Report on the Effect of the Common Core State Standards on the Model School Library Standards for (CA Dept of Education)

April 2011 Information Memoranda - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)

April 2011 Information Memoranda

Background information and updates on issues of interest to the State Board Members.

Periodically, the State Board Members may receive information memoranda from State Board staff and the California Department of Education. The information memoranda may include background information, updates on issues of interest to the State Board Members, and reports on a variety of educational topics.

• California High School Exit Examination: Results for the 2009-10 Local Waiver Data Collection
  (DOC; 70KB; 7pp.)
• Elementary and Secondary Education Act: Corrective Action Plan Submitted by the State Trustee for the Alisal Union Elementary School District to the State Board of Education (DOC; 184KB; 28pp.)
• Elementary and Secondary Education Act: Corrective Action Plan Submitted by the State Trustee for the Greenfield Union Elementary School District to the State Board of Education (DOC; 185KB; 27pp.)
• Status Report on California’s National Board Certified Teachers (DOC; 50KB; 3pp.)
• Summer and Saturday Meal Waivers (DOC; 56KB; 7pp.)
  • CDE Summer Meal Waiver Process Flow Chart (DOC; 47KB; 1p.)
  • California Education Code Sections 49548 and 49550 (DOC; 32KB; 2pp.)
• Report on the Effect of the Common Core State Standards on the Model School Library Standards for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (DOC; 69KB; 5pp.)
• Annual Report Regarding Progress Toward Reaching Annual Numerical Goals in the Elimination of the Multi-track Year Round Education Concept 6 Calendar by the Los Angeles Unified School District Pursuant to California Education Code Section 37684, Chapter 901, Statutes of 2004 (Assembly Bill 1550)
  (DOC; 49KB; 3pp.)

Alexander Russo’s New Book | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Alexander Russo’s New Book | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Alexander Russo’s New Book

by Larry Ferlazzo

Alexander Russo’s one of my favorite education bloggers. He’s just published a book titled Stray Dogs, Saints, and Saviors: Fighting for the Soul of America’s Toughest High School. It tells the story of Green Dot Charter Schools taking over Locke High School in Los Angeles.

As readers know, I’m not a fan of charters. However, I am a fan of Alexander’s, and am obviously interested in the struggles of inner-city high schools since I teach at one. So I’ll certainly be reading it.

You can read a review Jay Mathews at The Washington Post wrote about the book today, and you hearAlexander being interviewed about the book here.

Ken says, “All my friends get to do it.” « Fred Klonsky's blog

Ken says, “All my friends get to do it.” « Fred Klonsky's blog

Ken says, “All my friends get to do it.”

by Fred Klonsky

My friend and colleague Jerry Mulvihill was so appalled at the sellout Swanson deal that he penned an email (I know. You don’t really “pen” and email) to the IEA President asking him to resign.

Swanson’s answer below demonstrates two things.

First of all, the part about IFT President Dan Montgomery and CTU President Karen Lewis was printed in an 84 point font. Big!

And the answer reminds me of the days when I told my young kids that they couldn’t do something. Their answer was, “Well my friends get to do it!!!”

Okay. Everybody knows the answer to that one: “If your friends get to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, should I let

Not Playing Chicken - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post

Not Playing Chicken - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post

Looking Ahead

Not Playing Chicken

The past month we have watched our elected leadership playing chicken - a staring contest that isn’t about what is best but about calling each other’s bluff - because if one side can make the other blink then they can claim they win, even if little is actually accomplished. What did I watch Sunday morning? Politicians on both sides of the aisle claiming victory because the shutdown crisis they manufactured was averted. They all live to play another day.

This is not an isolated example. Playing chicken is occurring across our public life....Football players versus Owners....Wall Street versus Regulators....Unions versus Governors....Barry Bonds versus Congress....Charlie Sheen versus CBS.

Bill de Blasio: An Open Letter on Behalf of Public School Parents to Chancellor Dennis Walcott

Bill de Blasio: An Open Letter on Behalf of Public School Parents to Chancellor Dennis Walcott

Bill de Blasio: An Open Letter on Behalf of Public School Parents to Chancellor Dennis Walcott

by Bill de Blasio

To Chancellor Walcott:

For the past nine years our schools have been run by a top-down bureaucracy that too often alienates public school parents. To your great credit, you have said that you want to engage parents and communities more than in the past. But you have also said that you plan to stay the course on the Bloomberg administration's education policies and practices. I believe you have the background and experience to finally bring parents into our school system, but I know you will not be able to do it by maintaining the status quo.

