August 2010

Cuts widen the gap between the haves and have-nots

• 08-02-2010
• 

By Katy Murphy and Theresa Harrington/Contra Costa Times

Lamont Carter's family made a beeline for Alameda when they moved from New Jersey to the Bay Area five years ago. Carter said his parents liked the safe, small-town feel of the island city abutting Oakland, but one factor rose above all else: the fine reputation of its public schools.  Carter had a lot of catching up to do, and his teachers at Wood Middle School devoted extra time to help him. It wasn't just him. He remembers his algebra teacher hovering over each student's desk at the end of class to make sure everyone understood the work.  Now 16, the Alameda High School student is on the advanced placement track with plans to apply to top universities on the East Coast. (more...)

The promise and peril of Race to the Top

• 08-02-2010
• 

Editorial/Los Angeles Times

As encouraging as it is to see California in the running to win a Race to the Top grant for its schools, we can't help wondering how great a price the state will pay for the possibility of receiving as much as $700 million. The U.S. Department of Education announced last week that California is one of 19 finalists in the second round of grant applications. Should it succeed — and the odds are decent, because officials say that more than half the finalists will receive grants — many of California's neediest schools will receive infusions of new money.  (more...)

Obama's Race to the Top will not improve education

• 08-02-2010
• 

By Diane Ravitch/Huffington Post

President Obama spoke to the National Urban League this week and defended his "Race to the Top" program, which has become increasingly controversial. Mr. Obama insisted that it was the most important thing he had done in office, and that critics were merely clinging to the status quo. Mr. Obama was unfazed by the scathing critique of the Race by the nation's leading civil rights organizations, who insisted that access to federal funding should be based on need, not competition. (more...)

Testing leaders, publishers offer 'best practices' guide

• 08-02-2010
• 

By Catherine Gewertz/Education Week

The test-publishing industry and state assessment leaders have come together for the first time to define a set of best practices for large-scale state testing. The result of the collaboration, released today, is a new best-practices guide intended to serve as a road map to improving state assessment procedures. The Council of Chief State School Officers, which represents commissioners of education, and the Association of Test Publishers, a nonprofit trade group, both based in Washington, coordinated its development. (more...)

Math doesn't add up when teacher salaries and budget cuts collide

• 08-02-2010
• 

By Katy Murphy/Oakland Tribune

The math is simple: California schools have less money than most other states, but their teachers are the most highly paid in the nation. Per pupil spending, on the other hand, trails the national average by about $2,500. Until the financially troubled state government finds more money to invest in its public schools, which make up more than half of its general fund spending, something has to give. School budgeting has become a zero-sum game. (more...)

A smarter way to divvy up turnaround money

• 08-02-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

Doug McRae has a sharp eye and a rational mind. A retired vice president in the publishing division of  McGraw-Hill who follows state education policy closely, McRae saw the state’s peculiar recommendations for distributing $316 million in federal money this fall for turning around the  worst performing schools and thought, There’s got to be a better way. So McRae spent a good part of Saturday and Sunday creating a new formula for dividing up School Improvement Grant dollars that strikes me as fair and sound. Instead of giving huge sums – up to $6 million — indiscriminately, for the most part, to 63 schools and goose eggs to a dozen schools in Los Angeles Unified and 18 other schools, he’s come up with a set of reasonable criteria that school districts – even those that would get less than they had hoped –  would have a hard time disputing. (more...)

Antonio Villaraigosa could be the education mayor -- if he takes charge of LAUSD reform

• 08-02-2010
• 

Editorial/Los Angeles Daily News

Antonio  Villaraigosa swept into the Mayor's Office in 2005 in large part due to a promise to reform Los Angeles' monumentally failing public education system. It mattered little to voters that the mayor of Los Angeles has no endowed authority over the schools. They believed he could effect change. And he did, at least at first. Villaraigosa immediately set in motion an unprecedented reform revolution within the Los Angeles Unified School District simply on the strength of his political capital. He called in favors and tapped allies from his many years in state and local politics. He very nearly got passed a state law giving him actual control of the schools. (more...)

LAUSD, Oakland may not get turnaround grants

• 08-02-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

Food-fight alert: Los Angeles, Oakland and Stockton unifieds are among the school districts that would get not a penny to turn around their lowest-performing schools, while most other districts – San Francisco, Fresno and San Bernadino among them – would get all or nearly full funding for all of their schools on the 113-school list. The state Department of Education posted its recommendations late Friday (question that timing) – for the State Board of Education, which has final say over the funding, to consider on Monday. (more...)

Exit exam prevents 506 seniors from earning diplomas

• 08-02-2010
• 

By Fermin Leal/Orange County Register

At least 506 Orange County seniors failed to earn a diploma this spring only because they couldn't pass the state's high school exit exam. These students, from the high school class of 2010, passed every necessary class and met all other graduation requirements. About 31,000 seniors in all graduated this spring from local public high schools. A ninth grader takes the high school exit exam at Saddleback High School in Santa Ana in this file photo from last year. The exit exam measures aptitude in 10th-grade English and eighth-grade algebra. It was intended to ensure students graduate from high school with basic skills. (more...)

Public Waldorf schools booming in Sacramento -- but are they legal?

• 08-02-2010
• 

By Melody Gutierrez/Sacramento Bee

Sacramento is the epicenter of the debate over whether the Waldorf system – whose educational philosophy goes back 100 years – is appropriate for a public school. Parent interest in Waldorf schools is exploding, with a wait-listed K-8 school in south Sacramento moving to a larger site this summer. Sacramento City Unified School District officials say they recognize the growing interest in Waldorf-inspired education, which is primarily offered at private schools. The district opened a second Waldorf – a small public high school – three years ago. (more...)

California signs on to education standards

• 08-03-2010
• 

By Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times

California on Monday joined 31 states and the District of Columbia in approving new common learning standards in math and English language arts for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.  The goal of the new education framework is to provide consistent, and consistently rigorous, instruction nationwide. As the country's most populous state, California's adoption of the blueprint was key, especially because California has been praised for developing its own high standards. The second-largest state, Texas, spurned the effort entirely. (more...)

Also:  San Francisco Chronicle * Sacramento Bee * Los Angeles Daily News * San Bernardino Sun

Amid confusion, no vote on SIG money

• 08-03-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

After hearing complaints Monday that unclear rules had created confusion and unfairly excluded Los Angeles Unified and other districts, the State Board of Education postponed divvying up $316 million in federal money for the worst-performing schools in the state. Board members acknowledged the situation was “a mess.” Faced with a time pressure to get the money out to districts before school starts, the board won’t be delaying long. On an 8-1 vote, board members asked for state officials to consider revising the figures. But if federal officials won’t allow any tweaking and further delays, then the board agreed to meet as soon as legally permitted to pass what they concede would be flawed allocations. (more...)

Also: East Bay districts could lose out on grant money for low-achieving schools/Contra Costa Times

A pickle in Sacramento/Blog by Rachel Norton

Pajaro Valley schools await decision on $6.6 million grant/Santa Cruz Sentinel

Edujobs drama continues

• 08-03-2010
• 

Blog by Alyson Klein/Education Week

Remember we told you the Senate was slated to finally, finally vote on a $10 billion edujobs package tonight? Well, that didn't end up happening. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Majority Leader, pulled the legislation, which also included $16 billion in Medicaid aid for states, after a cost estimate found that the bill was not completely offset (meaning paid for) by cuts to other programs. The $26 billion piece of legislation would still have added about $5 billion in the deficit, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan agency that analyzes legislation.  (more...)

