Tuesday, June 17, 2014


News Clips For The Day


More companies want to ditch America to cut taxes – CBS
By KIM PETERSON MONEYWATCH June 17, 2014

Some wealthy Americans have moved overseas to avoid the long arm of Uncle Sam. Now, a growing number of companies are looking to do the same.

Medtronic (MDT), a medical device maker in Minneapolis, is the latest company to seek tax relief by incorporating abroad. It said this week it plans to head to Ireland, a country with lower corporate tax rates, through a $42.9 billion takeover of Covidien (COV).

Medtronic, which makes heart devices and materials used in spinal surgeries, isn't actually picking up and moving everything to Ireland. CEO Omar Ishrak will still run the company from Minnesota, Bloomberg reports, and its operational headquarters will remain the same. Medtronic employs more than 8,000 people in Minneapolis, in fact. The company it plans on buying, Covidien, is headquartered in Dublin but mostly run from Massachusetts.

The U.S. corporate tax rate is 35 percent, although many companies take advantage of loopholes and other quirks of the system to reduce their rate. Still, Ireland's corporate tax rate is just 12.5 percent.

Moving a corporate address overseas for the tax benefits is known as a "tax inversion," and it's becoming an increasingly attractive option for companies. About 44 American companies have reincorporated overseas or plan to do so, Bloomberg reports, including 14 since 2012.

Companies can opt for an inversion if foreign shareholders own at least 20 percent of their stock. Often, buying a foreign company for a large chunk of stock is the easiest way to accomplish this.

Pfizer (PFE) tried this year to buy British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (AZN), finally giving up its quest in May after getting rebuffed four times. The takeover would have saved Pfizer an estimated $1 billion each year in taxes. Pfizer's U.S. tax rate is around 27.4 percent, compared with 21.3 percent for AstraZeneca, The Wall Street Journal reports. Analysts guessed that every percentage point in tax reduction could get Pfizer $200 million more in annual profit.

Another consideration for companies like Pfizer is that shifting an address overseas could give them access to all the cash they hold offshore. U.S. companies have about $2 trillion sitting in overseas bank accounts, and would have to pay income taxes on that money if they wanted to bring it back home. Congress has deadlocked for years on how to handle the issue.

Drugstore chain Walgreen (WAG) is getting pressure from some shareholders to move its corporate address to Switzerland. But analysts think the company will stay in the U.S. because moving would be difficult for the company and create operating inefficiencies, Businessweek reports.

U.S. lawmakers aren't happy with the increasing number of tax inversions. Last month, 14 senators introduced a bill that would freeze all inversions for two years. The plan is to use that delay to figure out how to improve the corporate tax code, The New York Times reports.

The senators can't exactly stop a company from moving, but they can change that requirement that 20 percent of stock be owned by foreign shareholders before an inversion occurs. They want to raise that threshold to 50 percent for two years, which would effectively clamp down on inversions.

"This is about leveling the playing field and rooting out flagrant tax abuse in our system that could lead to billions of dollars of lost revenue," Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said, according to The Times. "In order to fully restore budget certainty, we need to look at abuses in the tax code as much as spending."





“The U.S. corporate tax rate is 35 percent, although many companies take advantage of loopholes and other quirks of the system to reduce their rate. Still, Ireland's corporate tax rate is just 12.5 percent.” That is a really large tax difference. When companies move their headquarters overseas to avoid the US tax structure, it is called a “tax inversion.” “Last month, 14 senators introduced a bill that would freeze all inversions for two years. The plan is to use that delay to figure out how to improve the corporate tax code,” according to the New York Times. 44 companies have moved overseas, with 14 doing so since 2012. The senators want to raise the mandatory 20 % of stocks held by foreign investors to 50%. “'"In order to fully restore budget certainty, we need to look at abuses in the tax code as much as spending,'” said Democratic Senator Tim Kaine. The following bill was introduced in September to reduce tax loopholes.


http://www.levin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senators-introduce-bill-to-close-offshore-tax-loopholes/

Senators introduce bill to close offshore tax loopholes
Thursday, September 19, 2013

- See more at: http://www.levin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senators-introduce-bill-to-close-offshore-tax-loopholes/#sthash.RQwbQ5Mw.dpuf

WASHINGTON – Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and three cosponsors today will introduce legislation to close a host of offshore corporate tax loopholes, make the tax code fairer for small businesses and families and provide part of the foundation for a balanced deficit-reduction package to end sequestration. - See more at: http://www.levin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senators-introduce-bill-to-close-offshore-tax-loopholes/#sthash.RQwbQ5Mw.dpuf

The Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, S.1533 [PDF], cosponsored by Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; Mark Begich, D-Alaska; and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; would provide in the neighborhood of $220 billion in additional revenue over 10 years, according to estimates from the Joint Committee on Taxation, by ending a series of tax gimmicks uncovered in a decade of work by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. - See more at: http://www.levin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senators-introduce-bill-to-close-offshore-tax-loopholes/#sthash.RQwbQ5Mw.dpuf

