Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Schools Matter: Duncan's "What Lies Clearinghouse" Adds Its Own Misleading Spin on CREDO Study

Schools Matter: Duncan's "What Lies Clearinghouse" Adds Its Own Misleading Spin on CREDO Study

Last June Stanford U's CREDO published the first nationwide assessment of charter school test performance. Here is the Press Release from the researchers of that study:

Stanford, CA – A new report issued today by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University found that there is a wide variance in the quality of the nation’s several thousand charter schools with, in the aggregate, students in charter schools not faring as well as students in traditional public schools.

While the report recognized a robust national demand for more charter schools from parents and local communities, it found that 17 percent of charter schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than traditional public schools, while 37 percent of charter schools showed gains that were worse than their traditional public school counterparts, with 46 percent of charter schools

Sacramento Press / Press release: City Manager Ray Kerridge resigns

Sacramento City Manager, Ray Kerridge announced his resignation today, effective March 12, 2010.

"After much thought and consideration, I will be resigning on March 12, 2010," said City Manager Ray Kerridge. "The City of Sacramento is a great organization with outstanding employees, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to serve this community."

After 35+ years in the public sector, Mr. Kerridge will be taking a private sector position.

In February 2006, Mr. Kerridge was appointed City Manager by the Mayor and City Council. He has been the catalyst behind significant culture change in City Hall bringing customer service to the forefront of City government.

He joined the City of Sacramento in January 2005 as the Assistant City Manager for Development and over saw several departments including Development Services, Utilities, Transportation, and Economic Development.

City Manager Ray Kerridge Significant Successes:

* Lead the organization through historic budget challenges
* Improved and enhanced relationship with business

Expanded Time, Enriching Experiences

Expanded Time, Enriching Experiences:

"Expanded Time, Enriching Experiences

Expanded Learning Time Schools and Community Organization Partnerships

ELT schools are taking advantage of the additional time they now have to plan and implement new instructional strategies to better align core academics, enrichment, support services, and family engagement strategies closely to their instructional focus.

SOURCE: AP/Vince Lupo"

Download the full report (pdf)

Download the executive summary (pdf)

Expanded learning time, or ELT, is gaining traction among educators and policymakers as a potent school improvement strategy. Over the past several years many high-performing charter schools and charter school networks across the country have used their autonomy to create longer school days and years for the express purpose of improving student outcomes.

These schools consider more learning time to be a fundamental ingredient of their success, particularly with low-income, high-risk students. Standard public schools have been slower to implement ELT, but a database released by the National Center on Time & Learning in December 2009 shows that ELT is gaining momentum among these schools as well. More than one-quarter of the 655 expanded-time schools in 36 states included in the database are standard district public schools.

Many schools seeking to maximize student success partner with external organizations that offer a variety of resources to students and teachers. Schools partner with community-based organizations, youth development agencies, health care and human service agencies, institutions of higher education, and cultural and arts institutions to deepen academic content, offer enrichments, train teachers, and ensure access to health, social, and other services for students and families.

ELT offers an opportunity for schools and external organizations to create strategic

Report on small schools finds more choice, but modest interest | GothamSchools

A new report on the rapid proliferation of small schools in New York City finds that while the schools have expanded students’ options, most students choose to attend larger schools.

Commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the report is one of four that will eventually be released in order to study how the schools have multiplied, who is attending them, who is teaching in them, and whether they’re succeeding. The Gates Foundation popularized and funded the small schools movement in New York, fueling the growth of nearly 200 small schools with a $150 million investment.

A New-York based research group, MDRC, conducted the report, which does not look at the schools’ academic record — that analysis will come out in spring — but focuses on the schools’ enrollment and demographics.

One of the report’s key findings is that the small schools are seeing modest demand from students.

