A New Jersey teacher was caught on camera mocking and threatening violence toward a 15-year-old special needs student. But the teacher is unlikely to lose his job due to rules and regulations that make it very difficult — and expensive — to terminate someone.

Difficult as in a 15-step process that could take between two and five years to complete. Expensive as in from $300,000 to $500,000.

The Education Action Group recently reported:

It only takes three years in New Jersey to become a tenured teacher. The Garden State’s teacher tenure laws are so deeply flawed that 77 percent of state residents support tenure reform. Gov. Chris Christie, as well as legislative Democrats and Republicans, have offered reform plans.

The current process begins by formally bringing tenure charges against a teacher. Then the real work begins.
 
After months of gathering evidence, the investigator shares his findings with the district superintendent and the state commissioner of education. If both officials certify the charges, the case is sent to the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law and a trial is scheduled.
 
The trial itself can last up to four years. The accused teacher doesn’t mind, because after 120 calendar days, he or she collects full pay for the remainder of the process. School districts not only have to pay that salary, but must hire substitutes to fill in for the suspended teacher and pay lawyers to pursue the termination case.
 
During the trial, witnesses are called to testify and a judge typically asks the attorneys to file legal briefs. All of that can take 30 to 90 days. Then the judge will make a decision in the case, which typically takes another three or four months.
 
The state commissioner of education then reviews the judge’s decision and issues a final decision. That often takes another two or three months.
 
But in many cases, those days, weeks and months can stretch into years. Judges typically hear these cases on days they have available – perhaps one day one week, then two days a few weeks later.
 
When the entire process is finally complete and the teacher is found guilty, he or she has the option of appealing the decision, if another court will agree to hear it.
 
     

We’ve documented the forward thinking going on at Indiana’s colleges and universities on this blog many times. Today’s offering includes Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis’ (IUPUI) new program to help future workers be more educated about green technology.

The Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI is happy to announce a new “Sustainable Technologies Certificate” available to help students prepare for the changing green job market. This certificate is designed to address a growing need for professionals who can contribute to the green workforce with knowledge in sustainable practices in current technologies. The Sustainable Technologies Certificate is useful to students who want to have knowledge in areas of green building, renewable energies and sustainable design.

In the United States, sustainability has gained importance in business, industry, government, higher education, and in the general public’s consciousness. The goal of meeting today’s needs without harming future generations’ ability to realize their potential is a hallmark of sustainable practices. There is widespread interest from many disciplines and sectors in developing, enhancing, and integrating sustainability into all aspects of products, services and solutions. Thus, the need to equip students with the knowledge, skills and perspectives to make contributions to sustainable initiatives has never been greater.

Green jobs are rapidly being created as the economy begins embracing sustainable, energy- efficient and low-carbon practices. The Sustainable Technologies Certificate is designed to help guide future professionals who can contribute to the green global workforce. For more information on the certificate, contact Professor Pat Fox at psfox@iupui.edu.

Pension systems of all types and sizes seem to be in some form of financial trouble. And yes, there are various stories of people taking advantage of loopholes to improperly, if not illegally, benefit.

But this is a bad one about teacher union lobbyists who became substitute teachers for a day in order to be in line (based on their lobbyist salaries) for big paydays down the road.

The Education Action Group reported the following:

The Illinois Teachers Retirement System, by the way, is millions of dollars in debt. That means it currently lacks the funds to meet its obligations to real teachers who will retire in the future and genuinely deserve their pensions.

One of the lobbyists, Steven Preckwinkle, will receive about $2.8 million by the time he turns 78 and $3.8 million by the time he turns 84, according to media reports. David Piccioli will collect $1.1 million by the time he’s 78 and $1.7 million by the time he’s 84.

The two lobbyists and the Illinois Federation of Teachers have paid approximately $230,000 into the pension system. Sounds like these two will make out pretty good.

But the story gets even worse. Now we hear about Reg Weaver, the former president of the NEA, who is drawing $242,657 per year from the Illinois state teachers pension system, based on his top salary working for the union. Most teachers pensions are based on their top salary earned in the classroom. Weaver topped out at $60,000 before he went to work for the union.

All of these situations were created by loopholes in a state law that allow union officials to tap into the teachers pension program. As Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois Springfield told Education News, "The people that are on the inside and understand the process are going to be able to make the system work to their advantage."