The bill would stop tax-avoidance schemes such as transferring valuable intellectual property and the income they generate to offshore subsidiaries and the practice of setting up offshore shell corporations – often nothing more than a post office box – to claim foreign status for tax purposes. - See more at: http://www.levin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senators-introduce-bill-to-close-offshore-tax-loopholes/#sthash.RQwbQ5Mw.dpuf

“These corporate tax loopholes are unfair to domestic companies, small business and the families who must carry the extra burden that results when large multinational corporations use complex gimmicks to avoid taxes,” Levin said. “We should end these loopholes regardless of our budget situation, because they are blatantly unfair. But surely now, with sequestration continuing to damage military readiness, education, life-saving medical research and more, we should end these offshore tax avoidance schemes and use the revenue as part of a balanced plan to replace sequestration.” - See more at: http://www.levin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senators-introduce-bill-to-close-offshore-tax-loopholes/#sthash.RQwbQ5Mw.dpuf

“Big corporations shouldn’t be allowed to play games with the tax code and benefit from shipping jobs overseas,” Whitehouse said. “This bill would force corporations that are dodging their responsibilities to pay their fair share of taxes, and create an even playing field for American companies that already play by the rules.” - See more at: http://www.levin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senators-introduce-bill-to-close-offshore-tax-loopholes/#sthash.RQwbQ5Mw.dpuf

“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but without a level playing field, large multinational corporations are allowed a leg up by circumventing the system and avoiding taxes,” said Begich. “This common sense bill will go a long way to closing these unfair loopholes and restoring fairness, transparency and essential revenue to our economy.” - See more at: http://www.levin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senators-introduce-bill-to-close-offshore-tax-loopholes/#sthash.RQwbQ5Mw.dpuf

“We need to make the tax code fairer by eliminating offshore tax loopholes for big corporations,” Shaheen said. “Middle class families and small business shouldn’t carry the burden of these loopholes that only benefit large corporations and the wealthiest Americans.” - See more at: http://www.levin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senators-introduce-bill-to-close-offshore-tax-loopholes/#sthash.RQwbQ5Mw.dpuf

The bill would:
Crack down on the use of intellectual property transfers as tax-avoidance tools by taxing excess income earned from transferring intellectual property to offshore subsidiaries;
Give the Treasury Department important new weapons to fight against foreign governments and financial institutions that aid tax avoidance, including the ability to prohibit U.S. banks from doing business with foreign banks in jurisdictions that impede U.S. tax enforcement;

Require SEC-registered corporations to disclose employment, revenues and tax payments on a country-by-country basis;

Eliminate the tax incentive for companies to move jobs and operations offshore by limiting their ability to claim immediate tax deductions for expenses related to those offshore operations while deferring the U.S. tax on the income those operations generate;

Repeal what are known as the “check-the-box” and “CFC look-through” rules, which allow multinationals to avoid U.S. taxes they would otherwise owe by making offshore subsidiaries disappear for tax purposes, turning taxable passive income into tax-deferred active income;

Prevent multinationals from using short-term loans from their offshore subsidiaries to essentially repatriate income while avoiding taxes that should apply to repatriated money.

- See more at: http://www.levin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senators-introduce-bill-to-close-offshore-tax-loopholes/#sthash.RQwbQ5Mw.dpuf


https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1533

Full Title
A bill to end offshore tax abuses, to preserve our national defense and protect American families and businesses from devastating cuts, and for other purposes.

Prognosis
0% chance of getting past committee.
0% chance of being enacted.
Only 11% of bills made it past committee and only about 3% were enacted in 2011–2013. [show factors | methodology]

The following factors determined this bill’s prognosis:
The bill was introduced in the first year of the Congress. ▼
6+ cosponsors serve on a committee to which the bill has been referred. ▼
The bill was referred to Senate Finance. ▼
This bill was a re-introduction of S. 1346 (112th) from the previous session of Congress.▼
Key: ▼ Correlated with unsuccessful bills. Correlation may not indicate causation.






What does "natural" really mean on food labels?
By AGATA BLASZCZAK-BOXE CBS NEWS June 16, 2014

Many consumers believe that "natural" products are better and healthier than others, but are often confused about what the label actually means. Now Consumer Reports is launching a campaign to ban the term, claiming it confuses and misleads shoppers.

In a new survey of 1,000 people by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, nearly 60 percent of people said they look for the term "natural" on food labels when they shop.

About two-thirds of people surveyed said they believe the term "natural" means that a processed food has no artificial ingredients, pesticides or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). But in fact, the FDA has not developed a strict definition of the term for food labels. The agency says it won't object to the claim "natural" as long as there are no artificial or synthetic ingredients in a particular product.

"Consumers are severely misled by the natural label," Urvashi Rangan, executive director of the Food Safety and Sustainability Center at Consumer Reports, told "CBS This Morning."

