February 2010

Haitian children begin enrolling in US schools

• 02-12-2010
• 

By Christine Armario/Washington Post

Some of the children arrived with no school records at all, some with only the clothes on their backs. A few still bear scrapes and bruises. All carry terrible memories. Nearly 1,000 youngsters who survived Haiti's catastrophic earthquake have enrolled in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area's public schools, joining the largest concentration of Haitians in the United States. The influx is putting teachers, administrators and grief counselors to the test. Many of the children are struggling with the horrors they witnessed, while also trying to adjust to their new surroundings. Some lost friends or loved ones in the quake, along with their homes and schools. Some are anxious and fearful. (more...)

Teacher quality showdown in Houston's corral

• 02-12-2010
• 

Blog by Patrick Riccards/Eduflak

Looking at the headlines coming out of Houston last night, it was a regular showdown at the school improvement corral. Teachers versus parents. Reformers versus status quo. Process versus outcomes. And in the words of far too many Simpsons episodes, we can't possibly forget about the children! For those late to the rodeo, last evening the Houston Independent School District School Board voted (unanimously, 7-0) to approve HISD Superintendent Terry Grier's teacher quality efforts. The plan allows the school district to terminate (as a last resort) teachers whose students are unable to make the grade on standardized tests. According to the numbers being circulated, about 3 percent of the HISD teacher force, or 400 teachers, could be affected by this new initiative. (more...)

Schools face big budget holes as stimulus runs out

• 02-16-2010
• 

By Terence Chea/Washington Post

The nation's public schools are falling under severe financial stress as states slash education spending and drain federal stimulus money that staved off deep classroom cuts and widespread job losses. School districts have already suffered big budget cuts since the recession began two years ago, but experts say the cash crunch will get a lot worse as states run out of stimulus dollars. The result in many hard-hit districts: more teacher layoffs, larger class sizes, smaller paychecks, fewer electives and extracurricular activities, and decimated summer school programs. The situation is particularly ugly in California, where school districts are preparing for mass layoffs and swelling class sizes as the state grapples with another massive budget shortfall. (more...)

Stimulus law’s futile goal of reform

• 02-16-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

In directing $80 billion in stimulus dollars over two years to the nation’s elementary and secondary schools, the Obama administration made a big deal about tying the money to school reform. States were required to make four assurances in accepting the money, including, most importantly, a commitment to make progress in producing more effective teachers and seeing that they are equitably distributed in low-income schools. But those assurances, it turns out, were vague and unenforceable. California got 90 percent of the money without having to tell the feds what steps it planned to take, and the Obama administration had no way to hold it accountable anyway. (more...)

The innovation of pilot schools

• 02-16-2010
• 

Opinion by Maria Elena Durazo and Maria Brenes/La Opinión (text in Spanish)

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, is a federation of labor unions that represents over 800,000 workers in every key industry throughout Los Angeles County including janitorial, education and construction workers. Those men and women work hard day in and day out just to be able to provide basic sustenance for their families. Most importantly, they are the working men and women who are exacting a high price during this economic downturn. Many are losing their jobs and retirement security, they can’t pay their medical bills and are losing their homes. (more...)

New challenges for bilingual education

• 02-16-2010
• 

By Marcela Cortés/La Opinión (text in Spanish)

Having a focused program and a larger number of trained teachers are the two main challenges of bilingual education, according to the organizations that propose this agenda. "We need to change the way in which language is taught to students for whom it is a second language," says Santiago Wood, Executive Director of the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE). In its annual conference last week in Denver Colorado, NABE presented a series of proposals that are considered necessary for these programs to have a stronger impact in the education of students who are learning English. (more...)

Fiscal woes push up class sizes

• 02-16-2010
• 

By Cari Tuna/Wall Street Journal

Laws aimed at lowering class sizes in U.S. public schools are coming under fire as budget shortfalls lead many states to slash education spending. So far this year, officials in Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and Nevada have proposed relaxing or eliminating class-size limits. The moves follow California's easing of class-size targets last year, which helped result in around 75% of the state's public elementary schools increasing class sizes this school year, according to estimates from a University of California, Los Angeles, report last month. Class-size limits, which often target kindergarten through third grade, are coming under the microscope. The benefit is more attention for each student; the downside is the cost. (more...)

Do charter schools worsen inequality of two-tiered education system, or help address it?

• 02-16-2010
• 

By Amy Goodman/Pacifica Radio

We host a roundtable discussion on charter schools and the controversial closing of nineteen New York City public schools with New York State Senator Bill Perkins, one of the most vocal state lawmakers against lifting the cap on charter schools in New York; Seth Andrew, superintendent and founder of the Democracy Prep charter school in Harlem; Daniel Clark, Sr., the field director of advocacy group Parent Power Now!; and Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters. (more...)

Two unions say they are willing to negotiate a cut in the L.A. Unified school year

• 02-16-2010
• 

By Jason Song/Los Angeles Times

Esther Lee says she plans every minute of her seventh-grade science classes at Berendo Middle School in Koreatown. "For a lot of my students, their only connection to academics is in school . . . so I feel I can never waste time," she said. But under a plan proposed by Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, Lee could be chopping a week off her schedule as early as this spring to help district officials balance a projected $640-million shortfall. California school districts have the option of shortening the school year without losing key state funding for the next several years, and at least one other district has moved to shorten its calendar. Others, up and down the state, are considering the option. (more...)

LA schools chief proposes shorter year, higher property tax

• 02-16-2010
• 

By Chery Glaser/KCRW Los Angeles

Drastic times require drastic measures seems to be the approach of the LA Unified School District, where the coming school year's budget deficit has widened from $470 million to $640 million. In the past, LAUSD has resorted to layoffs in trying to solve the deficit. This time, Superintendent Ramon Cortines has proposed cutting the school year by six days and asking voters to approve a $100 parcel tax increase. (more...)

Parents, students and civil rights advocates protest the mass closings of public schools

• 02-12-2010
• 

Opinion by Leonie Haimson/Huffington Post Leonie Haimson is Executive Director of Class Size Matters

In communities all over the country, resistance is building to the mass closings of neighborhood schools. Instead of strengthening our neighborhood schools, that have for generations accepted and served a variety of students, and providing resources and reforms like smaller classes that have been proven to work, officials are pursuing a scorched earth policy -- as during the Vietnam war, when the military claimed they were forced to destroy villages in order to save them. Here in New York City, rallies and protests have attracted thousands, culminating in a tumultuous eight hour meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy, at which parents, students and teachers pointed out how the Department of Education and Chancellor Joel Klein had unfairly targeted their schools, putting forward misleading statistics and incomplete or false data. (more...)

LAUSD board to vote on parcel tax

• 02-16-2010
• 

By Connie Llanos/Los Angeles Daily News

Facing a massive budget deficit, the Los Angeles Unified School District board will decide Tuesday whether to ask voters in June for a $100 per-parcel tax increase for the next four years to help keep local schools afloat. The limited parcel tax would generate about $92.5 million per year, according to a board report. The money would go toward limiting class size increases, reducing teacher layoffs, and maintaining vocational and job training programs, according to the abbreviated text of the measure. The tax would also exempt low-income seniors and would not fund any central administrators' salaries. "The bottom line is the district is in desperate straits," said Judith Perez, president of Associated Administrators Los Angeles, who supports the tax. (more...)

Long Beach school district weighs layoffs

• 02-16-2010
• 

KPCC

The Long Beach Unified School District has begun the process of laying off as many as 750 employees, it was reported today. On Tuesday, the school board will consider sending notices to teachers, counselors and social workers that they could be laid off at the end of the school year, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported. The school board recently eliminated $38 million in spending to balance the district's budget, and class sizes may increase next year. District officials anticipate sending layoff warnings to about 470 elementary teachers, 41 middle school teachers and 145 high school teachers, the newspaper reported. Actual layoffs, however, could be avoided, depending on retirements and resignations, district officials told the Press-Telegram. (more...)

