Physical Fitness Test Results for 2012-13 - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education)

Physical Fitness Test Results for 2012-13 - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education):

California Students Make Slight Gains in Physical Fitness

Coach Tom Torlakson 

SANTA ANA—California school kids made slight gains this year in two of the most important indicators of health and physical fitness, and held relatively steady overall, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.

About 1.34 million fifth, seventh, and ninth graders took the FITNESSGRAM^® this year (Table 1), nearly 94 percent of students enrolled in those grades in public schools statewide. Students in grades five and seven improved in aerobic capacity and body composition, two of the six areas that are assessed annually and considered among the most important gauges of health. Students in grade nine showed improvement in aerobic capacity, but dipped a tenth of a percentage point in body composition (Table 2).

Overall, about 26 percent of fifth graders, 32 percent of seventh graders and 37 percent of ninth graders scored in the "Healthy Fitness Zone" for all six areas (Table 4). That reflects slight gains for grades five and seven since last year and no change for grade nine.

"The simple fact is that healthy kids learn better," Torlakson said. "I'm pleased to see the slow shift toward better health continue, but when only about a third of our students are physically fit, we are nowhere near the end of this effort. To help them succeed in school and in life, California's young people need more access to physical activity, fresh, healthy food, and clean water."

Joining Torlakson at the announcement at John Muir Fundamental Elementary School were Orange County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Al Mijares, Dr. Marc Lerner, Medical Officer for the Orange County Department of Education, Santa Ana Unified School District trustee Dr. Audrey Yamagata-Noji and principal Donna Kertman.

Torlakson, a longtime teacher and cross-country coach, launched his Team California for Healthy Kids initiative shortly after taking office to further these goals. The initiative brings together educators, community leaders, athletes, and other celebrities to help schools offer healthy choices to students.

The primary goal of FITNESSGRAM^® is to assist students in establishing lifetime habits of regular physical activity. TheFITNESSGRAM^® is composed of the following six fitness areas, with a number of test options provided for most areas: aerobic capacity, body composition, abdominal strength, trunk extensor strength, upper body strength, and flexibility. The 2012–13 physical fitness results for schools, school districts, counties, and the state are available on the Physical Fitness Test Resultspage. For additional information about the Physical Fitness Test, please go to the California Department of Education Physical Fitness Test Web page.

Attachments: Tables 1–5

# # # #

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

We Party Patriots » Did He Say “Education!?” I Think He Meant “Corporation.”

We Party Patriots » Did He Say “Education!?” I Think He Meant “Corporation.”:

Did He Say “Education!?” I Think He Meant “Corporation.”

   

ProgressNow New Mexico has brought forward a complaint to the IRS claiming the corporate-backed education reform group Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE) is violating the agency’s policies.  The group, led by former Florida governor and possible 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush, is being accused of failing to disclose payments and expenditures concerning travel for public officials.  In their letter, Progress Now New Mexico says:

…FEE “has failed to disclose payments — or as the Foundation calls them, scholarships — for public official travel on its Form 990s as required by the IRS.” ProgressNow executive director Patrick Davis argued that “it is possible these unreported payments to the government officials may be deemed to provide a private inurement in violation of IRS regulations.”

In what it calls an “apparent violation of IRS regulations,” ProgressNow noted that records show FEE paid for a trip by New Mexico public education secretary-designate Hanna Skandera, who previously served under Bush as Florida’s deputy education commissioner, to testify in the U.S. Congress in support of devoting federal funds to virtual education. (ProgressNow also notes over $30,000 spent by FEE on first-class travel for Bush.)

