Thursday, March 18, 2010

Sacramento Press / SCUSD to create ‘Superintendent’s Priority Schools’ for six most academically troubled schools

SCUSD to create ‘Superintendent’s Priority Schools’ for six most academically troubled schools

Bold leadership, effective teachers, additional resources for more than 4,600 students

By Gabe Ross

March 16, 2010 – Sacramento’s six most academically troubled schools will be put into a special grouping of schools—the Superintendent’s Priority Schools—with innovative principals, additional assistance and resources Superintendent Jonathan P. Raymond announced today.

In a first-of-its-kind effort in Sacramento to intensely focus on improving underperforming schools, the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) will create the Priority Schools to help more than 4,600 students in six schools—Oak Ridge Elementary, Father Keith B. Kenny Elementary, Jedediah Smith Elementary, Fern Bacon Basic Middle, Will C. Wood Middle and Hiram W. Johnson High. Oak Ridge was identified by the California Department of Education last Monday as among the state’s “persistently low-achieving” schools, but Superintendent Raymond said the five other SCUSD schools also have not served children adequately.

“We must take strong, decisive action and include our school communities to help these schools vastly improve how they educate our children,” Raymond said. “Tinkering around the edges of the problems at these schools won’t work. We need bold leadership, more effective teaching and a plan to provide the support our teachers and principals desperately need. We also need more resources to help

Parents and children defend homemade treats at City Hall rally | GothamSchools

Parents and children defend homemade treats at City Hall rally

by Philissa Cramer

Chloe Leon and her mother, Leigh Anne O'Connor, man the home-baked treats stand at the "bake-in."

“Viva el cupcake!”

That was a battle cry of parents and children protesting outside City Hall today against new rules that restrict what foods can be sold at school bake sales. The regulation, passed last month by the Panel for Educational Policy, limits bake sales to packaged foods that are pre-approved by the Department of Education.

Parents and students who oppose the new regulation say that it won’t accomplish the city’s goal of reducing childhood obesity and will instead cost parent and student groups dearly needed funds. ”It’s an ill-considered policy,” Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said today, over cries of “NYC DOE: Read our lips, no more chips” and “Hey hey, ho ho, junk food has got to go.”

At the center of the rally, which drew well over 100 parents and children, were two tables featuring homemade baked goods, including tofu empanadas and carrot muffins, and the packaged foods that the city requires.

Chloe Leon, a third-grader at the Earth School who was monitoring the “banned” sweets table, said she prefers baked goods made at home. “A lot of ingredients are more fresh and organic,” she said. “It just tastes better.”

Her mother, Leigh Anne O’Connor, said without the funds raised by bake sales, the Earth School is

Their Future Is Now! http://www.savecupertinoschools.org/

Their Future Is Now!

State budget cuts are undermining the Cupertino Union School District's quality of education. The District must now make cuts to core instructional programs. Among the actions planned, we will lose up to 115 teachers in Kindergarten through 8th grade across the district. (This is equivalent to losing 4 schools!) Students in every grade level at every school will be impacted.

The time to act is now! With a $375 contribution per family - about $2 per day of instruction - we can save our excellent school programs together!

Time left before our May 15th fund raising deadline.


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Sacto 9-1-1: Sacramento police union backs Hammond, Kennedy in local races - Capitol and California - fresnobee.com

Sacto 9-1-1: Sacramento police union backs Hammond, Kennedy in local races- Capitol and California- fresnobee.com

The Sacramento city police union has endorsed Councilwoman Lauren Hammond in her campaign for the state Assembly's District 9 seat.

In the race for Hammond's replacement in City Council District 5, the union is supporting Patrick Kennedy in the June election.

In a statement released today, Hammond said the police union support is "priceless."

"Government's first job is to protect our citizens," Hammond said. "In the state Assembly, we must be more creative in our efforts to balance our budgets in a way that doesn't hurt public safety and doesn't punish our dedicated law enforcement employees."