Parents pulling 'trigger' on school

• 02-16-2010
• 

By Connie Llanos/Los Angeles Daily News

After five years of getting nowhere with Los Angeles Unified officials, fed-up parents in Sunland-Tujunga are using a new state law to force change at a long-troubled middle school. Parents and community members say problems at Mount Gleason Middle School, which has been on a federal list of under-performing campuses for a dozen years, go beyond failing test scores. "There is an unsafe atmosphere at this school that is spilling over into the community...," said Lydia Grant, a resident and parent of a former Mount Gleason student. "People are tired of it and we want to see change." (more...)

Houston trustees OK plan to fire failing teachers

• 02-16-2010
• 

Education Week

Some teachers booed as Houston Independent School District trustees discussed and approved a plan to allow the firing of educators whose students consistently fail to improve on standardized tests. The HISD board voted Thursday night to turn next year to a value-added system of measuring student progress. More than 700 teachers were part of the overflow crowd at the meeting. The Houston Federation of Teachers and the Congress of Houston Teachers oppose the review plan for the largest public school system in Texas, which has more than 200,000 students and 295 schools. Superintendent Terry Grier says training and mentoring will be available to teachers in danger of losing their jobs. (more...)

Homeless in high school

• 02-16-2010
• 

By Brian R. Ballou/Boston Globe

After her sister kicked her out, Barbara Hollis started bouncing from one friend’s house to another’s, sleeping on couches and keeping her possessions in trash bags. Couch surfing was terrible, she thought as she wandered through a neighborhood where many of her high school classmates lived. Several nights last summer, the 18-year-old Malden High School student slept in area parks. At Suffolk Park, she curled up on an elevated rubber platform at the playground, wary that a classmate might see her. She attempted to fall asleep by counting sheep. She got to 180. “I wouldn’t say I was really asleep - my eyes were just resting,’’ said Hollis. “I could never get to a deep sleep there.’’ (more...)

Valley families pay for extracurricular activities

• 02-16-2010
• 

By Marc Benjamin & Tracy Correa/The Fresno Bee

California law says children are entitled to a free education. That includes band, football and other activities at the heart of school life. But many Valley families have discovered that "free" can cost thousands of dollars a year. To meet the letter of the law while still shifting the cost of extracurricular activities to families, schools -- chronically short of funding -- pressure students to buy extras or meet fundraising quotas. And while districts say they offer financial aid, many families complain that schools make little effort to publicize the help. That means students often miss out on the activities -- and what can be lifelong benefits that go with them. "It's no child left behind -- unless your children can't pay," said Sam Keeney, a Clovis father and disabled combat veteran. (more...)

Houston's teacher evaluation policy

• 02-16-2010
• 

National Journal

Despite fierce opposition from the local teachers union, the Houston Independent School District approved a policy last week to use value-added test scores, a statistical method used to measure teachers' and schools' impact on students' academic progress rates from year to year, as one of the criteria for teacher evaluation and teacher dismissal (some details about the policy are available here and here). This means that roughly 400 of the district's 13,000 teachers may be eligible for dismissal as a result of their students' poor performance on tests. (more...)

Home-language surveys for ELLs under fire

• 02-17-2010
• 

By Mary Ann Zehr/Education Week

A growing chorus of people are saying that some school districts are overzealous in categorizing students as English-language learners in the aim of complying with federal and state laws to ensure that children of immigrants get extra help with English. They contend that the information requested on the home-language survey that parents are commonly asked to fill out when they enroll their child in a public school can be misleading or misused. Christina Chum, a parent of a 5th grader in Orange County, Fla., for example, says her son was mistakenly categorized as an ELL after she said on a home-language survey that Spanish was sometimes spoken in their home. She’s asked district officials to lift the label for her son, whose first and primary language is English, but she says they tell her state law doesn’t permit them to do so, unless her son proves on a test that he knows English. (more...)

Districts refusing reforms could hurt California's chances for grant money

• 02-17-2010
• 

By Jason Song/Los Angeles Times

A large number of California school districts and teachers unions have refused to accept education reforms being pushed by the Obama administration, and that could hamper the state's chances of winning hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants, some officials fear. The money would come from a $4.3-billion set of competitive school-improvement grants that Washington plans to begin awarding to states this spring under the administration's Race to the Top program. California officials are hoping to win up to $700 million of that money. Federal officials have outlined four main areas of reform to be considered in awarding Race to the Top grants: more sophisticated data systems to track student progress, common education standards, intervention in low-achieving schools, and improved efforts to train teachers and principals. (more...)

Fixing funding for schools -- and colleges, and all the rest

• 02-17-2010
• 

Column by Peter Schrag/Sacramento Bee

CSBA, the California School Boards Association, and other major education groups have been talking for years about suing the state to bring California’s dismally low school funding up to something approaching adequate levels. And while there are still no details, it now seems increasingly likely that a suit will be filed this spring, possibly as early as April. There are certainly ample grounds for it. The suits would come at the same time that researchers at the Public Policy Institute of California are working on a plan to thoroughly revamp what they call California’s “overly complex” and “inequitable” school funding system and as the U.S. Department of Education is reportedly readying its own civil rights suit against educational inequities in some Southern California school districts. (more...)

L.A. Unified to seek $100 parcel tax hike

• 02-17-2010
• 

By Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles voters will be asked in June to approve a temporary $100-per-parcel annual tax to help fund city schools, but Supt. Ramon C. Cortines warned Tuesday that the increase still would not be enough to head off bigger class sizes, teacher layoffs and, possibly, a shorter school year. Facing a projected $640-million budget shortfall, officials said the parcel tax would yield $95.2 million annually for the four years it would be in effect. The school board needed to act quickly, Cortines said, so the money could offset some cutbacks for the upcoming school year. For the same reason, the measure had to go before voters in June. Pollsters had favored November as likely to deliver a more liberal, tax-friendlier electorate. (more...)

A backlash against classrooms with high technology -- but no air conditioning

• 02-17-2010
• 

By Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

The sleek new digital whiteboards in math classrooms at Patrick Henry High can pull up websites for classes to view and save interactive lessons teachers create in advance. Jeff Bellinger calls his "a wonderful piece of equipment." But he rarely uses it to do much more than draw perfect circles or graphs for students in his math class -- things he could do on a regular dry-erase board, albeit a bit slower. "It just seems like a bit of overkill," he said. Bellinger teaches in a temporary classroom with no air conditioning. The influx of new technology over the next four years into classrooms like his is a rare boon for San Diego Unified schools in a budget crisis. (more...) 

Plan would let students start college early

• 02-17-2010
• 

By Sam Dillon/New York Times

Dozens of public high schools in eight states will introduce a program next year allowing 10th graders who pass a battery of tests to get a diploma two years early and immediately enroll in community college. Students who pass but aspire to attend a selective college may continue with college preparatory courses in their junior and senior years, organizers of the new effort said. Students who fail the 10th grade tests, known as board exams, can try again at the end of their 11th and 12th grades. The tests would cover not only English and math but other subjects like science and history. The new system of high school coursework with the accompanying board examinations is modeled largely on systems in high-performing nations including Denmark, England, Finland, France and Singapore. (more...) 

Unions plans protests March 4

• 02-17-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

A protest or demonstration will be coming to a school or college campus near you on Thursday, March 4th. That’s what the state’s two teachers unions, the California Teachers Assn. and the California Federation of Teachers, are designating their “Day of Action,” in which teachers hope to rouse people’s attention to the impact of current and likely budget cuts. CTA announced it will be running a 1-minute radio ad promoting the day on 84 stations between now and then. The statewide protest will occur at the same time that school boards are voting on preliminary layoff notices, so there will be plenty of angry teachers and parents. Districts must notify teachers by March 15 if jobs may be eliminated, and, indications are tens of thousands of teachers will be notified. (more...) 

Schools: District might ask state for larger class sizes

• 02-17-2010
• 

By Eugene W. Fields/Orange County Register

The Orange Unified School District will consider Thursday night asking the state for permission to raise class sizes at elementary and middle schools A waiver would allow the district to raise the class size to a 33-to-1 student-teacher ratio for two years, beginning in the next school year. Currently, the state Education Code allows a 30-to-1 ratio for grades 1-3, and a 29.9-to-1 for grades 4-8. The increase in size would save the district, expecting the state to cut back education funding, $2.9 million a year. “None of us are in favor of increasing classroom size,” said Trustee Mark Wayland. “But if our (enrollment) numbers do increase, and we don’t have the funding to take care of these kids, we’re going to have to increase class size.” (more...) 

