Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act | Alliance for Excellent Education

Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act Alliance for Excellent Education:

"Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act

Senate Bill Number: S. 2740
Date of Introduction: November 5, 2009
Sponsor(s): Murray (D-WA)
Co-Sponsor(s): Franken (D-MN), Brown (D-OH)

House Bill Number: H.R. 4037
Date of Introduction: November 6, 2009
Sponsor(s): Yarmuth (D-KY)
Co-Sponsor(s): Miller (D-CA), Polis (D-CO)"

The Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act is a comprehensive literacy bill that would authorize $2.35 billion to support state and local programs to ensure that children from birth through grade twelve have the reading and writing skills necessary for success in school and beyond.

More information on the LEARN Act is available in the two-page summary.

Read a letter of support for the LEARN Act signed by the Alliance for Excellent Education, the International Reading Association, the National Association of State Boards of Education, the National PTA, the National School Boards Association, and others.

Read a statement from Senator Patty Murray and Representatives John Yarmuth, Jared Polis, and George Miller on the LEARN Act.

Read a statement on the LEARN Act from Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia.

'Hmong Voices' film festival premiers today in Sacramento - Latest News - sacbee.com

'Hmong Voices' film festival premiers today in Sacramento - Latest News - sacbee.com:

"Sacramento's first ever 'Hmong Voices' film festival -- produced by 25 Hmong teens -- premieres at 5:30 p.m. today in the Florin Creek Recreation Center, 7460 Persimmon Avenue.

The public is invited to the event hosted by the Center for Multicultural Cooperation and supported by the Sacramento City Unified School District and the Sacramento Region Community Foundation.

The free event features seven short films made this summer by students at Hiram Johnson and Luther Burbank high schools, said program coordinator Stephanie Xiong."

Contact your Senator tell them to pass Health Care Reform

Urgent: Take Action for Health Care Reform with no retreat on Women's health

We made history on November 7th when the House of Representatives passed sweeping health care reform legislation.

The health insurance industry is fighting back hard. The Senate will soon vote for its own version of the bill, and we need you to contact your Senator and ask to keep the Senate version as strong as the version just passed by the House.

Contact your U.S. Senator NOW

Search for your senators by name, state, or congressional class; and visit their websites.

Sizing up school safety - Find a school | GreatSchools

Sizing up school safety - Find a school GreatSchools:

"How do you know if a school is safe? Pretty paint jobs won't tell you! Let these six steps help you research the most fundamental issue for every school."

“We’re thrilled,” declared my friend when I called to find out what school they’d chosen for their 5-year-old daughter. “There’s this beautiful garden, and the teachers seem brilliant. There are science and art projects everywhere you look.”

My friend was one of those übermoms — she’d toured a bazillion private and public schools. She thought carefully about what would be right for her little learning sponge.

From dream to nightmare

But within a few weeks of school starting, she left me a message: “We’ve been in kindergarten hell!” Her daughter loved the new school and was learning like gangbusters, but something wasn’t working. “We’re switching schools."

What could justify a parent summarily yanking her child out of a school she loves?

How unsafe schools affect student learning

In a word: safety. For most parents, school security is the place where the rubber meets the rule book. If your child isn’t safe from violence, bullying, sexual harassment, and fear — even if everything else is perfect — brilliant teachers and gorgeous gardens just can’t balance it out. After all, studies suggest that when children feel threatened, both their academic performance and emotional health suffer. Stress hormones impair kids’ neurological development, and they are literally unable to learn in the same way.

Education News & Comment

Education News & Comment:

"Hello DAC Members & Interested Parties:

This is your friendly reminder that today is the District Advisory Committee (DAC) meeting, November 10, 2009 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at the Serna Center.

Dinner and childcare will be provided. Dinner will begin at 6:15pm.

Wanda Yañez Chairperson
District Advisory Committee (DAC)
Sacramento City Unified School District
Work: (916) 654-7729"

Parent Involvement 2009

Parent Involvement 2009

What happens … begins in the council chamber, the school board meeting room, the state house, the U.S. Capitol, and the White House. "Every decision is a political decision," says NEA President Reg Weaver (speaking of teachers but applies even more for parents). "We should no longer accept people making decisions for us, about us, and without us."How Can Schools, Families and Community Groups Put these Goals into Action?

