California's schools gird for steep cuts

California's schools gird for steep cuts
Schwarzenegger's budget plan triggers trims in programs and plans for layoffs in L.A. County and elsewhere.

The Long Beach school board voted to close an elementary school this week. The Rialto Unified School District, in what is believed to be the first such action in the state this year, sent notices to 305 employees including teachers, informing them that they may not have a job next fall. The San Francisco school district may take city "rainy day" money to help balance its budget.

Babson plans to start using wind power this spring

Babson plans to start using wind power this spring
The Skystream 3.7 sounds like the name of a corporate jet that burns as much fuel in an hour as a sport utility vehicle does in a year of driving. In reality, the 3.7 sits on the other end of the environmental scale: It's a wind turbine slated to fuel part of Babson College starting this spring. Babson, which has ...

Reading Is Fundamental Does Not Deserve A Reduction In Force

On February 12, the true Lincoln's Birthday, I read in USA
Today that the Bush Administration proposes to eliminate Federal
funding for Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), a non-profit program
that has distributed 325 million new books to more than 30
million children over the past 42 years.

RIF has been a popular program on both sides of the political
aisle. RIF's founder was Margaret Craig McNamara, then-wife of
former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara who served in the
Kennedy and Johnson Administrations; she was a former teacher
and reading tutor who started the program by delivering used
books to three Washington D.C public schools. More recently,
First Lady Laura Bush, and her mother-in-law, former First Lady
Barbara Bush have served in very visible roles.

I wonder what a self-educated man like President Lincoln would
have said about closing down a reading program, so I did a
little checking to find out: is RIF succeeding, or failing, in
its mission?

While the USA Today article mentions that RIF has not been on
the chopping block since 2001, the truth is that its budget has
been approximately $25 million for the past five years, this
according to the U.S. Department of Education's Web site (see:
http://www.ed.gov/programs/rif/funding.html). Funding for RIF
increased from $23 million in FY 2001, the last Clinton budget,
to $24 and $25 million in FY 2002 and 2003, the first Bush
budgets. After 2003, the funding was essentially frozen at $25
million each year.

However, in government budget-speak, a freeze is the same as a
cut; salaries, administrative expenses and the costs of books
have gone up. The need for books, however, has not gone down.

Yet I go to expectmore, a site co-developed by his agency to
rate federal programs by their effectiveness—and RIF is not
listed in the program database!

So, the American people don't even know why the White House
considers RIF to be ineffective.

It's only proper to find out what RIF did wrong, and why the
White House wants to take it out of the budget. The USA Today
article mentions a preference for a merit-based competitive bid,
over an automatic grant to RIF, but why, when a non-profit has
done this successfully for 42 years? Is it because they'd prefer
not to fund an organization run by a former Clinton appointee?
Cronyism has been part of every political administration since
there have been politicians. However, RIF's board is a mix of
public and private members; more than 140 publishers
participate. This is hardly an organization of political
patronage and "no show" jobs.

I'd prefer to think that the Bush White House would like to cut
out RIF because of poor performance; so would those who are
supposed to receive books.

So, I looked at the Performance Plan for RIF. It's posted on
the U.S. Department of Education's Web site. It lists a
baseline, the number of books that RIF was expected to place
into the hands of low-income children, as well as the actual
total.

I might have thought that RIF could not distribute as many
books in 2004 and later years, because it had less money to buy
books. In 2003, RIF had a baseline of 3.7 million children to
receive books, later raised to 3.9 and 4 million for 2004 and
2005. RIF distributed no fewer than 3.6 million children each
year. RIF didn't meet the baseline in 2004 and 2005, but it's
hardly a failure to distribute the same number of books — which
cost more each year — with less money.

Then in 2006, the last year that federal data is available, RIF
distributed books to nearly 4.5 million children - using less
federal money than the year before.

That's hardly an example of a failing program; in fact, one
would have to wonder what RIF could have accomplished with an
extra million or two.

The USA Today article has a comment by Clay Johnson, deputy
director of the federal office of Management and Budget. Citing
him directly from the article, Johnson says that "we are calling
out as ineffective some sacred cows. It's not enough to say
'Isn't it lovely?' We want it to be a lovely program that
works."

With respect to RIF, the Bush White House has picked the wrong
sacred cow to slaughter.

About The Author: Stuart Nachbar has been involved with
education politics, policy and technology as a student, urban
planner, government affairs manager, software executive, and now
as author of The Sex Ed Chronicles. Visit his blog,
http://www.educatedquest.com

What Should You Consider Before Studying to Become a Medical Transcriptionist

Medical transcription can be a very good work at home job. The hours are generally flexible, and you can choose to find your own clients or work for a service.

On the other hand, it can be demanding, with deadlines that need to be met, and a very high standard of accuracy. Add that to changes in technology, and it's important you consider many factors before you spend money on your medical transcription education.

The first things to look at are your own skills. Can you type fast? Your transcription speed is generally slower than your typing speed. The faster you already are, the better.

How's your grammar? Spelling? If you have a lot of trouble in these areas, you're going to have a harder time succeeding as a transcriptionist.

What about your work space? While you don't have to worry about others overhearing the kids arguing in the background while you transcribe, such distractions will have an impact on your productivity, and hence your income.

How self motivated are you? Can you work well without direct supervision?

This is one of the biggest pitfalls of working at home. With no supervisor around to see what you're doing, it's easy to let home life get in the way of working. You can't allow this to happen. Medical transcription is typically paid on production, not hourly. You don't work, you don't get paid.

Also talk to your family about what you want to do. I can tell you from personal experience that not everyone will respect a work at home job as a real one. I was asked for 3 years by my mother-in-law when I was going to get a job when I worked as a medical transcriptionist. That it could be a real job was a hard fact for her to absorb because when she had stayed at home the only work she did was volunteer work.

Do you have or can you get high speed internet? More and more companies are having transcriptionists download the dictation off the internet rather than telephone lines, and this requires a high speed connection.

You should also be aware of potential future developments in technology that will impact the medical transcription industry. While many fear that voice recognition will do away with the need for transcriptionists, so far it is not nearly accurate enough, takes too long to train the software for the taste of many doctors, and will still need to be checked by a human due to the many similar sounding terms used in medicine.

Some companies are already hiring medical transcription editors to review transcripts created by voice recognition software.

And of course, you do have the schools to consider. There's the need for it to have a good reputation with employers. If no one will hire you because they don't like the track record of the school, you've just wasted potentially a couple thousand dollars and months of your time.

Check the schools out. Make sure that they have a solid reputation with employers. Some are partnered with potential employers, which can mean that students who do well enough have a better shot at available jobs.

Cost matters to pretty much everyone, and it's hard to find financial aid for most online medical transcription programs. But many will have payment plans, so you can find something that will work with your budget.

As a work at home career, medical transcription is a pretty good one. It's future is as yet promising, despite the fears new technologies generate, and despite outsourcing. The pay is good, the hours generally flexible. It's not a bad deal.

Stephanie Foster is a former medical transcriptionist and runs http://www.medicaltranscriptionbasics.com/ for people considering becoming medical transcriptionists. Get more tips on choosing the right medical transcription school at http://www.medicaltranscriptionbasics.com/education.htm

Roper Industries to buy CBORD Group

Industrial products maker Roper Industries Inc. said Thursday that it will buy "smart card" maker CBORD Group Inc. for $367 million, including $23 million in tax benefits that can be used over time. Continue reading ...