Sadly, it’s the taxpayers and average teachers on the "outside" who get the raw end of the deal.

Ragan takes a look at a few key skills that recent grads, interns and anyone searching for a job should focus one if he/she hopes to be employable:

1. Hone your telephone etiquette.

Thanks to the texting takeover, phone manners have become exceptionally rare. “Hey, girl” may be appropriate for your personal calls (actually, it still probably isn’t), but if you answer the phone like that at work, prepare to be embarrassed and/or chewed out.

Listen to the way your co-workers answer the phone. Do they provide their name? (“This is Meredith.”) Or do they use a more generic greeting? (“Ragan Communications—how may I help you?”) Have a pen and paper next to your phone at all times so you can take messages. Make sure you know your office phone number so you know what to say when someone asks for your contact information. Learn how to transfer, dial out of the building, etc. This may sound ridiculous, and that’s exactly why this is so important. Do you really want to be known as “The Intern Who Can’t Answer The Phone?”

2. Learn to multitask.

Maybe you’re a whiz at juggling research papers, midterms, and group projects, but multitasking at work is a different beast. You might like to spend three hours perfecting an article, but you also need to answer emails, schedule interviews, meet with co-workers and research potential story ideas—all before noon.

Before you start work each day, make a “to-do” list. What’s the first thing you need to do when you arrive at 9 a.m.? What’s the second (and so forth)? If you aren’t given a deadline for a particular story, ask your boss when they’d like to see your first draft. You may be hesitant to seek help (we’re all vying for the Omniscient Intern award), but better you should ask than drop the ball and cause everyone to fall behind.

3. Wordiness is not rewarded.

You might’ve gotten brownie points for using “panjandrum” in your college essay, but you can be sure it won’t make it past the first round of revisions. When writing for the Web, flowery language is not your friend. Concise, simple, and clear writing is. When writing copy, ask yourself, “Would the average reader have to look this up?” If the answer is yes, pick a different word or phrase. You’re not going to sound stupid if you swap “barmecidal” with “fake”; on the contrary, you’ll avoid the risk of sounding like a snob.

4. Bye-bye, body paragraph.

Your English professor might have encouraged (or demanded) a carefully crafted argument of five to seven sentences, but that technique is no good when writing for the Web. Eye Tracking Studies have shown that readers not only avoid long paragraphs, they’ll even skip the end of the article if you don’t keep them engaged.

Be concise. Get to the point.

5. Thought your grammar school days were behind you? You’re dead wrong.

Still not sure when to use “your” versus “you’re”? Stop what you’re doing, and take out your notebook (hint, hint). Including these mistakes in your writing samples (or worse, on your résumé) practically begs an editor not to hire you.

Learn when to use ellipses, semicolons, and em dashes. Know the difference between “affect” and “effect.” Editors know what they’re looking for, and their expectations are high. (See what I did there?) Your AP Style book should be within reach at all times. Not only will it help you become a grammar guru, it will guarantee instant admiration from your editor.

All right, we know there is a great disconnect with high unemployment while thousands of skilled jobs go unfilled due to a lack of qualified applicants. But just how bad is it?

A new report from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute answers that with a "pretty bad." Here’s a short analysis from the State Science & Technology Institute and a link to the 16-page report.

American manufacturing companies cannot fill as many as 600,000 skilled positions — even as unemployment numbers hover at historic levels — according to Boiling Point? The Skills Gap in U.S. Manufacturing, a new report from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute. This annual skills report provides a stark snapshot of the manufacturing sector’s inability to find qualified workers. Approximately 67% of survey respondents attribute the unfilled positions to a shortage of available, qualified workers. Unfilled jobs are mainly in the skilled production category positions (e.g., machinists, operators, craft workers, distributors and technicians).

The report also indicates that this shortage has an impact on the overall competitiveness of the U.S. manufacturing sector. Approximately 64% of respondents report that workforce shortages or skills deficiencies in production roles are having a significant impact on their ability to expand operations or improve productivity.

To resolve these issues long-term, the U.S. must focus on the next generation by developing a skilled workforce that goes beyond the required skills (i.e., a solid math and science base). Respondents indicated that high schools should focus on strengthening students’ critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Anytime we talk about this topic, I have to mention Ready Indiana, the Indiana Chamber’s workforce initiative, and its role in helping connect companies and employees with needed training resources.

