California Parent Center

California Parent Center:

California Parent Center College of Education San Diego State University Visit our Website: parent.sdsu.edu To: Administrators, Teachers, Title I Coordinators, Parent Involvement Staff, Counselors, Parent Leaders and School Site Council Members From: Jeana Preston, Director – California Parent Center College of Education, San Diego State University Subject: Closing the Achievement Gap: Using Parent Involvement as a School Improvement Strategy The California Parent Center (CPC) is a state level technical assistance center for organizing school, family, and community partnerships to support increased student achievement. CPC provides regional trainings for (P-12) educators and parent leaders at schools across the state. CPC also provides a professional development certificate for parent coordinators, liaisons, and those who supervise them. All trainings: Use the new California Department of Education (CDE) Single Plan for Student Achievement template and resources for parental involvement Refocus and enhance existing family involvement programs Use a research-based partnership approach and best practices Meet Title I requirements for districts to provide training for staff and parents Are a compliant use of Title I funds for parental involvement and professional development funds, school improvement funds and other grants with parental involvement components. CPC also provides assistance to individual districts with planning, training and resources to implement successful family involvement programs at schools. LEVEL I-TWO-DAY REGIONAL TRAININGS “Closing the Achievement Gap” Using Parent Involvement to Increase Student Success and Academic Achievement Designed for Educators and Parent Leaders Date: December 7-8, 2011 Location: Orange County Department of Education | Costa Mesa CA Click here to download registration form Date: February 22-23, 2012 Location: National University | Sacramento CA Click here to download registration form Date: March 27-28, 2012 Location: San Diego State University | San Diego CA Click here to download registration form Date: April 24-25, 2012 Location: Riverside County Office of Education | Riverside CA Click here to download registration form LEVEL II-PARENT LIAISON CERTIFICATE PROGRAM Parent Liaison Professional Development Certificate Program Designed especially for those who coordinate or supervise parent involvement programs Date: May 8-9, 2012 Location: National University | Costa Mesa CA click here to download registration form For More Registration Information Please Go To On Our Website:parent.sdsu.edu For Information on Individual Trainings for your District: Please contact Melissa Popovich for available dates and more information 619-594-4756, mpopovich@projects.sdsu.edu

Duncan and Officials Observe Mock Presentation of Innovative Teacher Mentoring and Evaluation Program at AFT Hall | ED.gov Blog

Duncan and Officials Observe Mock Presentation of Innovative Teacher Mentoring and Evaluation Program at AFT Hall | ED.gov Blog:

Duncan and Officials Observe Mock Presentation of Innovative Teacher Mentoring and Evaluation Program at AFT Hall

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Daren Briscoe

An innovative teacher evaluation plan, developed with the participation of the teachers union in Toledo, Ohio, was the focus of the final stop on the first day of the “Education and the Economy” bus tour.

Secretary Duncan paid a visit late Wednesday to the Toledo Federation of Teachers union hall. There, along with 75 teachers, union officials, local elected officials and community members, Duncan observed a mock peer-review panel presentation of the Toledo Plan, 2001 winner of the “Innovations in American Government Award” competition co-sponsored by Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Council for Excellence in Government, with funding from the Ford Foundation.

Brochures describe the program as an “intensive model of evaluation and mentoring” for intern teachers…“aimed at those most in need of professional help – beginning teachers and those experienced teachers in trouble.”

But Dal Lawrence, former president of the Toledo Federation of Teachers, had a simpler description.

“We want to find out who can teach in Toledo and who can’t,” Lawrence told Secretary Duncan. “We want to give enough expert mentoring and coaching to people so that they can fly on their own.”

During the presentation, two Toledo Public Schools intern consultants, who are assigned to newly hired Toledo teachers (interns) for two semesters, evaluated two former interns, Matthew Ziegler and Amanda Carr (fictitious name). The consultants’ summary evaluation reports were presented to an Intern Board of Review composed of five teachers and four administrators.

Their reports, based largely on interns’ progress toward meeting specific goals as determined by the consulting teachers, included descriptions and evidence of the interns’ performance in the areas of teaching procedures, classroom management, subject knowledge and personal characteristics/professional responsibility.

Upon receiving a recommendation from the consulting teachers on the interns’ future employment status, – “yes” for Ziegler, “no” for Carr – the panel had an opportunity to question the presenters and discuss the interns’ performance before conferring and voting on the recommendations.