California and Utah only states actively shortening school year

• 08-03-2010
• 

Blog by Louis Freedberg/California Watch

California and Utah are the only two states actively allowing schools to cut classroom time from their instructional calendars. They join about a dozen other states that allow districts to offer a 175-day school year. More than 30 other states require a minimum of 180 days. Last year, Hawaii slashed its school year to 163 days in dramatic response to its budget crisis. But the move triggered such fierce backlash that the Hawaii Legislature voted in June to undo the move and restore the school year to 178 days in the coming school year, and to 180 in 2011-12, using hurricane relief funds and interest-free loans to do it.  (more...)

Do competitive grants hurt equal opportunity?

• 08-03-2010
• 

Expert blog/National Journal

Last week, a coalition of prominent civil rights groups released a new framework for education reform that said the Obama administration is pushing policies that will exacerbate inequality. In particular, the coalition's framework takes issue with the administration's signature reform initiative -- the federal grant competition Race to the Top -- and the general emphasis on competitive-grant funding. In this troubled economic environment, most low-income and minority children will be left behind under "competitive incentive" federal policies, they argue. (more...)

How a national standard will affect the education industry

• 08-03-2010
• 

By Kai Ryssdal/American Public Radio

KAI RYSSDAL: State education officials around the country are having a busy day. Today's a key deadline in the Obama Administration's Race to the Top. That's the $4 billion pot of federal money that states can get -- get, if they agree to certain policy changes. One of those changes -- and this is today's deadline -- is to sign on to a national set of common curriculum standards. That could bring the education marketplace from widely fractured and segmented with dozens of different standardsinto something resembling coherent. Christopher Swanson is the vice president for research and development at Education Week. Welcome to the program. CHRISTOPHER SWANSON: Glad to be here. (more...)

District's No.2 man John Deasy likely successor to Ramon Cortines

• 08-03-2010
• 

By Connie Llanos/Los Angeles Daily News

Today may be John Deasy's first day as deputy superintendent of Los Angeles Unified, but the fast-talking New England native has already ruffled a few feathers at the nation's second-largest school district. Some senior staff members were upset by a memo Deasy sent two weeks ago that ordered them to bring organizational charts, project lists and details of their duties and goals when they have their first one-on-one meeting with their new boss. The grumbling reached Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who sent his new No. 2 - and rumored heir apparent - an e-mail urging him to get acquainted with staff members before handing them a to-do list.  (more...)

California's first Hmong charter school opens in Sacramento

• 08-03-2010
• 

By Stephen Magagnini/Sacramento Bee

Lee Thao chirped "dog … squirrel … snake!" as teacher Edna Vang-Xiong wrote the words in Hmong on the board Monday afternoon. Thao, 10, and nine other other Hmong kids dazzled their fifth-grade classmates with their command of Hmong, a spoken language that's as old as the redwoods anchored on the Pocket school's front lawn. The 209 elementary schoolkids who showed up Monday are part of a grand experiment: California's first Hmong public charter school, Yav Pem Suab (Preparing for the Future) Academy. (more...)

SB district leaders confident improvement is in works

• 08-03-2010
• 

By Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell/San Bernardino Sun

School officials believe plans they have in place for the months ahead, from more community involvement to allowing teachers to think outside the box, will turn around 11 struggling schools.  Some of the changes will go into effect as soon as Tuesday, the first day of the school year for many San Bernardino City Unified School District campuses. "I absolutely do believe that we will continue to move forward," said Superintendent Arturo Delgado. "The improvement already began last year with a boost in test scores." The schools were required to put interventions in place after landing on a list of lowest achieving in the state in March. (more...)

S.F. State students learn how to teach

• 08-03-2010
• 

By Sam Whiting/San Francisco Chronicle

The beginning of the school year is a time of optimism, and nobody in the wide world of education is more optimistic than the 168 people holding freshly certified teaching credentials from San Francisco State University. There are no jobs, and as soon as the credential was in hand, in May, the clock started ticking in two ways. The big hand shows that they have five years to convert their preliminary credential into a permanent one. To do so, they must take part in a two-year development program that requires work experience. You have to be a public school teacher to become a public school teacher. (more...)

School clinics await funds from health-care reform

• 08-03-2010
• 

By Christina A. Samuels/Education Week

School-based health centers, which provide comprehensive medical care to students beyond the standard school-nurse clinic model, are awaiting a big boost from the federal government under the law overhauling the nation’s health-care system. The legislation  provides for $200 million over four years to help centers pay for capital improvements, like buying medical equipment or expanding or improving building space, and it authorizes the government to distribute additional money for operating costs, such as salaries for medical professionals. (more...)

New CA curriculum standards will take years to implement

• 08-04-2010
• 

Blog by Louis Freedberg/California Watch

Don't expect to see changes in the classroom any time soon following the vote this week by the California State Board of Education to adopt new national curriculum standards for the state in English language arts and math.  Theresa Garcia, the board's executive director, told California Watch that it will be two to three years before the standards will result in any noticeable changes. Board president Ted Mitchell described the board's unanimous vote approving the new standards at the standing-room-only meeting that I attended in Sacramento on Monday as "historic" and a "critical opportunity for the state."  (more...)

Trying to work with, not against, President Obama on education

• 08-04-2010
• 

Letter by Barbara R. Arnwine and John Payton/Washington Post

Arnwine is executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Payton is president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Ruth Marcus has misunderstood the position of the civil rights groups that are helping to shape education reform ["Picking the wrong fight with Obama," op-ed, July 30]. We face an unprecedented crisis in education that requires bold measures designed to achieve broad structural changes. Our framework document does not argue in favor of the status quo. Indeed, it offers constructive criticism and a thoughtful analysis of the administration's Blueprint for Reform, along with recommendations on issues ranging from school finance and teacher preparation to parental involvement and school discipline. (more...)

Mayoral control means zero accountability

• 08-04-2010
• 

Guest blog by Diane Ravitch/Washington Post

For the past five years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein have claimed that, due to their programs, New York City was a national model. They proclaimed that the city had made “historic gains” on state tests, all because of the mayor’s complete control of the policymaking apparatus. The mayor testified in congressional hearings that New York City had cut the achievement gap in half. Klein traveled to Australia to boast of the city’s gains, and the Australian minister of education intends to align that nation’s education system with the New York City model. (more...)

Court limits statewide charter schools

• 08-04-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

A state appeals court has restricted the State Board of Education’s authority to allow charter school organizations to open up multiple sites statewide. In a decision issued last week, the California 1st Court of Appeals ruled that the State Board improperly granted Aspire Public Schools charters for schools in Stockton and Los Angeles. If the ruling stands, the charters may be revoked for those schools and four more that Aspire granted since the 2007 suit was filed.  Aspire also could reapply to local districts for charters where the schools are located. At issue is the State Board’s power to grant charters of statewide benefit that bypass local districts’ oversight. (more...)

