Monday, April 26, 2010

Officials consider 'impacted' designation for Sac State - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Officials consider 'impacted' designation for Sac State

by lrosenhall@sacbee.com (Laurel Rosenhall)

Sacramento State officials are considering whether to declare the campus "impacted," an action that would make it harder for students outside the region to get in.
An impacted California State University campus is one where more qualified students want to enroll than the university has funding to accommodate. The designation allows campus officials to control enrollment more tightly than is normally allowed. They do that by giving priority to local students and asking students from other regions to meet higher admissions criteria.
At Sac State, applications for next year are up, but state budget cuts mean the university must cut student enrollment. Administrators, faculty and students have been meeting to discuss whether the campus should officially become "impacted." Campus officials will send a recommendation to university President Alexander Gonzalez later this week. Gonzalez will then decide whether to ask the statewide chancellor's office to approve the designation.
If approved, Sac State would be considered impacted for the 2011-12 school year.
If the university becomes impacted, first priority for admission will go to high school students from Sacramento,

Schools Matter: Does access to books mitigate the effects of poverty on reading achievement?

Does access to books mitigate the effects of poverty on reading achievement?

by skrashen

Does access to books mitigate the effects of poverty on reading achievement? A third study.

Schubert, F. and Becker, R. 2010. Social inequality of reading literacy:
A longitudinal analysis with cross-sectional data of PIRLS 2001and PISA 2000 utilizing the pair wise matching procedure. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 29:109-133.

Schubert and Becker (2010) matched nearly 3000 children in Germany with similar backgrounds and examined their performance on the 2001 PIRLS test (given at age 9 or 10), the 2000 PISA test (given age 15) and on their parents' estimation of their literacy level before starting school.

The home print environment was a strong predictor of reading achievement, even when income, parental

US DOE Office of Inspector General: Charter School Fraud and Embezzlement Update

School For Sale!

by Kenneth Libby

Now that a major news outlet has finally paid attention to the business practices of Dennis Bakke and his management company (with a well-deserved round of applause for Stephanie Strom), reporters and school districts may begin to more carefully scrutinize the company's dealings.

Virginia Demands More Failure from Disabled: Cancels Portfolio Assessments

by Jim Horn

From WaPo:

Virginia education leaders moved this week to introduce a standardized test for students with disabilities and phase out a widely used alternative that many officials say is undermining the state's accountability system.

Bakers make bread. Teachers transmit knowledge. � The Quick and the Ed

Bakers make bread. Teachers transmit knowledge.

by Forrest Hinton

No field suffers from never-ending debate on timeless questions like the education profession.
One of the field’s age-old favorites is: What is a good teacher? Each time the question is raised, the debaters travel back to the B.C. era, take their positions on the dusty streets of Athens, and eloquently argue their visions and ideals. In Socratic fashion, the debate usually ends with everyone “agreeing to disagree” or finding themselves totally bewildered by the complexity of the topic. The outcome of this repetitive exercise almost always leads to the conclusion that goodness in teaching is either arbitrarily defined or unknown.
When UNESCO asked 500 students “What Makes a Good Teacher?” back in 1996, they received answers from around the world that ranged from smiling at pupils to being patient to starting and ending lessons on time. When Stanford education researcher Linda Darling-Hammond drafted a 1999 paper on teacher quality, she reviewed research findings on hypothesized “good” teacher qualities like subject-area knowledge, general

The Educated Guess Parents can strike, too

The Educated Guess

Parents can strike, too

Posted in Uncategorized

Teachers in Oakland and Capistrano aren’t the only ones who can strike. Two weeks ago, most parents at a largely Hispanic elementary school kept this children home to protest the district’s failure to respond to repeated complaints about a 20-year veteran teacher.
Oakland Tribune writer and blogger Katy Murphy reported that only 20 percent of 300 students showed up on April 16 at Lazear Elementary School, where, according to a school trustee, the teacher in question had transferred to the school last fall without the principal’s permission.
(Read more and comment on this post)

By John Fensterwald on April 26th, 2010

Capistrano strike enters 2nd week

Posted in Revenue and taxes, State Budget, pay

All eyes are on Capistrano Unified, the state’s eighth largest school district, as its teachers’ strike enters into a second week today. Negotiators reported progressover the weekend but not enough to forestall a third day of picket lines.
The Orange County Register reported that teachers and school boards have reached an impasse at 100 districts in California, but Captistrano Unified, with 52,000 students, is the only one so far facing a strike. That could change Thursday, when teachers in Oakland Unified go on a one-day strike over the no-raise contract that the school board imposed after two years of negotiations. (A fact-finder recommended a 2 percent raise in 2012, but the new superintendent, Tony Smith, indicated that the district, still repaying the state for a bailout earlier in the decade, can’t afford even that.)