"With 'natural,' any manufacturer can pretty much stick it on their package," she said. "It doesn't mean very much."

"There is no formal definition" of the term, Kristin Kirkpatrick, a registered dietician at the Cleveland Clinic, told CBS News. "I do think we have a gray area."

In the survey, nine out of 10 Americans said that foods containing GMOs should be labeled and meet safety standards established by the government.

The report also showed that people's understanding of the term "raised without antibiotics" varies. About one-third of people in the survey assumed incorrectly that no other drugs (besides antibiotics) were given to the animal used in food labeled as "raised without antibiotics."

So, is there a way for consumers to check if a particular processed food product is really as "natural" as they'd like?

Calling the manufacturer and asking is often the best way, Kirkpatrick said. And if the manufacturer says that the information is proprietary and the company cannot reveal the formula, this may not reflect well on the manufacturer's claims about how natural a product is, she said.

Kirkpatrick also points out that just because something is "natural" does not mean it's necessarily good for you. Products that are full of sugar and calories sometimes carry the label "natural" without being especially healthy.

She suggests a simple solution to the issue: avoid packaged foods whenever possible. If people cook with more whole foods instead of processed products, she says, they are less likely to have to deal with confusing labels.

"We should look at our own habits," Kirkpatrick said. "Best foods for you are the ones that have no claims."





“Consumer Reports is launching a campaign to ban the term, claiming it confuses and misleads shoppers.” According to this article, 60% of shoppers look for the term “natural” when shopping. In the 1970's and after was the first time I heard the term being discussed by people. This is, to me, a very “Middle Class” term, as these products almost always cost more and may require going to a special (more expensive) store. Young women with a good income were buying “natural” foods, buying pure cotton rather than the (less expensive) fabrics that included synthetics, questioning modern medical science and going toward acupuncture, buying expensive and often ineffective herbal remedies and supplement products, and other such things. The trend was called “New Age” and included an emphasis on Eastern philosophers and exercise forms such as Tai Chi. Doing situps on your living room floor just isn't good enough. In short, it was a fad. It's like people who are refusing to get their children vaccinated for philosophical reasons. We are in a measles outbreak right now because of that, and also there was a recent report about whooping cough. Both diseases kill a certain percentage of children. They aren't just “childhood diseases” that are harmless.

At this point there are some new things that are disturbing people such as genetically engineered food. I tend to think that if the FDA approves it, there will be no dangerous biological differences between corn that is genetically engineered rather than cross bred by pollen transfer. If it can be digested by the body, it will feed me and probably contain as much nutritive value as the old fashioned corn. Besides it would take me two hours to pick up a basketful of groceries if I had to read every label and figure out what company and nation a pear came from. Temperamentally, I just can't go that route, and intellectually I think that so many of those claims against things are hyped or totally inaccurate. I listen on the news when a product is recalled, and would avoid buying that one, but I don't worry very much about the food supply.






"Kenya is now officially a war zone" – CBS
AP June 17, 2014

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Extremists attacked a coastal area of Kenya for the second night in a row, killing at least nine people a day after the deaths of nearly 50, an official said Tuesday.

Police spokesman Masoud Mwinyi said that al-Shabab militants attacked Majembeni village. The Somali militant group also claimed responsibility for theSunday night attack in nearby Mpeketoni that killed 48 people.

The back-to-back attacks underscore the weak security around the Lamu area, which lies just south of the Somali border. Lamu once attracted swarms of foreign visitors but its tourist sector has been suffering in recent years because of increasing violence.

On Sunday night the gunmen went door to door demanding to know if the men inside were Muslim and if they spoke Somali. If the extremists did not like the answers, they opened fire.

The U.S. ambassador made Kenya's entire coastal region off-limits for embassy employees after the attack.

The merciless tactics recalled al-Shabab's attack on an upscale mall in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, last September in which at least 67 people were killed, some of them after not being able to answer questions about Islam.

Al-Shabab later said it carried out the attack because of Kenya's "brutal oppression of Muslims in Kenya," including the killings of Muslim scholars in Mombasa. The group said that such attacks would continue "as you continue to invade our lands and oppress innocent Muslims."

Tourists were then warned: "Kenya is now officially a war zone and as such any tourists visiting the country do so at their own peril. Foreigners with any regard for their safety and security should stay away from Kenya."

Kenya has experienced a wave of gunfire and bomb and grenade attacks in recent months. The U.S., U.K., France, Australia, and Canada have all recently upgraded their terror-threat warnings for the country. U.S. Marines behind sandbag bunkers have for some days been stationed on the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.



http://allafrica.com/stories/201406100543.html – Kenya: Muslim Cleric Shot Dead in Mombasa
BY CALVIN ONSARIGO, 10 JUNE 2014

Police are investigating the murder of a Muslim cleric in the Coastal city of Mombasa.
Mohammed Idris 64 , chairman of the Council of  Imam and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) was shot dead on this morning outside his house in Likoni area .
Mombasa county commissioner Nelson Marwa said three assailants riding a motorbike confronted the Imam and shot him at close range as he was heading to the Mosque for morning prayers.
Idris was an Imam at the troubled Sakina  Mosque in Majengo  for over 30 years before he was ousted by  radical Muslim youths  late last year.

