July 2010

State Board of Education plans to declare emergency in 1,000 schools

• 07-15-2010
• 

By Louis Freedberg/California Watch

The California State Board of Education is expected to declare an emergency today in 1,000 public schools the state has designated as among the "lowest performing" in the state. The emergency declaration, which is Item 32 on the board's agenda today in Sacramento, suggests that students in those schools are at risk of "serious harm," and that their health, safety and "general welfare" may be threatened by remaining in those schools.  (more...)

Also: Los Angeles Daily Breeze

New evaluation laws split teachers even more

• 07-15-2010
• 

By Larry Abramson/NPR

When summer ends, many teachers will face a new reality: A number of states have passed new laws and policies that tie teachers' job security to how well their students do in class. Some teacher groups dropped their longstanding opposition to this idea, and now say it will be good for the profession. Still, many teachers fear the new evaluation systems are part of an attack on their profession. Colorado was at the forefront of an effort to reward teachers who boost student achievement and to get rid of those who do not. After a bitter fight in the Legislature, the Colorado branch of the American Federation of Teachers helped broker a deal. (more...)

Want turnaround money? Involve parents, Duncan proposes

• 07-15-2010
• 

Blog by Michele McNeil/Education Week

After getting pushback from local education advocates who have been feeling left out of the school turnaround process, Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced today that districts will be required to involve parents and the community as a condition of receiving school improvement grants.  In a speech to the NAACP in Kansas City, Mo., Duncan said he would change the administration's ESEA draft to acknowledge the key role that communities play in turning around persistently failing schools. (more...)

Alternatives to exit exam for the disabled

• 07-15-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

The State Board of Education took the first step Wednesday toward establishing alternatives for students with disabilities who can’t pass the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) but have met other requirements for a high school diploma. While more than 90 percent of students overall pass CAHSEE, only about 60 percent of students with disabilities manage to pass it after numerous tries starting in 10th grade. Since 2008, the Legislature has exempted those who haven’t passed – about 18,000 per year out of about 44,000 students with disabiltiies who make it through high school – from the sanctions of failing to pass the exit exam. (more...)

'Common core standards': education reform that makes sense

• 07-15-2010
• 

Editorial/Los Angeles Times

In many third-grade classrooms in California, students are taught — briefly — about obtuse and acute angles. They have no way to comprehend this lesson fully. Their math training so far hasn't taught them the concepts involved. They haven't learned what a degree is or that a circle has 360 of them. They haven't learned division, so they can't divide 360 by 4 to determine that a right angle is 90 degrees, and thus understand that an acute angle is less than 90 degrees and an obtuse angle more. (more...)

Shocking choices: LAUSD's most expensive school raises questions about priorities

• 07-15-2010
• 

Editorial/Los Angeles Daily News

Let's take a little survey. What's more valuable in a high school: Talking benches or teachers? Art installations and marble memorial walls? Or a few trees so it's actually cool enough for kids to play outside? A state-of-the-art swimming pool or functioning science labs? The sensible answers are pretty obvious, right? Not to the Los Angeles Unified School District, which chose to spend $572 million to build elaborate - no, lavish - schools out of the former Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard.  (more...)

Quiet coalition floats idea of expanded school board

• 07-15-2010
• 

By Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

Philanthropists, parents and business leaders upset with the state of San Diego Unified schools have been quietly talking about whether a bigger school board could be better for schools. The budding plan would add four new members to the board. Unlike the existing five elected members, they would be chosen by an outside group that could include the leaders of local universities, parent groups, labor unions and business chiefs, among others. (more...)

Education teams hit the road this summer in search of migrants

• 07-15-2010
• 

By Jorge Barrientos/Bakersfield Californian

Martha Villasenor and her team stationed at the swap meet Tuesday on the Kern County Fairgrounds. But instead of deals they were searching for children in need of an education. Hers is one of several "mobile teams" from the Migrant Education Program at the Kern County Superintendent of Schools office traveling the county this summer looking for migrant children who might not be getting schooled. Family members like Carlota Cruz, who just happened to be shopping at the swap meet with her three children. (more...)

Urgent Financing for Schools or “Throwing More Money” at Them?

• 07-16-2010
• 

By UCLA/IDEA Staff

California has been hit by a second lawsuit alleging that the state fails to adequately fund the public education system. The new suit, Campaign for Quality Education v. California, was filed Monday in Alameda County, the same place as the previous Robles-Wong v. California. Plaintiffs and attorneys of the new case say there are similarities between the two, but that theirs focuses on low-income and minority students and on expanding preschool. (more...)

For parents, shortened year raises anxieties, costs

• 07-16-2010
• 

By Vivian Po/California Watch

For some low-income parents, the decision by many school districts to shorten the school year has raised anxieties about the extra costs it could impose on them. Unlike more affluent parents, most are not in a position to pay for extra classes or tutoring to make up for time lost.  So they are also trying to find innovative ways to make sure their child does not fall behind academically, according to interviews in Los Angeles and San Francisco by New America Media. Gabriel Medel, whose son will be a freshman at Hamilton High in Los Angeles in the fall, is the volunteer director of Parents for Unity, an education advocacy group formed by Latino parents in Los Angeles. He believes students who are less fluent in English – typically designated as English Language Learners  – will be among the first to feel the impact of a shorter school year. (more...)

Majority of state's largest districts shrink school calendar amid budget crisis

• 07-16-2010
• 

By Louis Freedberg/California Watch

Just as education experts are encouraging more classroom time to improve student grades and test scores, many California districts are moving in the opposite direction by shortening their school year amid a sustained and draining budget crisis.Of the state’s 30 largest school districts, 16 are reducing the number of days in the academic year, according to a survey by California Watch. The changes are expected to affect about 1.4 million students in these districts alone. Educators believe a shrinking school year, in combination with other budget cutbacks, could depress hard-won academic gains in recent years. (more...)

Also:  Audio interview w/Louis Freedberg/California Report

School board members agonize over cutting school year

• 07-16-2010
• 

By Rupa Dev/New America Media

For school board members at districts around the state, the decision to shorten a school year has been an agonizing one – made only after other drastic cuts have already been implemented.  Interviews by New America Media with elected board members from diverse backgrounds in several California districts underscore how being a school board member - long viewed as a starting point for higher political office  – has become an exercise in decision making of the toughest kind.  “We’ve moved from saying ‘no, never, we can’t cut that, to ‘which of the horrible options in front of us are possibilities to cut?’” said Mónica García, Los Angeles Unified Board president. (more...)

Parents given more clout in school choices

• 07-16-2010
• 

By Connie Llanos/Los Angeles Daily News

California parents will be able to transfer their children out of 1,000 low-performing schools this fall and push for drastic improvements at other troubled campuses under two reform plans approved Thursday by the state Board of Education. The 11-member panel unanimously approved the guidelines and the list of qualifying schools - including 13 in the San Fernando Valley - under the open enrollment plan. The board also approved the so-called "parent trigger" law, which allows parents to demand drastic reforms at failing schools if a majority of parents petition for the overhaul. (more...)