Weeding out underperforming charter schools

• 08-04-2010
• 

Editorial/Los Angeles Times

California has been a hospitable state for charter schools, approving hundreds of them on the understanding that they would provide better educational options for students who were otherwise stuck in abysmal, unsafe schools, and that they would model innovative ideas for the public school system. And in many cases, that's precisely the way it has worked. But there are steep variations in the quality of these schools, which are publicly funded but free from many state regulations. As a Stanford University study found last year, some do a better job than the public schools their students would have attended, some do worse, and a large number do about the same. (more...)

School board deadlocks on cutting jobs

• 08-04-2010
• 

Blog by Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

The San Diego Unified school board deadlocked tonight on whether to slash or reduce jobs for employees who don't teach to save nearly $917,000. That could throw its budget and credit rating into question, since the cuts were part of the broader budget plan that the school board approved earlier this summer for this school year. While the school board has already approved that budget on paper, it also has to make the specific cuts that are part of it, including cutting jobs, to translate its plans into reality. (more...)

Lawmakers bolster free-speech rights at charter schools

• 08-04-2010
• 

Blog by Corey G. Johnson/California Watch

The California State Assembly approved legislation yesterday that guarantees free-speech rights for students and teachers at charter schools. Passed by a 51-19 vote, Senate Bill 438 now goes to the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who will have 12 days to either sign or veto it. The Senate approved their version of the bill in January. Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, wrote the bill after administrators at the Orange County High School of the Arts claimed their charter school status exempted them from having to follow laws protecting free speech. (more...)

States slash pre-K programs as budgets bleed

• 08-04-2010
• 

By Dorie Turner/San Francisco Chronicle

States are cutting hundreds of millions from their prekindergarten budgets, undermining years of working to help young children — particularly poor kids — get ready for school. States are slashing nearly $350 million from their pre-K programs by next year and more cuts are likely on the horizon once federal stimulus money dries up, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. The reductions mean fewer slots for children, teacher layoffs and even fewer services for needy families who can't afford high-quality private preschool programs. (more...)

Chicago teachers union sues CPS over teacher firings

• 08-04-2010
• 

Education Week

The Chicago Teachers Union has filed a federal lawsuit against the Chicago Public Schools in an attempt to halt the dismissals of hundreds of teachers and support staff. CTU President Karen Lewis said Tuesday the school board is arbitrarily dismissing some of the system's most qualified teachers in a manner that violates their constitutional rights to due process under the 14th Amendment and their current labor contract. The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court seeks the reinstatement of all teachers and support staff dismissed to date.  (more...)

State aid passes Senate, as conservatives confirm hatred of teachers and jobless

• 08-05-2010
• 

By Bill Scher/Huffington Post

Bill Scher is Campaign Manager for America's Future.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today finally overcame the conservative filibuster blocking aid to fiscally distressed states, securing the votes of the not-as-insane Republican senators from Maine, giving him a 61-vote supermajority to save and create 1 million jobs and avert fears of mass teacher layoffs. Reid made painful concessions to secure the victory. He scrapped the notion of stimulative deficit spending, and offset all costs to appease deficit hysterics. To avoid adding to the deficit, in addition to closing tax loopholes for multinational corporations, the bill will end the Recovery Act's additional help to states to cover Medicaid costs in six months, and the extra funds for food stamps in 2014.  (more...)

Poll: Language a barrier for Latinos in schools

• 08-05-2010
• 

By Hope Yen and Christine Armario/San Francisco Chronicle

English only? With Hispanic enrollment surging in schools, many Spanish-speaking parents are having trouble helping their children with homework or communicating with U.S. teachers as English-immersion classes proliferate in K-12. An Associated Press-Univision poll highlights the language and cultural obstacles for the nation's Latinos, who lag behind others when it comes to graduating from high school. The findings also raise questions about whether English-immersion does more to assimilate or isolate — a heated debate that has divided states, academics and even the U.S. Supreme Court. (more...)

3 supes head to DC to sell Race to the Top

• 08-05-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

To emphasize its bottom-up, district-led approach, California will send three superintendents to Washington next week to lead its five-person delegation that will make the final pitch for the state’s Race to the Top application. Superintendents Ramon Cortines of Los Angeles Unified, Mike Hanson of Fresno Unified and Christopher Steinhauser of Long Beach Unified will be joined by a representative of the Department of Education — probably Chief Deputy Supt. Geno Flores — and the governor’s office. Might that be Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger himself? The office isn’t committing. Superintendents Ramon Cortines of Los Angeles Unified, Mike Hanson of Fresno Unified and Christopher Steinhauser of Long Beach Unified will be joined by a representative of the Department of Education — probably Chief Deputy Supt. Geno Flores — and the governor’s office.  (more...)

Meeting students' nonacademic needs

• 08-05-2010
• 

Commentary by Lisa Walker & Cheryl Smithgall/Education Week

The Obama administration’s Race to the Top grant competition does not award points to states for improving systems to respond to students’ nonacademic needs. Why, then, did a state that leads the country in student performance, as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, opt to make students’ nonacademic needs one of two priorities in its round one Race to the Top application? With 17 years of education reform experience behind it, Massachusetts said that “raising standards and conducting assessments” was not enough. It has raised overall achievement, but still has substantial achievement gaps on its hands. (more...)

Whittier-area schools see parade of new principals this fall

• 08-05-2010
• 

By Tracy Garcia/Whittier Daily News

More than a dozen Whittier-area schools will see fresh faces heading up their campuses this fall, as districts reassign current principals and hire new ones in preparation for the 2010-11 school year. Among those is former California Teacher of the Year Denis Cruz, who officially took up his duties as principal of Laurel Elementary School in the East Whittier City district on July 1. "One thing I really want to do is bring stability to this school," said Cruz, 54, adding that there have been six principals in seven years at Laurel. "The staff is phenomenal, and hopefully I'll be able to bring them together and be here for the long term - be here to help the school grow," Cruz said. (more...)

More O.C. Latinos than whites enroll in state-run colleges

• 08-05-2010
• 

By Scott Martindale/Orange County Register

Latino students who graduate from public high schools in Orange County are enrolling in California's public colleges at a higher rate than their white counterparts, according to a newly released study from the Orange County Department of Education. The average college going-rate for O.C. Latino students is 62 percent for the last five years, versus 53 percent for whites. Asian students in Orange County outpaced both groups, with a 75 percent college-going rate. The findings do not mean that Latino students in Orange County are more likely than white students to go to college, but that a greater share of Latino graduates appear to be choosing public colleges in California, including community colleges. (more...)

Suit alleges exploitation of Filipino teachers in La.

• 08-05-2010
• 

By Mike Hasten/USA Today

Hundreds of Filipino teachers recruited to teach in Louisiana schools were thrust into massive debt, unsavory living conditions and, in effect, indentured servitude, an attorney charges in a class action lawsuit to be filed today. About 350 teachers were recruited through a placement service for Filipinos, which the lawsuit says charged them exorbitant application fees and transportation and housing costs and demanded up to 30% of their salaries their first two years. "It was close to slavery," said Mary Bauer, lead attorney in the lawsuit set to be filed in federal court in Los Angeles by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Federation of Teachers and the law firm Covington & Burling. "There was fraud on a number of levels here." (more...)