I am a public school parent and I have talked with parents all over our city who are tired of the Department of Education treating them like problems instead of partners. They are looking for a chancellor who has the independence to bring real change to our school system. To accomplish this goal, I believe you must immediately take on three pressing issues facing our schools today: reforming the DOE's closed off, bureaucratic process for closing and co-locating schools; fully supporting the parents of students with

LDF Joins Civil Rights Coalition in Issuing ESEA Accountability Principles | The Defenders Online | A Civil Rights Blog

LDF Joins Civil Rights Coalition in Issuing ESEA Accountability Principles | The Defenders Online | A Civil Rights Blog

LDF Joins Civil Rights Coalition in Issuing ESEA Accountability Principles

Posted By The Editors | April 12th, 2011 | Category: Education | No Comments » Print This Post

Last week, LDF joined more than a dozen civil rights organizations in authoring a letter (PDF) urging Congress to incorporate key accountability provisions as it reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act(ESEA). The letter offers a number of recommendations to ensure that principles of educational equity won in Brown v. The Board of Education are fulfilled in the ESEA reauthorization. Specifically, the coalition supports the introduction of measures to set high academic standards; improve student achievement and graduation rates; close gaps between student subgroups along race, class, disability and other lines; improve school climate; reduce barriers to educational opportunity; and provide schools with equitable and adequate resources.

For decades, LDF has been a leader in efforts to monitor the federal role in ensuring equal access to quality education. In 1969, just four years after the

Doggett Amendment on Federal Education Money Repealed | The Transformation Times

Doggett Amendment on Federal Education Money Repealed | The Transformation Times

Doggett Amendment on Federal Education Money Repealed

by Harvin Moore

Is this the part of the show where the kids say "Swiper no swiping!"?

Two years ago, $3.8 billion in federal education stimulus money was used by the Texas State Legislature to supplant planned education funding, freeing up $3.8 billion for use elsewhere in the Texas budget, eliminating the need to utilize Texas huge self-replenishing Rainy Day Fund, and creating a permanent and growing hole in education funding that will recur every biennium until school finance in Texas is actually fixed (for a good overview, see my March 16 editorial).

So when the federal government created a $10 billion education spending bill last summer, Texas Congressman

Education Roundup for 4-15-11 - Year 2011 (CA Dept of Education)

Education Roundup for 4-15-11 - Year 2011 (CA Dept of Education)

Education Roundup for the Week Ending April 15, 2011

SACRAMENTO—The California Department of Education (CDE) today issues this week's Education Roundup featuring education-related announcements of public interest.

GOAL Awards

Two education organizations will be presented with the 2011 Grazer Outstanding Achievement in Learning (GOAL) Award on May 27 during the Advisory Commission on Special Education meeting at CDE. Three other organizations also will be recognized for exemplary practices in special education:

The winners, selected among 24 entries, are: Transition Resources for Adult community Education (TRACE) of the San Diego Unified School District, and The Rocket Shop Café, a student-run business at the California School for the Blind at Fremont.

The three receiving special recognition are: Walton Special Center in Stockton; Vallejo Transition of the Vallejo City Unified School District; and LAUNCH Preschool in the Torrance Unified School District.

The Advisory Commission created the GOAL Award in 2005-06. GOAL is named after Hollywood producer Brian Grazer. He donated $100,000 over a 10-year period toward programs designed to recognize exemplary practices in special education and to celebrate programs that serve California youth with disabilities and the professionals who provide these services. Awardees are typically given a $5,000 check to invest back into their programs. For more information, please visit Advisory Commission on Special Education (ACSE) - Administration & Support.

2009-10 Data Posted on Ed Data

The Education Data Partnership has updated its Web site with financial reports on K-12 school districts and county offices of education, as well as statewide revenues and expenditures for 2009-10, the latest data available.

Reports on the Ed-Data Web site help explain California’s complicated education funding system. The Web site also offers insight into how budget cuts in 2009-10 affected revenues per pupil statewide in each district and what expenditure adjustments districts have made in response. Users may compare revenues, expenditures, student and staff data, and academic performance between districts.

