STAR tests may end for younger kids
Senate bill would end exam for second graders
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Reading about SB 740, State Senator Loni Hancock’s (D-Oakland) bill to eliminate second grade STAR testing, took me back to my daughter’s initiation into standardized testing. She puked. “She almost made it out the classroom door,” her second-grade teacher told me with a laugh. Since she didn’t have a fever and nothing happened that night, I brought her back to school the next day. Her classmates applauded when she walked in. Was it stress? Perhaps. She’s in college now and says she still dislikes tests.
Hancock shares that aversion. She’s tried twice to pass similar legislation. Both bills died. SB 740 has made it to the Senate floor, where it will be voted on today. “The second-grad
California Dream Act moves forward - by Kathryn Baron
The sixth time may be a charm for Los Angeles Assemblyman Gil Cedillo’s crusade to pass a state version of the Dream Act. By a party-line vote of 46-25, the Assembly yesterday approved AB 131 and sent it to the Senate. The bill would let undocumented immigrants who meet in-state tuition requirements, apply for Cal [...]