KIPP Teachers Move to Decertify Union | Intercepts

KIPP Teachers Move to Decertify Union

by Mike Antonucci

Click here to read:
1) KIPP Teachers Move to Decertify Union
2) Virginia Education Association Has a Curious Cure for Malaise
3) Last Week’s Intercepts
4) Quote of the Week

THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | The Dallas Morning News

How Memphis engages parents
	2:48 PM Mon, Apr 26, 2010 \| Permalink \| Yahoo! Buzz William McKenzie/Editorial Columnist Bio \| E-mail \| News tips

As part of this newspaper's effort to engage more parents in their children's academic life, I talked to Memphis's school superintendent last week. Memphis got my attention because the district is hosting "parent demand" meetings across the city.

They are called "demand" seminars because Superintendent Kriner Cash said he had not heard enough from parents about the "demand side" of the equation. Specifically, he wasn't hearing enough demand for high-quality schools. As he told me over the phone, money has poured into schools over the last two decades to help "the supply" part of schooling, but the demand side needs more attention.

He says that he makes these points at every "parent demand" meeting:

1. You make sure your child shows up for school and on time.
2. You make sure your child's homework is done and he or she is dressed properly.
3. You teach your child to respect people.

If you do that, he tells parents, I will personally intervene for you at your school.

At that point, he says, there's a chance to have a dialogue with parents about such things as "demanding" more AP courses. I particularly loved this line: "If you can come retrieve your cell phone when you left it at school, you can be there to demand more rigor."

Memphis has about 250 parents attending each meeting, Cash reports. And someone from the district takes the names of attendees, puts them on a mailing list and gets them on committees. Broadly speaking, the district keeps after them to remain engaged with their children's academics.

Before any one assumes I'm suggesting Dallas does nothing along these lines, let me be clear: Dallas is pursuing some good ideas vis-à-vis parenting. That

EdSource | Forum Report: California at a Crossroads: Crisis and Opportunity

Forum Report: California at a Crossroads: Crisis and Opportunity

April 2010

6 pages

Free download

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In the spring of 2010, public schools and community colleges faced obstacles as well as opportunities.

Speakers at EdSource's 33rd Annual Forum on California Education—California at a Crossroads: Crisis & Opportunity—discussed both.

Highlights:

A hard look at the state's fiscal crisis by Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, which includes a provocative discussion of Proposition 98, the minimum funding guarantee for schools and community colleges
A moderated Q&A session on K–12 funding and policy issues, featuring two candidates for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Larry Aceves and Tom Torlakson
A discussion of the role of community colleges and how that role could be enhanced in the future, featuring California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott and Hal Plotkin, a senior policy adviser in the U.S. Department of

Duncan on Race to Top: Bold Reform More Crucial Than Buy-In - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Duncan on Race to Top: Bold Reform More Crucial Than Buy-In

by Michele McNeil

After staying out of the Race to the Top round-two fray for weeks, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is finally starting to take the gloves off and wade into the middle of a big debate over just how important "buy-in" is in a state's application.
Today, in a routine conference call with the business community (he does this sort of outreach regularly), he declared: "At the end of the day we're going to [fund] the strongest proposals whether they have tremendous buy-in or not." (The department invited me to listen in on the call, which was to encourage business leaders to support states' Race to the Top efforts.)
Although broad collaboration and buy-in should remain a goal, he said, if a state's proposal is "more consensus but watered-down reform, that's not going to be a winning application."
The growing tension between states and unions over being bold, yet getting "buy-in," is illustrated in this EdWeek story from Friday.
And, it was mentioned in today's Wall Street Journal, where Duncan said "watered-down proposals with lots of consensus won't win." (For the record, the Education Department has declined EdWeek's requests for an interview with the secretary on this topic of "buy-in".)
The June 1 application deadline for the second round of Race to the Top is about six weeks away, and states are

Oakland school district: New downsizing details | The Education Report

Oakland school district: New downsizing details

By Katy Murphy
Monday, April 26th, 2010 at 1:35 pm in OUSD central office, budget.

The payroll of Oakland Unified, one of the city’s largest employers, is about to shrink. The school system would have about 460 fewer full-time positions — about 9 percent of the current workforce — come July 1, under the CFO’s latest proposal to address the district’s massive projected deficit. It will be discussed at Wednesday night’s 5 p.m. school board meeting.

Jobs of just about every shape and size would thin out under the plan: teachers, assistant principals, security officers, high-level district “executive staff,” gardeners, painters, clerks, support coaches for new teachers, adult education and child development teachers — you name it. The central office would eliminate 105 positions, about 17 percent of its staff. And 114 K-12 teaching positions would be reduced, about 6 percent.

