Education News & Comment

Education News & Comment: "Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education Speaks Out

Our new superintendent, plus the County Superintendent Dave Gordon, and Elk Grove Superintendent Steve Ladd were all at this press conference which took place at a school that isn't part of SCUSD. I was shocked when SCUSD Superintendent Raymond said that he was excited to be part of Mayor Johnson's team. When you use the link you need to click on part three. That is the part that contains SCUSD Superintendent Raymond's statement.

If you think it is noteworthy, please forward to as many parents and teachers as you know."

Facebook | Seth Bramble The Executive Board of the Sacramento City Teacher's Association met today to set goals for the upcoming school year that will build our local strength and promote quality public education for ALL students. There were four new Board members... New faces! New ideas! Fresh start!

Facebook Seth Bramble The Executive Board of the Sacramento City Teacher's Association met today to set goals for the upcoming school year that will build our local strength and promote quality public education for ALL students. There were four new Board members... New faces! New ideas! Fresh start!:

"Seth Bramble The Executive Board of the Sacramento City Teacher's Association met today to set goals for the upcoming school year that will build our local strength and promote quality public education for ALL students. There were four new Board members... New faces! New ideas! Fresh start!"

Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education Speaks Out

Our new superintendent, plus the County Superintendent Dave Gordon, and Elk Grove Superintendent Steve Ladd were all at this press conference which took place at a school that isn't part of SCUSD. I was shocked when SCUSD Superintendent Raymond said that he was excited to be part of Mayor Johnson's team. When you use the link you need to click on part three. That is the part that contains SCUSD Superintendent Raymond's statement.

If you think it is noteworthy, please forward to as many parents and teachers as you know. It is important to tell our new superintendent that he works for SCUSD not for Kevin Johnson. Have SCUSD parents and students who attend our schools told him that he should join with Kevin Johnson 2 days after he starts working for us? That wasn't the message at CK McClatchy from parents, students, and teachers. We need to let Superintendent Raymond know that KJ barely won Oak Park when he was elected and did not do well in the other parts of SCUSD. He won Natomas and the areas not part of SCUSD. Supt. Raymond needs to focus on the opening of district schools, the transition process for the students from closed schools, and on making sure that our students have teachers in the classrooms on the first day of school. We should also let our Board of Education know that we don't want our Superintendent attending Kevin Johnson press conferences or events. We want him learning about our district from the ground up.

How will he be able to fairly evaluate Sacramento Charter High School when he is already a part of the Mayor's team?

Heidi McLean, chairperson
Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education

Click here to view video: http://tinyurl.com/noro72

UC Davis News & Information :: $32.6 Million in Stimulus Funds Awarded to UC Davis for Research, More to Come

UC Davis News & Information :: $32.6 Million in Stimulus Funds Awarded to UC Davis for Research, More to Come:

"According to information available online from two federal agencies that administer research funding, as of Aug. 24, UC Davis faculty have garnered 88 research grants totaling nearly $32.6 million.

“At a time when we are very hard-pressed, this stimulus funding will allow us to build up an infrastructure that will serve us well for many years,” said Barry Klein, vice chancellor for research at UC Davis. “And that is precisely the purpose of these awards: to get things under way quickly that will have a long-term positive impact on the stability of the workforce on campus.”

Klein said he expects to see many more stimulus-funded grants flowing to the campus over the coming months. “We have about a half billion dollars of proposals submitted, while only a fraction of stimulus funds have been awarded so far,” he said."

Advice for Duncan: 'Race to the Top' Needs A Larger Dose of Early Ed | New America Blogs

Advice for Duncan: 'Race to the Top' Needs A Larger Dose of Early Ed New America Blogs:

"Advice for Duncan: 'Race to the Top' Needs A Larger Dose of Early Ed
Lisa Guernsey -
August 27, 2009 - 11:18am

Tomorrow is the deadline to submit comments on the Department of Education's proposed guidelines for Race to the Top, the new grant program created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Secretary Duncan released draft guidelines for RTT last month, and with more than 650 comments submitted so far, he is getting plenty of feedback on his vision.

Race to the Top gives the Secretary unprecedented discretion to dole out $4.3 billion in grants to states over the next year. But the money doesn't come free. States have to be looking pretty good in Duncan's eyes even before they apply for the money. What's more, if they want their applications to have any shot of being competitive, they will have to show that they are already making progress on many fronts, including working toward common standards, allowing for the creation of more charter schools and using longitudinal data systems to track students' performance.

The stipulations and criteria have caused a lot of consternation among state education leaders over the past few weeks, partly because the guidelines for participating are so tightly defined. In an analysis conducted by The National Teachers Project, only two states appear to meet each one of the Department of Education's expectations. Five states -- California, Michigan, Nevada, New York and Pennsylvania -- do not even meet the basic eligibility requirements, according to TNTP."