School suspensions: Are they effective?

• 02-17-2010
• 

By Jorge Barrientos/Bakersfield Californian

Kim Baker's son was supposed to be sitting out recess. But, according to a notice sent home, he cut in front of other students waiting to play tetherball, then kicked another's shin and "punched his hand into his other hand in a threatening manner." He was sent home and suspended from school the next day for disrupting school activities and defying authority of supervisors, the notice said. A week later, he was suspended again for throwing pencil lead at another student. Baker's beef? His son is only in the first grade. "Teachers took care of the problems when I went to school and explained to kids why they were in trouble," Baker said. "Suspensions, I think, only damage young kids' self-esteem." (more...) 

School districts push for teacher pay cuts during contract talks

• 02-17-2010
• 

By Ana Tintocalis/KPBS San Diego

The San Diego and Vista unified school districts are trying to negotiate new labor contracts with their teachers unions while they push for teacher pay cuts. Teachers in both districts are angry officials want to cut their salary as their unions struggle to hammer out new labor contracts. Vista Unified wants teachers to take a 2 percent pay cut and five furlough days. San Diego Unified is calling for an 8 percent pay cut. The proposed cuts are making contract negotiations even more hostile. In fact, a state mediator is now leading talks in Vista. (more...)

Schools trustees to consider budget cuts; vote on Tuesday

• 02-17-2010
• 

By Maureen Magee/San Diego Union Tribune

San Diego’s smallest schools could be closed. The future of popular student seminars to Old Town, Balboa Park and Camp Palomar may hinge on donations from the community. And autonomous high school academies could be consolidated or done away with altogether. The Board of Education continued to dissect the San Diego Unified School District’s $1.2 billion operating budget yesterday in an effort to offset an estimated $87.8 million deficit in the fiscal year that begins July 1. No action was taken. Among the moves the school board agreed to consider: closing elementary schools with the lowest enrollments; dismantling — or consolidating — the small-schools initiative that established autonomous academies at Crawford, Kearny and San Diego high schools; imposing salary cuts — perhaps on a sliding scale — for all employees; eliminating or reorganizing its team of administrators known as school improvement officers; and cutting back or finding alternative funding for the Old Town, Balboa Park and Camp Palomar programs. (more...)

In Oakland schools, more yearning than learning

• 02-17-2010
• 

By Katy Murphy/Oakland Tribune

Wesley Sims pulls a lifeless crayfish from a tub and brings it to his seat, next to a blank sheet of paper. Seven other teenagers who have made it to physiology class on time after lunch do the same. Their task for the next 45 minutes is to draw the creature from three angles: dorsal, ventral and sagittal. The teacher explains, when Sims asks, that the activity is meant to sharpen their observational skills. Some might consider it a creative, hands-on lesson. Sims, 18, is not impressed. "Just think about it. I'd rather be learning something than drawing," he said in a low, emphatic voice. "Why am I just drawing this? It's easy work. That's why I get 4.4s." Most students grumble about teachers they don't like or school in general. Sims, a senior at East Oakland School of the Arts and student representative on the Oakland school board, is speaking louder than that. (more...)

Ambitious education database crashes

• 02-18-2010
• 

By Lance Williams/California Watch

A multimillion-dollar computer database that was supposed to provide invaluable insights about California's six million public school children is afflicted with “unacceptable system performance issues,” said Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of public instruction. In a letter to the state’s school boards, O’Connell said he was halting the rollout of CalPADS – the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System – while computer contractors focus on “stabilizing” the complex system. O’Connell’s letter is dated Feb. 11, but it was first publicized on Wednesday by the California School Boards Association. The association has been reporting on the problems many districts have encountered when trying to input student data into the system, as they are required by state law. (more...)

Lawmakers to launch bipartisan effort to rewrite No Child Left Behind

• 02-18-2010
• 

By Nick Anderson/Washington Post

Senior House Republicans and Democrats plan to announce Thursday that they will team up to rewrite the No Child Left Behind education law, a rare show of bipartisanship in the polarized Congress. Last month, the Obama administration launched talks with lawmakers on an overhaul of the 2002 law, which mandated an expansion of standardized testing and established a national framework for school accountability. This month, President Obama's budget proposed eliminating the standard of "adequate yearly progress" for schools to close test-score achievement gaps, a key element of the law. Many analysts say time is growing short for passage of a major education bill before the midterm elections because Congress is consumed by the economy, health care and financial regulation, among other issues. (more...)

LAUSD reform effort aims for 100% grad rate

• 02-18-2010
• 

By Connie Llanos/Los Angeles Daily News

A coalition of civic, business, labor and education leaders Wednesday signed an ambitious agreement to reform Los Angeles public schools, setting a goal of a 100 percent graduation rate. Modeled after the Boston Compact signed nearly 30 years ago, the L.A. Compact counts 18 local groups, including the Chamber of Commerce, City Council and the County Federation of Labor, who will lobby together for funding and legislative changes on behalf of local schools. Addressing some criticism the pact's goals were too lofty, such as aiming to have all graduates prepared to enter college, LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines stressed the compact needs to be more than "words on paper." "We need more than a bunch of signatures," Cortines said. "We need to make sure that these groups put into action these words ... Then this will be an important document." (more...)

Full Circle Fund’s Rx for schools

• 02-18-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

Members of the Full Circle Fund, a Bay Area philanthropy made up of socially active leaders and entrepreneurs, has joined the call for giving school districts more autonomy and taxing authority. Granting local voters the power to pass a limited surcharge of the property tax rate is one policy recommendation of “EACH: A Vision for California’s Future.” The 11-page policy platform is the product of nine months of work by the 60-member Education Circle, one of four study groups within the Full Circle Fund. A property surcharge would directly challenge of the limits imposed by Proposition 13. It also could create equity problems – and likely lead to a lawsuit – since rich communities would more readily pass such a measure. So the Education Circle also urges establishing a state matching fund as an incentive for low-wealth communities to raise revenue. (more...)

Bay Area charter schools are diverse, study says

• 02-18-2010
• 

By Doug Oakley/Contra Costa Times

The Bay Area is bucking a national trend of racial segregation in charter schools, according to a new national study. The study by The Civil Rights Project at UCLA called "Choice Without Equity: Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights Standards" was released Feb. 4 and found that charter schools "are more racially isolated than traditional public schools in virtually every state and large metropolitan region." Almost a third of charter school students in the nation end up "in apartheid schools with zero to one percent white classmates, the very kind of schools that decades of civil rights struggles fought to abolish in the South." (more...)

Cortines' Scholastic entanglement

• 02-18-2010
• 

Editorial/Los Angeles Times

The chief of the Los Angeles Unified School District should not be in the employ of a major outside vendor for his schools. It's that simple. Supt. Ramon C. Cortines must relinquish his position with Scholastic Inc., and the school board should apply any pressure needed to make that happen. Cortines has served for 15 years on the board of the publishing company, according to a recent report by Times staff writer Howard Blume. Since coming to work for the district in 2008, Cortines has earned more than $150,000 a year for serving on the board, while Scholastic has made $5.2 million in contracts with the district as its main supplier of reading intervention curricula. No one should need a primer on why this is a disturbing situation. (more...) 

East Contra Costa schools seeking new ways to save money

• 02-18-2010
• 

By Hannah Dreier/Contra Costa Times

Three East Contra Costa school districts — Byron Union, Oakley and Brentwood Union — are bracing for another year of sharp budget cuts, and their anger toward Sacramento is growing. "I feel like a crime has been committed, and it's not being called a crime," Byron Union School District Superintendent Eric Prater said. Prater proposes cutting approximately $1.4 million, or 12 percent, from Byron's budget for the 2010-11 school year. He suggests shortening the school year by three days, increasing all grade school class sizes to 31 students, and eliminating arts, music and remedial education programs, as well as the counseling programs, at the district's three schools. Prater estimates that at least 14 employees would be laid off. (more...)

