SAT scores show disparities by race, gender, family income - USATODAY.com

SAT scores show disparities by race, gender, family income - USATODAY.com:

"Average national SAT scores for the high school class of 2009 dropped two points compared with last year, a report out today says. And while the population of test takers was the most diverse ever, average scores vary widely by race and ethnicity."

Editorial: Students better in English, math - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Editorial: Students better in English, math - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee:

"One of the state's great unappreciated stories of the past 10 years is how much progress California students have made in mastering academic standards that are generally considered the toughest in the nation.
Test scores released this month were only the latest confirmation of that progress, and they are a testament to a decade of bipartisan support for a system that first makes it clear what Californians want their children to learn and then determines how well they are doing in that quest."

School libraries could close if Folsom Cordova-union impasse not settled - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

School libraries could close if Folsom Cordova-union impasse not settled - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"I was an English teacher, and it breaks my heart not to have someone in the library at all times,' Godwin said.
He said some individual schools are trying to save their libraries through fundraising efforts. At Sutter Middle School, the staff is attempting to raise $15,000 for a part-time or $55,000 for a full-time library clerk to keep the library open.
The problem could be solved if the district and union come to terms.
'We had expected the classified union would step up and work with something like three furlough days and we anticipated they will do that and are still hopeful they will,' Godwin said."

Dan Walters: Using student test scores to grade California teachers has pitfalls - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Dan Walters: Using student test scores to grade California teachers has pitfalls - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"Testing data seemingly introduce dispassionate objectivity into the evaluation process. Each kid's abilities are as individual as fingerprints, however. Learning is also affected by many other factors, most of which are beyond the control of the teacher, such as cultural influences, parental involvement, taxpayer financing, administrative support and availability of textbooks."

Sacramento City Unified School District

Sacramento City Unified School District

All New Web Site!

No Child Left Behind is unfair, needs changes |

No Child Left Behind is unfair, needs changes

As expected, results were mixed from the spring 2009 administration of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). Scores in grades three through eight and 10 mirrored 2008 results, increasing in seven subject areas, decreasing in seven and remaining unchanged in six.
Yet, preliminary results from AYP, the accountability arm of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, show 1,073 schools moved into improvement status, up from 618 last year.
“Our state testing scores are flat, yet the federal system shows an additional 500 schools are failing,” Dorn said. “What is failing is No Child Left Behind. The law is completely unfair. While we know there is certainly room for improvement in our schools, it’s a statistical guarantee in this law that all of our schools will soon be in federal improvement status. That’s unrealistic.”

Strong Mayor Plan Could Face Legal Challenge - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento

Strong Mayor Plan Could Face Legal Challenge - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento:

"The report says these 'issues' could be resolved by adding a 'complementary' measure or initiative to the election ballot. The Sacramento City Council could take steps like that.
However, the city attorney's office says it 'has been unable to identify any other city that has taken such an extraordinary step in aid of a flawed initiative.'
The report suggests that strong mayor supporters could circulate a second petition and collect the necessary signatures of 15 percent of registered city voters."

Teach Flu a Lesson

Teach Flu a Lesson:

"Brought to you by PTO Today and MedImmune, Teach Flu a Lesson tools are a great way to help keep flu out of your school and show your group’s commitment to this health issue. Our free event planning kit provides the tools and materials you need to organize and run this event, making it convenient for parents to have their eligible children immunized. Learn more."

Resource Directory

Resource Directory:


"SCUSD has developed an online resource directory to help staff, students and parents more easily access information about district-administered programs and services. To locate resources, the directory can be searched by keyword (see search box to the right) or category (see list on left). Detailed information about each resource can be found by clicking on the associated link. The resource directory is updated twice a year. For more information on a particular program or service, please contact the office identified in the description."

http://www.scusd.edu/ResourceDirectory/index.htm

Our Courts - Homepage

Our Courts - Homepage

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor just released two interactive animated games aimed at middle school students on her website, Our Courts.

NEA Attacks Administration's Education Reform Plan | 44 | washingtonpost.com

NEA Attacks Administration's Education Reform Plan 44 washingtonpost.com

The nation's largest teachers union sharply attacked President Obama's most significant school improvement initiative on Friday evening, saying that it puts too much emphasis on a "narrow agenda" centered on charter schools and echoes the Bush administration's "top-down approach" to reform.