He was accused of not supporting Jihad teaching and being a government sympathizer, claims he repeatedly denied . His body was taken Pandya hospital for autopsy and will be buried later today at the Kikowani cemetery.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-19650148

Kenya: Will radical Islam ruin Mombasa's charms?
19 September 2012

The killing in August of a Muslim cleric was followed by days of deadly riots in the city of Mombasa, from where the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse reports on a region caught between economic deprivation and religious fundamentalism.

As the mosques filled up for Friday prayers, we discussed the topic the whole neighbourhood was talking about: The recent drive-by assassination of Sheikh Aboud Rogo Mohammed.

People here say it is not the first time "troublesome" Muslims have been targeted.

Aboud Rogo was certainly troublesome.
He urged his followers to take up arms against Kenyan government forces fighting in Somalia.
His name appeared on a US and UN sanctions list, accused of providing "financial, material, logistical or technical support to al-Shabab", the Somali militant group aligned to al-Qaeda.





Al-Shabab, another Islamic extremist group from Somalia, is attacking a two places of “weak security around the Lamu area, which lies just south of the Somali border” in Kenya. Once a prime tourist site, the area has become more violent in general over the last few years and is no longer attracting so many travelers. “On Sunday night the gunmen went door to door demanding to know if the men inside were Muslim and if they spoke Somali. If the extremists did not like the answers, they opened fire.” The shoppers at a mall in Nairobi a few months ago were also asked questions about Islam before they were shot. Al-Shabab said the attacks are due to “brutal oppression of Muslims in Kenya, including the killings of Muslim scholars in Mombasa.” Mohammed Idris was opposed to the radical Islamists at the Mombasa mosque, and was apparently assassinated by al-Shabab. Five major western nations including the US have announced travel warnings and US marines are defending the US Embassy in Nairobe.





Russia tables new Ukraine resolution at U.N.
CBS/AP June 17, 2014

UNITED NATIONS -- Russia circulated a new U.N. resolution on Ukraine Monday in a fresh effort to get the deeply divided Security Council to address the worsening humanitarian situation and escalating conflict in the east between the government and separatist fighters.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Monday the new resolution includes parts of two earlier resolutions it circulated this month which called for humanitarian aid, a cease-fire, and a national dialogue in Ukraine.

It also includes several issues raised by council members including a reference to Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, he said.

Churkin said Russia, which holds the Security Council presidency in June, made the changes "to try to get as much support as possible," and will be working at a rapid pace to win council approval.

But Russia is likely to face an uphill struggle because of widespread opposition to its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March and the activities of pro-Russian militias in the east.

In the latest example of the divisions in the council, Churkin said Russia is "disappointed" that the council didn't support a press statement condemning Saturday's attack on the Russian Embassy in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.

Press statements require support from all 15 council members and Churkin blamed Lithuania. It was "the only country" that objected, he said.

Lithuania's U.N. Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite told The Associated Press that all countries supported a condemnation of the embassy attack, but some wanted a parallel or separate condemnation of the downing of a Ukrainian military transport plane by pro-Russia separatists early Saturday which killed all 49 crew and troops aboard.

"Russia called this an unacceptable condition and canceled the statement," she said. "We were not the ones who blocked. It was taken off the table by Russia."

Murmokaite said her government will study the new text, and one key issue will be whether the reference to territorial integrity includes Crimea.

"For us it does, and it cannot be any other way," she said. "We cannot equate the legitimate government with illegitimate illegal insurgents who are better armed than the Ukrainian army and are carrying out attacks on the territory and against the state of Ukraine."

Before the new Russian draft was circulated, the Security Council received a briefing by U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos on the situation in Ukraine.

Murmokaite said Amos told council members by video conference that the humanitarian situation was deteriorating and could deteriorate further.

Churkin said that towns and villages in the east are being attacked daily with artillery, tanks and planes, that "hundreds of people including children were killed in and around the cities of Luhansk and Slavyansk," and that many towns have no drinking water because energy and water supplies have been targeted. He said 60,000 Ukrainian refugees are in Russia.

Ukraine's border guard service told the Reuters news agency that around 30 Ukrainian soldiers were injured early Tuesday in clashes with the separatists near Luhansk.

Pro-Russian separatists told Reuters that Ukrainian forces have been firing on their positions all week.

Amos told the council that 34,000 Ukrainians have fled their homes, including 10,000 from Crimea, and that 4,600 Ukrainians have applied for asylum or refugee status in Russia, U.N. diplomats said.

She said that if there is no political settlement, there could be a humanitarian crisis, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the briefing was closed.



https://news.yahoo.com/us-condemns-attack-russian-embassy-kiev-175318659.html

US condemns attack on Russian embassy in Kiev
June 14, 2014

Washington (AFP) - The United States condemned an attack on Russia's embassy in Kiev on Saturday and called on Ukraine to provide adequate security for the diplomatic mission.

