Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, September 29, 2012

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 9-29-12



4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit

DR. BRUCE HARRIS, NEW COMMUNITY COLLEGES CHANCELLOR, HAS STRONG SUPPORT, TOUGH JOB

Kathryn Baron | EDSOURCE Today | http://bit.ly/Ss7Xq5 September 28th, 2012  :: The California Community Colleges Board of Governors unanimously named Dr. Brice Harris*, a longtime community college leader, as the 15th chancellor of the statewide higher education system. Just hours later he received an unexpected gift from Gov. Jerry Brown, who signed SB 1456, the Student Success Act of 2012,

STATE REPORTED INFLATED RATE OF TEACHERS LACKING CREDENTIALS: When the benchmark is bad, all the data is bad

Joanna Lin | CaliforniaWatch | http://bit.ly/S6alc5 U.S. Census Bureau >> September 28, 2012  ::  The rate was startling: Nearly six in 10 teachers at California's lowest-performing schools were not properly credentialed for the classes they led. It's a rate California has worked to shrink for the past six years. It's also a rate that was wrong. The percentage of teachers and other

“Won’t Back Down”: IT’S JUST A MOVIE …AND NOT A VERY GOOD ONE AT THAT! (3 stories)

As school reform, 'Won't Back Down' doesn't measure up: Instead of humanizing the education debate and bringing clarity and nuance to it, the movie is more likely to add to the ill-informed rancor surrounding the issue. Opinion by Karin Klein,  L.A. Times Editorialist | http://lat.ms/Pw8F6T Maggie Gyllenhaal, right, and Viola Davis in a scene from "Won't Back Down." (Kerry Hayes / 20th

U.S. GRANT (The 17th President?) FUNDS $20,000 TEACHER BONUSES AT 'HIGH-NEED' L.A. SCHOOLS

By Tami Abdollah - Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC | http://bit.ly/QlNHa Tami Abdollah/KPCC 28 Sept 2012, 4:12 PM  ::  LAUSD plans to give $20,000 bonuses to up to 80 "effective" science, technology, math, engineering and special ed teachers who agree to teach at 40 high-need schools under a new federal grant. Los Angeles Unified Schools Superintendent John Deasy said that a $49 million federal

L.A. UNIFIED AND CHARTER GROUPS WIN FEDERAL TEACHER EVALUATION GRANTS

by Howard Blume | LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/SI5Iot September 28, 2012 |  7:00 am  ::  The Los Angeles Unified School District and three local charter-school groups have won federal grants to develop their teacher and principal evaluation systems, the U.S. Department of Education has announced. L.A. Unified, California’s largest school system, will receive $16 million, one of the largest

LAUSD, CHARTERS WIN $98 MILLION IN FEDERAL GRANTS TO BOOST TEACHER, ADMINISTRATOR (PERFORMANCE BASED) PAY

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer | LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/QtrWJb 9/27/2012 03:17:17 PM PDT  ::  Los Angeles Unified and three local charter school networks were among 35 recipients of $290 million in federal grants awarded to boost the pay of effective teachers and administrators, officials said today. The nation's second-largest school district received a five-year, $49.2 million award

GOV. BROWN SIGNS LAW LIMITING ROLE OF STUDENT TESTS IN API SCORES – Signs 19 Ed ills, Vetoes 5

SB 1458 broadens how the Academic Performance Index will be calculated. Test results will now account for just 60% of a high school's API score. By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/SEpelP September 27, 2012, 12:56 a.m.  ::  California's key measure of public school quality will be redefined to lessen the impact of standardized test scores under a bill signed into law Wednesday

WHAT CALIFORNIA’S SCHOOLS CAN LEARN FROM CHICAGO’S

By Steven Greenhut , Bloomberg News | http://bloom.bg/QjSitn Sep 27, 2012 3:40 PM PT  :: It is hard for education reformers to be too optimistic about the post-strike prospects for Chicago schools. The resulting contract significantly boosts teacher pay in exchange for some modest changes such as a lengthened school day and improved teacher testing. As school officials figure out how to pay

PTA SUES FOR-PROFIT RIVAL PTO TODAY

By MICHAEL TARM – Associated Press from The Huffington Post | http://huff.to/Os0j4b 09/26/12 07:21 PM ET EDT CHICAGO — The nonprofit PTA sued a for-profit rival on Wednesday, accusing it of denigrating the established group in a bid to siphon off members – a dispute that highlights underlying tensions as parents consider changes in how they interact with their children's schools. The National

VALLEY PTA RALLY AT BEEMAN PARK FOR PROP 38 THIS AFTERNOON

Local activists were instrumental in collecting petitions and signatures to get the measure on the ballot. By City News Service and Mike Szymanski from Studio City Patch | http://bit.ly/Scwikq 27 Sept 2012 - 5:51 am  ::  San Fernando Valley PTA members and parents will hold a rally Thursday at Beeman Park in Studio City in support of Proposition 38, the income tax increase on the November