This is not Jeb Bush’s first controversy surrounding education reform efforts.  Earlier this year a set of 

10-23-13 National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

In 17 States, Majority of Students Live in Poverty

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Students Speak Out Against Harsh Discipline

Over 350 students raised their voices against harsh school discipline policies at the third annual Listening Project in Boston. Over 350 students raised their voices against harsh school discipline policies at the third annual Listening Project in Boston. The event was hosted by the Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC) and other members of the YOUNG Coalition including the Boston-ar

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Highlights from the 2013 Week of Action Against School Pushout

Over 60 organizations from 22 states joined the Dignity in Schools Campaign for its Fourth Annual National Week of Action. During “Push Back Against School Pushout” students, parents, teachers and advocates demanded an end to school discipline policies that push students out of school and down a pipeline to prison and low-wage jobs. This post originally appeared on the Dignity in Sch

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NYC Youth Organizers Launch "Get Us to College" Campaign

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Fixing Disparities in School Facilities

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Why School Facilities Matter: And What We Can Do to Fix the Disparities

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YESTERDAY

Grassroots Leaders at 2013 OTL Organizing Summit

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"Talk It Out!" – NYC Students Create Peer Mediation Music Video

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The Best Way to Welcome Legislators Back to Session

As Pennsylvania legislators returned to session on September 23rd, they were greeted at the Capitol by advocates representing 40 districts across the state holding a press conference. The event, organized by Education Voters of Pennsylvania (an OTL ally) and several other groups, focused on demanding that policymakers support the creation of an equitable school funding formula. As Pen

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Bad to the bone – teacher movement adopts rebel yell to confront critics SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

Bad to the bone – teacher movement adopts rebel yell to confront critics
By Kimberly Beltran
Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Mark Naison is one bad ass teacher – and he’s not afraid to admit it.

On the contrary, the Brooklyn native and Fordham University professor, inspired earlier this year by a large-scale testing revolt in his home state, created a Facebook group for discourse among educators like himself who are fed up with federal education policy that he believes casts teachers as villains and as largely indifferent to the crisis in schools.

Within a week of launching the group page last June, nearly 500 people had signed on, and the Badass Association of Teachers had gone from an idea to a movement with a mission.

The group has now grown to nearly 31,000 members with chapters in every state and is planning a march on the U.S. Department of Education next July – 50,000 marchers is the goal.

“We realized, we’ve touched a core like we can’t believe of teachers who are totally fed up with the testing and demonization of teachers from both political parties,” said Naison, the husband and son of public school teachers as well as the recipient of a public school education growing up. “You call us bad teachers and we’ll come back with no, we’re bad ass teachers – we’re tough, we’re resilient, we’re proud and we’re not going to take any crap from you anymore. We’re fighting back. Enough is enough.”

Naison said many teachers’ hopes for a better system under President Barack Obama were shattered by his Race to the Top program, which awards schools millions of dollars for developing curriculum that produces college- and career-ready students and for basing teacher and school effectiveness on student test scores. States were also offered waivers from some of the more onerous provisions of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law – but those waivers, like the RTTT funding, were conditioned on similar requirements.

It’s bad policy, say group members who call themselves BATs, and they want the program scrapped. No more 

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BAT!

Badass Teachers Association

This is for every teacher who refuses to be blamed for the failure of our society to erase poverty and inequality, and refuses to accept assessments, tests and evaluations imposed by those who have contempt for real teaching and learning.

Badass Teachers Association Web site

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER@BADASSTEACHERSA

The Tools for a Successful Young Learner — Whole Child Education

The Tools for a Successful Young Learner — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

The Tools for a Successful Young Learner

October 23, 2013 by Pauline Gremaud

Education begins in preschool and kindergarten for a reason. These are important formative years where students build skills and develop behaviors to carry them through many years of learning. As a kindergarten teacher, I make it my goal for students to leave my classroom at the end of the year as capable, confident learners.

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So, what is a young learner's role? In my classroom, I teach students that they are writers. They are readers. They are scientists. They are explorers. Though many of them are learning to do these things for the first time, I want them to feel empowered to take risks in these endeavors. I want them to know that the skills they come in with, perhaps creating an illustration rather than writing a story, or interpreting the pictures in a book rather than reading the words, are valuable too. It's important to me that they do not see themselves as being at a 

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New Insight on Marketing Public Schools | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

New Insight on Marketing Public Schools | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