Looking at data from 2004 to 2007, the report found that about 10 percent of eighth graders listed a small nonselective school as their first choice for high school. About double that amount listed a large nonselective high school. Twenty-two percent listed a small nonselective school in their top three

Remainders: A new database to track DOE spending

by Maura Walz

Kim Gittleson is building a database to track city DOE spending over the past decade.
Officials refer ELLs to special ed services too quickly in some suburban NY districts, a new study says.
A Brooklyn 4-year-old died afte

Education Week: Blogs

BLOGS

Find these blogs on edweek.org:

New! State EdWatch

Lesli A. Maxwell, who reports on state policy for Education Week, tracks education policy and politics across the 50 states.
(Active January 2010-present)

New! Rick Hess Straight Up

Education policy maven Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute think tank offers straight talk on matters of policy, politics, research, and reform.
(Active February 2010-present)

New! Walt Gardner's Reality Check

Walt Gardner taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District and was a lecturer in the UCLA Graduate School of Education.
(Active February 2010-present)

Bridging Differences

Leading education thinkers Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch engage in an ongoing conversation about what matters most for today's students, educators, and policymakers.
(Active February 2007-present)

Curriculum Matters

A wide-ranging forum for discussing school curriculum across the subject areas with Education Week reporters Catherine Gewertz and Erik Robelen.(Active June 2008-present)

Digital Education

Education Week reporters Katie Ash and Kathleen Kennedy Manzo cover tech topics and trends in K-12 education. (Active September 2008-present)

District Dossier

Education Week reporter Dakarai Aarons reports on news and trends in the nation's school districts. (Active August 2009-present)

Inside School Research

Veteran reporter Debra Viadero dissects findings affecting schools and shares news about education research for audiences extending far beyond the Ivory Tower. (Active March 2009-present)

LeaderTalk

The first group blog by school leaders for school leaders, LeaderTalk expresses the voice of the administrator in this era of school reform. (Active December 2008-present)

Learning the Language

Mary Ann Zehr is an assistant editor at Education Week. She tackles difficult policy questions, explores learning innovations, and shares stories about different cultural groups on her beat. (Active February 2007-present)

On Special Education

Education Week's Christina A. Samuels tracks news and trends of interest to the special education community, including administrators, teachers, and parents. Former Education Weekspecial education reporter Lisa Fine (pictured) is guest-blogging while Christina is on leave for the 2009-10 academic year. (Active January 2008-present)

Politics K-12

Michele McNeil and Alyson Klein provide regular coverage of political developments that affect education at the federal and state levels.(Active September 2007-present)

The School Law Blog

News and analysis on legal developments affecting schools, educators, and parents, written by Mark Walsh, contributing writer to Education Week, who has been covering legal issues in education for more than 17 years. (Active January 2008-present)

Teacher Beat

Stephen Sawchuk comes to the teacher beat at Education Weekafter covering federal education policy. (Active August 2008-present)

Why Boys Fail

Richard Whitmire, a former editorial writer at USA Today and president of the National Education Writers Association, is a frequent commentator on national education issues. (Active January 2010-present)

Schools Matter: Gates Revives Tuckerism, the Plan to Make Senior High School for Elites Only

Gates Revives Tuckerism, the Plan to Make Senior High School for Elites Only

In 2006 dweeb oligarch, Bill Gates, funded the writing of a plan to undercut American public high schools and to create an outlet for working class students to test out of high school and into a voc ed after 9th or 10th grade. The plan was called "Tougher Choices for Tougher Times," and it offered a vision of high school as contract charter schools that are funded at the state level without local input or oversight. Here is a review of Tuckerism by EPI, and here is part of a post from last year on how the plan was moving forward, all the help of the prostitutes who run the NEA:

Did I say something about union sellouts earlier today? Bracey just posted at ARN the Ed Week link below that announces the NEA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Manufacturers have split the spoils from the corporate charter school blitzkrieg that is now being

Sacramento Press / Welcome Back Springtime on the Farm

Springtime will soon be in the air and you and your family are invited to get take a break from the 9 to 5 and city life to experience the awakening of life. The Center For Land-Based Learning at the Farm on Putah Creek is hosting Welcome Back Springtime at the Farm on Putah Creek Sunday March 28, 2010 from 10:00am – 4:00pm.