Educator teamwork seen as key to school gains

• 02-18-2010
• 

By Lisa Fine/Education Week

Most principals and teachers say they believe creating school environments that allow educators to work together more would have a “major impact” on improving the chances for student success, according to a new national survey by MetLife Inc. But the specific methods and amount of time currently allowed for such collaboration among educators vary widely from school to school, the poll found. The 2009 “MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Collaborating for Student Success,” which will be released in three parts over the next two months, examines the views of teachers, principals, and students about their respective roles, responsibilities, and priorities in schools today. The first part of the survey, released today and titled “Effective Teaching and Leadership,” examines teachers’ and principals' views on what collaboration looks like in schools and what impact it has. (more...)

San Marino Unified could lay off nearly one-third of its teachers

• 02-18-2010
• 

By Brian Charles/Pasadena Star News

Despite residents paying more than $1,000 a year in parcel taxes, San Marino Unified School District will send layoff notices to nearly one-third of its teachers, Superintendent Dr. Gary Woods said. "We're almost at a point where we are unable to operate as a public school," Woods said. Preliminary layoff notices will go out March 15 to 43 of the district's 130 teachers, a move officials say is needed to help close a $5 million budget gap. Final notices must be received by May 15 for teachers who won't have jobs in the fall. The notices come less than a year after San Marino residents approved the district's second parcel tax. Residents were already paying $295 per parcel when they passed a $795 parcel tax in May 2009. (more...)

Worsening education budgets require new strategies

• 02-18-2010
• 

By Lisa Schiff/Beyond Chron

From the promising to the discouragingly persistent, so many important issues are facing San Francisco public schools right now. Between the vision of new programs such as ethnic studies at the high school level and expanded language immersion, to reducing truancy and tackling school safety and even the almost complete new student assignment policy, there is so much for us to be discussing, debating, working out and putting into practice. But as important as all of these issues are, each one of them is trumped by the budget crisis, which has grown from a perpetual disaster mostly held at bay to a looming tidal wave with time running out to contain its destructive force. (more...)

Complacency adds to fiscal crisis in education

• 02-19-2010
• 

Opinion by Fred Brill/San Francisco Chronicle

Please. Slow down and listen before you take up your pitchforks. I am not a monster. I am merely an educator and a parent. I, too, have been complicit in allowing our education system to deteriorate. The primary focus in education has been "equity" - addressing the low achievement of students of color, students of low socioeconomic status - but profound fiscal challenges are shifting our attention. Public school districts across the state are increasing class sizes, decreasing the length of the school year, eliminating professional development and eviscerating art, music, athletic and summer school programs. (more...) 

Consultant: shut down CALPADS now

• 02-19-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

CALPADS, the new comprehensive student data system on which huge hopes for school and student improvement are riding, is hobbled by serious problems. Acting on a consultant’s report bluntly critical of state managers and of IBM, the system vendor, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell has shut CALPADS down for two months and ordered all efforts focused on fixing it. The hiatus will put data collection from the state’s 1,000 districts months, if not a year, behind schedule. O’Connell had little choice but to act quickly. After studying the system for a month, Sabot Technologies of Folsom predicted a “high probability of system failure should the project continue on the current path” as a result of “anomalies, errors and defects throughout” the system. (more...)

Big brother is here, families say

• 02-19-2010
• 

By Jeff Schreiber/Courthouse News

A federal class action claims a suburban school district has been spying on students and families through the "indiscriminant use of and ability to remotely activate the webcams incorporated into each laptop issued to students," without the knowledge or consent of students or parents. The named plaintiffs say they learned that Big Brother was in their home when an assistant principal told their son that the school district knew he "was engaged in improper behavior in his home, and cited as evidence a photograph from the webcam embedded in minor plaintiff's personal laptop issued by the school district." The families say the Lower Merion School District issued Webcam-equipped personal laptop computers to each of its approximately 1,800 high school students: in Harriton High School in Rosemont, and Lower Merion High School in Ardmore. (more...) 

Teacher seniority rules challenged

• 02-19-2010
• 

By Barbara Martinez/Wall Street Journal

Teacher seniority rules are meeting resistance from government officials and parents as a wave of layoffs is hitting public schools and driving newer teachers out of classrooms. In a majority of the country's school districts, teacher layoffs are handled on a "last in, first out" basis. Critics of seniority rules worry that many effective and talented teachers who have been hired in recent years will lose their jobs. Unions say that seniority rules are the only objective way to carry out layoffs, and that they protect teachers from the whims and bias of managers, who might fire effective teachers they don't like. This year, because of cuts in state aid to New York City, the city could be facing a loss of about 8,500 teacher jobs out of a total of 80,000. The last time the nation's largest school system laid off a teacher was 1976. (more...) 

Down with parent power

• 02-19-2010
• 

Column by Jay Matthews/Washington Post

I have been exchanging emails with Gabe Rose, communications director of something called the Parent Revolution in my home state, California. Rose and his organization are part of a movement that has, to my open-mouthed amazement, persuaded the state government to give parents the power to close or change the leadership of low-performing public schools. It sounds great. It has many parents excited. It could shake up the state educational establishment, including the education department, school boards and teacher unions. They could use some shaking up. Yet I can't shake my feeling it is a bad idea, a confusing distraction that will bring parents more frustration, not less, and do little to improve their children's educations. (more...) 

Parsing the parcel tax

• 02-19-2010
• 

Editorial/Los Angeles Times

The parcel tax proposal for Los Angeles schools is barely out of the gate and already it's limping. In an economy this bad, a new $100-a-year tax on each piece of residential and commercial property sounds like a lot of money to many property owners. In addition, parcel taxes in poorer school districts have fared badly at the ballot box lately. And even if it passes, the money would only begin to cover budget shortfalls at the L.A. Unified School District. What's more, many voters remember that they recently approved a far bigger sum in construction bonds so that students could have uncrowded, sparkling, state-of-the-art classrooms. (more...) 

Cortines recommends who should run 30 campuses; charter schools wanted more

• 02-19-2010
• 

Blog by Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times

The chance to operate 18 new campuses would be divided among competing bidders in a politically balanced way under recommendations released Thursday by Los Angeles schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines. His recommendations are the next step in a process through which bidders from inside and outside the school district are competing to run the 18 new campuses as well as 12 persistently low-performing schools. The main competitors include groups of teachers—often working with district administrators—versus independently operated charter schools, which are exempt from some rules that govern traditional schools. In the end, each political constituency is positioned to get something, but there is also substantial disappointment--especially among charter school advocates. (more...) 

Sacramento schools survey identifies priorities

• 02-19-2010
• 

By Melody Gutierrez/Sacramento Bee

The No. 1 priority for employees of the Sacramento City Unified School District and the community is small class sizes, according to results of a district survey released Thursday. Responses from district employees and the community, including parents and local business owners, were similar for the most part. Both rank up-to-date textbooks and clean schools in the top four priorities. But they differ on Gifted and Talented Education, which community members ranked third and employees ranked 17th. The community ranked adult education programs eighth, while employees ranked them 19th. (more...)

Cortines: LAUSD should be in charge

• 02-19-2010
• 

By Connie Llanos/Los Angeles Daily News

Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines recommended Thursday that the district keep control of a majority of schools that are part of a reform effort allowing outside groups to compete to run campuses. Cortines' list of suggested operators for the 36 new and underperforming schools would allow outside groups to run 10 campuses. The rest would remain under LAUSD control. His recommendations follow months of heated exchanges and accusations between the teachers, nonprofit groups and charters that bid to run schools under LAUSD's School Choice reform plan. The Board of Education is set to decide on Feb. 23 based largely on Cortines' recommendations. (more...) 

Nationwide education compact benefits military children

• 02-19-2010
• 

By Alison St John/KPBS San Diego

Rear Admiral William French, the commander of Navy Region Southwest, and Marine Corp General Anthony L. Jackson held a press conference today to highlight new legislation. AB 343 removes obstacles that affected children in military families. More than 60,000 students in California schools are children of military families. Their parents often move frequently from one military base to another. But moving from school to school, sometimes in different states, can set back their education and make it harder to qualify for college. State Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña sponsored a bill in California as part of a nationwide initiative to make it easier for military kids to transfer from a school in one state to a school in another. (more...)