Diversity debate convulses elite high school

• 08-05-2010
• 

By Sharon Otterman/New York Times

With one of its alumnae, Elena Kagan, poised for confirmation as a justice on the United States Supreme Court, it should be a triumphant season for Hunter College High School, a New York City public school for the intellectually gifted. Eileen Coppola resigned as the school’s principal in June. But instead, the school is in turmoil, with much of the faculty in an uproar over the resignation of a popular principal, the third in five years. In her departure speech to teachers in late June, the principal cited several reasons for her decision, including tensions over a lack of diversity at the school, which had been the subject of a controversial graduation address the day before by one of the school’s few African-American students. (more...)

State board seeks crackdown on struggling charter schools

• 08-05-2010
• 

By Corey G. Johnson/Education Week

The State Board of Education is working on new rules that would clamp down on underperforming charter schools. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the state board would annually review charter schools for possible changes or closure if they are: • At least 5 years old or more • Have test scores in the bottom 10 percent of all schools statewide • Have test scores in the bottom 20 percent of schools with similar demographics. The rule changes come as a debate grows over making charter schools more accountable. They operate with more freedom than public schools, so as to encourage innovation and high performance. (more...)

Senate approves funding to keep 140,000 teachers' jobs

• 08-06-2010
• 

By Stacy Teicher Khadaroo/Christian Science Monitor

It’s like the ultimate back-to-school gift card: $10 billion for cash-strapped school districts to recall laid-off teachers and keep thousands of K-12 jobs. Supporters of the extra funding say it will keep about 140,000 educators working. The money for teachers, which is part of an aviation safety bill, was approved by the Senate Thursday and will likely pass the House next week when representatives unexpectedly return from August recess. The infusion of cash could save half the jobs that school districts were expected to have to trim, according to a June survey by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). (more...)

Also: Education Week * KPCC * Washington Post * Orange County Register

Education Department deals out big awards

• 08-06-2010
• 

By Sam Dillon/New York Times

Teach for America, the nonprofit group that recruits elite college students to teach in public schools, and the KIPP Foundation, which runs a nationwide network of charter schools, were big winners in a $650 million federal grant competition known as Investing in Innovation, the Department of Education said Wednesday. Each group won $50 million. Two others won large awards for proposals the department said were backed by significant evidence of success with students. The Success for All Foundation, a Baltimore group that helps to turn around struggling elementary schools, won $49 million. (more...)

Also: Education Week

ACLU seeks refund of student fees

• 08-06-2010
• 

By Tanya Sierra/San Diego Union Tribune

The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on San Diego schools to refund a host of school fees, ranging from $3 to $1,097, that it says are unconstitutional — charges for students to take exams, play sports or even just to take classes. The Watchdog this week reported that some schools are listing the fees on their back-to-school information, despite an effort by the San Diego Unified School District to halt the practice and comply with the state Constitution’s guarantee of free public schools. (more...)

Schools presenting risk of 'serious harm' get no relief

• 08-06-2010
• 

Blog by Louis Freedberg/California Watch

Successful schools inadvertently labeled as posing a risk of "serious harm" to their students' health, safety or "general welfare," as a result of an emergency declared by the State Board of Education, will get no relief from the state Legislature. As I noted in a previous post, the State Board of Education has declared an emergency in 1,000 schools identified as among the lowest performing in the state. Students in those schools, for the first time, would have the right to transfer to any other school in the state, and would no longer be confined to schools in their own district. (more...

California school transfers possible, but budgets likely to limit numbers

• 08-06-2010
• 

By Griselda D. Ramirez/The Salinas Californian

Under a new law, California parents face fewer hurdles in moving their children to school districts with better state test scores. The Open Enrollment Act — drafted by Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, and passed in January — allows students to leave low-performing schools without consent from their home districts. But whether the law will make much difference this fall remains uncertain. The Open Enrollment Act does not require high-performing districts to accept students applying from other schools, and districts must weigh factors such as program capacity, facility space and class size, McLean said. (more...)

Principal: Not the change I had in mind

• 08-06-2010
• 

Guest blog by George Wood/Washington Post

I am still not over the sadness and anger I feel over what happened to my colleague, Joyce Irvine. Even though I have never met her, I call Ms. Irvine my colleague because of the way her work as principal of Wheeler Elementary School in Burlington, Vermont, has been described. As reported in the New York Times, parents are grateful for her leadership, she knows all of her students, she launched innovative programs, her teachers and her superintendent give her high marks, and even her U.S. senator has praised her work. And she has been fired. (more...)

More than two-thirds of states adopt core standards

• 08-06-2010
• 

By Stephen Sawchuk/Education Week

More than two-thirds of the states—including Massachusetts, a state long famed for excellent academic-content standards—have adopted common grade-level expectations, as the movement to align nationwide what students are learning continues to gain steam. As of this morning, the number of states agreeing to follow the math and English/language arts benchmarks crafted by the Common Core State Standards Initiative had grown to 34, plus the District of Columbia. (more...)

Health costs rise for Torrance teachers as a result of layoff fears

• 08-06-2010
• 

By Rob Kuznia/Los Angeles Daily Breeze

In an example of the unexpected consequences that can come in the wake of widespread layoffs, the cost of health benefits for hundreds of teachers that survived last year's bloodbath at the Torrance Unified School District is skyrocketing. Last school year, with hundreds of teachers and other district employees fearing for their jobs - as well as their attendant health benefits - an unusually large number of them visited their doctors to take care of procedures and checkups they'd long been putting off.  (more...)

Hundreds to walk Santa Ana neighborhoods for education

• 08-06-2010
• 

By George Ma/Orange County Register

Between 300 and 400 parents and students are expected to participate in the 10th annual "Camino de Amistad" this Saturday. Translated from Spanish, "Camino de Amistad" means "Friendship Walk." It is an annual effort put on by Santa Ana College's "Padres Promotores de la Educación." The event, which runs from 8 a.m. to2 p.m., aims to raise awareness of important local high school registration dates and increase visibility of higher education throughout Santa Ana. "If parents are better informed, students will be less likely to drop out of school," the group's co-founder Rosa Harrizon said.  (more...)

School transformers weigh working closer to home

• 08-06-2010
• 

Blog by Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

For years, a San Diego-based center has helped struggling schools in Florida, Missouri and Arizona to improve -- but has had little involvement in schools in its own backyard. Now that could change.The National Center for Urban School Transformation, a center at San Diego State University, does research and helps spur change in low-achieving schools. While it has only a few staff members, it also hires consultants who have experience changing schools to work with school districts across the nation. (more...)

Exotic deals put Denver schools deeper in debt

• 08-06-2010
• 

By Gretchen Morgensen/New York Times

In the spring of 2008, the Denver public school system needed to plug a $400 million hole in its pension fund. Bankers at JPMorgan Chase offered what seemed to be a perfect solution. The bankers said that the school system could raise $750 million in an exotic transaction that would eliminate the pension gap and save tens of millions of dollars annually in debt costs — money that could be plowed back into Denver’s classrooms, starved in recent years for funds. To members of the Denver Board of Education, it sounded ideal. It was complex, involving several different financial institutions and transactions. (more...)