Yes to Common Core plus 8th grade algebra

• 07-16-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

Staring at a midnight deadline before going out of business, a state acadenic standards commission last night endorsed and fortified the national common core standards in English language arts and math, with modifications  that will set up students for taking a complete Algebra I course in eighth grade. Creating the latter avoided a confrontation with Gov. Schwarzenegger, who appointed a majority of the 21-member California Academic Content Standards Commission and demanded eighth grade algebra as his bottom line. (more...)

Schools fall behind in offering computer science

• 07-16-2010
• 

By Erik W. Robelen/Education Week

Given the ways computer technology—from the iPhone and YouTube to uses in medical research and national security—is changing so many facets of life, you might imagine that schools have been stepping up students' exposure to computer science to help drive the digital revolution. But recent data suggest otherwise. One survey indicates a sizable drop in the availability of even introductory computer-science courses in public and private secondary schools since 2005. (more...)

California OKs 'bad' schools list for transfers

• 07-16-2010
• 

By Jill Tucker/San Francisco Chronicle

The state Board of Education put a stamp of approval Thursday on a list of 1,000 schools deemed so bad that parents will have the right to transfer their children to a better school in their district or any other district - this school year. The list fulfills a new state law passed in January requiring districts to provide parents an easier way out of the state's worst schools. But the list is likely to leave many parents scratching their heads. (more...)

Fresno Unified implements new rules at failing schools

• 07-16-2010
• 

By Tracy Correa/The Fresno Bee

Students returning next month to Fresno's Webster Elementary School, Carver Academy and Yosemite Middle School will find new faces and new rules. Two of the principals and most teachers have been replaced. The schools will have tougher standards, longer school days, extra tutoring, more assessments and far more demands for accountability -- from students, teachers and parents. The dramatic overhaul is the latest effort to turn around failing schools -- those that are persistently in the bottom 5% of schools statewide. (more...)

Modesto City Schools board vacillates on outsourcing counselors

• 07-16-2010
• 

By Nan Austin/Modesto Bee

IIn-house or outsource? It's a question that many businesses have grappled with during this recession. This summer Modesto City Schools is in the same quandary. The work isn't making widgets, however. It is face-to-face support services for students and their parents. And the outsource company isn't some faceless corporation in the developing world. It is a local nonprofit, the Center for Human Services, that has provided such services for 22 years. (more...)

Halt on California solar incentives stuns schools, nonprofits

• 07-16-2010
• 

By Matt Krupnick/Contra Costa Times

The California Public Utilities Commission has stunned public officials and the solar industry by suspending lucrative rebates to school districts, cities and other government agencies that install solar panels on public buildings. The ruling, which also affects nonprofit groups, was disclosed late Friday and was reverberating through the state this week. Commission officials said the suspension is temporary while the agency decides how to deal with its rapidly depleting solar budget, but some public officials said the delay could scuttle plans to install panels. (more...)

House bill would make school lunches healthier

• 07-16-2010
• 

By Mary Clare Jalonick/Associated Press

House Democrats are moving forward on first lady Michelle Obama's vision for healthier school lunches, propelling legislation that calls for tougher standards governing food in school and more meals for hungry children. A bill approved by the House Education and Labor Committee Thursday would allow the Agriculture Department to create new standards for all food in schools, including vending machine items. The legislation would spend about $8 billion more over 10 years on nutrition programs. (more...)

Pupil data hostage to Sacramento feud

• 07-19-2010
• 

By Gerry Shih/Bay Citizen

When advocacy groups took the state of California to court this week to seek the restoration of billions of dollars in public education funding, the lawsuit swept back into the spotlight a glitch-ridden, $200 million digital initiative that has languished in Sacramento for nearly a decade. In 2002, the California Senate authorized the creation of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, or CALPADS, a computer database that would track enrollment and standardized testing information for every student in the state from kindergarten through college. By collecting student data over time, the project's proponents said, educators could identify which teachers, schools, programs or methods were effective and determine more accurate dropout rates. (more...)

Emergency declaration in schools triggers confusion, anger

• 07-19-2010
• 

Blog by Louis Freedberg/California Watch

Parent advocates fear that the declaration of an emergency last week by the California State Board of Education in 1,000 mostly low-performing public schools will generate confusion among parents – without giving them the tools to enroll in schools with higher test scores, or to improve conditions in their own schools.   Before it was approved, the Board of Education also provoked the ire of state Senator Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto.  He accused the board of trying to do an end run around a key amendment that he had inserted in the legislation which was signed into law by Gov. Schwarzenegger in January.  (more...)

Parcel tax raises issues of fairness

• 07-19-2010
• 

By Maureen Magee/San Diego Union-Tribune

The parcel tax has been held up by school districts in San Diego County and across the state as a last-ditch effort to gain more control over their finances and prevent potentially debilitating budget cuts. But those tax ballot measures that require a two-thirds majority to pass have raised concerns about growing inequities between the haves and the have-nots in California’s troubled public education system. This year, proposals to levy parcel taxes were placed on the ballot in 21 California school districts, with 16 passing. (more...)

The bilingual education debate

• 07-19-2010
• 

Various letters/Los Angeles Times

Editor's note: This edition of Blowback offers four responses to the package of three Op-Eds about bilingual education that The Times ran on July 11. The opinion pieces — "The Spanish road to English" by Bruce Fuller, "A skill, not a weakness" by Laurie Olsen and Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, and "Quality Counts" by Alice Callaghan — generated a lot of feedback from readers, and much of the "Letters to the editor" section on July 17 was devoted to it. The following are a sample of the submissions that were too long to print. (more...)

Anybody up there care about the schools?

• 07-19-2010
• 

Column by Peter Schrag/California Progress Report

The milestones keep rushing by in California’s race to the educational bottom. Last Monday, a group of students and parents, joined by a coalition of civil rights organizations filed the second major lawsuit in recent weeks charging the state with failing to meet its constitutional and moral obligations to provide quality education to its six million K-12 students.  Two days later, perhaps not coincidentally, the California Budget Project published a report headed “California’s Support for Schools Lags the Nation.” It was full of depressingly familiar numbers: California is near the bottom among the states in school spending per pupil; dead last in school spending as a percentage of personal income; last in teachers per students; ditto for counselors, librarians and administrators. (more...)

A letter to Secretary Arne Duncan

• 07-19-2010
• 

Letter by Rita M. Solnet/Washington Post

Dear Secretary Duncan: Reading your comments in the Kansas City Star [in an article] entitled, “Education is Civil Rights Issue of Our Generation,’ I simply had to write. I agree wholeheartedly with your comments. However, the DOE’s Blueprint for Reform and Race to the Top competitive grants abandon the very children who desperately need to be educated--those who are English language learners, the poverty stricken, homeless, autistic, disabled, etc. The DOE’s reform initiatives and criteria to ’win’ grant money narrow the curriculum by its obsessive focus on standardized tests. (more...)