L.A. Unified head quits board of Scholastic Inc.

• 02-19-2010
• 

By Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines resigned Thursday from the board of Scholastic Inc. after increased scrutiny of his relationship with the school-district vendor that paid him compensation worth more than $150,000 last year. Scholastic provides the district's primary reading intervention program and has received more than $16 million over the last five years from contracts with the Los Angeles Unified School District. Cortines has recused himself from matters pertaining to Scholastic, but the company's substantial district business has complicated that approach. In a statement, Cortines said he stepped down "to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest as I carry out my duties as superintendent of the nation's second-largest school district and to reaffirm my commitment to our students, parents, teachers and administrators." (more...) 

Race to the top of what? Education is about more than jobs

• 02-22-2010
• 

By Mike Rose/Truthdig

The race is on. Forty-one states have just finished the mad dash to submit proposals for the Obama education initiative, Race to the Top. Now that the first round of competition is over we should be asking the basic questions that got lost in the flurry: What is the true purpose of all this reform? What should it be? Why do we send our kids to school? The answer given for decades, from the national to the local level, from Democrats and Republicans, is that education prepares the young for the world of work and enables the nation to maintain global economic pre-eminence. There is an occasional nod to the civic purpose of schooling in No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, but that goal pales next to the economic justification. (more...)

Teachers dig deep to pay for materials and field trips

• 02-22-2010
• 

By Brian Charles/San Gabriel Valley Tribune

A recent field trip was a race against the clock for Jana Munoz and her students at Franklin Elementary. "If we don't get back to the school by 1:30 p.m., the school bus will cost us more than $400," said Munoz, a fifth-grade teacher. That's $400 Munoz can't afford. Field trips outside of district limits are just part of the expenses that school teachers at Pasadena Unified School District must pay for with their own money or money they get from grants. They're not alone. Sujey Acuna, programs director for the Adopt-A-Classroom organization, said on average the nation's teachers now spend about $1,200 a year on classroom supplies. Her organization allows K-12 educators to register on its Web site so that community members and businesses can donate money to help provide resources for their classrooms. (more...)

Backers of magnet schools question charter push

• 02-22-2010
• 

By Mary Ann Zehr/Education Week

In comparison with charter schools, some educators and researchers contend, magnet schools have been given short shrift by the Obama administration. These critics argue that magnet schools have a strong record of increasing racial or economic diversity and deserve more federal funding and support than they are receiving. “In Washington, all the attention has gone to charters,” said Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, a progressive think tank based in Washington. “There is something of a disconnect between what’s happening locally and what’s happening nationally. My sense is that magnet schools continue to be quite popular with parents.” Magnet schools typically have a particular academic focus, such as the arts or science and technology, that is aimed at helping the schools attract a diverse student population. (more...)

Obama prods states to raise academic standards

• 02-22-2010
• 

By Darlene Superville/San Francisco Chronicle

President Barack Obama prodded states Monday to raise their school standards by using his best leverage: money. Obama told governors he wants a change in law that would allow states to receive federal aid for poor students only if they adopt academic standards that are deemed to truly prepare children for college or careers out of high school. The move would require a change in the nation's main elementary and secondary education law, which became known as the No Child Left Behind Act during the presidency of George W. Bush. Traditionally, the federal government is a marginal player in the financing and control of education, but its role has expanded as educators and lawmakers at all levels worry about slipping U.S. competitiveness. (more...)

Obama to propose new reading and math standards

• 02-22-2010
• 

By Sam Dillon/New York Times

In a proposed change to the No Child Left Behind law, the Obama administration would require states to adopt new academic standards to qualify for federal money from a $14 billion program that concentrates on impoverished students, the White House said Sunday. The proposal, part of the administration’s recommendations for a Congressional overhaul of the law, would require states to adopt “college- and career-ready standards” in reading and mathematics. The current law, signed by President George W. Bush in 2002, requires states to adopt “challenging academic standards” in reading and math to receive federal money for poor students under the program known as Title I, but leaves it up to states to decide what qualifies as “challenging.” (more...)

High schools can compete to have Obama at graduation

• 02-22-2010
• 

USA Today

Coming to a high school graduation near you: President Barack Obama. The White House and the Education Department are giving public high schools the opportunity to compete to have the president speak at their commencement ceremony this spring. The winning school must demonstrate how it's helping prepare students to meet Obama's goal of the U.S. having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. "Public schools that encourage systemic reform and embrace effective approaches to teaching and learning help prepare America's students to graduate ready for college and a career," Obama said in a video announcing the competition, called The Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge. (more...)

L.A. charter schools flex their educational muscles

• 02-22-2010
• 

By Mitchell Landsberg, Doug Smith and Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times

Over the last decade, a quiet revolution took root in the nation's second-largest school district. Fueled by money and emboldened by clout from some of the city's most powerful figures, charter schools began a period of explosive growth that has challenged the status quo in the Los Angeles Unified School District.Today, Los Angeles is home to more than 160 charter schools, far more than any other U.S. city. Charter enrollment is up nearly 19% this year from last, while enrollment in traditional L.A. public schools is down. And a once-hostile school board has become increasingly charter-friendly, despite resistance from the teachers union. In September, the board agreed to let charters bid on potentially hundreds of existing campuses and on all 50 of its planned new schools. (more...)

Inviting trouble

• 02-22-2010
• 

Editorial/Los Angeles Daily News

Amazingly, despite the enormity of the task of managing the Los Angeles Unified School District, Superintendent Ramon Cortines still found time to do some moonlighting for Scholastic, Inc., one of the nation's top publishers of school textbooks. Cortines stepped down from the position Thursday after he came under fire, but only after he defended his position. It wasn't a big commitment, he said, serving on the corporation's board for the past 15 years. He put in a few hours here and there at the end of the day, or on weekends, and attended a handful of meetings in New York each year - for which he drew a handsome salary of $150,000. (more...)

LAUSD opens its books to unions to justify cost-saving plans

• 02-22-2010
• 

By Connie Llanos/Los Angeles Daily News

Facing a deficit of some $640 million for next year, Los Angeles Unified officials opened its books Friday in an effort to win support from unions for furloughs and other cost-saving plans. "This meeting is to make sure that we are being transparent with our information," said LAUSD chief financial officer Megan Reilly. Requested by district Superintendent Ramon Cortines, the meeting was also designed to face the common complaint from some employee unions that district officials fail to answer their requests for budget information. The meeting was announced shortly after Cortines proposed to cut the school year by a week - which has to be negotiated with district unions - and less than a month before LAUSD will have to send out layoff notices to thousands of workers unless other concessions are reached. (more...) 

New plan on school selection, but still discontent

• 02-22-2010
• 

By Jesse McKinley/New York Times

After years of complaints from parents, the San Francisco Unified School District has just taken a serious step toward revamping its well-meaning but labyrinthine student-assignment system, which decides the educational homes for tens of thousands of children. A new plan could affect the makeup of San Francisco schools. Parents took their children to McKinley Elementary on Wednesday. A student being dropped off at McKinley Elementary, which is in the Castro district and near Duboce Park. The current system — designed to meet the terms of a settlement in a long-fought federal desegregation case — involves a complicated computer algorithm that creates student “profiles,” using various economic and educational factors, with the aim of sending students of different backgrounds to the same schools. (more...)

A school board dissident faces the test

• 02-22-2010
• 

By Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

Katherine Nakamura has often championed the kind of motherhood-and-apple-pie stuff that causes little ruckus on the school board: She worked on a more readable budget that parents could understand. She campaigned hard for money to renovate and repair schools. She backs successful charter schools. She even championed the marching band and pushed to keep giving students gym credit for the class. "Polarization makes me crazy," she said. "My goal is to bring the entire community together." But Nakamura hasn't been able to avoid it. She has sided with some of the most controversial school chiefs in recent history. She has become a dissenting voice on the school board on labor and budget issues, which has already split some Democrats away from the Democratic candidate. (more...)