Teacher Beat: Sen. Kennedy and the Teachers

Teacher Beat: Sen. Kennedy and the Teachers:

"Given all that, it's interesting to reflect that NCLB probably would not have passed, at least not as we know it now, without Ted Kennedy. As a number of obituaries have pointed out this week, President George W. Bush reached out to Kennedy in 2001 to help get the law through the Senate.

(It's worth pointing out, too, that a lot of the bill's tougher provisions actually came from the Democrats, not the Republicans. Rep. George Miller, for instance, pushed to require a school to make 'adequate yearly progress' for all the different subgroups, in addition to the school as a whole; Bush's original proposal would have required the disaggregated reporting, but only held schools accountable for subgroups of disadvantaged students.)"

Education roundup: Race to the top hearing, SAT scores, new BC ... - Bakersfield.com

Education roundup: Race to the top hearing, SAT scores, new BC ... - Bakersfield.com:


"Teachers are concerned they could be unfairly evaluated or lose tenure in a new system.
State schools chief Jack O'Connell favors the application, and called for 'uncomfortable' conversions from all interested parties to put student needs first.
The California Teachers Association said it didn't want legislators to make a 'knee-jerk' reaction, and asked they not make changes without 'input from educators and parents.'"

PVUSD faces money trouble, labor unrest - Santa Cruz Sentinel

PVUSD faces money trouble, labor unrest - Santa Cruz Sentinel:

"'We're asking management, administration and principals to start taking the lead, to take pay cuts first,' said Bobbie Salazar, president of California School Employees Association, chapter 132.

Teachers didn't oppose a contract with San Jose-based Keenan and Associates for insurance consulting services, but they found a provision that called for binding arbitration to resolve disputes as well as a pay increase galling. Binding arbitration is a sticking point in the current labor impasse between teachers and district management. Jack Carroll, chief negotiator for the teachers union, said teachers aren't even looking for a raise. 'Do you folks have a plan, a plan to end the labor unrest that is brewing?' he asked."

Draft guidelines for school improvement grants released

Draft guidelines for school improvement grants released - JSOnline

Duncan's proposed guidelines call for states to identify their bottom 5% of Title 1 schools in terms of school improvement status and implement one of four comprehensive reform models:

• Turnaround: Replace the principal and at least 50% of the staff; adopt new or revised instructional strategies; consider a longer school day or year; implement more social services; and get and keep highly qualified teachers.

• Restart: Close the school and reopen it under the management of a charter school or education management organization. The school must admit all former students who wish to attend the reopened school.

• Closure: Close the school and transfer the students to higher-performing schools in the district.

• Transformation: Implement a comprehensive transformation strategy that replaces the school leadership, rewards teacher and leader effectiveness, extends learning time and offers community-oriented services, and provides operating flexibility and other support.

But identifying the bottom 5% of Title 1 schools in a state can be harder than it sounds.

For schools, use of stimulus money falls short of big hopes | csmonitor.com

For schools, use of stimulus money falls short of big hopes csmonitor.com:

"The announcement earlier this year that roughly $100 billion in federal stimulus funds would flow to public schools came with great expectations – both for saving jobs and for fostering reforms in education. But the way the money is being used so far is decidedly more mundane.

In a new survey of 160 school-district leaders, 53 percent say they have not been able to use the money to save teaching positions in core subject areas or special education. And 67 percent say the opportunity to direct the money to reforms has been limited or nil."

When asked how they are using or plan to use ARRA Title I monies, the top five responses were:
professional development (63 percent)
saving existing personnel positions (58 percent)
classroom technology (53 percent)
classroom equipment/supplies (38 percent)
software (35 percent)

The top five reported uses for ARRA IDEA dollars are identical:
professional development (68 percent)
saving existing personnel positions (61 percent)
classroom technology (54 percent)
classroom equipment/supplies (41 percent)
software (37 percent)

The ARRA State Fiscal Stabilization dollars are being invested in the same areas as Title I and IDEA dollars, though at much smaller rates, as districts report a greater variety of uses for the SFSF funds.

REGION: Testing improvements attributed to teachers, increase of data

REGION: Testing improvements attributed to teachers, increase of data:

"'We're moving forward,' said Jim Growth, a member of the California Teachers Association's board of directors and a teacher in Chula Vista. 'It's good news for everybody.'
Teaching strategies and curricula vary from district to district and from classroom to classroom, but local school officials said it's ultimately up to teachers and parents to boost student performance.

'Where the work takes place is in the classroom,' Growth said. 'California has thousands and thousands of very hardworking teachers who, in spite of all of the politics, continue to move forward and put their best foot forward.'