Better training on early years urged for principals

• 08-09-2010
• 

By Dakarai I. Aarons/Education Week

The nation’s elementary school principals lack access to the focused professional development to help them meet the higher expectations of modern early-childhood education, experts and advocates say. In a bid to stamp out the achievement gaps that often plague poor and minority children before they start school, groups in early-childhood education and school leadership are emphasizing the need for principals to be poised to lead good practices for pupils in prekindergarten to grade 3. (more...)

Education reformers vs. “New reformers”

• 08-09-2010
• 

Guest blog by John C. Fager/Washington Post

John C. Fager, is a school teacher in New York City. In the 1990s, he was the education columnist for the Daily News, a parent leader, and education adviser to the New York City Council president.

At the end of the last school year, the principal at the New York City high school where I teach announced the following: Because of budget cuts, three teachers would be transferred to the central office, support personnel would be laid off, summer school would be halved, fewer after-school programs would exist in the fall, and more cuts might be necessary in September. As the new school year approaches, such trouble faces the majority of schools in most states. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan estimated that 100,000 to 300,000 teachers could receive pink slips without federal intervention. (more...)

Why you should be skeptical about standardized test scores

• 08-09-2010
• 

Guest blog by Justin Snider/Washington Post

Justin Snider teaches undergraduate writing at Columbia University and writes for The Hechinger Report.

Tough talk on teacher accountability is all the rage this summer. Trouble is, we don’t know how to handle the perverse incentives that arise the moment we place undue weight on easily manipulated exams. But that hasn’t stopped a slew of education leaders from weighing in on the need to hold teachers’ feet to the fire. In the past few weeks, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee made headlines for firing 241 teachers, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan gave a major speech on education reform and Race to the Top finalists were announced for Round Two, many of which agreed to overhaul their state’s teacher evaluation and tenure system. (more...)

Schools learn to survive

• 08-09-2010
• 

By Alex P. Kellogg/Wall Street Journal

Based on the numbers, Carstens Elementary School on Detroit's East Side should have closed by now. The building is 95 years old, and its enrollment last year fell to 234 from 719 a decade earlier, making it one of the fastest-shrinking schools in district history. In the spring, Carstens was on a preliminary list of 45 schools targeted for closure by Robert C. Bobb, the state-appointed executive in charge of stabilizing the finances of Detroit Public Schools, and his team of accountants, planners and demographers. But a deeper dive into the neighborhood changed their minds. Carstens, they discovered, was one of the few public institutions within miles. It also served as a health clinic, a seven-day-a-week recreation center and a food pantry. Closing Carstens, they concluded, would effectively turn off the lights on the whole neighborhood. (more...)

Schools under fire from ACLU for 'pay-to-play' athletic fees

• 08-09-2010
• 

Blog by Corey G. Johnson/California Watch

The American Civil Liberties Union is stepping up the pressure on school districts that are violating state law by charging students to participate in athletics and other extracurricular activities. Last week, ACLU legal director David Blair-Loy sent the San Diego Unified School District a letter asking for officials to stop several examples of "pay to play" that were found at local schools. The group also asked for the money collected to be refunded to the parents. The request followed a San Diego Union-Tribune investigation that found schools openly charging fees on their websites, despite a recent local grand jury investigation that slammed the practice. (more...)

As San Diego schools plan reforms, details are still elusive

• 08-09-2010
• 

By Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

Critics call San Diego Unified a failing school district. Even worse, they say, it has turned down federal reforms -- and federal money to back them. The school district argues it has reform plans of its own. Plans to amp up critical thinking. Plans to encourage teachers to collaborate. Plans to empower schools to make their own decisions instead of imposing ideas from the top. Plans to ensure that each child is measured individually. But the school district still has to translate most of those plans into concrete changes in classrooms.  (more...)

Paying the price for cuts

• 08-09-2010
• 

By Maureen Magee/San Diego Union-Tribune

Class sizes have shot up and the school year has been shortened throughout San Diego County. Parents are stepping up efforts to stock classrooms by donating everything from flash drives to cleaning supplies. And in La Mesa and Spring Valley, teachers have been directed to cut pink erasers in half to stretch supplies. Welcome back to school amid California’s worst fiscal crisis in memory. Students and teachers are streaming back to the classroom only to discover their schools have become inventory-conscious institutions that have been cut to the bone. (more...)

States cut preschool from budgets

• 08-09-2010
• 

USA Today

States are cutting hundreds of millions from their prekindergarten budgets, undermining years of working to help young children — particularly poor kids — get ready for school. States are slashing nearly $350 million from their pre-K programs by next year and more cuts are likely on the horizon once federal stimulus money dries up, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. The reductions mean fewer slots for children, teacher layoffs and even fewer services for needy families who can't afford high-quality private preschool programs. (more...)

Salary flap on board's agenda

• 08-09-2010
• 

By Melody Gutierrez/Sacramento Bee

San Juan Unified School District trustees are planning to raise concerns about the embattled California School Boards Association at a board meeting Tuesday. Like many school districts, San Juan Unified pays thousands each year to CSBA, and the district's trustees would like to be sure their tax dollars are being used appropriately, said San Juan board President Richard Launey. Executive Director Scott Plotkin announced he would retire last month after admitting he used his company credit card to withdraw cash from area casinos while, according to tax records, drawing a $540,000 salary in 2008  (more...)

Study: Classroom spending in state drops from 2003-09

• 08-10-2010
• 

By Richard K. De Atley/Riverside Press-Enterprise

California schools got more money from 2003 to 2009 but spent a smaller share of their budgets on students, a study has found. Inland schools fared well in the analysis, but local administrators say the study does not reflect the current situation -- two years of less money and districts struggling to protect money spent teaching children. California's per-student spending increased nearly 26 percent from fiscal years 2003-04 through 2008-09, but the percentage of school district money spent directly on the classroom fell more than a percentage point, said the study by Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy's Davenport Institute. (more...)

Revised AP courses stress ideas, not facts

• 08-10-2010
• 

By Jean Cowden Moore/Ventura County Star

Advanced Placement courses will change over the next few years, focusing more on concepts and less on memorization. The college-level courses, which students take in high school, have long been criticized for being “a mile wide and an inch deep.” The updated courses, which will debut in 2011, should help students gain a deeper understanding of what they’re studying, whether it’s science or history, said Jeff Chancer, an assistant superintendent in the Ventura Unified School District. (more...)

Obama aims to lift college graduation rates, but his tools are few

• 08-10-2010
• 

By Scott Bland/Christian Science Monitor

When President Obama spoke at the University of Texas, Austin, on Monday, he urged the United States to retake the world lead in college graduation rates by 2020. Mr. Obama highlighted the relationship between education and economic growth in his speech, saying that the future of American prosperity relies on a better-educated workforce. Raise the community college graduation rate But there is a key distinction between Obama’s lofty goals for America’s economy and higher education.  (more...)

Also: Wall Street Journal

Liposuction approach to school reform

• 08-10-2010
• 

Guest blog by Kilian Betlach/Educated Guess

Kilian Betlach is the assistant principal at Elmhurst Community Prep, a small middle school in the Oakland Unified School District.