I’ve been with the Indiana Chamber for just over a year now and in that time I’ve gotten to write about many of the Chamber’s initiatives and programs. The more I learn, the more fascinating I find the work they do for the state of Indiana. One that has really been catching my attention lately is Ready Indiana, the Chamber’s workforce education initiative.

In fact, I think of Ready Indiana every time I see anything about the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement.

I know it doesn’t seem these two have a common link, but hear me out. I’ve been reading through various news articles and posts on Facebook and talking to what supporters I can find to try and figure out what exactly the OWS group is upset about (still haven’t found one actual common theme – to me it just seems that everyone who is angry about anything has backed this movement).

One of the gripes I’ve seen most often, however, has been about the fact that college students are graduating with major amounts of debt to enter a job market without well-paying jobs. Another facet of the movement is upset about the fact that the older generation doesn’t have the skills for the new jobs that are being created, or the money to go out and get the necessary education.

These two points are where Ready Indiana (and any other workforce development or education initiative across the nation) comes in – opportunities do exist for the experienced workers and those who are right out of school. Below are just a few examples.

On the Ready Indiana web site, www.readyindiana.org, there’s a long list of middle-skills jobs that Indiana can’t do without (computer support specialists, nurses, fire fighters, police officers, lab technicians, heavy truck drivers, and many more). The list includes the number of job openings in each field and the median earnings for 2009 – the lowest median earning on that list is $33,407; the highest is $67,280.

These middle-skill jobs require more than a high school diploma, but less than a four-year degree. Employers, community colleges, private career schools and apprenticeship programs offer the necessary training and skills for these careers. High schools are also beginning to offer more technical courses so that students don’t have to graduate and venture into the job market with huge debt.

To combat the workforce skills gap, Ready Indiana recently announced a partnership with the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC), which will allow employers to train their current and even prospective employees in-house through a nationally-recognized training program for manufacturing and logistics. On-the-job training grants are available, and the completed certification is also good for six credits to Ivy Tech Community College.

There are jobs available – in fact, a common complaint by employers is that they cannot find qualified workers to fill their many open positions. This BizVoice® story that appeared in the July-August edition features Westfield Steel and is a good example of Hoosier employers practically begging for qualified applicants.

These are just a few small hints into what is available to Hoosiers who are willing to do the research and find existing job opportunities. Personal responsibility is an important key to finding employment, whether you’re fresh out of school or making a comeback into the workforce.

Protesting might get your anger or frustrations out, but it doesn’t give you an income, access to health insurance or a sense of security. Utilizing resources like Ready Indiana and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, however, can lead to those important measures.
 

Contrary to the rhetoric that education choice proponents are out to harm traditional public schools, one of the clearly stated goals is for additional options to spark improvement in the public system. Whether the competition is public or private, the prospect of losing students should be an incentive to change — and improve.

The Cato Institute looks at Ohio’s EdChoice program and whether it has had that desired effect. The Fordham Institute, active in Ohio as a charter school organizer, reviews the Cato report below. The lengthy report from Cato focuses on data.

Rigorous school-voucher studies abound, with most research measuring the achievement effects of vouchers for students who use them. This study by CATO’s Matthew Carr — the first of its kind to investigate Ohio’s EdChoice Scholarship program — takes a different tack. It examines whether traditional public schools are spurred to improve in the face of a threat of losing students to private schools—if competition itself “creates incentives for systemic improvements.”

To test this, Carr analyzed fourth- and sixth-grade reading and math achievement data on low-performing EdChoice-eligible schools over three academic years (2005-06, 2006-07, and 2007-08). The results were mixed. While fourth-grade math and sixth-grade math and reading scores remained the same, Carr found the voucher threat correlated with significant achievement gains in fourth-grade reading (the equivalent of 2,200 extra students reaching proficiency). What’s most significant about this finding is that Carr’s analysis controls for (among other things) the “scarlet letter” effect—i.e., did schools improve not because of the voucher threat but rather because of the stigma associated with receiving a highly publicized poor rating from the state? 

Further, while fourth-grade reading gains were significant, they didn’t come from the “bubble kids” — those just below the proficiency cut-off; rather, students in the lowest and highest performing categories made gains. Though its findings don’t constitute a grand slam for voucher proponents, the report is welcome — especially as EdChoice adds another 15,000 students to its eligible roster.