• Recognize that all parents, regardless of income, education or cultural background, are involved in their children's learning and want their children to do well.

• Design programs that will support families to guide their children's learning, from preschool through high school.

• Develop the capacity of school staff and families to work together.

• Link activities and programs for families to improving student learning.

• Focus on developing trusting and respectful relationships among staff and families.

• Build families' social and political connections.

• Embrace a philosophy of partnership and be willing to share power.

• Make sure that parents, school staff, and community members understand that the responsibility for children's educational development is a collaborative enterprise.

• Build strong connections between schools and community organizations.

• Include families in all strategies to reduce the achievement gap between white, middle-class students and low-income students and students of color.

When parents talk to their children about school, expect them to do well, help them plan for college, and make sure that out-of-school activities are constructive, their children do better in school. When schools engage families in ways that are linked to improving learning, and support parent involvement at home and school, students make greater gains. When schools build partnerships with families that respond to their concerns, honor their contributions, and share power, they are able to sustain connections that are aimed at improving student achievement. And when families and communities organize to hold poorly performing schools accountable, school districts make positive changes in policy, practice, and resources.


"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." ~~ Margaret Mead (1901 - 1978)

Come And Play: 'Sesame Street' Celebrates 40 Years : NPR

Come And Play: 'Sesame Street' Celebrates 40 Years : NPR:

"When first lady Michelle Obama popped in on Sesame Street to hang out with Elmo, Big Bird and some kids, she came to demonstrate one of her pet projects: how to plant your own vegetable garden. Her point was that from very small seeds, some delicious and wonderful things can grow. And in TV terms, Sesame Street 40 years ago was one of those seeds — and it has ended up feeding many generations of young viewers."

On Nov. 10, 1969, when we first heard the theme to Sesame Street, public television itself was a new and largely unproven entity. There was no cable TV then, no Fox — by and large, just three commercial networks and, in each TV market, a local station or two. Children's television wasn't very regulated, and certainly, by the end of the 1960s, wasn't very good. Sesame Street, with its simple mandate of educating children as it entertained them, changed all that.

We live in such a different technological world now that one of the basic principles of Sesame Street has been, quite recently, overthrown. Sesame Street was available to any family, no matter how poor, so long as it had electricity and a TV set. Tune in, and even the most disadvantaged preschooler could learn his or her ABCs and count to 10 and begin attending school without feeling left behind.

voiceofsandiego.org: Education... My Day as Principal

EMILY ALPERT

voiceofsandiego.org: Education... My Day as Principal:

"Monday, Nov. 9, 2009 I hoofed it up the sidewalk to Bell Middle School in my heels, alongside preteens in maroon and navy polos. 'Plenty of time. Plenty of time,' the vice principal reassured us as we poured into the school, a vast spread of tile and stucco atop a hill that faces a dark, distant wash of mountains.

There are more than 1,100 students at Bell, a diverse school in the southeastern corner of San Diego Unified where roughly two-thirds of students are poor enough to eat lunch for free.

And I was in charge for a day.

I had been tapped for Principal for a Day, an event that aims to bring business and community leaders into schools to better understand the work of principals. I was hoping I might actually make decisions in that day -- not just tag along."

Outrage over new SDSU admissions rules

Outrage over new SDSU admissions rules:

"SAN DIEGO — Kevin Yabes couldn’t help but get excited when he received confirmation this week that SDSU received his college application. But he’s not so sure he’ll ever get the letter that really counts.

With a 3.53 grade-point average, the Mira Mesa High School senior would have been a guaranteed a spot at San Diego State University under a 10-year-old local admissions policy. But the agreement was abruptly rescinded last month, sending many students into a panic and angering community members.

“I was really hoping to avoid community college,” Kevin said. “But now I’m not sure what I’m going to do next year.”

Kevin was among dozens of students, parents, teachers and community members who spoke out against the policy change Monday night at a hearing by the San Diego Unified School District. Angry and emotional speakers lashed out at SDSU for the decision they called everything from racist to irresponsible."