Last March, the California Department of Education released a list of “persistently low-performing schools” that would be part of the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) process. Our school was on it. In the weeks and months that followed, as every day became increasingly dominated by our place on the list, our school community went through the Kübler-Ross grief cycle: Shock: Are you kidding? Elmhurst Community Prep has posted a net gain of 39 API points in three years, and stands 120 points higher than the last year of the since-reconstituted Elmhurst Middle School. (more...)

High Teacher Turnover: Reality of an LA urban school

• 08-10-2010
• 

By Yolanda Arenales/New America Media

The slogan, “Soaring to Success,” flying above Edwin Markham Middle School, is in stark contrast to the abundant signs of decline in the community in which it is located. Trash on the ground, abandoned lots, and bars on the windows are the first signs of the ills that plague the neighborhood of Watts in Los Angeles. There were 142 arrests in Markhan in 2007-08, and 329 suspensions for drug and violence—out of a total of 1,495 students—in the following year. The fact that in the 10-block radius around the school there are 38 identified gangs gives an idea of the circumstances the residents of this area face every day. (more...)

LAUSD officials say students need traditional calendar

• 08-10-2010
• 

By Connie Llanos/Los Angeles Daily News

Most Los Angeles Unified students still have a month to hang out all day at the mall, get lost in marathon texting sessions with friends or pass a hot summer day at the beach. But students at Sun Valley, Arleta and Polytechnic high schools had to start the school year early Monday as part of a new "balanced traditional" calendar. Adopted by the LAUSD school board in the spring, the new schedule is designed to help students retain more of what they learned from the previous year by shortening the summer break. (more...)

Calif. school chases chronic dropouts

• 08-10-2010
• 

By Christina Hoag/Jackson Sun

School has long since started for the day when Jose Ramirez pulls up to a small bungalow and yells out to a tardy student. Anthony Gonzalez limps to the door, shirtless with a head of bed-tousled hair. "It's after nine, man, you got to be in school," Ramirez tells the 19-year-old, who dropped out of school after a gang shooting four years ago left him paralyzed on one side. Ramirez helps pull a T-shirt over Gonzale's frozen arm and playfully scolds him. "I got to dress you, too, sleeping beauty? The day you graduate I'm going to let you sleep in."  (more....)

Inexperienced companies chase U.S. school funds

• 08-10-2010
• 

By Sam Dillon/New York Times

With the Obama administration pouring billions into its nationwide campaign to overhaul failing schools, dozens of companies with little or no experience are portraying themselves as school-turnaround experts as they compete for the money.  A husband-and-wife team that has specialized in teaching communication skills but never led a single school overhaul is seeking contracts in Ohio and Virginia. A corporation that has run into trouble with parents or the authorities in several states in its charter school management business has now opened a school-turnaround subsidiary. (more...)

The truth behind the get-tough success stories in school reform

• 08-10-2010
• 

Guest blog by Sabrina Stevens Shupe/Washington Post

Sabrina Stevens Shupe is a teacher and education advocate who created and blogs for the Failing Schools Project.

Joe Clark and his baseball bat. Michelle Rhee and her broom. These images were highlighted in a recent piece by master teacher Patrick Ledesma, who wrote about how compelling media images and narratives iinspire the public to care about public school reform. But the most enduring stories seem to be those of the bullies. They have successfully appropriated the term “sense of urgency” for themselves, casting their critics as laggards or defenders of an indefensible status quo. Ledesma encouraged defenders of teacher professionalism and civility to share their own equally compelling narratives. (more...)

Obama signs bill to prevent teacher layoffs

• 08-11-2010
• 

CNN

President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed into law a $26 billion measure to help avoid teacher layoffs -- a move Democrats claim is necessary in the wake of state and local government cutbacks. The House gave final approval earlier Tuesday to the bill, which had already passed the Senate. The measure, which passed the House on a largely party-line 247-to-161 vote, is designed to save the jobs of approximately 160,000 teachers across the country, as well as create and save positions for police officers, firefighters and nurses, according to Democratic leaders. (more...)

Also:  NPR * Education Week * New York Times * Washington Post * Sacramento Bee * Pasadena Star News

Jobs bill may keep teachers employed

• 08-11-2010
• 

By Larry Abramson/NPR

Congress appears ready to pass a $10 billion measure to forestall the layoffs of thousands of teachers, as states struggle with budget deficits. The bill would save more than 100,000 jobs, but some question whether it makes sense to pad school district budgets before changes are made. And many districts already have avoided layoffs by demanding wage freezes and other sacrifices. (more...)

Obama stands firm on education agenda amid qualms from lawmakers, advocates

• 08-11-2010
• 

By Alyson Klein and Michele McNeil/Education Week

The Obama administration is standing by its signature education reform initiative, the Race to the Top program, and the policies wrapped up in that competition—even as the aggressive agenda continues to spark pushback, most recently from some civil rights groups. Calling Race to the Top “the single most important thing we’ve done” on education, President Barack Obama used a July 29 speech to make a forceful rebuttal to criticism of his efforts, including from members of his own party in Congress. (more...)

America left behind

• 08-11-2010
• 

By Doug Schoen/Huffington Post

Last month saw a major debate over the passing of the war funding bill. Buried within that debate was another, far reaching debate on domestic education funding to avert teacher layoffs that was eventually stripped from the bill. In light of this development, it is important that Americans remember that we became the world's indispensable nation, largely because of our early and almost certainly unique emphasis on mass public education. (more...)

Many struggling schools on reform list may not get incentive money

• 08-11-2010
• 

Blog by Corey G. Johnson/California Watch

If federal officials don't waive key rules, several of the state's largest school districts are at risk of not getting one penny of a nearly $416 million grant to turn around struggling campuses. According to an Aug. 10 letter sent to the U.S. Department of Education, state officials are asking federal authorities to reconsider the rule requiring California to put 25 percent of its $415,844,376 away for next year – which equates to roughly $100 million. The request comes as state officials take heat over the decision to only fund reforms at 95 of the 188 schools on the controversial "persistently under-performing" list. (more...)

The problem with ‘Race to the Top’ is the race

• 08-11-2010
• 

Guest blog by Diana Senechal/Washington Post

In his recent address to the National Urban League Centennial Conference, President Obama praised the rapid changes in education reform that were under way, thanks to Race to the Top. “In an effort to compete for this extra money,” he said, “32 states reformed their education laws before we even spent a dime.” He went on to say that the reforms in Race to the Top should not be controversial: “There should be a fuss if we weren’t doing these things. There should be a fuss if Arne Duncan wasn’t trying to shake things up.” (more...)

In need of a renaissance

• 08-11-2010
• 

By Diane Ravitch/American Educator

In the fall of 2007, I reluctantly decided to have my office repainted. It was inconvenient. I work at home, on the top floor of an early 19th-century brownstone in Brooklyn. Not only did I have to stop working for three weeks, but I had the additional burden of packing up and removing everything in my office.  I had to relocate 50 boxes of books and files to other rooms in the house until the painting job was complete. (more...)

