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Education Headlines
Friday, September 28, 2012
New superintendent wants to make a difference
Pat Kelley admits he's not an exciting guy. There's no heavy metal music on the radio in his car or real housewives of anywhere on his DVR.Coach vulgarity complaint shines light on sports culture
Sixteen-year-old Grant Sims says he's never been one to complain about expletives and vulgar language he hears daily at baseball practice. It's to be expected, he says, including from his coaches at Fullerton Union High School. But at a June baseball game, Sims said, head coach Marc Patino went too far.Marin school district to remove 'heterosexual marriage' policy
The Rev. Lou Sheldon called the Tamalpais Union High School District board to task after learning it plans to remove a policy written 24 years ago by his group, the Traditional Values Coalition. The group's policy, which was adopted in a 1988 state law, requires sex education to emphasize abstinence and teach, among other things, "honor and respect for monogamous heterosexual marriage."Fensterwald: Once castigated, Commission on Teacher Credentialing is praised
Eighteen months ago, State Auditor Elaine Howle called the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing one of the “worst-run” agencies she had investigated in a comment to the Sacramento Bee. On Thursday, returning to the Commission to close the books on her audit, Howle praised the Commission and staff.State reported inflated rate of teachers lacking credentials
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.LAUSD, charters win $98 million in grants to boost teacher, administrator pay
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.Fensterwald: State Board gets authority to pare back 8th grade math standards
Gov. Jerry Brown evidently agrees that California’s math standards should align more closely with the national Common Core standards. On Thursday, he signed SB 1200, which will allow the State Board to weed out the dozens of California state Algebra standards that were inserted two years ago with the adoption of Common Core as part of an ongoing, unresolved debate over what students should learn in eighth grade.Oakland schools to get suspension monitor
Facing a civil rights investigation for disciplining black students more harshly than their white peers, the Oakland school board voted Thursday to accept five years of federal monitoring as the district attempts to address the problem.Thursday, September 27, 2012