CALIFORNIA MAY TRY FOR PERSONALIZED NCLB WAIVER: State Board to consider seeking relief from parts of law
By Kathryn Baron | TOP-Ed | http://bit.ly/JT2C8P 5/04/12 :: The State Board of Education will once again consider applying for a waiver from some of the more untenable requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, only this time the request is personal. Instead of applying for the waiver package that Education Secretary Arne Duncan has offered to states, which requires a substantial quid pro
Preschool and School Readiness: EXPERIENCES OF CHILDREN WITH NON-ENGLISH-SPEAKING PARENTS
Jill S. Cannon, Alison Jacknowitz, and Lynn A. Karoly. Public Policy Institute of CA | http://bit.ly/LbQtzZ May 2012 :: How can preschool help children become better prepared for kindergarten? This report examines the relationship of childcare experiences and kindergarten academic skills of four-year-old children. It finds that children attending center-based care significantly improve
CHARTERS: MODELS OR OBSTACLES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION + CHARTER SCHOOLS: HOW MANY BUCKS FOR THE DESIRED BANG? + Report
CHARTERS AS MODELS AND OBSTACLES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION Themes in the News by UCLA IDEA/Week of April 30-May 4, 2012 | http://bit.ly/JkQxtb 05-04-2012 :: Twenty years ago charter schools were created to introduce innovation in teaching methods, in staffing, in school funding and in school organization in order to improve students’ learning. It was hoped that, by operating outside the
Where were we …before we we so rudely interrupted? BACK TO THE FUTURE + GETTING DOWN TO FACTS
Looking to pivotal 2007 Stanford study for ed reform answers By Tom Chorneau in the School Innovations & Advocacy Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/KlQgv1 Wednesday, May 02, 2012 :: Five years ago, an exhaustive study led by researchers from Stanford University took a hard look at how California governs and funds public education. That led to the creation of a gubernatorial blue-ribbon panel
4 STORIES FROM MIRAMONTE: The KPCC coverage
●● smf notes: These stories should be read in reverse order, from bottom to top. The correct name for the unopened high school is “Augustus F. Hawkins High School”, (not ‘Augusta’) named for the longtime congressman and civil rights leader. By Tami Abdollah | KPCC Pass/Fail | http://bit.ly/w0MlFb – [click on headlines for direct links] Miramonte teacher removed from classroom also
LAUSD HAS DUG UP 500 CASES OF UNREPORTED TEACHER MISCONDUCT SINCE MIRAMONTE SCANDAL
By Simone Wilson, LA Weekly | http://bit.ly/IKsbh0 Thu., May 3 2012 at 3:10 PM :: Back in February, after the world found out what Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt had allegedly been feeding his blindfolded third-graders (hint: his semen), the Los Angeles Unified School District erupted in scandalous accusations against other teachers. KPCC: The creeper that started it all>
LA UNIFIED’S MISCONDUCT PROBE PRODUCES MORE THAN 500 CASES FOR STATE REVIEW
By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/II8X89 Thursday, May 03, 2012 :: Analysis of personnel records over the last three months by Los Angeles Unified has generated more than 500 cases of teacher misconduct referred to state regulators for review. State officials said Wednesday that well over half are likely to require formal investigation and adjudication by the Commission
2 stories: MIRAMONTE TEACHERS BREAK SILENCE
Miramonte Elementary teachers to speak out after months of silence By Tami Abdollah, KPCC Pass/Fail | http://bit.ly/IxcibC Vanessa Romo/KPCC - Students outside Miramonte Elementary School demand their teachers return to the classrooms. L.A. Unified Superintendent John Deasy ordered their relocation to an unopened campus after two teachers, in two separate cases, were arrested for lewd acts
FALTERING IN SPECIAL EDUCATION, LA UNIFIED SEEKS ANSWERS
Joanna Lin/California Watch | http://bit.ly/JW04L0 pixdeluxe/istockphoto.com May 3, 2012 :: After failing for the eighth straight year to meet service delivery targets for special education, Los Angeles Unified School District has begun interviewing staff to understand why records indicate thousands of students with disabilities are not receiving their prescribed services. The effort,
CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS NOT BANKING ON NEW TAXES FROM GOV. JERRY BROWN UPDATED + LAO Report
by Chris Megerian/LA Times PolitiCal: On politics in the Golden State | http://lat.ms/KrGJfy Photo: Legislative analyst Mac Taylor at a news conference last year. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press May 2, 2012 | 11:12 am in Sacramento :: Gov. Jerry Brown hopes his tax plan will keep schools from making deep budget cuts. But most school officials aren’t counting on the revenue being
STATE SUPERINTENDENT CALLS FOR PUBLIC TO REJECT CUTS TO EARLY LEARNING
KTVU.com and wires | http://bit.ly/J00AWY 5:42 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, 2012 — SAN FRANCISCO :: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson spoke at City College of San Francisco Wednesday morning to oppose state budget cuts to child care and early learning programs. Some 62,000 children statewide are at risk of losing access to early childhood programs like CCSF's child care and
Previewing “The May Revise”: BROWN WILL SEEK ‘SERIOUS CUTS’ IN CALIFORNIA BUDGET PLAN
By Michael B. Marois and James Nash, Bloomberg News | http://buswk.co/IWkJdi May 02, 2012 :: California Governor Jerry Brown said he’ll propose “very serious cuts” when he unveils his revised budget in two weeks, after state tax revenue fell $3.1 billion below his projections. The 74-year-old Democrat was already facing a $9.2 billion deficit before the shortfall made it worse.
LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS JOHN DEASY MUST GO
by Joseph K in K-12 News Network | http://bit.ly/ID5nj2 Joseph K. is a 24-year veteran of LAUSD, a former mentor teacher twice named a Johns Hopkins University Teaching Fellow, who now teaches poor, inner-city children who wake up every morning in their gang-ridden, drug-infested neighborhoods at five a.m. to catch the bus by six. He teaches the old-fashioned way – by ignoring standardized
S.O.S.: AN OPEN LETTER TO LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT JOHN DEASY
A parent of two middle school students at Palms Middle School sends an open letter to Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy. By Sara Roos Venice/Mar Vista Patch | http://bit.ly/IYMg0X 11:42 am, May 2, 2012 Dear Dr Deasy: She told us she'd go down with the ship, ... but you've forced her to walk the gang plank. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE??!! Supt. Deasy> You have
A REALLY COOL EVENT
Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/KowiJE May 1, 2012 :: Back when I was writing The Death and Life of the Great American School System, I was looking for a way to characterize Race to the Top. It sounded so familiar to me because its main ideas came direct from the conservative think-tanks from which I had recently resigned. How could I find a way to explain the contradiction: a new
STUDENTS POST SEVERAL HUNDRED IMAGES OF STATE TESTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS
By Tami Abdollah | KPCC Pass/Fail | http://bit.ly/KshjPI Rogers Herr Middle School: Standardized test scantron answer sheet April 27, 2012 :: Students have posted several hundred images of this year's state tests online on social networking sites including Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, California Department of Education officials said today. The California Department
KEEP ADULT ED ALIVE
Budget cuts are threatening adult education and ESL. Even for the sake of boosting the worker tax base, the LAUSD shouldn't turn its back on more than a quarter-million students who value education and attend school of their own volition. LA Times Op-Ed By John McCormick | http://lat.ms/KornZb Delaney Arrazola,3, sits with a sign near her mom, Romina Bonilla, an ESL teacher at Huntington
LAUSD BOARD SET TO TACKLE BIRMINGHAM CHARTER ISSUES, POSSIBLY REVOKING CHARTER
By Barbara Jones, LA Daily News Staff Writer | http://bit.ly/JPFYSK 4/30/2012 10:10:14 PM PDT :: Citing concerns about the handling of admissions, expulsions, finances and claims of racial bias, the Los Angeles Unified board will take the first steps Tuesday to regain control of Birmingham Charter High. District staff have given officials of the Lake Balboa campus until May 23 to remedy the
SAN FERNANDO VALLEY SCHOOLS SEEK CHARTER AFFILIATION WITH LAUSD
By Barbara Jones, LA Daily News Staff Writer | http://bit.ly/InlAFy 4/30/2012 08:28:52 PM PDT :: Two dozen elementary and middle schools in the San Fernando Valley want to become affiliated charters, giving them more flexibility - and, potentially, more money - while remaining part of LAUSD. The flood of applicants includes eight Valley schools slated to lose federal funding because they
L.A. YOUTH: Student newspaper faces funding crunch
L.A. High school students from around L.A. write for their peers in L.A. Youth, a newspaper that tackles weighty subjects important to teens. But its sources of funding have taken a hit. Mike Fricano, one of the adult editors for L.A. Youth, shows students copies of the paper from its 1992 L.A. riots coverage. (Gary Friedman, Los Angeles Times / April 29, 2012) By Rick Rojas, Los Angeles