Chefs help craft healthier school lunches with local food

• 08-11-2010
• 

By Nanci Hellmich/USA TODAY

On his first day on the job as director of food and nutrition for Baltimore City Schools, chef Tony Geraci brought in 40,000 pounds of tree-ripened, Maryland-grown peaches for students. On that day two years ago, he sat in the cafeteria with several second-graders who were eating fresh peaches for the first time in their lives. "One was rubbing a peach along his face, and I said, 'It's supposed to feel like that,' " Geraci remembers. "Another was breathing into the peach, and I said, 'It's supposed to smell like that.' Another was biting into the peach, and the juice was running down his face and arms, and I said, 'It's supposed to taste like that.' (more...)

Questions arise about spending federal funds for Calif. teachers

• 08-12-2010
• 

By Adolfo Guzman Lopez/KPCC

California educators are elated that the federal government plans to send California about $1.2 billion for teacher jobs. Those educators also have a lot of questions. The federal government’s made clear that it wants California to use its share to hire, rehire, or retain 16,500 teachers. Lara Cruchley’s mother called her with the news. Cruchley’s a high school English teacher the Anaheim school district laid off this year. "I’m keeping my fingers tightly crossed, I’m very excited, and again, waiting by the phone, waiting for them to call me," she said. (more...)

Is administration moving the ball with innovation?

• 08-12-2010
• 

Expert blog/National Journal

Over the next couple of years, roughly a billion dollars will be spent on innovation in education through federal grants and private initiatives. A significant chunk of that money, $650 million, will be distributed to the 49 winners of the Investing In Innovation (i3) competition announced last week. Some education analysts -- Rick Hess, Tom Vander Ark, Alexander Russo and others -- posit that the competition, as evidenced by the winners, is really rewarding best practices and credibility, as opposed to innovative or transformational education practices. (more...)

Feds to schools: Check is not yet in the mail

• 08-12-2010
• 

Blog by Louis Freedberg/California Watch

Many unknowns stand in the way of California school districts actually being able to spend money from the $26 billion state relief fund signed into law by President Obama this week.  The president declared that, among other things, the fund "will keep at least 160,000 teachers in the classroom this fall who would otherwise be out of a job."    Of the $26 billion, California will get at least $1.2 billion for its schools. But it is impossible to visualize how many districts will be able to rehire teachers, draw up staffing patterns and assign kids to respective classrooms by opening day. (more...)

School boards group fears losing members over pay flap

• 08-12-2010
• 

By Melody Gutierrez/Sacramento Bee

California School Boards Association President Frank Pugh wrote to school board members Wednesday that he is worried about membership renewals and pledged that the nonprofit will be more transparent in the future. Pugh's letter is in response to criticism the organization received over Executive Director Scott Plotkin's annual pay. Plotkin announced last month he would retire Sept. 1 after admitting he used his company credit card to withdraw cash from area casinos while receiving a half-million-dollar salary in the 2007-2008 fiscal year. (more...)

Require kindergarteners to be 5 by Sept. 1

• 08-12-2010
• 

Opinion by Diana Argenti and Natalie Bivas/San Francisco Chronicle

Diana Argenti is a kindergarten teacher and Natalie Bivas is a reading and English language development specialist in the Palo Alto Unified School District.

When you think back to kindergarten, you probably remember finger painting, listening to stories, playing in the sandbox and nap time. You probably do not remember solving story problems in math and writers' workshops. Over the past 10 years, kindergarten has become increasingly academic, though teachers still make time for art, music and play. For some children, it is too much. They try to keep up, but fall behind right away. They keep lagging their classmates when they are 7 and 10 and 15 - or until they give up. (more...)

State pursues plan to award more money to low-achieving East Bay schools

• 08-12-2010
• 

By Theresa Harrington/Contra Costa Times

After the state Board of Education delayed a vote that would have left several large districts with no money to pay for reforms in many of California's lowest performing schools, state education officials are requesting permission from the federal government to disburse more money this year than previously planned. Under the revised plan, the California Department of Education would give out its entire $415 million federal award for School Improvement Grants this year, instead of holding back about $104 million, or 25 percent, as originally required. (more...)

Arizona official subpoenas researchers' ELL data

• 08-12-2010
• 

By Mary Ann Zehr/Education Week

A subpoena seeking research data related to the education of English-language learners in Arizona is drawing fire from civil rights advocates and researchers. Lawyers for state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne want the data for use in a long-running federal court case over Arizona’s approach to educating its ELL students. But researchers from the University of Arizona, Tucson, and from Arizona State University, Tempe, had promised that the information—which includes the names of study participants—wouldn’t be made public. (more...)

Are education credit recovery programs really effective?

• 08-12-2010
• 

Guest blog by Sarah Butrymowicz/Washington Post

In high schools all over the country this summer, thousands of students who failed high school courses are getting a second chance. They are taking advantage of a wide variety of programs under the label of “credit recovery” that are meant to boost students’ chances of graduating. The classes are generally shorter than the original class the student failed or quit. The courses can be completed online, in person or through independent study. Some programs allow students to do their required coursework online at home – without adult supervision. (more...)

Language segregation alive in Ariz. schools

• 08-12-2010
• 

Interview by Vivian Po/New America Media

Arizona schools have separated English learners from their English-speaking classmate in four-hour daily stretches since the state legislature mandated this process in 2007. But although the statute (known as HB 2064) called on students to under go these “language immersion” sessions for one year, a new report reveals that such segregation is often extended beyond one year and frequently causes rifts between students. Patricia Gandara, coauthor of the report, titled, “A Return to the ‘Mexican Room’: The Segregation of Arizona’s English Learners,” is a professor of education and codirector of the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).  (more...)

Greek school teachers rush to retire, threatening shortage

• 08-12-2010
• 

San Francisco Chronicle

More than 11,000 Greek state-school teachers have asked to retire before changes are made to the pension system, raising the threat of a shortage of educators for the new school year. A total of 11,466 elementary and high-school instructors applied for retirement, the Athens-based Education and Religious Affairs Ministry said in a statement yesterday. That compares with 4,355 at the same time last year. (more...)

What's missing for back-to-school? 135,000 teachers

• 08-20-2010
• 

By Tami Luhby/CNN

More children are crowding into classrooms in Modesto, Calif. Parents are paying extra to send their kids to full-day kindergarten in Queen Creek, Ariz. And the school buses stopped rolling in one St. Louis area school district.These are but a few of the unwelcome changes greeting children as they start the school year. Tight fiscal times are forcing school districts to lay off teachers, enlarge class sizes, cut programs and charge for services that were once free. (more…)

Curriculum producers work to reflect new standards

• 08-20-2010
• 

By Catherine Gewertz/Education Week

It was a giant wave: Three-quarters of the states adopted a new set of common academic standards in the past six months. As that wave crests, education groups and publishers are preparing to follow with one of their own—curriculum materials that aim to embody the new standards. An early example comes from the Washington-based advocacy group Common Core , which this week released free online "maps" of the common standards that are intended to serve as a frame upon which teachers can build curriculum and lesson plans. The two-year-old organization has focused on being a clearinghouse for what it considers high-quality liberal arts curriculum, but the maps mark its first foray into writing its own materials. (more…)