The Ed Data Partnership is a collaboration of the California Department of Education, EdSource, and the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team. To access the Ed-Data Web site, please visit Education Data Partnership Home Page (Outside Source).

# # # #

---

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

US Uncut & Yes Lab on CNN: Explaining the 4/13 GE Tax Hoax

On the morning of Wednesday, April 13, 2011, a group of cyber-activists from US Uncut working in collaboration with the Yes Lab sent out the following press release (http://yeslab.org/archive/pr-gerelease.html):

GE Responds to Public Outcry - Will Donate Entire $3.2 Billion Tax Refund to Help Offset Cuts and Save American Jobs

Fairfield, CT, 13th April, 2011 - GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt has informed the Obama administration that the company will be gifting its entire 2010 tax refund, worth $3.2 Billion, to the US Treasury on April 18, Tax Day, and will furthermore adopt a host of new policies that secure its position as a leader in corporate social responsibility.

"We want the public to know that we've heard them, and that we know many Americans are going through tough times," said GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt. "GE will therefore give our 2010 tax refund back to the public and allow the public to decide how to spend it."

Immelt acknowledged no wrongdoing. "All seven of our foreign tax havens are entirely legal," Immelt noted. "But Americans have made it clear that they deplore laws that enable tax avoidance. While we owe it to our shareholders to use every legal loophole to maximize returns - we also owe something to the American people. We didn't write the laws that let us legally avoid paying taxes. Congress did. But we benefit from those laws, and now we'd like to share those benefits. We are proud to be giving something back to America, and we are proud to set an example for all industry to follow."

Over the coming weeks, GE will conduct a nationwide survey to determine how the company's $3.2 billion returned refund is to be allocated. The survey will be conducted both online and offline, and will permit the public to weigh in on which of the recently-enacted budget cuts they would like to see reversed.

In tandem with the gift, the company is also announcing a host of new policies to restore public faith in the GE brand, including a commitment to keep American jobs in America, and to create one U.S. job for each new job created abroad. The ambitious plan will overhaul accounting systems to allow public transparency and phase out the use of tax havens in five years. "Given my recent appointment as President Obama's Chairman of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, it is no longer appropriate for GE to engage in practices that, whether by fact or perception, are at odds with the greater good of the nation," Immelt said.

Immelt outlined several concrete steps he would take to push for modernized tax policies that reflect the realities of the global economy. "I will personally ask President Obama to work with Congress to require country-by-country reporting by multi-national corporations of the sales made, profits earned and taxes paid in every jurisdiction where an entity operates. Instead of moving money via 'transfer pricing,' corporations ought to pay taxes in the jurisdictions where profits are actually made. If Congress is able to establish standard industry-wide solutions, GE will close our tax haven operations abroad, including our subsidiaries in Bermuda, Singapore and Luxembourg."

Further details on GE's new policy will be released in the coming weeks.


PRESS CONTACT

Samuel Winnacker
GE Corporate, Assistant Director
Communications & Public Affairs
+1 615 375 6658
samuel.winnacker@ge.com

See US Uncut's Response press release:

http://usuncut.org/blog/us-uncut-welcomes-ges-change-of-heart

And the final join 'coming clean' press release from US Uncut/Yes Lab:

http://usuncut.org/blog/ge-returns-billions-to-public-not

http://theyesmen.org/usuncut

Also see B-roll "footage" from GE of the day's events:http://vimeo.com/22341420

Jersey Jazzman: The Biggest Lie in America Today

Jersey Jazzman: The Biggest Lie in America Today

The Biggest Lie in America Today

by Duke

"We just don't have the money!" Bull.

Low taxes, and regressive, too. What could possibly be the cure? Thinking...

ConnCan Cluelessness « School Finance 101

ConnCan Cluelessness « School Finance 101

ConnCan Cluelessness

by schoolfinance101

In their response to my Think Tank Review of Spend Smart: Fix Our Broken School Funding System, ConnCan asserts that I claim that Connecticut’s school finance formula is not broken. (see: http://ht.ly/4BknI)

As I state in my report, it’s not that the formula is not problematic, but that ConnCan fails to make any reasonable case that it is – even though it is. Their analysis is simply too shoddy, weak, incompetent to validate that it is broken, or how it is broken. I explain:

There may in fact be legitimate concerns over the equity and adequacy of funding to Connecticut schools as a result of significant problems with the Education Cost Sharing Formula. However, the ConnCAN Spend Smart report provides little or no supporting evidence for their claim that the

Detroit: OCCUPATION AT CATHERINE FERGUSON HIGH SCHOOL! | Dailycensored.com

Detroit: OCCUPATION AT CATHERINE FERGUSON HIGH SCHOOL! | Dailycensored.com

Detroit: OCCUPATION AT CATHERINE FERGUSON HIGH SCHOOL!