The US reaction came after a crowd, inflamed by the downing of a Ukrainian military transport plane, tore down the embassy's flag and overturned vehicles as a dozen police looked on.

"The United States condemns the attack on the Russian Embassy in Kiev, and calls on Ukrainian authorities to meet their Vienna convention obligations to provide adequate security," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, meanwhile, called Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and expressed condolences for the 49 troops killed Saturday when pro-Russian rebels shot down the Il-76 transport plane near the airport that serves the city of Lugansk, a senior State Department official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Kerry underscored to Yatsenyuk "the commitment of the United States and G7 partners to raise the costs for Russia if it does not end the flow of weapons across the border and break with separatists."

Kerry also called Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, voicing the United States' "strong concern" about the transport of heavy weapons and militants across the Russian border into eastern Ukraine, and the downing of the transport plane.

"He pressed Foreign Minister Lavrov to make clear Russia's commitment to de-escalation and peace by ending the flow of weapons and support to separatists, and actively working with Ukraine for a ceasefire, amnesty, and political dialogue," the official said.





“Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Monday the new resolution includes parts of two earlier resolutions it circulated this month which called for humanitarian aid, a cease-fire, and a national dialogue in Ukraine. It also includes several issues raised by council members including a reference to Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, he said.” Opinion on the committee runs against Russia's interventions in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. The Russian complaint is false, however, as the committee was willing to censure the Ukrainian government for failing to protect the embassy, but they wanted a parallel censure of Russia for the downing of the Ukrainian transport plane a few days earlier, and Russia found that addition “unacceptable,” withdrawing their petition. Lithuania's U.N. Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite stated that any new text must include language stating that Ukraine's “territorial integrity includes Crimea.” "'For us it does, and it cannot be any other way,' she said. 'We cannot equate the legitimate government with illegitimate illegal insurgents who are better armed than the Ukrainian army and are carrying out attacks on the territory and against the state of Ukraine.'"

U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos reported that a degenerating humanitarian situation exists in Ukraine. Churkin stated that Eastern towns are being bombarded daily, and that they have no power and water is running out. He also said that 60,000 Ukrainian refugees are in Russia at present. “Amos told the council that 34,000 Ukrainians have fled their homes, including 10,000 from Crimea, and that 4,600 Ukrainians have applied for asylum or refugee status in Russia, U.N. diplomats said.” Russia needs to stop carrying on their attacks on Eastern Ukraine so Ukraine can pull back its troops, and then all can hold talks about returning the situation to its status before Russia invaded. From that point they can discuss the treatment of Russian minorities in Ukraine and more autonomy in the East. At least, that's what should happen.





Most teacher preparation programs failing to make grade: report
CBS NEWS June 17, 2014

Only seven percent of the more than 1,600 teacher preparation programs evaluated by a group pushing for improvement in the quality of such programs nationwide earned the group's "Top Ranked" status in its latest assessment.

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), which describes itself as "a policy and research organization dedicated to ensuring every classroom is led by a quality teacher," released its 2014 Teacher Prep Review Tuesday.

'With only 1 in 15 programs providing first-year teachers with solid preparation, it is clear we, as a nation, have a long way to go if we are going to do right by teachers as well as their students," NCTC President Kate Walsh observed.

Three out of four programs surveyed fail to insist In their admissions processes that applicants meet even modest academic standards (a 3.0 GPA or scoring above the 50th percentile on the ACT or SAT).

Still, the NCTQ noted, "There are encouraging signs since last year's Review: Nine institutions moved swiftly to raise their admissions standards to meet the NCTQ recommendations. In the absence of institutions voluntarily raising standards, a number of states, such as Rhode Island and Delaware, are moving to impose higher admissions standards on their institutions. Importantly, nearly 100 institutions were commended by NCTQ for not only being appropriately selective, but also for achieving strong diversity among admitted students."

Overall, said the NCTQ, "The Review uncovers early evidence that teacher preparation programs are beginning to make changes. It arrives at a time of heightened, unprecedented activity across the nation to improve teacher preparation."

Most states - 33 - had at least one Top Ranked program, with to 26 elementary and 81 secondary programs earning the gold star. "Fortunately," the group said, "nearly two-thirds of the Top Ranked programs (68) are public, ensuring that aspiring teachers have high-quality, low cost pathways into teaching."

The NCTC highlighted what it sees as particularly encouraging developments:

-- 33 states have recently made significant changes in their accountability policies for teacher preparation programs and seven more have taken steps forward

-- A new consortium of seven states organized by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is working to beef up program approval standards

-- The Obama Administration has signaled it intends to strengthen accountability steps for teacher preparation and that it will earmark millions of dollars in federal grants to only high-performing programs

-- A new professional organization, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), is beginning to accredit programs using much stricter standards

-- And more districts are pledging to make use of program data, including the NCTQ findings, to improve their hiring of new teachers and pressure programs to provide the training needed to teach successfully in public schools.