Hammond is running against fellow City Councilmember Kevin McCarty, county Supervisor Roger Dickinson and Chris Garland of the California Faculty Association.

Education Research Report: ESEA Reauthorization: The Feds Leverage Their 7.5 Percent;

ESEA Reauthorization: The Feds Leverage Their 7.5 Percent;

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

*
The U.S. Department of Education's "Blueprint for Reform of Education" makes the case for a dramatic rewriting of national policy. In a new issue brief from The Century Foundation, Gordon MacInnes concludes that the Blueprint features some worthwhile and needed changes to the current law, but that it contains some serious problems that Congress should correct before it reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), formerly known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

In "ESEA Reauthorization: The Feds Leverage Their 7.5 Percent" (the entire brief canalso be found at the end of this summary) MacInnes, a fellow at The Century Foundation, supports the U.S. Department of Education's (USDE) efforts to redress some of the most notable problems with NCLB. They include:

- A proposal that states agree on a new set of clear, strong, and relatively fewer standards, followed by cooperatively developed assessments that go beyond multiple choice;

Edu-Job: Master Educators The Quick and the Ed

The Quick and the Ed

Edu-Job: Master Educators

The District of Columbia seeks Master Educators to serve as third-party evaluators of teacher performance and to provide teachers with targeted support. Important implications for the city’s new teacher evaluation program.

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Only 1 out of every 2 Hispanic students graduates in six years. How can that ratio be upped? (Rick Hess Straight Up)

Has reading been “bastardized?” (Core Knowledge)

What has four decades of the federal government’s involvement in education accomplished? George Will stubbornly, predictably asks the hard questions. (The Washington Post)

The brouhaha over Diane Ravitch’s one-eighty rages on. Where do you stand?(The New Republic)

Posted by Kris Amundson at 4:00 pm | Tags: Bastardized Reading, Diane Ravitch, Federal Involvement in Education, George Will, Hispanic Graduation Rates, Quick Hits | No Comments

TV debate places union friends and foes in a blame game | GothamSchools

TV debate places union friends and foes in a blame game

by Anna Phillips

The head of a national teachers union and the former U.S. Secretary of Education squared off on a televised debate program this week over the question of whether teachers unions are to blame for failing schools.
Called Intelligence Squared, the program airs on NPR and Bloomberg TV next week, but the transcript (a full 45 pages) of Tuesday’s teachers union-themed debate is online now. The program had six panelists debate the power of teachers unions to influence what goes on in classrooms and how much responsibility they should have for the outcomes. Going by the audience votes at the end of the show, the anti-union panelists swung undecided voters to their side — at the beginning of the program, 43 percent of the audience thought unions were to blame for failing schools and by the end 68 percent did.
Among the three pro-union panelists, there was a California superintendent, a Massachusetts elementary school teacher, and Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers. The opposition included a Lo

Schools Matter: NJ's Bully Governor Will Not Be "Bullied:" Declares War on Teachers

NJ's Bully Governor Will Not Be "Bullied:" Declares War on Teachers

by Jim Horn

New Jersey consistently ranks among the top performing state education systems in the U. S. in terms of student performance, and it has a very strong union. Maybe it is just coincidence, or maybe it has something to do with the morale, self-efficacy, and performance of teachers who have basic human needs met, such as health insurance, retirement plans, and a decent living wage. Whatever the connection, none of it seems to matter to the corpulent Governor Christie, who appears to have gone on an eating binge since his election as he plans war against the NJEA.

Having just announced slashes of over $800 million to the state education budget as a way to force concessions from the teachers (see video), Governor Christie has left untouched the budget lines for the cheap non-union charter chain gangs that provide an increasing amount of the penal pedagogy used in containing and segregating children of the urban poor:

In his address to the annual conference of the New Jersey Charter Schools Association in Long Branch, Christie said he largely left the funding for charter schools untouched when he introduced his controversial budget on Tuesday.

"We will do many good things for charters schools. In fact, I’ve held charter schools harmless in this budget because you already pay enough,’’ he said, "There are going to be more charter schools a year from now than there are today."