Low-income preschoolers in freefall

• 07-19-2010
• 

By Vivian Po/New America Media

In a scene that is likely to be repeated in school districts throughout California in coming weeks, teachers and staff at the Helen Turner Children’s Center in Hayward spent last week packing boxes, hugging their colleagues and students goodbye—and collecting their last paychecks. The center, which provides nearly 12 hours of care a day to 267 low-income preschoolers, was forced to shut its doors on Thursday, a victim of some $1.2 billion in proposed budget cuts to early childcare programs around the state. (more...)

New R.I. school funding formula aims at equity

• 07-19-2010
• 

By Lesli A. Maxwell/Education Week

For the first time in more than 15 years, Rhode Island has a statewide school funding formula that supporters say will more equitably dole out money to its public schools, though the new system has hardly settled the debate over how best to divvy up state aid for public education. The formula, approved by Rhode Island legislators and signed into law late last month by Republican Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, establishes a baseline funding amount for every student in the state. It also provides additional money—40 percent over the base—for every student who meets the poverty guidelines for the federal free- and reduced-price meals program. (more...)

Almost half of San Jose Unified schools lack monitored fire alarms

• 07-19-2010
• 

By Sharon Noguchi/San Jose Mercury News

More than 45 minutes after neighbors started smelling smoke and calling 911 about this month's massive fire at San Jose's Trace Elementary, the school's alarm system sent its first — and only — alert. Why the alarm was so delayed isn't clear — and may never be known because the July 5 arson fire that destroyed the building also burned up its alarm panel. But what is becoming clear in the aftermath of the early-morning blaze that caused about $10 million in damage is that San Jose Unified, the county's largest school district, has the minimum fire safeguards for many of its schools. (more...)

Senate Democrats say House must cut education money from war spending bill

• 07-20-2010
• 

By Ted Barrett and Deirdre Walsh/CNN

Senate Democratic leaders have concluded that the only way to pass critical war-funding before the fast-approaching August congressional recess is for the House to drop its insistence that the measure include billions of dollars for unrelated domestic programs, a top Senate Democratic leadership aide told CNN. The extra money, which includes funds to help cash-strapped states avoid teacher layoffs, has drawn fire from Republicans who complain it's a giveaway to the teachers' unions. The White House, which doesn't oppose giving states money for teachers, also objects to the House legislation because it pays for the teacher initiative by cutting funding from President Obama's "Race to the Top" education reform program. (more...)

A popular principal, wounded by government’s good intentions

• 07-20-2010
• 

By Michael Winerip/New York Times

It’s hard to find anyone here who believes that Joyce Irvine should have been removed as principal of Wheeler Elementary School. John Mudasigana, one of many recent African refugees whose children attend the high-poverty school, says he is grateful for how Ms. Irvine and her teachers have helped his five children. “Everything is so good about the school,” he said, before taking his daughter Evangeline, 11, into the school’s dental clinic. (more...)

‘Waiting for Superman’ — a review

• 07-20-2010
• 

Blog by Rachel Norton

Rachel Norton is a member of the San Francisco Board of Education

Last week I was invited to a screening of “Waiting for Superman,” a new education documentary that has attracted a lot of attention — it should be released in theaters in late September.  2010 seems to be the year of the “edumentary,” with several films documenting various problems in the U.S. educational system. I’m torn about how I feel about “Waiting for Superman,” which is the highest-profile of the year’s documentaries. Made by Davis Guggenheim, a filmmaker who won an Oscar for the climate documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” it’s entertaining, with great characters and subject matter that I, at least, find riveting.  (more...)

Open enrollment’s dazed and confused start

• 07-20-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

School districts are about to be irritated and many parents bewildered by a not-ready-for-prime-time landmark law that was hastily pitched in January as key to the state’s application for federal Race to the Top money. Parents in what were envisioned to be the 1,000 lowest-performing schools in the state will be notified that their children are eligible to transfer to any better performing school in any district in the state. The worthy goal of the open-enrollment law is to give choices to families trapped in bad schools in struggling districts. (more...)

Reformers see promise in Race to Top momentum

• 07-20-2010
• 

By Alyson Klein/Education Week

Advocates for education redesign are encouraged by a U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations panel’s decision to extend the Race to the Top program for an additional year. If the extension makes it into the final spending bills for fiscal year 2011, advocates say, that could mean more states will take the reform-minded steps emphasized in the Race to the Top program, such as revamping their teacher-evaluation systems and lifting caps on charter schools, in order to get a slice of the competitive grants. States see another opportunity to secure much-needed funding. (more...)

‘Quiet Coalition’ will air schools report tomorrow

• 07-20-2010
• 

Blog by Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

The "quiet coalition" of philanthropists, business leaders and other community members that we wrote about last week is slated to release a new report tomorrow morning on the state of San Diego Unified schools. Its press release dubs San Diego Unified a "failing school system" in which two-thirds of fourth and eighth graders aren't performing on grade level. The group, which has been quietly talking about the possibility of adding four appointed members to the elected school board, put together a similar report last fall, made by University of San Diego researchers. (more...)

First, hire the best teachers

• 07-20-2010
• 

Column by Sandy Banks/Los Angeles Times

When you're dueling with mogul Donald Trump over real estate, you'd better prepare to empty your wallet. That helps explain the $578-million price tag on Los Angeles Unified's most recent school construction project. District officials spent 20 years battling Trump, conservationists and neighborhood groups to build a school complex on the site of the famed Ambassador Hotel. A school construction project that began with a $50-million outlay became one of the most ambitious in the country, with three campuses on the site. (more...)

Education officials award millions in tech funds

• 07-20-2010
• 

By Diane Lambert/Sacramento Bee

Sacramento County schools will soon receive $1.2 million in federal grants for technology.  The federal Enhancing Education Through Technology grants will be awarded by the California Department of Education. El Dorado County schools received $54,000 in grants and Placer County $95,000.  Statewide, $34 million in grants will be distributed to more than 1,000 school districts, according to officials at the California Department of Education. (more...)

Fear of `resegregation' fuels unrest in NC

• 07-20-2010
• 

By Allen Breed/Boston.com

In the annals of desegregation, Raleigh is barely a footnote.  Integration came relatively peacefully to the North Carolina capital. There was no "stand in the schoolhouse door," no need of National Guard escorts or even a federal court order. Nearly 50 years passed -- mostly uneventfully, at least until a new school board majority was elected last year on a platform supporting community schools. The result has been turmoil. The superintendent resigned in protest. A coalition of residents and civil rights groups filed suit. (more...)