Among the programs in the "Top Ranked' level:

For elementary school teachers:

1. Dallas Baptist University (TX) (undergraduate) 2. Texas A&M University (undergraduate) 3. Ohio State University (graduate)

For secondary school teachers:

1. Western Governors University (UT) (undergraduate) 2. Lipscomb University (TN) (undergraduate) 3. Fort Hays State University (KS) (undergraduate)

Three institutions had three Top Ranked programs: CUNY - Hunter College, Miami University of Ohio and the University of Houston. Seven others have two Top Ranked programs: Arizona State University, Dallas Baptist University, Eastern Connecticut University, Fort Hays State University, Lipscomb University, Ohio State University and Western Governors University. States with the largest number of Top Ranked institutions include Ohio, Tennessee and Texas.



http://dianeravitch.net/category/national-council-on-teacher-quality-nctq/

National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ
What is NCTQ?
By dianeravitch
June 17, 2014

With the release of the NCTQ ratings of teacher preparation programs, this is a propitious time to review its origins.

It was created by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute. It floundered, then was rescued by a grant of $5 million from Secretary of Education Rod Paige in the early days of the Bush administration. It is not a research organization. It is an advocacy organization.

Its judgments about Ed schools rely heavily on course catalogues and reading lists, not site visits. Its criteria for success include evidence of teaching phonics and preparing to teach the Common Core. If Mr. Smith and Ms. Jones are preparing to teach in a state that did not adopt the Common Core, why should they be prepared to teach it?

When I spoke to the AACTE (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education), I advised them to insert the words “Common Core” and “phonics” liberally in their catalogues. The key to higher ratings.




“The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), which describes itself as 'a policy and research organization dedicated to ensuring every classroom is led by a quality teacher.'" The organization has put out a report on teacher education training programs, and viewed only 7% as being “top ranked.”

“Three out of four programs surveyed fail to insist in their admissions processes that applicants meet even modest academic standards (a 3.0 GPA or scoring above the 50th percentile on the ACT or SAT).” Nine programs have raised their admissions standards and two states have mandated those standards since last year's report. The NCTQ stated that “'nearly 100 institutions were commended by NCTQ for not only being appropriately selective, but also for achieving strong diversity among admitted students.... Most states - 33 - had at least one Top Ranked program, with to 26 elementary and 81 secondary programs earning the gold star. "Fortunately," the group said, "nearly two-thirds of the Top Ranked programs (68) are public, ensuring that aspiring teachers have high-quality, low cost pathways into teaching.'"

Blogger Dianne Ravitch's site is called “A Site To Discuss Better Education For All,” and has two articles about NCTQ on her site. “Who are they?” is the subject on June 17, 2014, and she comments on them earlier – November 4, 2013, in “How Embarrassing For Rhode Island.” the following is from her November article.

“According to the Providence Journal, Rhode Island won plaudits from the National Council on Teacher Quality. The newspaper, which is notorious for its inattention to background, describes NCTQ as a “nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy group.” This is not accurate. As I have described on this blog in detail, NCTQ was created in 2000 by the rightwing Thomas B. Fordham Foundation at a time when I was a member of the board. It was created specifically to harass teacher-education institutions and to advance an agenda in which untrained teachers could win certification by passing a test. The teacher test it created, called the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence, eventually was turned over to another company that sells online certification for only $1995.00. Is that a high-quality way to prepare teachers for the nation’s children?"

I think her blogs are enough to cause question of the NCTQ as the authority on teacher education, but if being mentioned has caused a number of teacher training institutions to do simple things like beginning to insist on a 3.0 GPA and scoring above the 50 percentile on the SAT for would be teachers, then it has caused improvement. Personally, as far as teaching phonetics goes, I think any first to third grade class that is not teaching a good grounding in phonetics is laying the groundwork for an inability to reason out what a new word sounds like and means, and of course without phonetics kids have a much harder time learning to spell and read on their own.

When spelling and reading are taught as rote memorization, they make no sense. No wonder kids from foreign backgrounds or who have marked accents due to their home life can't comprehend new words as easily and build a large vocabulary with which to tackle difficult reading materials. If the rules of how to say and therefore spell things are given, the alphabet makes perfect sense. So a kid needs to memorize some words – foreign spellings, multisyllable words, double letters, and silent letters. That's no real problem as there won't be very many of those – memorize them if you must. To me, that's what those first few years need to teach – how to proceed on your own with a dictionary in hand to tackle new things. With that information learned, they can grapple with history, economics, literature, psychology, and whatever else they have to study. They will continue to use their trusty dictionary and build their vocabulary so that they will score high on those difficult SAT tests. Then our schools won't be getting failing grades.




In Yabbies And Cappuccino, A Culinary Lifeline For Aboriginal Youth -- NPR
by THE KITCHEN SISTERS
June 17, 2014

If you teach an aboriginal man (or woman) to make a cappuccino, can you feed his career for a lifetime?