LAUSD must respect vote of the public

• 02-22-2010
• 

Opinion by A.J. Duffy/Los Angeles Daily News

This week has been filled with news about our schools and our school administrators, from a proposed parcel tax to a shortened school year. But one vital topic has been missed: The vote by thousands of parents, students, teachers and community members across the city to determine whether 30 Los Angeles public schools will be turned over to outside companies to be run as charters, or instead embrace the personalized reform plans created by existing teachers, parents and stakeholders. Some media outlets covered the vote, but did not cover the results and have taken great pains to characterize the results as "meaningless." Because this was an advisory vote, the results are not binding on either Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines or the L.A. Unified Board of Education, despite the fact that, overall, 87 percent of parents voted for reform plans created by teachers. (more...)

Sacramento school districts used stimulus funds to pay teachers

• 02-22-2010
• 

By Diana Lambert/Sacramento Bee

Kwame Dwumfuoh started classes at Elk Grove Unified School District's new Eagle Academy in August in silence. The 7-year-old didn't talk or socialize with his classmates, and he didn't eat most foods. Now Kwame speaks and plays with his friends, and he has a newfound affinity for tortilla chips, cereal and the occasional chicken burger. He is flourishing in a school for students with autism spectrum disorders that Elk Grove Unified started with $1.8 million in federal stimulus dollars. The money also paid for programs for emotionally disturbed students at three other campuses. Nearly $300 million has poured into five Sacramento-area districts since President Barack Obama authorized $100 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for the nation's schools last year. (more...)

Ed groups ask Duncan to reject waiver

• 02-23-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

A coalition of education organizations and nearly 100 school districts has called on U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to deny Gov. Schwarzenegger’s request for the federal Okay to cut K-12 spending as much as he proposes. If Ducan buys their argument, the governor would have to come up with an additional $850 million for schools. The ed groups appear to make a strong case. In agreeing to accept $6 billion in federal stimulus money for public schools, Schwarzenegger, like other governors, had to agree to maintain the amount of K-12 spending as before the recession. The point was to prevent states from funneling federal money intended for schools to other priorities, like roads and prisons, or to reduce taxes. (more...

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Obama pitches education proposal to governors

• 02-23-2010
• 

By Peter Baker and Sam Dillon/New York Times

President Obama kicked off a drive Monday to upgrade American education, unveiling a plan requiring states to adopt new reading and mathematics standards and committing his administration to “breaking down some of the barriers to reform.” Meeting with the nation’s governors at the White House, Mr. Obama stressed the importance of education to America’s economic competitiveness in a tough global marketplace, a theme he has cited in recent days to undergird a number of his domestic priorities. He said the depth of the competition was brought home to him during a visit to South Korea last year, when he was told of that country’s determination to educate its children to out-compete American children. (more...)

Obama asks to raise school standards in US

• 02-23-2010
• 

By Darlene Superville/La Opinión (text in Spanish)

President Barack Obama said on Monday that the U.S.'s preeminent position in the world is at play in the effort to substantially improve the quality of education and global competitiveness and called on the states' governments to raise their strongest tool: money. Obama said that he will 'not accept second place for the United States," during a speech before the states governors in the White House. The President stressed that the nation is falling behind in critical areas in education such as high school math and science. (more...)

Obama plan would tie Title I to college-career standards

• 02-23-2010
• 

By Alyson Klein/Education Week

President Barack Obama told the nation’s governors Monday that he would like to make funding for districts under Title I—the flagship program of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—contingent on states’ adoption of reading and math standards that prepare students for college or a career. The proposal, which would be rolled into the administration’s still-emerging plan for reauthorization of the ESEA, would require states to either join with their counterparts in developing rigorous, common standards, or work with their institutions of higher education to set standards that would ensure high school graduates are ready to enter higher education or the workforce. (more...)

Obama proposes new way of uniformly raising academic standards

• 02-23-2010
• 

By Amanda Paulson/Christian Science Monitor

Under a new proposal, states would be eligible for federal Title I funding – the money set aside for poor students – only if they adopt new standards that are certified as “college- and career-ready.” That’s been the new buzzword in education circles lately, and that idea is providing a big push to the common standards that the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers are developing. The standards are set to be finalized this spring. Currently, states adopt their own standards, and many have lowered theirs to make it easier for students to reach a proficient level: Thirty-one have set fourth-grade reading proficiency standards that are lower than the “basic” level determined by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), according to a White House briefing. Between 2005 and 2007, 11 states lowered their standards in math. (more...)

LAUSD charter schools fail to make the grade in area of disabilities

• 02-23-2010
• 

By Connie Llanos/Los Angeles Daily News

None of the 29 Los Angeles Unified charter schools examined in a study released Monday met state and federal standards aimed at making campuses accessible to disabled students, and some even lacked wheelchair-friendly bathrooms and walkways. The study by a federally appointed independent monitor also revealed that the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, which determines whether schools are compliant with these laws, is not making proper inspections. An independent monitor was appointed in 2003 to oversee a federal consent decree imposed on the school district to improve special education services. (more...)

Over 900 pink slips likely for S.F. schools

• 02-23-2010
• 

By Jill Tucker/San Francisco Chronicle

More than 900 San Francisco schoolteachers, administrators and other staff members - nearly twice that of last year - are in line to receive layoff notices in the next few weeks as district officials prepare to cover a worst-case budget scenario next year. The school board is expected to vote tonight to authorize the pink slips, a decision required by state law to meet a March 15 deadline for notifying teachers and administrators that they might not have a job next year. District officials said the list is long given the mind-boggling $113 million budget shortfall expected over the next two years, a deficit requiring huge cuts to staffing and programs. It includes full-time and part-time employees representing nearly 800 full-time teaching and administrative positions for the most part. (more...)

Mt. Diablo school district future may see fewer high school classes, older textbooks

• 02-23-2010
• 

By Theresa Harrington/Contra Costa Times

In the next three years, students in the Mt. Diablo school district could take fewer secondary level classes and do without new textbooks because of state budget cuts. The school board on Tuesday expects to discuss reducing graduation requirements and postponing the purchase of new instructional materials until 2013, as it attempts to slash more than $69 million from its three-year budget. It has already cut more than $16 million and is also hoping to negotiate employee pay cuts and to ask voters to pass a bond or parcel tax measure. "I think we should do what we need to do to balance the budget," trustee Gary Eberhart said Monday. "If we can delay some textbook adoptions and purchases versus having to lay off more teachers and other personnel, I think that makes a lot of sense." (more...)

L.A. teachers gain control of 22 campuses in reform effort

• 02-25-2010
• 

By Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times

In an unlikely victory, groups of teachers, rather than outside operators, will run the vast majority of 30 campuses under a controversial school reform effort, the Los Angeles Board of Education decided Tuesday. It was an ironic twist to a strategy that was designed to allow outsiders to manage new or troubled campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District. When the board approved the concept in August, it was a stunning acknowledgment that the nation's second-largest school system needed help to improve its schools. But the result was far different. Acting mostly on recommendations from Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, the board agreed Tuesday to turn over 22 of the schools to teacher-led efforts. (more...)

Novel school plan upheld

• 02-25-2010
• 

By Tamara Audi/Wall Street Journal

The city's Board of Education voted Tuesday to hand over some of its public schools to charter school operators and teachers groups, part of an unusual experiment to see whether outsiders will have better luck improving student achievement in the nation's second-largest school district. Parents, teachers and activists attended a controversial Los Angeles board vote that had pit unions against charter school operators. But most of the 30 campuses, some with more than one school, were awarded to teachers and administrators employed by the school district. The board awarded four schools to charter groups, and two schools to a group led by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. (more...)

Charters edged out in L.A.

• 02-25-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

A six-month stab at school competition with nationwide interest ended Tuesday when Los Angeles Unified school board members turned control of more schools to groups of teachers than Superintendent Ramon Cortines had recommended. There will certainly be an injection of experimentation in schools organized by unionized teachers as a result– but also fewer quality charter schools than had been predicted in August when the trustees opened up 12 low-performing schools and 18 new schools to bids by outside groups. United Teachers Los Angeles, which has seen a decline in membership and could lose hundreds more teachers to layoffs next fall, lobbied hard to keep the 30 schools under its control. (more...)

What can be done for middle schools?