L.A. Unified magnet school application deadline is Dec. 18 -- latimes.com

L.A. Unified magnet school application deadline is Dec. 18 -- latimes.com:

"The application deadline for the popular local magnet-school program is three weeks earlier this school year. Parents will have until Dec. 18 to turn in applications for their choice among 173 magnet programs in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Magnets were established in the late 1970s to promote voluntary integration -- and in that aspect they have achieved limited success. But many have become wildly popular academic showcases for the nation's second-largest school system. And they attract far more applicants than can be accommodated.

Not long ago, the deadline for applications was in late January. Last year, it was Jan. 9, said Almarie Polk, an administrative assistant with the magnet division. The earlier deadline means parents will find out sooner, probably in April, about whether their child gets into a requested magnet, Polk added."

AdelaideNow... True school performance levels at last

AdelaideNow... True school performance levels at last:

"BY promising basic information on the performance of our schools, Education Minister, Julia Gillard has landed a blow for common sense and for parents.

For too long, the argument about whether national testing on literacy and numeracy should even be done, let alone published, has been deadlocked.

Education experts, state education departments, teachers and their professional bodies, have long resisted the move arguing that such comparisons were worse than meaningless, they would be misleading."

Less than 'courage' in New Haven - washingtonpost.com

Less than 'courage' in New Haven - washingtonpost.com:

"EDUCATION Secretary Arne Duncan is a big advocate of the need for educators to set high expectations. So when he singled out the recently ratified teacher contract in New Haven, Conn., as a model for the nation, we assumed it contained bold reforms. In fact, there's little that's remarkable about the contract. We hope that's not a sign Mr. Duncan is getting timid in bringing about the real changes needed in teacher labor agreements.

Praise of the New Haven contract has been effusive. Mr. Duncan told the Wall Street Journal that it is 'a really important progressive labor agreement' that showed 'real courage on the union's part.' American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten, who helped broker the deal, said: 'I rarely say that something is a model or a template for something else, but this is both.' Even President Obama got in on the act as he complimented New Haven for 'coming together' to find smarter ways to improve learning."

Statement from president of Wausau Education Association - WAOW - Newsline 9, Wausau News, Weather, Sports

Statement from president of Wausau Education Association - WAOW - Newsline 9, Wausau News, Weather, Sports:

"This is a statement from Wausau Education Association President Mary Jarvis:

'Thank you to the members of the board, Board President, and Superintendent (Steve) Murley.
I am the president of the Wausau Education Association.

The teachers of the Wausau School District have carefully followed the budget situation in this district.
We are very alarmed and concerned by the lack of planning for the educational impact on our students."

Bad eighth grade math placements--an update - Class Struggle - Jay Mathews on Education

Bad eighth grade math placements--an update - Class Struggle - Jay Mathews on Education:

"A thoughtful reader who signs on as 'raging moderate' (my own self-concept too) asked two good questions about my recent Local Living column on bad timing in placing students in Algebra 1. Here is raging moderate's query, followed by the answer from Brookings Institution scholar Tom Loveless, who supplied me the data.

[Raging moderate first quoted my piece:] 'But Loveless showed that we are also missing students ready for algebra. Among the top 10 percent of eighth-graders, 18 percent are not in algebra or above, and that percentage is 24.6 for top black, Hispanic and low-income students.'

I have two questions, Jay:"

The Tipping Point: Texas Textbook Politics Meets the Digital Revolution | The Texas Tribune

The Tipping Point: Texas Textbook Politics Meets the Digital Revolution The Texas Tribune:

"Under new legislation, school districts for the first time can spend a portion of state “book” money on computer hardware and digital content. And the state can stockpile and open-source electronic material, made available free to all schools. Some, including State Board of Education members, fear the explosion of choice will produce an erosion of quality content.

AUSTIN – In a historic shift, Texas public schools will soon start tapping the state’s multi-billion-dollar textbook fund for laptops and e-readers. A “book,” meanwhile, could become a living reservoir of content, freely edited and updated by educators and beamed to the classrooms, homes and handhelds of students statewide."