New York will make standardized exams tougher

• 07-20-2010
• 

By Jennifer Medina/New York Times

New York State education officials acknowledged on Monday that their standardized exams had become easier to pass over the last four years and said they would recalibrate the scoring for tests taken this spring, which is almost certain to mean thousands more students will fail. While scores spiked significantly across the state at every grade level, there were no similar gains on other measurements, including national exams, they said.  “The only possible conclusion is that something strange has happened to our test,” David M. Steiner, the education commissioner, said during a Board of Regents meeting in Albany. (more...)

State switch to U.S. school standards debated

• 07-21-2010
• 

By Jill Tucker/San Francisco Chronicle

California typically lands at or near the bottom in virtually every measure of public school performance nationally, but the academic content taught to the state's schoolchildren is second to none, according to a study released Tuesday. That status has left the Golden State with a conundrum. To be more competitive for federal Race to the Top funds, the state must adopt common standards in English, math and other subjects to be in sync with most other states. (more...)

Many states adopt national standards for their schools

• 07-20-2010
• 

By Tamar Lewin/New York Times

Less than two months after the nation’s governors and state school chiefs released their final recommendations for national education standards, 27 states have adopted them and about a dozen more are expected to do so in the next two weeks. Their support has surprised many in education circles, given states’ long tradition of insisting on retaining local control over curriculum. The quick adoption of common standards for what students should learn in English and math each year from kindergarten through high school is attributable in part to the Obama administration’s Race to the Top competition. (more...)

Study: Teaching credentials still matter

• 07-21-2010
• 

Blog by Debra Viadero/Education Week

If you listen to a lot of policy discussions on education, chances are that you've heard one scholar or another stand up to talk about how teacher credentials, such as holding a traditional license or having earned a master's degree, don't seem to matter much when it comes to improving student achievement. Duke University researcher Helen F. Ladd says that there are two problems with those studies. The studies are: 1) old, and 2) focused mostly on elementary school children. (more...)

Simitian now favors ‘junior’ kindergarten

• 07-21-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

Sen. Joseph Simitian has sided with early childhood advocates over budget hawks in the debate over his bill to change the start date for kindergarten. He now has to persuade the Assembly Appropriations Committee to go along with a new version of his bill, creating a “junior” kindergarten for some 4-year-olds. Simitian’s SB 1381 would move up the start date of kindergarten so that students would have to turn five by Sept. 1, instead of Dec. 2. The effect, excluding kindergarten for 4-year-olds, has long been favored by most educators and child development experts, who say, with substantial evidence, that most 4-year-olds are neither emotionally nor developmentally ready for kindergarten. (more...)

Students disclose illegal status as part of push for immigration law reform

• 07-21-2010
• 

By Tara Bahrampour/Washington Post

On a patch of asphalt outside the White House this week, Renata Teodoro, Maricela Aguilar and scores of other students are risking deportation simply by sharing their full names and immigration status with anyone who asks. In an act of defiance unimaginable to many in their parents' generation, they are publicly declaring that they are in the United States illegally as a way to push for change that would help thousands of undocumented young people like them. And they are doing so in one of the most highly patrolled -- and politicized -- spots in the country. (more)

Reforms urged to stabilize San Diego Unified

• 07-21-2010
• 

By Pat Flynn/San Diego Union-Tribune

Backed by a critical study of city schools’ performance, a coalition of civic leaders is calling for a change in how the San Diego Unified School District is governed. The study, by the Center for Education Policy and Law at the University of San Diego, found that up to half of the district’s elementary and middle school pupils do not read or do math at grade level. In addition, the study, which examined the period from 2002-03 through the 2008-2009 school year, found that 80 percent of students of color, low-income students and English-language learners do even worse and fail to reach proficiency in math and reading. (more...)

Six county schools land on state's underachieving list

• 07-21-2010
• 

By Shanna Mc Cord/Santa Cruz Sentinel

State education officials have declared an emergency at 1,000 low-performing California public schools, including six in Santa Cruz County, that they suggest pose "serious harm" for students. Local schools on the list are Pajaro Valley High School, Landmark Elementary, E.A. Hall Middle School, Hall District Elementary, Live Oak Elementary and Gault Elementary, according to the California Board of Education. The declaration last week requires the schools - which landed on the list because of low standardized test scores - to notify parents that their children's school has been declared an "open enrollment" school by Sept. 15. (more...)

Jobs Budget Plan critical to schools, state teacher group says

• 07-22-2010
• 

By Claudia Meléndez Salinas/Monterey County Herald

Cuts to education will decimate California schools unless the Legislature adopts the "Jobs Budget Plan," members of the California Teachers Association said Wednesday.  At a rally at Asilomar, the site of a weeklong teacher training workshop, union members deplored recent cuts to schools they say ultimately affect children and urged the Legislature to approve the so-called California Jobs Budget, a proposal by Democratic members of the Assembly. "Over the last two years, we lost over 100" teachers, said Dennis Wright, president of the Monterey Bay Teachers Association. (more...)

Study: Classroom spending dips as ed funding rises

• 07-22-2010
• 

By Don Thompson/San Francisco Chronicle

Spending in California classrooms declined as a percentage of total education spending over a recent five-year period, even as total school funding increased, according to a Pepperdine University study released Wednesday. More of the funding increase went to administrators, clerks and technical staff and less to teachers, textbooks, materials and teacher aides, the study found. It was partially funded by a California Chamber of Commerce foundation. Total K-12 spending increased by $10 billion over the five-year period ending June 30, 2009, from $45.6 billion to $55.6 billion statewide. (more...)

Also: La Opinión

Charter revocation rules not yet final

• 07-22-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

The State Board of Education moved closer to adoption but has not yet passed new rules for revoking poorly performing charter schools. At their meeting last week, members appeared to agree with using API scores to determine which charters should be annually reviewed for possible revocation. However, they also want alternatives to the proposal to consider revoking charters of schools in the lowest 10 percent of API scores or those whose scores ranked in the lowest 20 percent of schools with similar student populations. (more...)

Undocumented California grads risk deportation

• 07-22-2010
• 

By Kitty Felde/KPCC

Hundreds of undocumented students are risking deportation by committing civil disobedience for the immigration reform bill known as the Dream Act. One California protester demonstrated Tuesday outside the office of Democratic Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. Along with fellow protesters, Laura Lopez wants the U.S. Senate Majority Leader to schedule a vote on the Dream Act. That measure would grant legal residency to undocumented students who graduate from high school. (more...)

LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines says he plans to retire in spring

• 07-22-2010
• 

By Connie Llanos/Los Angeles Daily News

Ending months of speculation, Los Angeles Unified schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said Wednesday he plans to retire next spring from a career in public education that spans six decades. Cortines, who turns 78 on Thursday, has already vacated his office, ceding the space to Deputy Superintendent John Deasy, the district's recently hired No. 2 who many believe will be the next chief of schools. In an interview Wednesday, Cortines said it's time to step aside and let the district - plagued by high turnover rates among senior administrators - find a leader who can stay for the long haul. (more...)