The dialogue drew out specific areas where the two teachers were either performing well. For Ziegler: “Weekly goals are outlined and posted on the blackboard, uses baskets to distribute materials quickly, spirals lessons through increasing levels of complexity.” For Carr: “Students are not engaged consistently, high standards of work are not encouraged, class rules and consequences are posted but not enforced consistently or fairly.”

Afterwards, the panel voted to accept the recommendation in both cases; Ziegler was approved to receive a second one-year contract and released from the intern program, while Carr’s performance was deemed unsatisfactory, with no offer of a second-year contract.

Next, Lawrence asked Ziegler (who went on to become a math teacher after his real evaluation and was in the audience) to stand to applause from the crowd.

Secretary Duncan joked with Ziegler, saying “That must be a little odd – watching your own life like that.”

“I’ve followed this model closely for years, and this was a chance to learn and pay very close attention to the hard work, collaboration, and thoughtfulness that went into this process,” Duncan said.

Parent Communication: TO vs WITH | Connected Principals

Parent Communication: TO vs WITH | Connected Principals:

Parent Communication: TO vs WITH

by Chris Wejr

We must understand the difference bewtween communicating To and communicating WITH. Photo from http://bit.ly/pvuhJa

As our school moves to attempt to add another stream of communication to parents via SMS (text messaging), I have been asked – “how many ways do we need to communicate with parents?” Should parents not just try harder to stay informed of their child’s education?

My responses are twofold:

1. We need to differentiate our parent communication so we meet families where they are. Each family has a varied level of involvement and engagement due to time availability, access to technology, and ability to exchange in dialogue. Some families have the cultural capital (non-financial social assets like time, money, confidence, etc) to engage in ongoing face-to-face dialogue with the principal, teachers and staff

Assessment: Formative, Summative, Punitive? « My Island View

Assessment: Formative, Summative, Punitive? « My Island View:

Assessment: Formative, Summative, Punitive?

by tomwhitby

For the first time since I have been supervising student teachers, I have a group at the start of the year, as opposed to my usual assignment at the latter half of the school year. This has brought to light a subject that I often fought against as a teacher, and now have to counsel student teachers on how best to approach the subject. Summer Reading: how do we assess it?

New York State’s recommendation for reading is that each student completes reading 25 books per year. Most adults don’t even approach that goal, but adults have to work and their time is committed to other stuff. It is understandable that adults’ time must be dedicated to other stuff. Kids have more time to read than adults. In a 24 hour period a kid’s time is taken up by: one hour preparing to get to school, seven to eight hours in school, two hours extra-curricular (depending on the sports’ season), and one to two hours of homework. Let’s allow an hour and a half to eat dinner and chill. That has accounts for Eleven to Thirteen hours. If we consider the ten to twelve hours of recommended sleep, that would leave one to two hours per day that a kid could be, and should

Back To School: Investing In Distraction | OurFuture.org

Back To School: Investing In Distraction | OurFuture.org:

Back to School: Investing In Distraction

My guest today is Sabrina Stevens Shupe. Sabrina is a teacher, writer, and activist who has worked with students in struggling communities in Philadelphia and Denver. She recently helped to organize the Save Our Schools March & National Call to Action, and she also launched the Failing Schools Project, which aims to empower teachers, students, and parents in so-called "failing" schools to share their stories about what it's really like to work and learn in such schools, and to promote alternative ways of thinking about and solving the problems these schools face. She currently uses her written, artistic and multimedia skills to serve organizations, candidates, and campaigns that work to advance democratic solutions to educational and social problems.

(Or, “If I had a [b]illion dollars...”)

I will never understand how some people spend their money.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve visited school buildings and classrooms where temperatures had risen above 90 degrees. (In kid terms, that means fidgeting, nosebleeds, nausea and worse-- not so much in the reading, writing, & ‘rithmetic department.) That, in a time when districts across the country are switching to a four-day school week to save money, asking parents to pay out of pocket for things like bus service and extra curricular activities, and laying off teachers and other school personnel.

Yet, wherever else I go, I can’t stop seeing online banner ads or billboards for the

HechingerEd Blog | Republican debate: Who said what about education?