Teachers are becoming more familiar with what students are expected to know in each grade level, which has also helped to bring up test scores, said Sally Bennett-Schmidt, assessment coordinator with the San Diego County Office of Education. State education officials rewrote the tests in 2003 to align them closer to academic standards that were adopted a few years before."

L.A. Unified OKs pay incentives for some administrators -- latimes.com

L.A. Unified OKs pay incentives for some administrators -- latimes.com:

"Reporting from Los Angeles and Sacramento - The Los Angeles Unified School District has instituted a pay incentive program for high-level administrators, a move that is largely symbolic now but that some officials and board members hope will pave the way for more merit-based compensation in the future.

'I don't believe everyone is the same and I do believe there are individual skills and they should be rewarded,' said Supt. Ramon C. Cortines. 'I would hope some of the bargaining units would pick this up on their own.'"

NEA Attacks Administration's Education Reform Plan | 44 | washingtonpost.com

NEA Attacks Administration's Education Reform Plan 44 washingtonpost.com:

"The union, which boasts 3.2 million members, charged that Race to the Top contradicted administration pledges to give states more flexibility in how they improve schools. 'We find this top-down approach disturbing; we have been down that road before with the failures of No Child Left Behind,' the union wrote in its comments, 'and we cannot support yet another layer of federal mandates that have little or no research base of success and that usurp state and local government's responsibilities for public education.'"

Strong-Mayor Talks Heat Up At Council - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento

Strong-Mayor Talks Heat Up At Council - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento:


"After a suggestion by Councilmember Ray Tretheway, the council voted unanimously to delay the discussion for two weeks while Teichert seeks advice from the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the FPPC had not yet received a request from the Sacramento City Attorney's office.
Executive Director Roman Porter said if requested, the agency could provide an informal opinion during the two-week time frame."

Gapers Block : Mechanics : Chicago Politics - Obama and Duncan: Unanswered Questions

Gapers Block : Mechanics : Chicago Politics - Obama and Duncan: Unanswered Questions:

"The skeptical person could conclude that it isn't Duncan's supposed 'new approach' to school reform--an approach that all evidence shows failed conclusively--that prompted his choice, but perhaps his ability to mask failure with corporate-speak laced 'initiatives' that give liberals the sensation that schools are 'innovating' and provide a good bulwark against criticism from teachers' union and public school advocates.

That would be the skeptical person. I'm going to give the President the benefit of the doubt and say that it was because they played basketball together."

LAUSD Board Approves School Choice Plan Amidst Cries of 'Recall' - LAist

LAUSD Board Approves School Choice Plan Amidst Cries of 'Recall' - LAist:

"The LAUSD's Downtown meeting room was packed with people, many of whom were there to express dissent about the plan and how the District handled engaging the public in the pre-vote discussion process. The meeting ran 'more than four hours of debate' and included 'often- heated public comment,' ahead of the vote, which saw only Marguerite LaMotte voting against the plan, according to the Daily News. Often, as Board President Monica Garcia and Aguilar spoke, the crowd issued cries of 'recall,' and implying they should be jailed, according to one Twittering attendee."

LA Board of Education plans on privatizing over 250 LAUSD K-12 schools

LA Board of Education plans on privatizing over 250 LAUSD K-12 schools:

"President of United Teachers Los Angeles, A.J. Duffy has stated that he believes the LA city Board of Education school choice plan is privatizing public education. Duffy has expressed his discontent with the school choice plan and believes the bad performance of the over 250 schools is just an excuse to break up the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA). In addition, Duffy supports his argument with a Stanford study released this past spring that concludes 30 percent of nationwide charter schools are doing worse than non-charter schools.

However, according to a state-sponsored evaluation of charter schools by a California based non-partisan group, Legislative Analyst, charter schools have raised academic achievement for students. Charter schools particularly serve to assist disadvantaged students, such as individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds or historically neglected races, such as Native Americans, who have a dropout rate of 31%."

VOA News - Going Digital: California's Textbook Project

VOA News - Going Digital: California's Textbook Project:

"Six of the ten were published by the CK12 Foundation. Co-founder Neeru Khosla says the nonprofit group had been developing digital science and math books for about two years. The foundation paid teachers and other education professionals to write and edit them. The money came from a group financed by the Khosla family. The AMAR Foundation also supports projects in India.

California cannot require schools to use the digital textbooks. Individual school districts will have to decide for themselves.
Susan Martimo, a California Department of Education official, says she does not expect widespread use right away. Her best guess is that some schools with a lot of technology will be the first to use them, but only in addition to their traditional books."