Also: Los Angeles Times * Riverside Press-Enterprise *

School nurses fewer in Sacramento County

• 07-22-2010
• 

By Diana Lambert/Sacramento Bee

School nurses, once a comforting sight at every public school, are dwindling in number. Schools no longer have the luxury of having a nurse care for sick kids with tummy aches and skinned knees. Instead, nurses are more likely to oversee the health of thousands of students spread out over multiple campuses. "What people envision as the duties of a school nurse, we don't do anymore," said Carole Vercruyssen, a nurse in the San Juan Unified School District who cares for students at five schools. "That's handled by office staff and by calling a parent." (more...)

Arrests highlight education busing issues

• 07-22-2010
• 

By Liane Membis/CNN

The arrest of 19 protesters at a rancorous school board meeting Tuesday brings the issue of busing and diversity in education into the national spotlight. The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and local African Methodist Episcopal Zion Churches held a mass mobilization march Tuesday in Raleigh, North Carolina, to protest the recent decision by the Wake County Board of Education to end a 10-year-old socioeconomic diversity plan for public schools. (more...)

Also: Idea intrigues Wake school board factions (By Thomas Goldsmith/News & Observer)

Some schools lose diversity under new admissions policy

• 07-22-2010
• 

By Azam Ahmed/Chicago Tribune

An overhaul in the admissions process for Chicago's selective public schools had little impact on overall diversity, but individual buildings show much more variance — in some cases growing more segregated for the 2010-11 school year, CPS officials said Tuesday. Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman cautioned that the data are very preliminary and could change when the school year starts. Among other things, a budget crisis may force cuts in transportation to and from these schools, which could prompt enrollment changes. He conceded that some schools are losing diversity. (more...)

Same Old “New Standards”

• 07-23-2010
• 

By UCLA IDEA Staff

Last week the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers released “Common Core Standards.”  These academic standards are of critical interest to the nation’s schools, and their adoption can shape public education for years to come. Academic standards are specific goals that say what students should be able to know and teachers teach at any given time. The pressures are great for states to adopt the new standards by Aug. 2.  (more...)

Study: Effective principals embrace collective leadership

• 07-23-2010
• 

By Christina A. Samuels/Education Week

An expansive study devoted to examining the traits of effective school principals has found that high student achievement is linked to “collective leadership”: the combined influence of educators, parents, and others on school decisions. Effective principals encourage others to join in the decision-making process in their schools, said the study, which was commissioned by the New York-based Wallace Foundation and produced by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement, in St. Paul, and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. (more...)

Parents form Educacy, set goal for 2012

• 07-23-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

Setting their sights on as-yet undefined statewide initiative in 2012, a parent group in Silicon Valley is organizing to increase education funding. As Educacy, the name of their non-profit group indicates, the focus will be advocacy on behalf of parents. “Parents have been the missing link” in school reform and in discussions about the need for more money for schools, said Kay Louie of Redwood City, one of three lead figures behind the organization. Educacy is an outgrowth of a whirlwind campaign that raised $2.2 million in Cupertino in eight weeks last spring to fill in the gap – and spare 100 teaching jobs – caused by massive budget cuts in the elementary district.  (more...)

Reforming Our Schools: Nonacademic support for students is essential

• 07-23-2010
• 

Guest blog by Anne O'Brien/Edutopia

Anne O'Brien is a project director at the Learning First Alliance, a Teach for America alumna, and a former public school teacher in the greater New Orleans area.

Many times education reform debates are framed with an us versus them mentality. It doesn't matter what you are arguing for, there is always a clearly defined group working against you. The media also provides the reformers versus the establishment (never mind those members of the establishment who are doing innovative reform work all over the country). Teach for America (and other alternative programs) versus traditional teacher preparation programs (never mind that at a school level, in many cases, TFA teachers are learning great things from their traditionally prepared counterparts, and vice versa). (more...)

Oakland schools struggle, but Emeryville may point a way up

• 07-23-2010
• 

By Gerry Shih/New York Times

In his five-year plan to turn around the lowest-performing schools in the Oakland Unified School District, Superintendent Tony Smith does not mention teachers, textbooks or test scores.  Instead, Mr. Smith said his students most urgently needed social and health services, engaged parents and activities outside the classroom. Whether Mr. Smith can overhaul the schools in Oakland is a subject of intense interest among Bay Area educators. Oakland Unified has lost $122 million in financing in the latest cuts to California’s embattled public schools. The city’s endemic problems, particularly poverty and crime, have had a dramatic effect in the classroom. (more...)

As budget crisis crippled schools, $71 million stimulus sat unused

• 07-23-2010
• 

By Corey G. Johnson/California Watch

For nearly a year, California schools have missed out on the opportunity to use tens of millions of dollars in federal stimulus dollars as lawmakers and state officials debate how to spend it. The debate over education technology funds has kept the money in state bank accounts, unable to help thousands of K-to-12 schools it was intended for. California Watch learned of the delays yesterday through interviews and documents. About half of the funds – $34 million – were set aside for 1,063 local education agencies. (more...)

Schools paying millions too much for new roofs

• 07-23-2010
• 

By Jill Tucker/San Francisco Chronicle

California public school districts are spending too much annually to replace or repair hundreds of school roofs by employing a practice that restricts cost-saving competitive bidding and makes taxpayers pay up to double what they otherwise would spend, an investigation has found. Statewide, the practice costs school districts $30 million to $125 million extra each year, taxpayer money that shouldn't be wasted at any time, but especially not in the middle of a recession, said California legislators who are investigating the practice. (more...)

The Cortines effect

• 07-23-2010
• 

Editorial/Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Unified School District was in crisis mode. The school board had hired a superintendent, expecting great things, but was unimpressed with his performance. It needed a rescuer, and found one in Ramon C. Cortines, an education veteran who could be counted on as an able administrator in difficult times. That was in 2000. And in 2008 too. Supt. Cortines confirmed this week what he has been hinting at for months: He plans to retire in the spring after seeing the district through terrible budget cuts, partly successful attempts to bring about change at the worst-performing schools and a wave of new reform demands from the federal government. (more...)

Also:  Los Angeles Times *  Editorial/Los Angeles Daily News

Not much left but employee costs in schools budget

• 07-23-2010
• 

By Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

More than nine out of every 10 dollars in the day-to-day budget for San Diego Unified will go to pay employees and cover their benefits this coming school year. That means the school district has fewer things to cut or reduce besides staff as it faces another year of budget cuts. That number has increased over the past seven years from 83 percent to 90 percent. It's expected to rise to 91.6 percent in two years. The growing percentage is a reflection of two trends: How hard the school board has tried to pare back on other costs such as supplies, travel and outside contracts before slashing its staff, and the creeping costs of employee benefits, even as spending on salaries is cut. (more...)