Who are the 6 Democratic senators poised to kill student loan reform?

Graduating from college is a great feeling. Not so great: being saddled with $23,200 in student loans, the average debt owed by graduates of the class of 2008, according to the Project on Student Debt.

Reforming the for-profit student loan system, which allows finance giants like Virginia-based Sallie Mae to make virtually risk-free returns thanks to government subsidies, was a top priority of President Obama. His idea, supported by most Democrats, was to take out the middle-man: Instead of subsidizing private lenders, the feds would completely take over origination of student loans.

The result: The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which the Office of Management and Budget estimated would save over $80 billion over 10 years (critics point out the number is inflated, because it didn't include money lost from defaults; but that's neither here nor there, because the government currently absorbs private losses anyway). Savings would be plowed back into Pell Grants -- much easier on students on the long-term -- and other higher education initiatives.

But as The New York Times writes today, this week six senate Democrats have threatened to derail the Act, writing in a letter to senate majority leader Harry Reid that "provisions of contemplated student lending reform that could put jobs at risk."

Obama effigy hung at RI school with fired teachers | Raw Story

Obama effigy hung at RI school with fired teachers

By The Associated Press
Thursday, March 18th, 2010 -- 3:08 pm

Stumble This!

cetralfallshighschool Obama effigy hung at RI school with fired teachers CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. -- A teacher at a failing Rhode Island school where he and all his colleagues were fired hung an effigy of President Barack Obama in his classroom, apparently in reaction to Obama's support of extreme measures to ensure accountability in schools.

The teachers union on Thursday condemned the effigy, discovered Monday in the teacher's third-floor classroom at Central Falls High School, saying it was wrong and cannot be condoned under any circumstances.

The effigy was found in the unidentified teacher's classroom by Superintendent Frances Gallo, Nicole Shaffer of the Rhode Island Department of Education told The Associated Press. Shaffer said the department would not have any further comment.

Gallo did not immediately respond to calls from the AP seeking comment, but she told CNN that the foot-tall Obama doll that she saw Monday was found hung from its feet from a white board and was holding a sign that said "Fire Central Falls teachers."

FULL STORY FOLLOWS BELOW

Early Ed., Community College Initiative, Facilities Aid Out of Student Loan Bill - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Early Ed., Community College Initiative, Facilities Aid Out of Student Loan Bill

By Alyson Klein on March 18, 2010 3:04 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Mixed news for some Obama administration and Democratic priorities on the student loan front.

It looks like student loans are indeed hitching a ride with the health care overhaul legislation. And Congress, indeed, is on the brink of requiring that all loans be originated through the Direct Loan program, in which students borrow right from the U.S. Treasury. This would effectively end the Federal Family Education Loan Program, which uses subsidized lenders. Subsidized lenders would compete to "service loans."

The unfortunate news, from the perspective of some education advocates? It appears the Early-Learning Challenge Fund, which was intended to help states expand and bolster prekindergarten programs, didn't make it into the bill. Neither did new money to help revamp community colleges, or dollars aimed at school facilities. The programs were in the version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives last fall.

By the time the bill made it to legislative prime time, there just wasn't enough money left over to pay for those programs, in part because of the high demand

Impact Teen Drivers | Reckless and Distracted Driving Education

Welcome

Since 2008, Impact Teen Drivers has been working to share with teens the dangers of reckless and distracted driving through their effective campaigns online and in schools.

Our message to young people is simple, yet vital: Focus on the road ahead and get to where you are going safely.

We have reached over 1,000,000 high school students all across America, and we continue to lead the effort in educating teens about the dangers of reckless and distracted driving.

Our efforts are aided by volunteers, donors, corporations and concerned citizens all across the United States.