• 02-25-2010
• 

National Journal

Public officials and educators have focused on the need for all high school students to graduate prepared for college or a career. Although the discussion has been intense over the past year about turning around the country's lowest-performing high schools, or dropout factories, no comparable buzz surrounds low-performing middle schools. With the president's budget proposal calling for college- and career-ready standards in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act, the importance of this conversation is heightened. What reforms are needed at the middle-school level to ensure the success of college- and career-ready standards? (more...)

What works in middle schools

• 02-25-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

Districts aiming to raise scores of middle school students shouldn’t count on hiring a messianic principal or jiggling the grade configuration of a school or making vague commitments to excellence – or any single tie-it-in-a-bow policy. The hard work – and success – come from aligning instruction in every grade to state standards, setting measurable goals, committing to see that all students are prepared for the rigors of high school and staying true to the practices that bring results. Lower-income schools that follow these strategies can overcome the drag of demographics and achieve the success of middle schools in middle-income neighborhoods. That’s among the key findings of an extensive study of 303 California middle schools covering 204,000 students – the most comprehensive survey of those grades – by the non-profit EdSource and Stanford University Professor Michael Kirst, the lead researcher. (more...)

U.S. students need to play catch-up, Obama says

• 02-25-2010
• 

By Christi Parsons/Los Angeles Times

Decrying shortcomings of the No Child Left Behind Act, President Obama on Monday pledged to make American students more competitive in the global economy by encouraging higher state standards for primary and secondary education. Students in the United States lag by several crucial measures, Obama told a gathering of the nation's governors at the White House, with eighth-graders ranking ninth in the world in math and 11th in science. "In response to assessments like these, some states have upped their game," Obama said, pointing to Massachusetts, where eighth-graders are tied for first in science around the world. "Some states have actually done the opposite, and between 2005 and 2007, under No Child Left Behind, 11 states actually lowered their standards in math." (more...)

Schwarzenegger appoints new education secretary

• 02-25-2010
• 

San Francisco Chronicle

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed a former adviser as California's latest education secretary. Schwarzenegger named Bonnie Reiss on Tuesday as the sixth person to serve as his chief liaison to the state Board of Education. She served as a senior adviser to Schwarzenegger from 2003 to 2007. Most recently, Reiss was operating adviser to Pegasus Capital Advisors, a private equity firm. The $175,000-a-year position plays only a small role in setting policy. It's no secret that growing up in poverty has a negative impact on children's life chances. A new study suggests, however, that family income plays a more critical role in some stages of children's development than at others. (more...)

What gets spent on your elementary school?

• 02-25-2010
• 

Blog by Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

I've been learning all kinds of nifty new ways to show data from my coworker Keegan Kyle. Check out this map of per-pupil spending at San Diego Unified elementary schools. I'm curious for your thoughts on what the numbers show. For instance, San Diego Unified is weighing whether to close elementary schools with low enrollment to help cut its costs, since smaller schools cost more to run. But are there other places where we're spending more -- or less -- that don't make sense? Is school spending equitable? The data was provided by Barbara Flannery, a parent and budget guru who put together a spreadsheet of school spending based on the budget book that San Diego Unified puts out every year. (more...)

Family income matters most in early years, study says

• 02-25-2010
• 

Blog by Debra Viadero/Education Week

It's no secret that growing up in poverty has a negative impact on children's life chances. A new study suggests, however, that family income plays a more critical role in some stages of children's development than at others. According to this study, published in the current issue of Child Development, the key period seems to be from birth to age 5. University of California, Irvine researcher Greg Duncan and his colleagues analyzed data on a nationally representative sample of people born between 1968 and 1975, with an eye toward determining links between the level of a family's income throughout the childhood years and a host of outcomes later on in children's lives. (more...)

S.F. school board votes to send pink out slips

• 02-25-2010
• 

By Jill Tucker/San Francisco Chronicle

Nearly 900 San Francisco teachers and administrators will see a dreaded pink slip in their mailboxes next month, a mass mailing made necessary bythe district's need to brace for a $113 million shortfall over the next two years. The school board approved the layoff notices Tuesday night, with district officials saying they hoped to rescind many of themas soon as possible, but given the dire budget situation,the cuts to programs and staff are bound to be massive. The layoff notices must be sent to teachers by the state's March 15 deadline notifying them that they might not have a job next year. The notices could be rescinded in the spring or summer when the district has a clearer understanding of it budget situation. "I do not want to sugar coat this for anyone out there," said Superintendent Carlos Garcia. "The reality is when everything is said and done there will be some layoffs this year." (more...)

Elk Grove Unified to open a virtual school

• 02-25-2010
• 

By Diana Lambert/Sacramento Bee

This August a few hundred students in the Elk Grove Unified School District will have their school year delivered to their doorstep in a giant UPS box. The K-12 students will be part of the district's first-ever virtual school. The box will contain grade-specific supplies – books, globes, maps – that students will need to finish a year of school from home. Virtual schooling is gaining traction among California school districts looking for ways to increase revenue and decrease spending. The cyber school could help the district bring back students who have left to attend charter or private schools, and could draw students from other districts, said Anne Zeman, director of curriculum and professional learning for the district. (more...)

Progress slow in city goal to fire bad teachers

• 02-25-2010
• 

By Jennifer Medina/New York Times

The Bloomberg administration has made getting rid of inadequate teachers a linchpin of its efforts to improve city schools. But in the two years since the Education Department began an intensive effort to root out such teachers from the more than 55,000 who have tenure, officials have managed to fire only three for incompetence. Ten others whom the department charged with incompetence settled their cases by resigning or retiring, and nine agreed to pay fines of a few thousand dollars or take classes, or both, so they could keep their jobs. One teacher lost his job before his case was decided, after the department called immigration officials and his visa was revoked. (more...)

Kansas City considers closing 31 of 61 schools

• 02-25-2010
• 

By Greg Toppo/USA TODAY

In the pantheon of unpopular moves by school superintendents, perhaps none rivals what John Covington wants to do. Faced with declining enrollment and a $50 million budget shortfall, the Kansas City, Mo., schools chief wants the school board to close as many as 31 of the city's 61 schools and lay off one-fourth of its employees — including 285 teachers. Covington wants it done by the time school starts in fall. A vote could come in March. "The bottom line is the quality of education we're offering children in Kansas City is not good enough," he says. "One reason it's not good enough is that we've tried to spread our resources over far too many schools." Closing schools in shrinking urban districts is nothing new: It's happening in dozens of cities, including Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Memphis, San Antonio and Washington, D.C. (more...)

A vote to fire all teachers at a failing high school

• 02-25-2010
• 

By Katie Zezima/New York Times

A plan to dismiss the entire faculty and staff of the only public high school in this small city just west of the Massachusetts border was approved Tuesday night at an emotional public meeting of the school board. Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers Union in Rhode Island, said the board had “not been willing to bargain.” The board voted 5 to 2 to accept a plan proposed by Schools Superintendent Frances Gallo to fire the approximately 100 faculty and staff members at the chronically underperforming Central Falls High School on the last day of this school year in June. The plan will also create a new school governance structure and requires the high school’s new teachers to take part in “professional development” that meets federal standards. (more...)

L.A. Unified is sued over teacher layoffs at 3 low-performing schools

• 02-25-2010
• 

By Jason Song/Los Angeles Times

Concepciona Manuel-Flores couldn't answer many of the questions on a standardized English test in December, even though she says she's a straight-A student. "I had six or seven substitute teachers," the Markham Middle School seventh-grader said. "All we did in English was silent reading or the same assignments, over and over." Concepciona is one of the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of students at three of the city's worst-performing middle schools. The suit claims those students were denied their legal rights to an education and aims to prevent the Los Angeles Unified School District from laying off more teachers there. (more...)

Civil rights group suing LAUSD, state over teacher layoffs

• 02-25-2010
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By Connie Llanos/Los Angeles Daily News

A group of civil rights lawyers sued Los Angeles Unified and the state Wednesday, claiming that a combination of budget cuts and teacher layoffs at three low-performing middle schools violated the legal rights of students to a fair and equal education. While the lawsuit was filed on behalf of just three schools, the case could set a precedent for how teachers are laid off statewide. The suit claims that last year Gompers Middle School in South Los Angeles, Markham Middle School in Watts and John Liechty Middle School in Pico-Union lost between half and two-thirds of their teachers, creating chaos and instability for the predominantly low-income black and Latino students. (more...)