Congress, rushing to recess: ‘TEACH FOR AMERICA’ TEACHERS ARE “HIGHLY QUALIFIED” …with five weeks of training

Congress Approves Stopgap Spending Bill; Deems Alternative-Route Teachers "Highly Qualified" ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) cAPITOL cONNECTION | http://bit.ly/QFJ0sj 26 September 2012  ::  Before leaving Washington, D.C., both the House and Senate approved a six-month stopgap spending package that will temporarily fund the government through March 2013. The

Video: 8:34 WITH DR. D - TIME TO GET SCHOOLED: 5 A+ Moments From My Conversation With LAUSD’S John Deasy

Posted By: Mary Melton to Los Angeles Magazine’s CityThink blog · http://bit.ly/NQAVna ●● Mary Melton is the Editor in Chief of Los Angeles Magazine. Her husband Ed Leibowitz is the author of LA Mag’s profile of Superintendent Deasy in the September issue. 9/25/2012 2:35:00 PM  ::  Public schools are at a critical point all over the country, and L.A. is no exception. We have

The Los Angeles Magazine profile of John Deasy: THE TAKEOVER ARTIST + more

By Ed Leibowitz, Los Angeles Magazine | http://bit.ly/VwTJZj Photograph by Mathieu Young 9/1/2012 The way L.A. schools superintendent John Deasy sees it, he could make 100 percent of his high school graduates ready for a four-year college, rid the beleaguered district of lousy teachers, and rescue the most disadvantaged students from a life

SCHWARZENEGGER WOULD RATHER INVEST IN PRIVATE EDUCATION

Opinion by Francesca Bessey, Columnist | Neon Tommy - the online publication of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism    | http://bit.ly/PjF5RY September 24, 2012 | 2:17 a.m. PDT  ::  The former governor of California is wining and dining with a private university’s elite while the public education system that he let sink struggles not to drown entirely. Schwarzenegger just

A YouTube Moment: THE FIRST YES ON PROP 38 TELEVISION COMMERCIAL …or go viral yourself!

from California State PTA Why wait to see it in TV?  Embed it it on your smart phone; insert it between your YouTube cat videos! …Or better yet, make your own! Take part in the Yes on 38 video contest! By taking time to make one short video, you can help speak up for an entire generation of students. Will you do it? Please grab that mobile device or camcorder and film someone you love

Save the Date: LAUSD DISTRICT 2 CANDIDATE FORUM - Wednesday Oct 17th - 6pm

…and list me as confirmed! from the District 2 Neighborhood Coalition | http://on.fb.me/SgvZ7r

Fading dreams: CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES STAGGERING DURING HARD TIMES

Demand is up but funding is down for California's community colleges. Many students are shut out of needed classes, making it harder to get their degrees or transfer By Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/UvEOAO Every desk is taken in professor Jeanne Neil's Accounting 101 classroom at Orange Coast Community College in Costa Mesa. She said dozens more students were left on the

CHICAGO SCHOOLS: DEMOCRACY DENIED \ LAS ESCUELAS DE CHICAGO: UNA DEMOCRACIA DENEGADA

By William H. Watkins Ph.D. | Trubuno del Pueblo (Chicago) | http://bit.ly/UrXlOv September | October 2012 :: Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is a vast network of pre-school, elementary, secondary, military, charter and disability schools. 92% of its students are of color. Beyond education, it feeds, nurses and counsels children. It is the second largest employer in Chicago. It is the third largest

ARE WE ASKING TOO MUCH FROM OUR TEACHERS?

Op-Ed in the New York Times By Alex Kotlowitz | http://nyti.ms/UG2Sj1 An entrance to the George Manierre Elementary School on the Near North Side in Chicago. Daniel Borris for The New York Times September 16, 2012 :: THE CHICAGO TEACHERS’ STRIKE, which appears to be winding down, may be seminal, but for reasons that are not necessarily apparent. It came as a surprise. In July, the city had

3 LAUSD EDUCATORS AMONG LOS ANGELES COUNTY TEACHERS OF THE YEAR: Top School Teachers Selected for 2012-13

SOURCE Los Angeles County Office of Education | http://prn.to/RMb6RY UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., Sept. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 16 Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year were announced here today at a ceremony celebrating excellence in teaching. The 16 were selected from a field of 71 teachers who participated in the 31st Annual Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year competition.

Two true stories: HOW PARENTS AND TEACHERS SAVED THEIR SCHOOLS

Diane Ravitch’s blog | http://bit.ly/SbKUQm September 22, 2012 Diane Ravitch asks: Will Hollywood make this movie? It is not “based on a true story.” It is a true story. It is a story of parents and teachers in Red Hook, Brooklyn, who joined together to fight off the invasion of a billionaire-owned charter school. It is an inspiring story. The powerless against the powerful. The people