News

02.26.10 All entries must be submitted for theCreate Real Impact Contest!!

03.01.10 Voting begins for the Create Real Impact Contest

03.22.10 California Teen Safe Driving Week

03.22.10 Sacramento Press Conference

03.22.10 Los Angeles/Burbank Press Conference

03.23.10 Fresno Press Conference

03.24.10 Get Real Behind The Wheel with Bill McAnally

16th Annual - "College: Making It Happen!" CSUS

CSUS

The 16^th Annual - "College: Making It Happen!" event is intended primarily for 6^th through 9^th grade students and their families, and provides practical and easy-to-understand information on how to prepare academically and financially for college.

The Saturday, March 20, 2010 program, being held at California State University, Sacramento is a collaborative effort with Los Rios Community College District, UC Davis Academic Preparation Programs, Sacramento Cal-SOAP Consortium, Breakthrough Sacramento, MESA, ScholarShare and other community and educational organizations. This is one of many programs to be held throughout California as part of the California Legislature's College Awareness initiative. These programs are intended to help reaffirm the message that college preparation begins many years before the final year in high school, and that college planning is a family affair.

Space is limited. You must register online if you plan to attend! The registration will close on March 18 or until the event is full.

If you are a counselor or teacher and plan on bringing a large group of students, please complete the Counselor/Teacher registration form or email Doris Tormes at cmih@csus.edu.

On the day of the event, check-in will be from 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. The program will conclude at 12 p.m.

For further information, please contact Doris Tormes at:

Ms. Doris Tormes
Phone: (916) 278 - 5610
Email at: cmih@csus.edu

Additional information and a registration confirmation, including parking information, will be e-mailed to you.

Cuts loom for Peninsula schools - The Daily Breeze

Cuts loom for Peninsula schools

By Melissa Pamer Staff Writer

Posted: 03/18/2010 07:05:52 AM PDT

Despite a multimillion-dollar fundraising campaign, a parcel tax approved last summer and three straight years of budget cuts, Palos Verdes Peninsula schools are now faced with another major financial shortfall.

The Hill's 12,000-student school district - one of the state's highest-achieving - needs to cut $4 million in 2010-11 and $3 million the year after that.

Last week, layoff notices went out to 90 teachers, and the school board is still weighing how many nonteaching positions to eliminate.

The layoffs come a year after 40 teachers were eliminated, as were about 40 jobs such as teaching aides, support staff and other positions, many of them part time.

"We've used whatever tricks we could, pulled whatever rabbits out of our hat that we could," said Superintendent Walker Williams at a board meeting last week. "We're looking at everything."

Tonight, school officials will explain potential cuts to the district's $90 million budget at a town hall meeting, which is designed to elicit suggestions from residents regarding which programs should be preserved and where to find new revenue sources.

Like other school districts across the state, Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified is facing serious cuts because it relies overwhelmingly on state funding, which has been slashed for several years.

Some districts have been able to soften the blow of reductions - partly with the help of federal

SCUSD Observer: SCTA is the problem

SCTA is the problem

by Sac City Schools Observer

Editor's Note: In the continued interest of fairness and facilitating communication, we print this letter in support of Teach For America, brought to you by a concerned SCUSD parent.

(sent to SCUSD Board Trustees March 18, 2010)

I am a parent of two children in SCUSD and urge you to support Teach for America. SCUSD must support the development of new teachers, regardless of their place of origin. The current system of education is stagnant and our children must have the benefit of new ideas and new people, especially people from outside the region, who can bring different perspectives that will enrich their education.

There are people who believe Teach for America will displace local graduates and/or displace current teachers. This is a misguided belief. Teach for America is not the problem. The current system maintained by the Sacramento City Teachers Association is the problem. SCTA has been unwilling to make any concessions that would protect newer teachers from annual layoffs nor are they willing to protect our children from larger class sizes (which affect younger students now, but also have an impact on learning through high school) and ridiculous hiring practices that can mean newer teachers are displaced several weeks or months into a new school year by teachers with more seniority. This happened to my kindergartner at Theodore Judah in the 2007-08 school year. If we really care about learning, why would it ever be acceptable to change a child’s kindergarten teacher 6 weeks into her very first school year? This flies in the face of common sense and shows flagrant