HechingerEd Blog | Republican debate: Who said what about education?:

Republican debate: Who said what about education?

by Sarah Butrymowicz

Republican presidential candidates sparred over the economy, health care and immigration in last night’s debate at the Ronald Reagan Library. Like in the previous debate, only two candidates were questioned about education policy, and neither took the opportunity to say anything groundbreaking.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, when asked about the recent $5 million budget cuts he’s made to public education, defended them, saying “the reductions we made were thoughtful reductions.” He declined to elaborate on the logic behind the move, though. Instead, as he has many times so far on the campaign trail, Perry touted his record of improvement in the state’s schools, citing graduation rates that have climbed to 84 percent.

According to the Texas Department of Education, graduation rates for the 2009-2010 school year were, in fact, slightly above 84 percent. But by another measure, the State Rankings 2009, the state ranked 43rd out of 50

Hechinger Report | Closing the gap: How the Early Learning Challenge can advance education reform

Hechinger Report | Closing the gap: How the Early Learning Challenge can advance education reform:

Closing the gap: How the Early Learning Challenge can advance education reform

By Elanna Yalow and Nina Rees

Nina Rees

Elanna Yalow

Can $500 million invested in 20 million of America’s youngest learners help close the achievement gap? That is the aim of the new Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge, the Obama administration’s first competitive grant targeted to improving the quality of early learning programs for children under age 5. While the dollar amount for the Early Learning Challenge competition is modest compared to the $4.3 billion K-12 Race to the Top fund, it has the potential to change the trajectory of education reform in the United States.

Why is the Early Learning Challenge significant far beyond its $500 million in funding? Most importantly, the competition takes aim at the achievement gap by giving states incentives—rather than sticks—to change the way they do business. From the list of 36 states that have indicated their

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The lies of Texas...

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The lies of Texas...:

The lies of Texas...

When Chicago's mayor and school boss, Rahm Emanuel, held up Houston as his model for school reform, it gave me the creeps. His rationale was that Houston schools are superior because of their longer school day and year.Rahm claimed that kids in Houston wound up with 4 more years of instruction. It was a political talking point admittedly fed to him by Jonah Edelman and Children First.

Now it's left to Rahm to explain why Houston's Lee High School is currently

Eight reasons why Obama may get four more. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Eight reasons why Obama may get four more. « Fred Klonsky's blog:

Eight reasons why Obama may get four more.

by Fred Klonsky

I didn’t watch it either.

This was the reason John Boehner bullied President Obama into moving his jobs speech to compete with the Saints and Packers?

I watched a little of the analysis of the Tea Party debate on Rachel Maddow. They kept showing camera shots of the debate that made it appear as if they had been debating on the runway at O’Hare. Was that a big jet hanging over their heads?

Odd.

They talked a little about schools. It was mostly the same Tea Party nonsense. Perry continued pushing the

Thursday: Charter schools, patent reform, and preparing for Obama - The Hill's Floor Action

Thursday: Charter schools, patent reform, and preparing for Obama - The Hill's Floor Action:

Thursday: Charter schools, patent reform, and preparing for Obama

By Pete Kasperowicz - 09/08/11 08:04 AM ET

The House meets at 10 a.m. for speeches and noon to start work on H.R. 2218, the Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act.

Members will begin by debating the rule for the bill, then start debating the bill itself, then move to debate the eight amendments made in order. One of these, from Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), could prove controversial because it would eliminate language in the bill that defines "high-quality charter schools" as those that demonstrate success in increasing academic achievement for economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency.

Another amendment, from Reps. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.), would allow charter schools to receive a second grant after three years if they demonstrate positive student outcomes. The current language allows these second grants after five years.

The House will work until 4 p.m., when it will recess to allow a security sweep of the chamber in preparation for President Obama's 7 p.m. address to a joint

Michelle Rhee and Kevin Johnson kept their wedding under the radar - The Reliable Source - The Washington Post

Michelle Rhee and Kevin Johnson kept their wedding under the radar - The Reliable Source - The Washington Post:

Michelle Rhee and Kevin Johnson kept their wedding under the radar

By The Reliable Source

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and his now wife, Michelle Rhee, in Sun Valley, Idaho, last summer. (Bloomberg via Getty Images/ Matthew Staver)

You have to hand it to Michelle Rhee and Kevin Johnson: They pulled off the low-key wedding they wanted.

