FINNISHING SCHOOL: The world's top school system gives pointers in California
By Kathryn Baron | Thoughts on Public Education | http://bit.ly/yxMdAG 20 January 2012 :: Forget Santa Claus and saunas, the biggest export from Finland these days is its educational system. Facts on Finnish education. (Source: Pasi Sahlberg). >> During a two-day conference this week at Stanford University, Finnish educators discussed how they improved so dramatically and what the United
NCLB@10: THE TESTING INDUSTRY’S BIG FOUR
Profiles of the four companies that dominate the business of making and scoring standardized achievement tests. A backgrounder from the PBS Frontline series on No Child Left Behind (March 2002) | http://to.pbs.org/e1LVvg ●●smf: Do not miss that the testing companies and the textbook publishing companies are one and the same. Or four and the same. This will be a question on the final exam!
WHAT’S THE PLAN?: Supplemental Educational Services, Adult Education, Early Childhood Education, Title One + Budget Calendar
From the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Weekly Update/www.aalausd.com | http://bit.ly/zgZvDb Week of January 23, 2012 :: Federal regulations require LAUSD and other districts that have entered their second year of Program Improvement to spend about 20% of their Title I, Part A, allocation on Supplemental Educational Services (SES) and transportation for public school choice. The
Arts Ed: SB 789 + THE CREATIVITY INDEX!
From ArtsEdMail and The California Alliance for Arts Education | http://bit.ly/yMF6TC Mark Slavkin's TED Talk Makes the Case for a Creativity Index published by CAAEStaff | http://bit.ly/yMF6TC <<California Alliance Board Chair, L.A. Music Center's Vice President for Education, former LAUSD School Boardmember Mark Slavkin January 18, 2012 - 2:00pm :: California Alliance Board Chair Mark
4 Your Review: The Shape of LA Schools to Come? - A DRAFT PLAN TO REORGANIZE LAUSD INTO FOUR+1 ‘LOCAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS’ - AND CREATES THE EDUCATION SILO, THE OPERATIONS SILO AND THE PARENT/COMMUNITY SILO - BEGINNING NEXT YEAR
by smf for 4LAKids Jan 19, 2012 :: The following plan is being floated at Beaudry and in the local districts as something between a draft plan and a done deal – apparently without consultation with the Board of Education. It carves four new local districts – called “Educational Service Centers” from the current eight – maintains a special district for special schools: Pilots/Focus/Span/
THE STATE OF THE STATE OF THE SCHOOLS: Highlights of the coverage
edited from the LA Times by smf “The governor also asked for changes in public schools, saying the state has overemphasized student testing and calling for local officials to have more control over their budgets. He asked state lawmakers to remove requirements that districts spend certain funds on specific programs.” Gov. Jerry Brown's State of State speech puts focus on big projects
School Bus Transportation: DEATH VALLEY STUDENTS FACE LOSS OF LIFELINE
California has pulled funding for school transportation for the rest of this fiscal year and may eliminate it entirely next year. In Death Valley, where some students have a two-hour round trip, the cut is 'catastrophic.' By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/wApZd4 A school bus carries students from Death Valley High School in Shoshone to a Native American village in
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS: LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy on the latest challenges facing the district
Episode: Patt Morrison For January 18, 2012 | KPCC 89.3 FM | http://bit.ly/xeAZIW Download Audio MP3 This is an inopportune time for school districts in California and the Los Angeles Unified School District is no exception. At the first board meeting of the year, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy disclosed a $543 million budget shortfall for the next academic year, the possibility that
Gallup Poll - EDUCATION: AN ELECTION NON-ISSUE + smf's 2¢
Carrie Russo, San Pedro Special Education Examiner | Examiner.com | http://exm.nr/w5R03r January 16, 2012 - According to recent Gallup polls available at http://bit.ly/wy4Pjb/ (and below) education is far from being a top concern of US citizens in the upcoming elections. When the Gallup polls posed the question "What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?" a
Superintendent’s letter and list of impacted schools: …BUT NO OTHER ORIFICE WAS AVAILABLE…
