CA Budget: Cutting Student Data Systems Would Harm Parents, Educators
By Arun Ramanathan
Over the past decade, Californians have learned a lot about the academic performance of our students, thanks in large part to data collected from school districts. We now know, for example, the following:
The achievement gap between African-American eighth graders and their white peers has increased statewide over the past seven years in English Language Arts; that Asian students, in general, are high-performing, but that certain subgroups of Asian students, including Laotian and Samoan students, are silently struggling; and that in certain school districts, Latino and African-American students have equitable access to college-ready coursework, while in other school districts they are disproportionately being denied access to the courses that public universities require.
Republicans Giving Obama a Re-Election Pass in 2012
By Randy Shaw
Beyond Chron
Republican presidential candidates held an Obama-bashing session in New Hampshire last night, but their rhetoric cannot conceal an obvious fact: the Republican Party is content with trying to take back the Senate in 2012 and does not see the presidential race as its top priority. Consider the field. Republican Presidents over the past fifty years have been from large electoral states, yet none of the 2012 candidates meets this requirement. Mitt Romney? He couldn’t beat McCain in 2008 and has no support among the grassroots. Tim Pawlenty? He also comes from the GOP’s non-activist wing. Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann? Neither has a chance to become President.
Refusal to Disqualify Gay Judge Paves the Way for Greater Diversity on the Bench
By Shannon Price Minter, Esq.
National Center for Lesbian Rights Legal Director
Only one day after hearing a controversial motion to vacate former U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker’s August 2010 ruling invalidating Proposition 8, Chief Judge James Ware of the federal district court in San Francisco issued a historic decision that likely will hasten the day when more openly gay (and lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) judges serve on the federal bench. Judge Ware ruled that Judge Walker had no obligation to recuse himself from presiding over the Prop 8 trial simply because he is in a committed relationship with a man.