The Center For Land-Based Learning is a non-profit whose stated mission is to “engage youth in learning experiences on the land that foster respect for the critical interplay of agriculture, nature and society.”

Under the leadership of Mary Kimball, Executive Director, the Center uses a network of farms, ranches, and natural ecosystems as educational laboratories for inner city, suburban and rural high school students. The staff of educators, Land-Based Learning Graduates, and working farmers imparts an appreciation for where food comes from and knowledge about environmental stewardship. Connecting students to their own communities while developing leadership skills and the ability to work cooperatively in diverse groups are just a few benefits students experience while in the program. In the end, the development of future farmers, environmentalists, and caretakers of our earth and its resources is the true goal of this important organization.

Springtime is a wonderful time to experience everything the Farm on Putah Creek has to offer you and your family. There are miles of

Sacramento Press / Day at the Museum: Come Celebrate, Honor and Meet California’s Remarkable Women—All Day Long

On Thursday, March 4th, California First Lady Maria Shriver and The Women’s Conference are partnering with The California Museum to celebrate National Women’s History Month with an extraordinary all-day free event – Day at The Museum. The California Museum will be open for a free day of education, inspiration and empowerment.

Plus, we'll have a number of special guests including astronaut Sally Ride, environmental activist Erin Brockovich, and Iron Chef Cat Cora. It's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

(This is a great opportunity for all those who have been unable to make it to The Women's Conference in Long Beach. Tickets sell out fast, the trip is a bit of a committment from Sacramento, etc. But, the event is here! In downtown Sacramento! A free open house version of The Women's Conference is AMAZING in my book.)

All are invited to drop in at any time during the day and to bring friends, family and colleagues. You - women, sisters, mothers, girlfriends, and men (yes, men can come too!) - will have an opportunity to meet and be inspired by the many remarkable women who have shaped – and are continuing to shape – our state through arts, sports, public service, business, literature, cuisine and philanthropy.

The event will begin early with an old fashioned Meet-and-Greet over coffee, as attendees will have the opportunity to meet California's women elected officials. Included in some of those officials are Speaker Emeritus Karen Bass and SF District Attorney Kamala Harris.

Full Circle Fund’s Rx for schools The Educated Guess

The Educated Guess

Members of the Full Circle Fund, a Bay Area philanthropy made up of socially active leaders and entrepreneurs, has joined the call for giving school districts more autonomy and taxing authority.

Granting local voters the power to pass a limited surcharge of the property tax rate is one policy recommendation of “EACH: A Vision for California’s Future.”The 11-page policy platform is the product of nine months of work by the 60-member Education Circle, one of four study groups within the Full Circle Fund.
A property surcharge would directly challenge of the limits imposed by Proposition 13. It also could create equity problems – and likely lead to a lawsuit – since rich communities would more readily pass such a measure. So the Education Circle also urges establishing a state matching fund as an incentive for low-wealth communities to raise revenue. The platform also urges bringing up California’s level of funding to the “national norm” and includes a useful graph that compares states’ per student spending relative to its teachers’ salaries.
(Read more and comment on this post)

‘Strong mayor’ plan for California’s Capital City weakens, withers under scrutiny, is withdrawn | California Progress Report

‘Strong mayor’ plan for California’s Capital City weakens, withers under scrutiny, is withdrawn

By Dan Aiello
California Progress Report

Sacramento’s new mayor has abandoned for now his effort to put a measure on the June ballot asking voters for more power, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Former NBA star Kevin Johnson first proposed as candidate revising the city’s charter to replace Sacramento’s council form of government with one where the mayor is granted the authority to hire and fire city employees, issue executive orders and hold veto power over legislation.

The 'strong-mayor' initiative, if mere political strategy, effectively diffused the issue of candidate Johnson's lack of experience - since neither he nor his two-term opponent were experienced with 'strong mayors' government - while implying by default that no mayor before him, including his opponent, had been any of the litany list of words voters associated with 'strong.'

As true governance reform, however, Johnson's dream initiative