New Insight on Marketing Public Schools

By National School Public Relations Association on October 23, 2013

By Rich Bagin, APR, Executive Director, National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA)
Thanks to a tip by NSPRA President Nora Carr, APR, we are sharing just a glimpse of a study completed about North Carolina’s registered voters. The study was intended to help leaders get a better grasp of effective marketing messages about public education in North Carolina. My bet is that these findings will also ring true for many other regions of our country as well.
The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation commissioned the study, and Neimand Collaborative’s Artemis Strategy Group conducted it in February 2013. 
Most of us in education use the “greater good” pitch to prove the social value of public education in our communities. Educators normally agree that the societal outcome of public education is the key card to play when we talk about the value of public education. And, for that matter, it is most likely why many of us decided to become educators. Sure, helping students achieve daily and charting their growth has always been the prime reason for becoming an educator. But a close second was the realization that our collective work strengthened our communities and that our country’s f

UPDATE: FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Wednesday, October 23, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

SEGREGATING ENGLISH LEARNERS IN SCHOOLS: The Los Angeles Unified School District has little choice in the matter. Yet there is reason for concern.

Education Headlines

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

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Fresno Unified, teachers union split on contract talks

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Lead in dust closes San Clemente High auto shop

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Castro Valley school unions to rally Wednesday

School district union members will rally Wednesday in support of their push for a pay raise. The school district is offering a 3 percent raise; the teachers and school support staff members are asking for 3.75 percent, according to a news release. The two groups have received a raise of 1 percent in the past five years.

Fensterwald: What’s next for standardized testing in California?

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More questions on L.A. Unified's iPad program, but few answers

Los Angeles school district officials acknowledged Tuesday that they understated the cost of providing iPads to students, but also said the deal could ultimately save millions of dollars.

LA Unified School District has no Plan B for iPad project

A school board committee overseeing the Los Angeles Unified School District’s iPad project called into question Tuesday whether the project would continue. And, if not, members asked if there were plans in place for administering new digital state tests without iPads.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

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Lt. Frank Gordo, a member of the Stockton Unified police department for 18 years, was placed on paid administrative leave last week by interim Chief Eric Holman, the latest upheaval in the department in the past two months.

School merger petitions circulate

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Chino Valley Unified board opposes transgender bill

Chino Valley Unified board members voted 4-1 at its Thursday meeting in favor of a resolution that opposes Assembly Bill 1266, a state law that will require public schools to allow students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on the gender they identify with and to gender-restricted activities like sports.

Santa Ana dress code change angers some teachers, parents

Efforts by Santa Ana Unified to restore uniformity to a patchwork of inconsistent and occasionally stringent dress code policies across the district is being met with resistance and even anger by teachers and parents at one of the city's top schools.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom - Resources - Share My Lesson

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom - Resources - Share My Lesson:

Share My Lesson and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom contest and exclusive clips

Win a classroom set of movie tickets to Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

We are proud and excited to be partnering with The Weinstein Company in support of the feature film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Together, we are launching a dynamic, Common Core-aligned 9th-12th grade curriculum based on the film. Check out these exclusive clips from the movie and download the full package of lesson plans.

In addition, The Weinstein Company and Share My Lesson are teaming together to send you and your students to the movies! To enter to win these tickets, follow these two steps:

• Download and read one of seven lesson plans from www.sharemylesson.com/mandela between October 22 and December 6 2013.
• Enter to win movie tickets here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/mandelafilm

Check here for terms and conditions. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Mandela addresses youths

This scene shows Mandela addressing a large crowd of young people at a critical juncture in the fight against apartheid, when Sophiatown – a historic all-black neighborhood – was bulldozed by the government and residents were forcibly removed. This clip can be included in a lesson addressing Mandela’s role in fighting South Africa’s apartheid regime and whether his actions should be viewed as those of a freedom fighter or a criminal.

Mandela as a lawyer

Here, the audience sees a young Nelson Mandela, one of the few practicing black lawyers at the time, taking on the case of a young woman working as a maid in a white household who is accused of stealing from her boss. The clip highlights the divide between white and black people during apartheid and the prejudice experienced by Mandela -- despite his higher education and his professional status -- that made it difficult for him to practice law.

Mandela at Sophiatown

Mandela's words are heard against the backdrop of the Sophiatown Relocation, a actual historical event that occurred under apartheid when the all-white government determined that the neighborhood -- a hub of African culture, music, and politics in the 1940s and 1950s -- had developed and grown too close to the surrounding white suburbs. Its residents were forcibly removed and the town demolished.