O.C. schools get $1.7 million in stimulus money

• 07-23-2010
• 

By Scott Martindale/Orange County Register

Orange County public schools will receive $1.7 million in federal stimulus funds this month to improve technology in the classroom, the latest round of grant money to flow to local schools under President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus package. The Enhancing Education Through Technology grant is intended to integrate more technology into the curriculum and help ensure all students are technologically literate by eighth grade. California received $71.6 million total via this federal grant and is distributing about half of it now, with the remainder to be doled out later this year. (more...)

Linking courses to careers improves grad rates

• 07-26-2010
• 

By James E. Canales/San Francisco Chronicle

James E. Canales is the president and CEO of the James Irvine Foundation.

When Cynthia Gutierrez arrived four years ago at Skyline High School in Oakland, she was neither an academic superstar nor someone who struggled with school. Like most kids, she says, she was "somewhere in the middle." Bored with her classes, she'd left behind a trail of C's and D's, and with some bad luck, she might have even lost interest in school altogether. "I didn't know what I was doing," she says. Instead, Gutierrez had a stroke of good fortune. During her freshman year, a teacher told her about Skyline's education academy, a small school within the school centered around careers in education. (more...)

Civil rights groups skewer Obama education policy

• 07-26-2010
• 

Blog by Valerie Strauss/Washington Post

It is most politely written, but a 17-page framework for education reform being released Monday by a coalition of civil rights groups amounts to a thrashing of President Obama’s education policies and it offers a prescription for how to set things right. You won’t see these sentences in the piece: “Dear President Obama, you say you believe in an equal education for all students, but you are embarking on education policies that will never achieve that goal and that can do harm to America’s school children, especially its neediest. Stop before it is too late.” (more...)

$71 million stimulus delay stuns education advocates

• 07-26-2010
• 

Blog by Corey A. Johnson/California Watch

Education advocates of all stripes shook their heads in disbelief Friday at the revelation that $71 million in education stimulus dollars sat unused for nearly a year while the state's budget crisis devoured teachers' jobs, eliminated classes, kicked kids off school buses and closed down school libraries. "We are at a loss as to why this is happening. Why would the Legislature move so slowly or not move at all?" asked Sandra Jackson, spokeswoman for the California Teachers Association. (more...)

CSBA Scott Plotkin’s troubling resignation

• 07-25-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

Caught in lies he told the news media last week about questionable credit card expenses and about salary cuts over the past year that he claimed he took – but didn’t, Scott Plotkin resigned Friday as executive director of the California School Boards Association. In a brief statement on CSBA’s web site, Plotkin wrote, “I am sorry if my actions have damaged the reputation of CSBA and the vital work being conducted by the Association.  It was certainly not my intent.” There is no “if” about it. Plotkin, who effectively led the organization for nine years, has scorched it on his way out. (more...)

Also: (Blog by Rachel Norton/San Francisco Chronicle)

California could adopt national English, math standards

• 07-26-2010
• 

By Sharon Noguchi/San Jose Mercury News

Think of what you've read in recent days, and the list might include a Facebook post about a friend's Grand Tetons vacation, an online review of the Droid X phone and an explanation of why your insurance isn't covering your latest doctor's visit. Yet children in school read mostly fiction, from "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to "Macbeth." In a few years, K-12 students' reading lists may expand to include more of that other stuff: more multimedia texts, scientific and technical articles, persuasive arguments and other nonfiction — and fewer storybooks and novels. (more...)

Online K-12 education surging, but official says 'it's buyer, beware'

• 07-26-2010
• 

By Melody Gutierrez/Sacramento Bee

Interest in online schools for kindergarten through 12th grade is surging as new virtual offerings flood the market, leading education experts to warn parents that not all programs are equal. The biggest influx is in credit recovery programs to help students meet graduation requirements. But high-achieving students also are turning to online programs that offer more flexibility, personalized instruction and accelerated courses. John Fleischman of the Sacramento County Office of Education cautions parents to thoroughly vet online programs, because they don't go through the same rigorous adoption process as curricula at traditional public schools.  (more...)

In final months, LAUSD chief Ramon Cortines intent on achieving goals

• 07-26-2010
• 

By Connie Llanos/Los Angeles Daily News

Los Angeles schools chief Ramon Cortines sped through the halls of Widney Special Education Center in South Los Angeles one day last week, forcing his tour guides - all at least 20 years younger than him - to double their pace just to keep up. It was 9:45 a.m. and Cortines had already gone through e-mails, returned phone calls and attended one event. Three school visits were next on his schedule - all to be completed before noon. Dressed in his usual crisp, white shirt, marked with the initials "RCC" on the breast pocket, and a moss-green Hermes tie, Cortines bolted from classroom to classroom. (more...)

LAUSD lost almost $10 million due to inefficient inventory system, audit finds

• 07-26-2010
• 

By Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times

An audit of textbooks at 21 local high schools has found that lost books and excessive purchases at these campuses cost the Los Angeles Unified School District nearly $10 million. Such problems are pervasive across the system of more than 1,000 schools, auditors concluded, exponentially increasing the potential losses and unnecessary spending. "The district does not manage or control the textbook inventory process effectively, efficiently or economically," auditors wrote in a June 30 report, which is posted online. (more...)

Families' hopes are dashed as new Beverly Hills Unified policy ousts nonresident children from district schools

• 07-25-2010
• 

By Carla Rivera/Los Angeles Times

To Cheryl and Joshua Winiarz, the Los Angeles County Board of Education represented their last hope for keeping their daughter in the school she loved. The Beverly Hills school system denied Sophie a permit to continue attending Horace Mann Elementary School because she lives outside the city. In June, the Winiarzes appealed the decision to the county board but left in tears after the request was denied. They are among about 200 families who, under a new policy, were denied permits for their children to continue attending Beverly Hills Unified schools because they live outside of the city. (more...)

Cutting school days goes in 'wrong direction'

• 07-26-2010
• 

By Dayna Straehley and Michelle L. Klampe/Riverside Press-Enterprise

The impact of cutting the school year is simple to Inland educators, parents and students: It may save money, but less time in class won't help. "We're going in the wrong direction," said Riverside City Teachers Association President Tim Martin. "You can't instruct as much in 176 days as 180." Riverside is one of many school districts across California that are cutting as many as five days from the 2010-11 school year to reduce costs. The trend has helped save teacher jobs and protect other programs but takes learning time away from students. (more...)

Spending on school employees increasing elsewhere

• 07-26-2010
• 

Blog by Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

Are other school districts in San Diego County seeing the same trend as San Diego Unified -- a growing share of the budget being devoted to employees? I requested budget documents from the six largest school districts in San Diego County to find out. My fabulous coworker Keegan Kyle built this colorful graphic to show you the numbers we crunched and help you compare what's happening in different school district. (more...)

School chief dismisses 241 teachers in Washington

• 07-26-2010
• 

By Tamar Lewin/New York Times

Michelle Rhee, the reform-minded chancellor who took over the District of Columbia public schools three years ago, on Friday fired 241 teachers, or 5 percent of the district’s total. All but a few of those dismissed had received the lowest rating under a new evaluation system that for the first time held them accountable for their students’ standardized test scores. “Every child in a District of Columbia public school has a right to a highly effective teacher — in every classroom, of every school, of every neighborhood, of every ward, in this city,” the chancellor said in a statement. “That is our commitment.” (more...)