The former D.C. schools chancellor, 41, and the Sacramento mayor, 45, tied the knot in front of about 40 friends Saturday at a Tennessee mountain resort — almost a year after they canceled a more lavish ceremony that drew too much media attention for their liking.

This time, the much-watched power couple kept it under the radar: Even the mayor’s top aides were unaware until he showed up at City Hall on Tuesday wearing a wedding ring, according to the Sacramento Bee, which broke the news of the nuptials.

“The key to it was we did it very quickly,” Rhee told us Wednesday, on

Remembering Vito Perrone - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Remembering Vito Perrone - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Remembering Vito Perrone

by Deborah Meier

Dear Diane,

Vito Perrone (1933-2011) would disapprove of my writing just about him. At times like this he'd be reminding us to organize. And he'd remind us teachers that the kids need you so being as good a teacher as you can be is part of what it means to organize. Day in. Day out.

But it's hard not to spend "wasted" time wishing he were 100 percent with us. And wishing Diane, that you had met him. (I don't think you ever did.) I met Vito in 1973 when the North Dakota Study Group came into being to strategize about early-childhood testing. It lived on—long after Vito was incapacitated while working at Harvard. We were co-teaching a course when he was hit with a stroke. But the NDSG goes on, in a new and ever stronger form. It's living proof of how even sloppy democracy works better than "efficiency first" in the long run. For years now a motley group of people volunteer to meet to plan the next year's February gathering, with input

I Deserve to Know « EdVox

I Deserve to Know « EdVox:

I Deserve to Know

by edvoxny

By Michelle Chapman

This morning I dropped my daughter off for her first day at her new school. And like every parent who’s started their child off at a new school, there are a million things I’m worried about. Will she like her teacher? Will she make new friends? Will she be able to keep up? Is she prepared? But this year my main concern is whether her new school is contaminated with toxic PCBs like her last one was.

I found out about PCBs last year, when my daughter attended 4th grade at Harlem Link Charter School. But it wasn’t from the principal or anyone at the Department of Education, it was from a fellow New York Communities for Change (NYCC) member, who told me that even though there were more than 750 school that could be contaminated, the DOE was doing nothing to find out if our kids’ schools had PCBs. If you want to find out if your

NYC Educator: Walcott Offers Valuable Lip Service to Civility

NYC Educator: Walcott Offers Valuable Lip Service to Civility:

Walcott Offers Valuable Lip Service to Civility

by NYC Educator

NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, according to an incredibly superficial account in today's Times, is looking for better relationships with teachers, and better communication with the public. He's therefore reaching out in a calm fashion without frothing at the mouth. Judging by the article, this represents a paradigm change.

Actually, Walcott espouses precisely the same policies Klein did, a fact unnoticed in this article. These policies are largely

Shanker Blog » In Ohio, Charter School Expansion By Income, Not Performance

Shanker Blog » In Ohio, Charter School Expansion By Income, Not Performance:

Means-Tested Charter School Expansion

by Matthew Di Carlo

For over a decade, Ohio law has dictated where charter schools can open. Expansion was unlimited in Lucas County (the “pilot district” for charters) and in the “Ohio 8” urban districts (Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, and Youngstown). But, in any given year, charters could open up in any other district that was classified as a “challenged district,” as measured by whether the district received a state “report card” rating of “academic watch” or “academic emergency.” This is a performance-based standard.

Under this system, there was of course very rapid charter proliferation in Lucas County and the “Ohio 8” districts. Only a small number of other districts (around 20-30 per year) “met” the performance-based standard. As a whole, the state’s current charter law was supposed to “open up” districts for charter schools when the districts are not doing well.

Starting next year, the state is adding a fourth criterion: Any district with a “performance index” in the bottom five

Students Say New Orleans Schools Are No Education "Miracle" - Education - GOOD

Students Say New Orleans Schools Are No Education "Miracle" - Education - GOOD:

Students Say New Orleans Schools Are No Education "Miracle"

Last year Education Secretary Arne Duncan infamously quipped that Hurricane Katrina was "the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans" because it swept away the city's dysfunctional school system. Indeed, in the six years since the levees broke, the reform efforts in New Orleans schools have been held up nationally as an education "miracle." But according to a report (PDF) released today that surveyed students at six New Orleans high schools, it's far too soon to declare "mission accomplished."

The survey, conducted over 18 months by the city's Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association, collected data from 425 students