Written by Danny WeilEducationApr 15, 2011

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Student Occupiers at Catherine Ferguson Academy Need Your Assistance! See list of needs below announcement.

OCCUPATION AT CATHERINE FERGUSON HIGH SCHOOL!

STUDENTS AND SUPPORTERS SIT-IN TO DEMAND THAT NO DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOL CLOSES

Following in the civil rights tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, Catherine Ferguson students — along with their babies and toddlers, teachers and supporters — have begun a peaceful occupation of Catherine Ferguson Academy (CFA). CFA, located at 2750 Selden, is a Detroit Public school that is slated to be closed in June. The students who are sitting down have five demands:

• No School Closings
• Keep All Detroit Schools Public – No More Charters or Privatization
• Reinstate all programs and services that have been eliminated, including art &

NEA prez offers tepid endorsement of the deal. « Fred Klonsky's blog

NEA prez offers tepid endorsement of the deal. « Fred Klonsky's blog

NEA prez offers tepid endorsement of the deal.

by Fred Klonsky

Dennis Van Roekel, President of the NEA, offered a very mild endorsement of the Swanson ed reform deal:

“With this agreement that puts children first, our Illinois leaders have shown how collaboration at all levels is the key to success,” said National Education Association (NEA) President Dennis Van Roekel. “From the very beginning of this process, IEA President Ken Swanson was at the table with the IFT and the CTU, urging legislators to put politics aside and work together for the best interests of Illinois’ students.

This collaboration between lawmakers, parents and the unions is ground-breaking and led to unanimous support from all involved in the coalition,” Van Roekel said. “We are so pleased that

News | www.kochwatch.org

News | www.kochwatch.org

Wisconsin State Journal: Sarah Palin coming to Madison? You betcha *April 15, 2011-* Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and current tea party sweetheart, is coming to Madison Saturday to serve as keynote speaker for the now-annual tea party Tax Day Rally. Thousands are expected to turn out at the Capitol for the ...

Thousands protest in Lansing against governor's policies read more

Detroit Free Press: Thousands protest in Lansing against governor's policies *April 14, 2011- *A mostly union crowd of more than 5,000 swarmed around and inside the state Capitol on Wednesday to protest planned state budget cuts and tax changes it decried as hurtful to the middle class and unions. Under comfortable, sunny ...

CNN Money: Wisconsin governor takes union fight to Congress *April 14, 2011-* The controversial governor of Wisconsin defended his efforts to limit public employees' collective bargaining rights and make them pay more toward pension and health care costs at a congressional hearing on Thursday. Gov. Scott ...

A College Education Should Not Result in Crushing Debt - E.D. Kain - American Times - Forbes

A College Education Should Not Result in Crushing Debt - E.D. Kain - American Times - Forbes

A College Education Should Not Result in Crushing Debt

by E.D. Kain

There have been some interesting pieces about the value of a college degree lately. The first is from Peter Thiel, the hedge fund investor behind the financing of Facebook. The second is from Dana Goldstein.

Thiel argues that we are in the midst of a ‘higher-education bubble’ and that kids today aren’t getting their money’s worth. Goldstein shows how the debt can be a real problem especially for kids who don’t finish school:

Half of all college drop-outs have borrowed some money for tuition. And consider this depressing statistic: One in five students who drop out of college leave only after accumulating $20,000 or more in debt. These are the folks most unable to pay back their loans; the rhetoric of "college for all" simply does not match the reality of their lives.

I disagree with Thiel’s conclusion about a ‘bubble’ in higher-ed, but that doesn’t mean he’s all wrong. Obviously a lot of Americans aren’t getting their money’s worth from college, especially if they don’t finish their degrees but do take on a lot of debt. So what’s the solution to this growing problem? After all, schools are more expensive than ever. Between 2007 and 1982 college tuition went up 439 percent while median family income rose by only