State legislators vow to qualify for U.S. education grants : State : Ventura County Star

State legislators vow to qualify for U.S. education grants : State : Ventura County Star:

"Since U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan began circulating proposed guidelines for the program in late July, most of the attention in California has focused on Duncan’s threat to withhold funding to any state that does not allow the use of student test scores as part of its evaluation of teachers. Duncan has specifically cited California as among the states that wouldn’t qualify.

But lawmakers and education officials speaking at a special legislative hearing on the program Wednesday described the issue as a “tempest in a teapot,” in the words of the legislator who wrote the law that includes the language Duncan cites as objectionable."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, vowed lawmakers will do what is necessary to prevent Californians from becoming “bystanders in the Race to the Top.” Echoed Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles: “If we have a firewall, let’s remove it. If we don’t have a firewall, in plain English, let’s just say so.”

Parents, are you ready to be involved? - St. Petersburg Times

Parents, are you ready to be involved? - St. Petersburg Times:

"There are so many things parents can do, such as attending conferences and open houses; volunteering to work in the classrooms, offices or libraries; participating in the PTA; supporting the sports program and club activities of the school; sending items needed in the classroom such as refreshments for parties or items for a treasure chest; and offering to do projects at home to be sent into the classroom.

Ask your children what they are studying, be aware of when progress reports and report cards are sent home, make sure your child completes homework assignments, check classroom work, sign papers and return them when due. The list goes on and on."

Education campaign reminds parents to “Be There” | ajc.com

Education campaign reminds parents to “Be There” ajc.com:

"Be There, a national multimedia campaign, encourages parents to use everyday situations as “teachable moments” and thus improve student achievement without ever visiting a school.
“There’s a large section of parents who aren’t coming to school either because of conflicts in their schedule, they’re busy with two jobs or just don’t feel they fit into the PTA clique,” said David Voss, creator of the campaign. “That doesn’t mean they should simply delegate education to the schools.”"

State's teachers not always to blame for test scores : Opinion : Ventura County Star

State's teachers not always to blame for test scores : Opinion : Ventura County Star:

"Removing the charter school cap and increasing parental options could be steps toward improving the system, whose failures (and examples of success) are cataloged in a new report by Oakland-based Education Trust-West. But using test data to judge teachers’ performance could evolve into simplistic finger pointing unless it’s done fairly and contextually.

Testing data seemingly introduce dispassionate objectivity into the evaluation process. Each kid’s abilities are as individual as fingerprints, however. Learning is also affected by many other factors, most of which are beyond the control of the teacher, such as cultural influences, parental involvement, taxpayer financing, administrative support and availability of textbooks."

Report calls for overhaul of California community colleges' transfer process -- latimes.com

Report calls for overhaul of California community colleges' transfer process -- latimes.com:

"More than 2.7 million Californians are students in the state's sprawling network of community colleges. Some are enrolled in vocational classes or pursuing two-year degrees, while others seek a path into a four-year institution. But relatively few make the jump -- in the 2007-08 school year, 106,666 students successfully transferred to a University of California or California State University campus, or to private or out-of-state colleges.

Now, a new study finds that the obstacles California community college students face in transferring are endemic and require an overhaul of the transfer process."

Editorial: Students better in English, math - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Editorial: Students better in English, math - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee:

"Despite budget cuts and the challenge of educating a growing immigrant population, California's public schools are soldiering on, and they are continuing to improve. One of the state's great unappreciated stories of the past 10 years is how much progress California students have made in mastering academic standards that are generally considered the toughest in the nation."

District superintendent announces he's retiring - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

District superintendent announces he's retiring - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"The announcement came after a closed session that included a discussion of his contract. His retirement takes effect at the end of November.
Farrar, 60, said he is retiring from the district to spend more time with his family.
'I am pleased with the many accomplishments Natomas Unified has achieved in my years here – our recognition and celebration as the second most diverse school district in the United States, our national role in the 'green schools' movement, our leadership in digital technology in the classroom and our passion for equity in education,' he said in a prepared statement."

Sacramento mayor at odds with city attorney's directive

Sacramento mayor at odds with city attorney's directive - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Teichert said the mayor did have a financial stake in the specific issue before the City Council on Tuesday: whether the council should draft an ordinance to fix what she described as a "potentially fatal flaw" in the strong-mayor ballot measure.

Right now, the mayor holds what is essentially the city of Sacramento's District 9 council seat. Passage of the strong-mayor initiative would make the mayor's position separate from the council and create a new council seat to fill that void. The initiative does not set a timeline for the election of that new seat – an omission Teichert says could result in the entire ballot measure being ruled unconstitutional.

Teichert told the council Tuesday it could remedy the problem by voting to place a companion measure on the June ballot specifying a timeline for the District 9 election.