Que horas são?

The Waterboys, The Whole of the Moon

Tanto que ouvi em seu tempo, que quase parece que está sempre dentro da cabeça.

… que era um dos destinatários deste espécime do que foi considerado o melhor moscatel do mundo e é produzido aqui mesmo ao lado.

E uma calçada em Setúbal é que o bebeu…

Sacraste, diria o outro.

Por acaso e ao contrário do que se pode fazer crer, a maioria das charter e magnet schools são direccionadas para os grupos sociais economicamente mais desfavorecidos ou para as minorias étnicas e não para grupos privilegiados. Por lá, o sector puramente privado da Educação não se encosta ao Estado como cá.

E a ideia é atenuar desigualdades, não agravá-las ou dar almofadas financeiras a quem já está em situação mais favorecida.

Estes quadros são retirados do relatório linkado em post mais abaixo.

Custos e preços da saúde

Comparação dos preços e custos de tratamentos, medicamentos e actos médicos na Europa.

The Forgotten Choice?

Rethinking Magnet Schools in a Changing Landscape –
A Report to Magnet Schools of America

Magnet schools are the largest set of choice-based schools in the nation and today enroll twice as many students as the rapidly growing charter school sector. The intent of magnet schools was to use incentives rather than coercion to create desegregation. Magnet schools, then, represent a compromise between individualism (choosing one’s school) and achieving community goals (diversity). Magnet schools were originally designed to incorporate strong civil rights protections (such as good parent information/outreach, explicit desegregation goals, and free transportation) and most were designed not to have selective admissions processes. This differs from more recent schools of choice that have been designed without these mechanisms. Today, in the aftermath of federal court decisions limiting race-conscious efforts by school districts, magnets comprise a diverse set of schools serving a variety of functions. Many have lost their desegregation mechanisms, which, as we will show, have made a difference in their racial diversity.

… abandonar um debate só porque se discorda das posições que parecem ser dominantes e terem o favor do poder político do momento?

Não será melhor tentar buscar a informação para demonstrar os caminhos mais ou menos errados, mais ou menos certos?

Se algo aprendemos em 2008-09 foi que passear bandeiras e rufar tambores muda muito pouco. Portanto, há que tentar demonstrar, com fundamentação empírica, que há opções erradas, mesmo quando a formulação teórica parece atractiva, fazendo com que, se insistirem nessas opções, não foi por falta de aviso e informação, muito menos de confronto de ideias e factos.

Criticar fórmulas abstractas e descontextualizadas com fórmulas abstractas e descontextualizadas resolve pouco ou nada, em especial num momento em que o poder está fortemente desequilibrado para um dos lados. Combater a propaganda de modelos errados com argumentos vagos e meramente preconceituosos tem uma eficácia muito reduzida e, na prática, significa deixar o terreno todo ao(s) antagonistas.

O que faz falta é discutir de forma objectiva as opções existentes, denunciar as más práticas concretas e apresentar alternativas que não sejam o puro imobilismo.

New Jersey’s charter school experiment: Money doesn’t guarantee success

Newark schools have captured the nation’s imagination.

After years of indifference, a buzz began locally in 2008, when wealthy foundations announced they had put up more than $20 million for the Newark Charter School Fund, backing public schools that are privately run.

Now, Newark schools have an even larger commitment, $100 million from billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. But the gift comes with strings.

As part of a deal negotiated among Zuckerberg, Mayor Cory Booker and Gov. Chris Christie, partial control of the city’s school district will be handed to Booker, who convinced Zuckerberg to open his checkbook and is working to raise matching money.

Christie had already paved the way for the handover by announcing that he would not reappoint Superintendent Clifford Janey, who had just begun his third year on the job.

Zuckerberg’s generosity has been widely applauded, creating a sense of momentum even before the effects can be felt.

Richard Barth, president of the highly touted Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), said it aims to double the number of children it serves in Newark, where it already has four charter schools.

Ler ainda as restantes duas partes desta reportagem:

SPECIAL REPORT:

• New Jersey’s charter school experiment: Inside Newark’s Lady Liberty Academy

• New Jersey’s charter school experiment: Glen Pinder shakes up Lady Liberty Academy

Uma forma diferente de autonomia da que é decretada e que se usa por cá.

What is a Magnet School?

A Magnet school is part of the public school system. Usually students are zoned into their schools based on location. Students mostly go to the school which they are closest to (this may not always be true since boundaries can seem arbitrary). With Magnet schools, the public school system has created schools that exist outside of zoned school boundaries. The point of them is that they usually have something special to offer over a regular school which makes attending them an attractive choice to many students, thereby increasing the diversity of the student population within them (in theory).

Magnet schools are different from private or parochial schools in that they remain part of the public school system. They differ from Charter schools in that they remain part of the public school system bureaucratically. Charter Schools have a different organizational model (i.e. they have a charter that releases them from the regular school administration). Magnet schools operate under the same public school administration (they don’t operate on their own).

Distinguishing them from other public schools, Magnet schools usually have alternative or otherwise compelling modes of instruction. For example, you might find a Montessori Magnet school. A school doesn’t have to be a Magnet school to be a Montessori School. There are also public schools that aren’t Magnet schools which still offer fine academic experiences. Magnet schools differ from other public schools in that they receive additional funding to enable them to spend more money on their students, supplies, teachers, programs, etc.

Escola suspendeu prémio de mérito minutos antes da cerimónia com ministro

Presidente do Agrupamento de Escolas de Constância teve conhecimento da suspensão do pagamento dos prémios de mérito a poucos minutos do início da cerimónia com o ministro Nuno Crato.

E vão ser estes ricos exemplos de gestão que vão meter-se na gestão das escolas, quando até o papel higiénico chegam a pedir aos pais para levarem?

Autarquias têm de pagar 2,5 mil milhões em 90 dias

Mais de metade das câmaras têm dívidas em atraso