That's the hope at Yaama Dhiyaan, a cooking and hospitality school for at-risk indigenous young people in Australia.

Students there are learning the skills to be cooks, restaurant and hotel workers, and caterers. The school is also helping to reconnect them to their culture, disrupted when many of their grandparents were kidnapped off the land, forced into missionary schools and denied the right to vote until the 1960s.

Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo is an aboriginal elder who heads the school. She is from the Gamillera tribe and grew up on a reservation about 500 miles from Sydney in New South Wales.

"They asked me to name the school," says Aunty Beryl, "so I thought I might as well say 'hello' in my own Yuwaalaraay language. Yaama means 'hello' and Dhiyaan means 'family.' So it's 'Hello family and friends' when you come here."

Among the skills the students learn at Yaama Dhiyaan is how to make cappuccinos and other specialty coffee drinks.

"A lot of aboriginal people wouldn't go near a cappuccino machine," she laughs. "Actually, we don't drink it. We were never brought up with coffee. ... We were tea drinkers."

The school takes about 20 students per session for the eight-week cooking and hospitality course.

"I've been cooking all my life. I'm from the bush," says James Wilden, a 20-year-old student who recently completed the program. 

"I've cooked kangaroo, goanna [a local lizard], yabbies [crustaceans]."

Wilden grew up in a family with 15 brothers and eight sisters. Times got hard. He and most of his brothers have been in and out of jail all their lives. While he was in the school, Wilden was incarcerated in a jail but was allowed to leave to take daily classes at Yaama Dhiyaan.

"When I was younger I made some bad decisions," Wilden says. "That's why I'm in this course: to make my life better."

"Most of the people in our class are aboriginal — boys, girls, mothers, fathers, cousins," says 20-year-old Molly Meribito. Her family is from the Bundjalung tribe from the border of Queensland and New South Wales. She got pregnant at 16, and since she hasn't had much to do lately, her family recommended that she go learn with Aunty Beryl.

"We're lucky if we get 12 to stay" in the program, says Aunty Beryl.

"Sometimes they can't cope," says Aunty Beryl. "When you're ready, you come back. And we've had that happen to one of our young lads. He went away for a year, and he came back and he said, 'Aunty Beryl, I'm ready to be a chef.' "

Classified As Unemployable

Australia's history of racial discrimination against the Aborigines is a long one. And young members of this minority group who have criminal records and previous drug histories, or who got pregnant as teenagers, are not who people usually want to hire.

"Traditionally, the students that we train are classified as unemployable — that's what the society has labeled them as," says Dani Hore, who manages the Aboriginal Employment Program that oversees Yaama Dhiyaan.

The Employment Program also offers a carpentry and construction course downstairs from the cooking school. Aunty Beryl's students prepare lunch each day for themselves and the students studying to be electricians, carpenters and plumbers.

"So many young people don't even have a home to live in," Hore says. "One student, who we actually got employment for, was living in a tree. He had nowhere to live, and the tree was safe because it was up off the ground."

Bush Tucker

Just as many chefs and traditional cooks in Australia are interested in integrating traditional foods into modern-day cooking, the students are learning to prepare and eat Chinese stir-fry, French baguettes, Italian pasta.

The through line is cooking fresh, local and seasonal whenever possible. That, for Aunty Beryl, leads to bush tucker.

"Bush tucker is what we got off the land, and that is why we are introducing it again, connecting students to their culture through food," says Aunty Beryl.

"You have your fruits, nuts, yams," Aunty Beryl lists. "You have your meats — kangaroo, wallaby, wild buffaloes up north.

There's also lemon myrtle, quandongs (an indigenous peach), marigold (a native spinach), wattleseeds from the Acacia tree, and salt bush, a shrub that covers large areas of dry, inland Australia.

"You have your seafood like barramundi," she adds. "It's got a real bushy sort of flavor. It's got that woody, tart flavor. Wrap it in gum leaves and throw it on an open fire. Then it will cook in its own oils."

Another favorite of Aunty Beryl is the finger lime. "I call it the aboriginal caviar," she says. "When you split it and open it up, it's got little lime modules inside that look like caviar. They are really great on fresh oysters."

You Can't Eat Your Totem

The students are also learning to make emu prosciutto. But Aunty Beryl doesn't eat the ostrichlike bird that some say tastes like steak.

"My totem is an emu, so I don't eat it," she says. "It's an animal that we worship." A totem is a being, an animal or plant, that serves as a sacred symbol to an aboriginal clan or tribe. A totem connects people, ancestors and mythic past.

"Kangaroo, goanna, dolphins — whatever totem your aboriginal tribe has, you can't kill, touch or eat," says student James Wilden. "I'm an emu. If I kill an emu, it's like killing my brother, my sister or my mother."