Satire from notyet LAUSD …or is it? | http://bit.ly/zpTYk9 Sunday, January 15, 2012 :: notyetLAUSD will not talk sweetly to you and then punch you in the face. There is a disturbing trend of sugar coating bad news starting at the highest levels of government and working its way down local school districts. Whether it is Obama signing NDA Act, best covered by Colbert: <<CATCH 2012 -
Superintendent’s letter and list of impacted schools: PROP 39 OFFERS TO CHARTER SCHOOLS FOR 2012-2013 SCHOOL YEAR
originally published by Not Yet LAUSD Presented without comment… NotYetLAUSD has said all that needs saying – perhaps too much! Letter From Superintendent to LAUSD Principals - 2012-13 Prop 39 Offers to Charter Schools - 01-11-12 (1)(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/
SAVE NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS!: An Open Letter To The Superintendent and Board from LAUSD’s Principals
From the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Weekly UPDATE | http://bit.ly/xPRfSQ Week of January 16, 2012 :: On January 10, 2012, Board President Mónica García and Board Member Nuri Martinez presented a resolution to the Board of Education for initial announcement. Neither one responded to AALA's request for clarification. AALA President Dr. Judith Perez sent the following letter to
NO CHILD LEFT UNTABULATED
“What does not emerge is a clear philosophy of education. “Nor is it likely to emerge, because governing is general+statistical, and education is personal+individual.” smf: credit for clear thinking when+where credit is due. World Magazine is a Christian publication – and those words of truth should be printed in red like in a family bible! Written by Janie B. Cheaney | World Magazine
LAUSD WITHOUT BORDERS: What if the District erased attendance boundaries? + smf’s 2¢
A district without boundaries might be impractical. But such big-sky ideas are worth discussing. Los Angeles Times Editorial | http://lat.ms/xpx0yn Los Angeles Unified school board President Monica Garcia, center, is seen on June 23, 2009 along with the Board of Education. (Los Angeles Times) January 16, 2012 :: All too often, a child's ZIP Code is his destiny. In Los Angeles, it is
TRANSITIONAL KINDERGARTEN FACING THE AX UNDER BROWN’S PROPOSAL
Thandisizwe Chimurenga, New America Media News Report | http://bit.ly/z1gQci Jan 16, 2012 :: Traditionally, the New Year brings resolutions to accomplish a variety of tasks, but due to California’s budget woes, this new year starts with bad news in the early childhood education realm. A new pre-kindergarten program supposed to take off this coming November is in danger of being gutted
GRAPHIC: if a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a picture book in an elementary school library worth?
●●smf: I found this image on my computer. A internet search shows it’s from an UCLA/IDEA article. Wherever it’s from it does no good cluttering up my hard drive. UCLA IDEA has analyzed data recently released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for the 2009-10 school year covering all states and Washington, D.C.1 Accordingly, California ranks: • 49th in students per
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE HUMAN IMPACT OF THE CURRENT RECESSION, ASK AMERICA’S TEACHERS
by Mark Naison, With A Brooklyn Accent (blog) http://bit.ly/zEC124 reblogged by LA Progressive and others January 12, 2012 - 11:59 AM :: One of the things I’ve discovered in recent years is that when it comes to education policy, the last people asked for input are America’s teachers. We have a President who holds an” education summit” that includes the nation’s top business leaders and
BROWN BUDGET PLAN WOULD RAISE THE BAR FOR CAL GRANT FINANCIAL AID: Part of Gov. Jerry Brown's plan would raise the minimum GPA needed to qualify for the two types of Cal Grants, which are merit- and income-based. The aid is key for many low- and middle-income students.
By Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/zXp14M Edgar Flores-Villalobos, a senior at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, fills out a form for college financial aid. He would like to attend Cal State L.A. and study criminal justice (Anne Cusack, Los Angeles Times / January 13, 2012) January 15, 2012 :: Were it not for the financial aid that helps cover the cost of his tuition,
CALIFORNIA LEADS NATION IN UNACCEDITED SCHOOLS, AND ENFORCEMENT IS LAX
A nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization providing local coverage of the San Francisco Bay Area for The New York Times. By JENNIFER GOLLAN | tHE nEW yORK tIMES/bAY cITIZEN | http://nyti.ms/zE2lTv January 14, 2012 :: Dibyendu Malakar needed a graduate business degree to advance his career, but he was working full time and could not afford $100,000 or more for a two-year M.B.A. program at