Rather than replacing untold thousands of dead-tree editions every two years — for hundreds of millions of dollars — the state could own libraries of electronic content, some of which it might even get for free. Students could carry all that material on a laptop or an e-reader, amassing an on-demand virtual library over multiple years in school.

That scenario represents the ideal — to some, at least — and may yet be years away. The changes thus far have come slowly, navigating a thicket of big-money politics and curriculum wars surrounding the nation’s second biggest textbook market. At the core of the new order, resulting from new legislation, lie three fundamental transfers of power and money:

From 19th-Century View, Desegregation Is a Test

From 19th-Century View, Desegregation Is a Test

If there is a topic Justice Antonin Scalia does not relish discussing, it is how he would have voted in Brown v. Board of Education had he been on the Supreme Court when it was decided in 1954.

The question came up last month at the University of Arizona in what was billed as a conversation between Justice Scalia and Justice Stephen G. Breyer. The discussion, between the court’s two primary intellectual antagonists, bore the relationship to a conversation that a fistfight does to a handshake. The justices know how to get under each other’s skin, and they punctuated their debate with exasperation, eye-rolling and venomous sarcasm.

The Brown decision, which said the 14th Amendment prohibited segregation in public schools, is hard to square with Justice Scalia’s commitment to originalism, the theory of constitutional interpretation that says judges must apply the original understanding of the constitutional text.

Brown presents originalists with a problem. The weight of the historical evidence is that the people who drafted, proposed and ratified the 14th Amendment from 1866 to 1868 did not believe themselves to be doing away with segregated schools.

Blame parents, not SATs, for inequities#ixzz0WS0f3YHN#ixzz0WS0f3YHN

Blame parents, not SATs, for inequities#ixzz0WS0f3YHN#ixzz0WS0f3YHN:

"Yes, Virginia, the colleges do prefer knowledgeable students who are already fluent in trigonometry and calculus, who have a reasonably rich lexicon and who can convey their thoughts in the form of an essay. Otherwise, the students will have to spend two out of four college years taking remedial classes. Our society does not need engineers who study engineering subjects proper for only the two remaining years.

The same applies to any field of endeavor: baseball, skating, saxophone playing or journalism. A baseball coach might feel sorry for an unskillful candidate who just has not had a chance to play the game with his parents. But usually a coach simply cannot afford to take such candidates in the hope that they might catch up later."

Digital School Library Leaves Book Stacks Behind : NPR

Digital School Library Leaves Book Stacks Behind : NPR:

"An elite boarding school in Ashburnham, Mass., just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on renovating its library. But Cushing Academy wasn't just redoing its walls and carpets. The school is getting rid of the actual, physical books in favor of going digital.

And the move — thought to be the first of its kind in the country — is worrying some librarians and book lovers."

Bill on mayoral control could affect hiring of MPS superintendent - JSOnline

Bill on mayoral control could affect hiring of MPS superintendent - JSOnline:

"The search for the next superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools is about to collide with the fight over mayoral governance, now that lawmakers are putting the final touches on legislation that would allow Milwaukee's mayor to lead the system and appoint the superintendent.

The application deadline for would-be superintendents is Nov. 19, and School Board members aren't slowing down their search.

'We're taking the search day by day and proceeding until we get notice to do otherwise,' School Board President Michael Bonds said last week. 'We're still in charge.'"

The Signal - Santa Clarita Valley News - Public education is a liberal value

The Signal - Santa Clarita Valley News - Public education is a liberal value:

"'Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. ... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.'
-Thomas Jefferson

Now that our local elections are over for school and water board races, I believe it is prudent to reflect on how these races are conducted in our valley. They, like City Council races, are supposed to be non-partisan but clearly they are not."

As Tim Myers noted recently, there is a "Republican Machine" ("Is Boydston a game-changer?" Nov. 1) that controls the politics here. We even have our own "Karl Rove" in Santa Clarita Valley, master of dirty politics who orchestrates hit mailers, telephone smear campaigns and other tricks and ploys to make sure only those in the Machine are elected.