Hopefully the new security camera system works as promised (and rolls out quickly), as middle schools, with one exception, would have just one school security officer on staff, and elementary schools won’t have any. High schools would each have five. (Page 13)

Cuts to the facilities staff would mean a response time of up to three days for emergency calls, instead of 24 hours, and up to two weeks to fix, if not longer, for non-emergencies. (Pages 20-21)

Some of the NExOs (Network Executive Officers) — apparently to be renamed

This Week In Education Thompson: The Washington Teachers Union Contract

This Week In Education

Thompson: The Washington Teachers Union Contract

by john thompson

What do you get when you combine the District of Columbia's IMPACT evaluation system with the side letter of the proposed contract negotiated by the WTU? If implemented in good faith, you could get the Delaware RttT's teacher evaluation system. Since teacher evaluation is not negotiable in D.C., the union made the best of the situation by winning an independent evaluation and internal review of the problems with the district's system. And it did so without giving up tenure. The WTU maintained "just cause" as the standard for disciplining permanent employees. The union even got Michelle Rhee to agree to the unusual provision that the standard for removing probationary teachers must be "not arbitrary and capricious." (Typically, those teachers are "at will" employees.) We should also remember that the

Education Research Report: Strategic recommendations for improving access to quality early education

Strategic recommendations for improving access to quality early education

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

Ω

After 18 months of study, the Early Education Commission (EEC) has issued strategic recommendations for improving access to quality early education for children ages zero to five across metro Atlanta, and ultimately the state.

The recommendations lay out a multi-year plan for assuring consistently high-quality early learning – with Georgia ultimately becoming a national leader in ensuring that children enter kindergarten ready to learn and on a path to "read to learn" by third grade. "Read to learn" refers to a reading skill level necessary for a third-grader to learn at an age-appropriate pace and become a successful student.

86 percent of disadvantaged preschoolers lack basic motor skills

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

Disadvantaged urban preschoolers aren't only at risk for failure in the classroom – they are likely to struggle on playgrounds and athletic fields as well, research suggests.

A new study found that more than eight out of every ten disadvantaged preschoolers from two urban areas showed significant developmental delays in basic motor skills such as running, jumping, throwing, and catching.

That means that they are at risk of giving up on physical activities and becoming obese teenagers and adults, said Jackie Goodway, lead author of the study and associate professor of physical activity and educational

North Penn teachers ordered back to class | 6abc.com - 4/26/10 - Philadelphia News - 6abc.com

April 26, 2010 (WPVI) -- A judge has ordered teachers in the North Penn School District off the picket lines and back into the classroom by tomorrow morning.

Oakland Teachers Plan 1-Day Strike Over Contract - cbs5.com

Oakland Teachers Plan 1-Day Strike Over Contract

OAKLAND (CBS 5 / KCBS) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: An Oakland clasroom.
CBS

Striking teachers prepare for rally | teachers, school, students - News - The Orange County Register

Striking union calls trustees 'inconsistent'

By FERMIN LEAL and SCOTT MARTINDALE

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

COMMENTS 257 | RECOMMEND 6 | PRINT | EMAIL | SHARE

Capistrano Unified’s teachers union on Monday accused the school board of being “a roadblock to agreement” in a five-day-old strike standoff, a charge district trustees vehemently deny but which could explain why more than 23 hours of negotiations have yielded no settlement.

In a statement released Monday, union leaders criticized the district for its “shifting parameters and lack of consistent direction from the board” to explain why hundreds of teachers are walking the picket lines for a third day.

Teachers, students and parents march around the outside of district headquarters Monday during the third day of the Capistrano Unified teachers strike.

MIGUEL VASCONCELLOS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

MORE PHOTOS »

Capo teachers strike: An overview

Capo strike Q&A: What parents should know

Database: Capistrano teacher salaries

Database: O.C. teacher salary comparison

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“We are submitting a thorough and responsible proposal this morning,” Capistrano Unified Education Association Bargaining Chairwoman Sally White said in the statement. “Our team has gone as far as we can and now it’s up to at least four board members to do the right thing for students, teachers, and this community and end this strike.”

School board President Anna Bryson denied that trustees had been in any way inconsistent in their direction to the district’s negotiating team, stressing that talks were continuing and an agreement would be reached eventually.

“When we passed our resolution (to impose a 10.1 percent pay cut on teachers), we were consistent, and we continue to be consistent,” Bryson said. “In conversations, people can come to a point of agreement, and I feel certain that as we talk, there will be a moment when people will be comfortable with a point of resolution.”

District and union bargaining teams were meeting Monday for the fifth consecutive day – more than 23 hours of negotiations in all – even as teachers returned for their third day of picketing.

Capistrano's teachers union says the district – Orange County's second largest, with 2,200 teachers – has failed to make a "clear, unambiguous offer" to settle some final terms of a 10.1 percent pay cut imposed on teachers last month.

Capistrano's teachers union isn't fighting the imposed pay cut itself, but is demanding that it have an automatic expiration date and that it be restored if the district receives additional, "unforeseen" funding over the next 15 months, among other demands.

The school district has offered to discuss the demands, but argued it couldn't legally agree to them up front.

CITY MARCH

As the talks continued behind closed doors Monday, an estimated 500 Capistrano Unified teachers and supporters gathered at San Clemente’s North Beach for a march from the beach through town.

The line of marchers stretched nearly 10 blocks as they walked more than three miles toward downtown San Clemente along El Camino Real. Most of the marchers came from San Clemente’s schools. Marchers

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