Lawsuit: Layoffs hurt minority kids

• 02-25-2010
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Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

Regulations for teacher layoffs are a prime example of how interests of adults are put ahead of those of children, especially minority children. Now, that system, along with state budget cuts that set it in motion, will face a court challenge. n a case with statewide implications, the ACLU of Southern California and other public interest and pro bono attorneys are suing the state and Los Angeles Unified, charging that teacher layoffs have savaged three low-performing, low-income middle schools. All three have been thrown into turmoil since between half and nearly three quarters of their teachers got layoff notices last year. Most eventually did lose their jobs because of rules that dictate that less experienced teachers must be the first to go, regardless of how good they are with students and how well they fit in the school. (more...)

Best practices in the middle grades identified

• 02-25-2010
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By Mary Ann Zehr/Education Week

Using students’ test scores as one part of evaluations for teachers, principals, and superintendents is associated with better academic performance at schools serving the middle grades, a report released this week has found. Linking students’ test scores with evaluations was one of the “best practices” that high-performing schools serving students in grades 6 to 8 have in common, the report found. The practices were true of high-performing schools regardless of whether they enrolled primarily students from low-income families or mostly from middle-income families. The study was released by EdSource, a Mountain View, Calif.-based research organization, and was funded by Reed Hastings, the chief executive officer of the DVD-rental company Netflix and a former president of the California state board of education. (more...)

To improve school performance, fire all the teachers?

• 02-25-2010
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By Laurent Belsie/Christian Science Monitor

When managers want to improve performance of their companies, they sometimes close factories and lay off workers. But they never fire the entire workforce. Everyone knows that's counterproductive. So when the school board in Central Falls, R.I., fired all 88 teachers and staff at its high school, the move had little to do with productivity and everything to do with sending a message to teachers' unions: The status quo of poor-performing schools is unacceptable. The move is part of a national shake-up that US Education Secretary Arne Duncan hopes to engender in public schools. He is forcing states to identify the bottom 5 percent of their schools and take one of four actions with each one: closure; takeover by an independent organization; transformation; or turnaround, which calls for firing all the teachers and rehiring no more than half of them in the fall. (more...)

As U.S. aid grows, oversight is urged for charter schools

• 02-25-2010
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By Sam Dillon/NewYork Times

The Obama administration plans to significantly expand the flow of federal aid to charter schools, money that has driven a 15-year expansion of their numbers, from just a few dozen in the early 1990s to some 5,000 today. But in the first Congressional hearing on rewriting the No Child Left Behind law, lawmakers on Wednesday heard experts, all of them charter school advocates, testify that Washington should also make sure charter schools are properly monitored for their admissions procedures, academic standards and financial stewardship. The president of one influential charter group told the House Education and Labor Committee that the federal government had spent $2 billion since the mid-1990s to finance new charter schools but less than $2 million, about one-tenth of 1 percent, to ensure that they were held to high standards. (more...) 

Univision and government will press for education of Hispanics

• 02-25-2010
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By Laura Wides-Munoz/La Opinión (text in Spanish)

On Tuesday, Univision launched a multimillion dollar, multiyear campaign to improve the acamedic achievement of U.S. Hispanics. The Spanish TV network presented their campaign entitled "Es el momento" (This is the time), a partnership with the federal government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The goal is to ensure parents understand what is needed for their children to attend and be able to pay for college. The campaign focuses on the desired practices by local education officilas and communities around the country. (more...)

Gov. Schwarzenegger appoints fifth (and final?) Ed. Sec.

• 02-25-2010
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By Lesli Maxwell/Education Week

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (who I spotted last Sunday at a Washington Starbucks ordering a round of double espressos for himself and four of his staffers) announced today that he is tapping his Jacqueline-of-all-trades adviser, Bonnie Reiss, to be his new education secretary. Ms. Reiss, a Democrat who has known and advised Mr. Schwarzenegger for years, currently is with Pegasus Capital Advisors, a private equity firm, and serves as one of the governor's appointed regents on the University of California board, an unpaid, but highly coveted position. She will be the Republican governor's fifth education secretary since he was sworn into office in 2003. Given that Mr. Schwarzenegger is a short-timer (term limits prevent him from running again), and that the education secretary's $175,000-a-year position is a title with little authority, it's not clear whether Ms. Reiss will be able to make much of an imprint on education policy. (more...)

Budget plan includes shortened school year, fewer tests

• 02-25-2010
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By Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

Families that aren't financially strapped might have to pay for busing or Advanced Placement exams for their kids. The school year could be snipped by a week. Popular programs that teach students about diversity and local history in Old Town and Balboa Park could be shortened, too. And some small high schools may have to share principals. Those are a handful of the ways San Diego Unified would close an estimated $87 million deficit under a tentative plan put forward by the school board Tuesday night. (more...) 

Nev. acts on teacher evaluations in Race to Top bid

• 02-25-2010
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Education Week

Nevada lawmakers Wednesday passed a bill lifting a roadblock to Nevada's eligibility for competitive federal education grants. SB2 was approved in the Senate on a 16-5 vote, with four Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio voting with the Democratic majority. The bill was immediately referred to the Assembly, where it was approved unanimously, 42-0. The bill removes 15 words from state law that banned student tests scores from being used in teacher evaluations. The law had made Nevada ineligible to apply for President Obama's "race to the top" education grants, designed to spur innovation in the classroom. (more...)

A snapshot of income disparity

• 02-25-2010
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By Tim Rutten/Los Angeles Times

On the eve of our worst financial crisis since the Depression, the United States was -- from an economic standpoint, at least -- a less equal nation than at any time since the Gilded Age. The sputtering recovery now underway is producing few, if any, jobs to replace those that have been lost. Meanwhile, a variety of factors continues to push wages and most salaries lower. Thus, we're likely to emerge from this downturn with even greater disparities in income, wealth and effective tax rates, and the forces pushing us in that direction are particularly strong in Los Angeles County. We have a pre-recession portrait of American inequality because, in 1992, the Clinton administration asked the Internal Revenue Service to begin tracking the incomes and tax payments of the country's 400 richest households. (more...) 

High expectations for new Esteban Torres High School pilots

• 02-26-2010
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Eastern Group Publications

After two-years of grassroots organizing to create awareness and gather support for the Pilot School model, InnerCity Struggle and the East Los Angeles Education Collaborative—comprised of community-based organizations, civic leaders, parents and students—are likely still celebrating their victory Tuesday when the LAUSD School Board voted to approve all five pilots school applications for the new Esteban Torres High School, rather then just the three and two charter schools recommended by the district’s superintendent. Former U.S. Rep. Esteban E. Torres, whose is the namesake of the high school, told EGP on Wednesday he was very encouraged by the outcome of the school board’s vote and believed it was due to community action. (more...)

Teachers union launches effort to repeal corporate tax breaks

• 02-26-2010
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Blog by Anthony York/Los Angeles Times

The California Teachers Assn. has contributed more than $630,000 over the last two weeks to repeal new tax breaks for corporations, which are scheduled to go into effect this summer. The union has formed a new committee called Taxpayers for Jobs and Against Corporate Handouts, with the aim of qualifying a ballot measure for November that would maintain current law on how corporate taxes are calculated. Under a budget agreement reached in February 2009, new laws for business taxation are to go into effect this summer. The changes would allow businesses to receive tax benefits for past losses, share tax credits among their subsidiaries and make changes in the way their sales taxes are calculated. (more...)

State delays list of lowest performers

• 02-26-2010
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Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

State and federal education officials are continuing to haggle over which low-performing schools should be restructured, leading to yet another delay in releasing a much-anticipated list of schools that makes superintendents shudder. The state Department of Education had planned to release the list of 187 schools when the state submitted its Race to the Top application in January. Then Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell announced it would be today and sent out a letter this week to superintendents whose schools made the list explaining the process. But the feds still disagree on which schools made it, so everything is on hold (more...).