Ricardo Golding's totem is a turtle. He has come to Yaama Dhiyaan just out of high school. "I had nothing to do," says the 17-year-old. "I'm not that smart, but I'm doing my work. I used to get picked on a lot at school, because of the sound of my voice. The way I act. I was very afraid to go into class. I missed out on a lot of lessons. Here, the cooking is the part I like the most."

"The biggest thing our students or anybody has to deal with," says Aunty Beryl, "is their self-confidence."

The Stolen Generation

The history of the treatment of native cultures in Australia is a dark one. Whole generations of children were taken away from their parents, forced into missionary schools, native language forbidden, traditional foods taken away, whole clans forced off their own lands and onto reservations, cultures denied the right to vote until the 1960s.

Jamie Rayburch works with Aunty Beryl, helping out with the hospitality and training program. "My grandfather was part of the 'Stolen Generation.' He was stolen away when he was 5 years old and put into a cattle ranch and then into an all-boys orphanage. He never knew his parents. My grandmother's the same."

"I'm 24 years old," says Jamie, "and I'm still trying to understand what that's all about and how that affected my family, my culture, myself. I think that this generation — the Stolen Generation — has kind of almost been forgotten, where our culture came from, where the food derives from as well."

Dani Hore from the Employment Program says the aboriginal teachers and mentors at Yaama Dhiyaan are providing important role models for the youth.

"Once these young people come to Yaama Dhiyaan," says Dani, "they know that they are in a caring, loving environment where they are going to be taught vocational skills. But they are also going to be taught about self-respect and self-esteem and life skills that a parent would normally teach about punctuality, cleanliness, how to talk to people, how to eat together. It's a very short period of time, but it's quite transformational."

'It's James' Journey Now'

Along with learning to make lemon myrtle rose tarts, the perfect long black coffee and emu prosciutto, and how to card people and look for fake IDs to make sure people walking into a bar are old enough to drink — all skills required in Australia's hospitality and cooking industry — Yaama Dhiyaan is providing a vision for a future, and a sense of community.

James Wilden is preparing to graduate from his program in the next few weeks.

"I just love cooking," James says. "I love the smell. When I get out and get out of trouble, I want to be a chef."

James is eager to start his work, but he tears up at the thought of leaving the deep community of this Australian hidden kitchen.

Before he gets too broken up, Aunty Beryl speaks for her school. "We're looking at James going up into the Northern Territory and becoming an apprentice chef up there. I know James will be a success because his heart is in it. At the end of the day, it's James' journey now, once he leaves here. But, we're only a phone call away, because that's what Yaama's all about that. We're always going to be there as part of his journey."





Yaama Dhiyaan is a cooking and hospitality school for aboriginal teenagers who are falling behind. “Students there are learning the skills to be cooks, restaurant and hotel workers, and caterers. The school is also helping to reconnect them to their culture, disrupted when many of their grandparents were kidnapped off the land, forced into missionary schools and denied the right to vote until the 1960s.”


Their website is http://www.redwatch.org.au/media/070901ssht. “The course is open to Indigenous and non-Indigenous unemployed people.
This 8 week full-time course features:
✔         Food and beverage service.
✔         Customer service and teamwork.
✔         Hands-on tutorial sessions.
✔         Practical work experience with Yaama Dhiyaan Functions and Catering.
✔         Cooking classes with an Indigenous twist.
✔         Accreditation in Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA); Responsible Conduct of Gaming (RCG) and Barista Training.”

"'We're lucky if we get 12 to stay' in the program, says Aunty Beryl, [the head of the school.]. "'Sometimes they can't cope,' says Aunty Beryl. 'When you're ready, you come back. And we've had that happen to one of our young lads. He went away for a year, and he came back and he said, 'Aunty Beryl, I'm ready to be a chef.'"

"'Traditionally, the students that we train are classified as unemployable — that's what the society has labeled them as,' says Dani Hore, who manages the Aboriginal Employment Program that oversees Yaama Dhiyaan.” The Employment Program also offers carpentry and construction training downstairs. Hore said that many of his students are homeless, that one was actually living in a tree which was safer than sleeping on the ground.

“Bush tucker” is food which they gathered and hunted, and is traditional food for Aborigines. You can eat any food unless it is your tribal totem. To eat your totem is like eating “your brother.” The school prepares everything, however. The students are mentored and taught many life skills, plus self-confidence and self-esteem. “It's a very short period of time, but it's quite transformational." Aunty Berle speaks of a student who is soon to graduate. "We're looking at James going up into the Northern Territory and becoming an apprentice chef up there. I know James will be a success because his heart is in it. At the end of the day, it's James' journey now, once he leaves here. But, we're only a phone call away, because that's what Yaama's all about that. We're always going to be there as part of his journey."

This story is truly heart-warming. American Social Services has a tendency to be hands off in managing failing young people, when what they need is something like this. It doesn't teach them everything, probably very little of academic studies, but a skill that is marketable and a network that follows them into their adulthood and work life. I'm so pleased I found this story. It's my good news story for the day.