Civil rights groups call for new federal education agenda

• 07-27-2010
• 

By Michele McNeil/Education Week

Seven leading civil rights groups, including the NAACP and the National Urban League, called on U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today to dismantle core pieces of his education agenda, arguing that his emphases on expanding charter schools, closing low-performing schools, and using competitive rather than formula funding are detrimental to low-income and minority children. The groups, which today released their own education policy framework and launched the National Opportunity to Learn campaign to advance their ideas, want Mr. Duncan to make big changes to his draft proposal for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. (more...)

Also:  USA Today

Pathways to high schools that work

• 07-27-2010
• 

Video Interview with Gary Hoachlander/Educated Guess

Recognizing that today’s high schools are failing to engage many students – or prepare them adequately for college or a career – the Legislature commissioned a study to lay out a long-term plan to expand the most promising development in secondary education. That is the establishment of small career academies within a high school that combine rigorous coursework with internships and real-world experience in various industries and career themes, whether health professions, green technology, building trades, engineering or computer technology. (more...)

Smaller school districts also cutting instructional days

• 07-27-2010
• 

By Louis Freedberg/California Watch

Smaller districts throughout the state are being forced to shorten their school year in response to the state's budget crisis. A recent California Watch survey found 16 of the 30 largest districts in the state, with enrollments of 1.4 million students, will be trimming their school year by up to a week of instruction beginning this fall. But there has been no systematic look at what the 1,043 school districts around the states will do. That's in part because changing the school calendar requires negotiating with teachers unions in each district, and those negotiations were only recently completed in most cases. (more...)

Not from 90210? Beverly Hills says, ‘Out’

• 07-27-2010
• 

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

The decision by Beverly Hills Unified School District to kick out many non-resident students, starting this fall, portends trouble for the state’s new open-enrollment law, allowing students in the state’s worst performing schools to transfer to better schools in other districts. Many of the state’s wealthiest districts may end up deciding to steer clear of the program. The Beverly Hills board voted earlier this year to end its policy of enrolling elementary and eighth grade students from other districts under special circumstances. Current high school students can continue to attend district schools. (more...)

Humboldt County educators call list of 'low-achieving' schools inaccurate, skewed

• 07-27-2010
• 

By Allison White/Eureka Times-Standard

Parents soon will be able to pull their children from about 1,000 California schools more easily, including nine local schools, but educators say that does not mean they are poorly performing campuses. The legislation to annually create a list of 1,000 schools for “open enrollment” was created to help parents transfer their children from poorly performing elementary, middle and high schools across the state, according to a press release. Although the list has yet to be finalized, the California State Board of Education approved the draft July 15. (more...)

Duncan and education’s “quiet revolution”

• 07-27-2010
• 

Blog by Valerie Strauss/Washington Post

Some things speak for themselves. That includes this blogpost on the Education Department’s website about a major speech Secretary Arne Duncan is giving today. The post talks about a “quiet revolution” in education now sweeping the country, one in which the Obama administration has played only “a modest role.” Oh, I almost forgot: During the speech, Duncan will name the second round finalists in the $4.3 billion Race to the Top competition, the administration’s quiet chief education initiative that has, quietly, staged a public competition for federal school reform funds. (more...)

Also: Duncan's speech with Race to the Top 2nd round finalists

Local boards win appeal on charter schools

• 07-27-2010
• 

By Bob Egelko/San Francisco Chronicle

A state appeals court strengthened the authority of local school boards over charter schools Monday by making it harder for California education officials to approve statewide charters with campuses in multiple counties. Charter schools are publicly funded and tuition-free but operate independently of local school districts and their union contracts, though districts are supposed to monitor their performance. They have been proliferating both in California and nationwide. (more...)

School board prez will still seek to cancel tax

• 07-27-2010
• 

Blog by Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

School board President Richard Barrera says he still wants to withdraw a proposed parcel tax meant to help San Diego Unified blunt the impact of state budget cuts, even though the city now will not ask voters to approve a sales tax. Barrera told us today that he proposed cancelling the tax because, among other things, fears that the school and city taxes would be on a collision course. But on Monday afternoon, City Council voted not to put its tax on the ballot. The end of the sales tax idea would seem to put an end to those worries. However, Barrera said he still believed the parcel tax wouldn't be able to succeed. (more...)

New Orleans superintendent leaving legacy of charter school expansion

• 07-27-2010
• 

By John Merrow/PBS

JEFFREY BROWN: Now, as the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, the man hired to overhaul New Orleans' devastated schools is packing his bags. Superintendent Paul Vallas has been at it for three years. The NewsHour's special correspondent for education, John Merrow, has been tracking his efforts, and tonight wraps up that story. JOHN MERROW: When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, its waters washed away many of New Orleans schools, and, with them, a school system burdened by years of academic failure, mismanagement and corruption. (more...)

San Gabriel Valley schools more worried about school budgets than Ronald Reagan Day

• 07-27-2010
• 

By Brian Charles/Whittier Daily News

Ronald Reagan Day? Talk to us about it later. That was essentially the response this past week from several San Gabriel Valley public school district leaders, who said they're too busy dealing with budget cuts, teacher layoffs and other pressing problems to take time out to plan Ronald Reagan Day activities. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Ronald Reagan Day into law last week, selecting Feb. 6 as the day Californians should honor the former governor, president and conservative icon, who died in 2004. (more...)

California clears hurdle for federal funding

• 07-28-2010
• 

By Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times

California, which lost out on the first round of controversial federal Race to the Top education grants, emerged as a finalist in its second try, officials announced Tuesday.  "Today's development means we are still in the hunt," said state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. The finalists are the District of Columbia and 18 states, including New York, Florida, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Colorado, Arizona and Hawaii. Winners will share $3.4 billion in funding and will be announced in September. (more...)

Also:  San Francisco Chronicle * Editorial San Francisco Chronicle * KPCC * Education Week * New York Times * Christian Science Monitor *  Wall Street Journal * San Jose Mercury News *  Educated Guess * Los Angeles Daily News *  American Public Radio

Millions in delayed education stimulus funds face further stall

• 07-28-2010
• 

By Corey G. Johnson/California Watch

The fate of $37 million in federal stimulus funds that have been sitting for nearly a year could be delayed even further if the 2010-11 budget talks between the Legislature and the governor turns sour. According to Los Angeles Times, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has threatened to leave office in January 2011 without signing the budget if the Legislature doesn't cut back on public-pension payouts and make other reforms. According to the Times, Schwarzenegger told reporters after an event at the LA Chamber of Commerce: If I do not get all of the things that we need … I will not sign a budget, and it could actually drag out until the next governor gets into office. (more...)