Lynn Vakay wrote before the election in "Right Here Right Now" who the Republican school board candidates were, strongly intimating that people should vote only for them because they espoused the Republican education platform which I read as a thinly disguised call for privatization, dismantling the public school system through systematic starvation, not educating "them" (immigrants) and vilifying public school unions. Vakay's attack on our public school system strikes me as odd since she is a public school teacher and enjoys a living wage, health care benefits and retirement because of her public school union. She clearly unveiled any attempt by the Machine to pretend these elections are "non-partisan."

Denver Daily - Colorado’s economy: We are not California

Denver Daily - Colorado’s economy: We are not California:

"For some reason I am on the mailing lists for some of the GOP candidates. (Of course after this column, I may get purged). It makes for interesting reading as you watch the contortions of truth and ideology.

For example, a recent essay written by a GOP gubernatorial candidate compared Colorado to California in terms of budgets and spending. His sniping remarks continue to remind us that he is young and relatively inexperienced in governance.

The economy is an issue in this country as we fight ourselves out of the cumulative mess of years of mismanagement. As I talk with my counterparts across the country, I know that Colorado has suffered far less than other states. But tell that to my neighbor who works at the Albertson’s in Lafayette. The store is closing. The same store we have been using for 15 years. And the grocery workers are looking for jobs."

Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger Takes Action to Secure Available Recovery Act Funds for Early Childhood Education : Mon, 09 Nov 2009 : California Newswire™

Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger Takes Action to Secure Available Recovery Act Funds for Early Childhood Education : Mon, 09 Nov 2009 : California Newswire™:

"SACRAMENTO /California Newswire/ — Building on his commitment to both high-quality early childhood education and bringing available American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) funding to California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued Executive Order S-23-09 establishing the California State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care. This is the first step in making California eligible to compete for a share of $100 million in federal Head Start funds available through President Obama’s Recovery Act."

“A high-quality early childhood education is a critical building block in a student’s social and educational foundation,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “This action will help bring California funding to support our state’s high-quality preschool programs and help ensure our state’s neediest children will be prepared for success on their very first day of elementary school.”
The federal Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 requires that states establish State Advisory Councils in order to receive Head Start grants designed to increase collaboration among early childhood education providers. The Recovery Act provides grants of at least $500,000 to support states in establishing these councils and in developing statewide early childhood education plans. Following the Governor’s action today, California is expected to receive as much as $10.7 million over three years.

Funding applications must be submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by August 1, 2010, and must include an explanation of California’s strategy to improve coordination and collaboration among California’s Head Start agencies, preschool programs and other early childhood education providers. This enhanced coordination will help California expand access so that early childhood education providers can serve more needy children. The California State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care established today will plan-for and ensure California’s application process meets federal requirements and make the state competitive for the funds.

San Mateo Daily Journal

San Mateo Daily Journal:

"Halloween is a generally accepted idea in America including dressing in costumes.

But Lillian Meng and Caroline Zheng were a bit uncomfortable donning a Cat in the Hat and a chicken outfit respectively. The elementary school principals visiting from Shanghai were unsure of the reaction others would give, but were pleasantly surprised to see the outfits were commonplace on All Hallow’s Eve.

The experience is one of many the two women will have while working through Nov. 23 at College Park Elementary School in San Mateo as part of the Shanghai-California Principal Exchange Program. The program is put together through the partnership of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and the California School Boards Association. During that time, Meng and Zheng will work and live along side College Park Principal Diana Hallock while observing the way things run at the school, which offers a Mandarin immersion program"

Junk food is your responsibility. – A Quick Bite - The Lakeland Ledger - Lakeland, FL - Archive

Junk food is your responsibility. – A Quick Bite - The Lakeland Ledger - Lakeland, FL - Archive:

"A new study has found that advertising on childrens’ TV networks is far higher on ads for high-fat, high-sugar foods than on other networks.

The study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, put the figure at 76 percent.

Researchers at University of California Davis dissected ads on Saturday mornings and after-school hours on English and Spanish programs.

“Study after study has documented the adverse health effects of food advertising targeting children and adolscents,” they wrote."