job [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://assignedreading.org/?p=865</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Union Out of Touch</title>
		<description><![CDATA[**Update:  The first Brown poll of candidates for Congress in the first district has David Segal at just 5.7%, dead last.
The Rhode Island affiliate of the AFT made two significant endorsements this week.  For governor, RIFT is backing an heir to a family fortune who&#8217;s father was an esteemed governor and senator.  [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://assignedreading.org/?p=861</link>
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		<title>Gist Employs Some Behavior Mod</title>
		<description><![CDATA[When difficult students behave, teachers shower them with praise.  Providing positive attention will hopefully encourage more appropriate behavior. 
Education Commissioner Deborah Gist is a teacher at heart, and so she showers the legislative leaders with praise for passing a funding formula this year.  Her opinion piece in today&#8217;s Journal specifically names the leaders [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://assignedreading.org/?p=858</link>
			</item>
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		<title>Assignment:  Current State of Ed Reform</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Education Sector&#8217;s Kevin Carey has an excellent piece on the current state of educational reform. 
Teachers unions, meanwhile, also miscalculated on charters. They largely got away with opposing NCLB by positioning themselves against business interests and a Republican president. Fighting the heroic personae of the Dave Levins and Mike Feinbergs of the world was much [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://assignedreading.org/?p=853</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>P-Town Should Reconsider Condom Policy</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Sometimes people want to open the door, they just don&#8217;t know how far.  School leaders in Providencetown, on the Cape, have run into such a dilemma.  They believe sex among children is inevitable, and therefore want to make condoms available for free, and without parent permission, in their schools.  But at what [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://assignedreading.org/?p=850</link>
			</item>
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		<title>EG Continues Plan to Privatize Custodial Services</title>
		<description><![CDATA[East Greenwich is taking a giant step in its efforts to more wisely spend its education dollars.  The School Committee voted 4 to 3 to end its relationship with the local union and outsource custodial services.  
As one can imagine, unionists are not happy.  Supporters came out in full force to disrupt [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://assignedreading.org/?p=845</link>
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		<title>Gist Makes the Right Choice, Keeps Highlander Open</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Kudos to Commissioner Deborah Gist, who listened to parents and supporters of Highlander Charter, and granted it a three-year extension.  While Highlander has areas in which growth is needed, the school has been outperforming Providence schools, and deserves to remain open as a positive choice for city students.  
]]></description>
		<link>http://assignedreading.org/?p=842</link>
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		<title>Caution and the East Providence/Bradley Partnership</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Sunday&#8217;s Providence Journal featured a front page story about a partnership between the city of East Providence and Bradley Hospital.  The program establishes classrooms in neighborhood schools for students with significant needs who would otherwise be bused to Bradley.   The article&#8217;s author, Alisha Pina, celebrates the program as a win for everyone. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://assignedreading.org/?p=839</link>
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		<title>They Just Don&#8217;t Want Charters to Work</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Gregory Kane, columnist for the Washington Examiner, ends his most recent column this way: 
When will critics of charter schools just be honest and admit that they just don&#8217;t want them to work?
Exactly.  No one expects every charter to work.  Some will fail, while many, like Chicago&#8217;s Urban Prep, will be wildly successful. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://assignedreading.org/?p=836</link>
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