New analysis blasts Obama’s school turnaround policy -- and tells how to fix it

• 07-28-2010
• 

Blog by Valerie Strauss/Washington Post

The Obama administration’s approach to improving the most troubled schools are nothing more than a toughened version of largely unsuccessful strategies concocted under president George W. Bush and should be replaced with a flexible system that involves parents and communities, according to a new analysis being released today. The sternly worded analysis is the second punch that the administration has received this week over its education policies. It is landing on the same day that Education Secretary Arne Duncan is addressing the Urban League’s convention in Washington D.C., and a day before President Obama defends his education policies in a major speech to the same gathering. (more...)

Starting a science education

• 07-28-2010
• 

Opinion by William Banko, Michael E. Jabot, Patricia B. Molloy, Arnold Serotsky, & Bruce Tulloch/Education Week

Is it possible that our country has been teaching science backwards? Scores from the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, on which the United States ranked 25th in math and 21st in science out of 30 developed nations, certainly seem to indicate that our overall approach is not working. Now we have objective evidence of what does work in the learning and teaching process, which opens a new approach that can be applied to science instruction. Research in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, education, and machine learning is demonstrating that young children have the capacity to learn more than anyone previously imagined. (more...)

Teaching assignment linked to TFA retention

• 07-28-2010
• 

By Stephen Sawchuk/Education Week

Teach For America teachers who are assigned to teach more than one grade, subject, or out-of-field are more likely to leave their schools—or the profession altogether, a new analysis concludes. The paper is the latest addition to a complex research base on the popular alternate-route-to-teaching program. (Eduwonk has a nice summary of the research over at his blog.) Morgaen Donaldson of the University of Connecticut and Susan Moore Johnson of Harvard University conducted the study, which is the first to my knowledge to examine the retention of TFA teachers longitudinally, using a national sample. (more...)

The case for $320,000 kindergarten teachers

• 07-28-2010
• 

By David Leonhardt/New York Times

How much do your kindergarten teacher and classmates affect the rest of your life?  Economists have generally thought that the answer was not much. Great teachers and early childhood programs can have a big short-term effect. But the impact tends to fade. By junior high and high school, children who had excellent early schooling do little better on tests than similar children who did not — which raises the demoralizing question of how much of a difference schools and teachers can make. (more...)

Beneath the thousands of teacher layoffs are stories of uncertain futures for Inland families

• 07-28-2010
• 

By Dayna Straehley/Riverside Press-Enterprise

The Inland area's laid-off teachers are cutting their household budgets and learning to tell their children no. They have turned off their air conditioners and no longer can buy the things they used to take for granted. They are looking for jobs, even though Inland districts have cut hundreds of positions. Public education in California has received $17 billion less in state funding than anticipated over the last two budget years. (more...)

In surprise move, school board backs parcel tax -- again

• 07-28-2010
• 

By Emily Alpert/Voice of San Diego

In a stunning switch, school board President Richard Barrera decided to forge ahead with a proposed parcel tax that even backers say is an uphill slog, less than a day after he said it was a lost cause. The whirlwind back-and-forth over the tax perplexed onlookers and parents who followed it. "Amateur hour at San Diego Unified School District. Is this a homeowners association or a school board?" joked school board candidate Scott Barnett, when told about the switch. The San Diego Unified school board decided to put the school tax on the November ballot two weeks ago, despite critics' crowing that it couldn't pass. (more...)

Officials challenged at forum over principal's removal from downtown L.A. arts high school

• 07-28-2010
• 

Blog by Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times

The sudden removal this month of the principal who headed the downtown Los Angeles arts high school has sparked an outcry, including a recent street protest and a combative forum Monday night attended by about 200 people. Principal Suzanne Blake learned July 12 of her removal from Central Los Angeles High School No. 9, the $232-million arts campus that enjoyed a largely successful first year after a series of controversies, mostly before the school opened. Monday's meeting took place in the school’s state-of-the-art auditorium, where local area superintendent Dale Vigil respectfully listened to statements and questions for three hours. His answers appeared to satisfy few. (more...)

Financial aid up at Southern California private schools

• 07-27-2010
• 

By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC

The fiscal problems of public schools have gotten plenty of air time, but private K-12 schools in Southern California have also had to trim their budgets. The prolonged economic downturn has many private school staffs wondering how long they can hold on. This was a tough school year for public and private schools. Maintenance, clerical and support staffs at private schools have diminished, said Jim McManus, head of the 200-member California Association of Independent Schools. "About two years ago when the economy was cratering, every school in the association looked very hard and in new ways at their budgets and trimmed whatever they felt were non-essential expenses," he said. (more...)

Brown unveils education reform plan

• 07-29-2010
• 

By Seema Mehta/Los Angeles Times

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown unveiled an education reform plan Wednesday that calls for a wholesale restructuring of California's public school system, from changing the way schools are funded to revamping the state's higher education system. The eight-page plan touches upon the major issues facing the state's education system, from the increasing cost of college to the state's dismal dropout rate. Some of the proposals, such as changing the way schools are funded, would take years. Brown urged patience. (more...)

Also: Sacramento Bee * Orange County Register

Duncan outlines 'equity' agenda

• 07-29-2010
• 

Blog by Mark Walsh/Education Week

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today said his department would push for policies promoting equity in the schools for poor and minority students, in particular announcing plans for an Equity and Excellence Commission to promote fiscal equity among schools. "In so many ways, our reform agenda is all about equity," Duncan said in an address to a conference marking the 100th anniversary of the National Urban League, according to an Education Department release. "Competition isn't about winners and losers. It's about getting better." The 15-member equity commission, authorized by Congress in the fiscal year 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, will obtain broad public input about inequities in K-12 education and examine how those inequities contribute to the achievement gap. (more...)

Obama defends his schools program against civil rights, union criticisms

• 07-29-2010
• 

By Moira Herbst/Bloomberg

Criticisms of the federal Race to the Top education initiative partly reflect “a general resistance to change” and “a comfort with the status quo,” said President Barack Obama in prepared remarks for a speech today at the National Urban League in Washington. Obama’s speech comes as plans to overhaul U.S. public education face opposition from his Democratic base, Congressional Republicans and state legislatures that could block implementation. The administration has succeeded in getting at least 29 states and the District of Columbia to sign on to common academic standards that would for the first time set shared performance goals for math and reading. (more...)

Also: Education Week

States setting pace on school change; Obama agenda stalled in Congress

• 07-29-2010
• 

By Nick Anderson/Washington Post

While states are moving fast to overhaul public schools, President Obama's education agenda is hitting a wall in Congress. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced Tuesday that the District and 18 states, including Maryland, remain in the running for a share of $3.4 billion in the federal Race to the Top competition, with winners to be announced in September. The contest, funded by the 2009 economic stimulus law, has fueled support for making student achievement a significant factor in teacher evaluations and pay, easing limits on public charter schools and embracing national standards. (more...)