ECS education forum spotlights policy fault lines

• 08-20-2010
• 

By Alyson Klein/Education Week

State education policymakers gathered here for a conference this week outlined many of the same challenges as they look ahead to their 2011 legislative sessions, including the question of how far they want to go in supporting a new set of uniform academic standards, and finding ways to cope with a continuing fiscal squeeze. But lawmakers from around the country taking part in an Aug. 19 panel discussion at the Education Commission of the States’ annual policy forum were sharply divided on how to tackle those issues. For instance, while at least 37 states had endorsed the standards developed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative as of late this week, legislators from some other states were skeptical of the effort, which was lead by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. (more…)

Teachers union president criticizes LA Times 'value added' teacher analysis

• 08-20-2010
• 

By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten spoke to teachers and administrators at the Kedren Head Start Center in Watts. She said the L.A. Times is wrong to release test score data from thousands of L.A. Unified teachers later this month in its "value added" analysis. Weingarten also called for lawmakers to stay away from early childhood education budgets.The Kedren Head Start Center is a daycare center in the Nickerson Gardens housing projects. It educates more than 100 2- to 5-year-olds.The center runs on federal and state funding, and Weingarten told the center's staff that lawmakers need to keep their budget axes away from early childhood education. (more…)

Education experts slam LA Times teacher assessments

• 08-20-2010
• 

Blog by Robert Cruickshank/California Progress Report

There's a reason why a newspaper should not be making public policy on its own: their interest is in getting eyeballs and readers, not in providing policy tools that are actually useful.

At right is a short but very effective and informative video from Daniel Willingham, an education policy expert, explaining how the method used by the LA Times to evaluate teachers - known as "value-added measures" - is deeply flawed as a basis of comparing teacher effectiveness. The LA Times acknowledged these shortcomings in their Sunday article, but blew right past those concerns and used the flawed method of analysis anyway (more...)

Also: Huffington Post

ACLU takes school fee effort north and east

• 08-20-2010
• 

By Tanya Sierra/San Diego Union Tribune

The American Civil Liberties Union has extended its offensive against illegal school fees to districts in North and East counties. The group is asking superintendents to provide their current policies regarding fees and is seeking a number of documents under the state Public Records Act. This month, the ACLU wrote to the San Diego Unified School District in response to a report by The Watchdog that highlighted how fees for uniforms, spirit packs, gym clothes, cheerleading outfits and other items persisted despite a district policy saying such charges violate the state Constitution’s guarantee of free schooling. (more…)

Congress to investigate school turnaround companies

• 08-20-2010
• 

Guest blog by Dakarai I. Aarons/Education Week

Questions have been raised about some of the companies chasing the $3.5 billion in Title I School Improvement Grants to target the bottom 5 percent of America's schools, and now Congress is jumping in the act. As The New York Times pointed out in a recent story, some of the companies certified by states as school turnaround partners have no experience actually improving the fortunes of low-performing schools—or any school, for that matter.  Rep. George Miller, the California Democrat who chairs the House Education and Labor Committee, announced today that he will hold hearings to look into who's in line to get this money and if they are qualified for the job. (more…)

Berkeley schools to get help bridging diversity gaps

• 08-20-2010
• 

By Doug Oakley/Contra Costa Times

The Berkeley school district plans to hire a supervisor charged with closing what officials call the district's widening chasm between its white teachers and administrators and its ethnically and racially diverse students and parents.

The school board approved the move Wednesday night without comment. It had been recommended by a panel of city and school leaders citing "systems changes" needed to close the academic achievement gap between students of color and their white counterparts. (more…)

Required reading: Summer education news round-up

• 08-20-2010
• 

Blog by Holly Epstein Ojalvo/New York Times

Students and teachers are heading – or have already headed – back to school. But while school was out, much happened in the world of education. Here are some links to bring you up to speed on the summer’s education news, as covered by The New York Times. (more…)

Civics lesson for California college students: No budget, no Cal Grants

• 08-20-2010
• 

By Laurel Rosenhall/Sacramento Bee

It is a perilous time to be a college student depending on the state of California to get through school. Some 335,500 students going to California colleges this fall have qualified for Cal Grants because their family incomes are so low. They need the grants to pay tuition, buy books or cover basic living expenses. But without a budget for the 2010-11 year, the state is not sending out any Cal Grants. (more…)

More schools accused of pay-to-play catch ACLU's gaze

• 08-23-2010
• 

Corey G. Johnson/CA Watch

The American Civil Liberties Union is accusing three more Southern California school districts of illegally charging students to participate in cheerleading, athletics, and AP calculus classes. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Poway, Grossmont and San Dieguito school districts received letters from the ACLU last week demanding internal documents on their pay-to-play practices. The letters included such instances as: Mandating a total of $1,691 in fees to be on the cheerleading team, plus another $600 to $700 to participate on the competitive squad at Poway's Mt. Carmel High. Requiring all athletes to purchase a $25 card to be eligible for sports at Grossmont High. Requiring students to purchase their own instruments and tuxedos to participate in the school band or orchestra at San Dieguito's Torrey Pines High. Pay-to-play has been illegal in California since April 1984. That year, the state Supreme Court ruled schools that charge children to participate in extracurricular activities violate the state's constitutional guarantee to a free education. (more...)

$578M L.A. school a national shocker

• 08-23-2010
• 

By Christina Hoag/The Associated Press

Next month's opening of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools will be auspicious for a reason other than its both storied and infamous history as the former Ambassador Hotel, where the Democratic presidential contender was assassinated in 1968. With an eye-popping price tag of $578 million, it will mark the inauguration of the nation's most expensive public school ever. The K-12 complex to house 4,200 students has raised eyebrows across the country as the creme de la creme of "Taj Mahal" schools, $100 million-plus campuses boasting both architectural panache and deluxe amenities. (more…)

This summer's lesson: Learning is fun

• 08-23-2010
• 

By Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times

It is a hot, energy-sapping morning on a quiet residential street, but inside the Lynwood United Methodist Church, summer school students are raising the roof with inspirational chants, boogie-down dances and affirmations of friendship. There is a good-morning greeting, shouted by the teachers: "Freedom School, how you feelin'?" "Fantastic, terrific, great all day long!" the group of about 35 children bellows in response. It is part of a start-of-day ritual of song, dance, meditation and sharing of experiences called harambee, a Swahili word meaning "let's pull together." And for the Lynwood students, the joy of learning inspired by the morning's pulse of energy does indeed last all day long. The children are among 200 Los Angeles students getting an intensive lesson in reading and loving books during a six- week summer literacy program rooted in the civil rights movement.

The elementary and middle school students are enrolled in what are known as Freedom Schools, an initiative developed by the Children's Defense Fund, a nonprofit child advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. (more…)

Testing the system

• 08-23-2010
• 

Opinions/Los Angeles Times

IDEA Director John Rogers is one of a handful of education professionals to remark on Times' series.

Last weekend, the Times launched its "Grading the Teachers" series, which presented the concept of a value-added approach to evaluating teachers. Individual test scores were scrutinized over several years as students moved from one teacher to another. The scores were analyzed to see which teachers consistently raised the test scores of their students and which lowered them. Later this month, the paper will post the data on its website. Times editorial writer Marjorie Miller spoke to a variety of education leaders and professionals about the pluses and minuses of this method of evaluating teachers. Their remarks — or writings — have been edited for clarity and length. In coming days, we'll feature the voices of classroom teachers. (more…)

Also: Washington Post,  Huffington Post, Sacramento Bee, California Progress Report