Instead of focusing on strengthening enforcement of civil rights laws to promote access and opportunity for students, the Administration has chosen the path of a series of top-down directives that may discourage rather than encourage productive innovation in classrooms and schools across the country. Despite growing evidence to the contrary, it appears that the Administration has decided that charter schools are the only answer to what ails America’s public schools—urban, suburban, exurban, and rural—and all must comply with that silver bullet, despite the fact that charters have often produced lower achievement gains than district-run public schools. [See recent report on Chicago’s Renaissance 2010 initiative: Young, V.M., Humphrey, D.C., Wang, H., Bosetti, K.R., Cassidy, L., Wechsler, M.E., Rivera, E., Murray, S., & Schanzenbach, D.W. (2009). Renaissance Schools Fund-supported schools: Early Outcomes, challenges, and opportunities. Menlo Park, CA: Stanford Research International and Chicago: Consortium on Chicago School Research.]

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10385595/NEAs-statement-to-the-Department-of-Education

New Sacramento City Teachers Association web site

New Sacramento City Teachers Association web site

Welcome to the new website
for the
Sacramento City Teachers Association

http://www.sacteachers.org/?q=content/home

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/9903135/New-Sacramento-City-Teachers-Association-web-site

Chicago selective enrollment high schools face huge demand for few spots -- chicagotribune.com

Chicago selective enrollment high schools face huge demand for few spots -- chicagotribune.com:


"'It's so crazy competitive that you basically have to send your kid to school sick just to make sure she doesn't ruin her chances of getting into a good high school,' said Celia's mother, Lisa Hensey. 'My daughter did everything she had to do academically, but she gets punished because she got sick. What kind of message does that send to kids?'

As a federal investigation swirls around admissions practices at Walter Payton and the city's eight other vaunted selective enrollment high schools, it has spotlighted a troubling problem in the city's education system: There are so few good high schools that high-achieving teenagers like Celia must fight over scarce slots."

Kindergarten crunch: Lack of playtime killing joy of learning, say advocates - Salt Lake Tribune

Kindergarten crunch: Lack of playtime killing joy of learning, say advocates - Salt Lake Tribune:

"Child advocates, though, worry play, exercise and exploration in most public kindergartens is vanishing.
Authors of a 2009 report, 'Crisis in the Kindergarten' call the current state of affairs, 'a national disgrace.' They call for return to play-based teaching, warning the nation is 'blindly pursuing educational policies that could well damage the intellectual, social and physical development of an entire generation.'"

for report go to:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5100683/Crisis-in-the-Kindergarten-Why-Children-Need-to-Play-in-School

CALIFORNIA BRIEFING -- latimes.com

CALIFORNIA BRIEFING -- latimes.com:


"The Los Angeles Unified School District board is scheduled to vote today on the resolution, which would allow independent groups, including charters and an education group overseen by the mayor, to apply to take over campuses. The resolution originally targeted 50 schools scheduled to open over the next several years but was amended to include an additional 200 underperforming campuses.

Many unions and some board members and other elected officials have expressed concern with aspects of the resolution, saying that it could create a stratified education system that may not serve low-income students. Union leaders also complained that they had been left out of the process of creating the resolution."

State education law misguided, but so are Obama requirements - Opinion Blog

State education law misguided, but so are Obama requirements - Opinion Blog:

"The New York Legislature should repeal the legislation, or at least let it expire next year. But that decision should be a state one, not a federal one. Duncan's proposal to deny millions of dollars in potential grants to states that don't comply with his policy preferences is an example of the kind of federal overreach on education that many hoped had ended with the Bush administration. Bush's No Child Left Behind law -- a product of widespread bipartisan agreement -- greatly expanded the federal role in education, traditionally a state and local function. For the Obama administration to extend such intrusion by bullying states in areas like teacher evaluation and charter schools is both surprising and disappointing."

The Greatest Chicago Gang of Them All | Chicago Daily Observer

The Greatest Chicago Gang of Them All Chicago Daily Observer:

"Little wonder the parents of this historic, middle-class neighborhood—which changed from white to black in the 1970s—are so angry. Daley’s controversial Renaissance 2010 “school reform” project robbed them not only of a neighborhood school, but a name that still resonates through jazz history.
It goes back to 1922, when the 20’s were just starting to roar. A time when the “beer wars” were just about to begin and Al Capone was just another mope rising in the Chicago mob. Chicago was rugged and corrupt even then, but the ratatatatat of a tommy gun had not yet become its subtextual eponym."

Oregon's a slow starter in race to better schools - OregonLive.com

Oregon's a slow starter in race to better schools - OregonLive.com

Look, we're not yet completely sold on the claims that charter schools and performance pay are the end all, be all of school reform. And we still believe that the first step toward strengthening a school is to put a great principal in charge, surround her or him with teachers who are committed and work well together, and give kids -- every one of them -- the attention they need.

But what's going on with education here is not in the best Oregon tradition. This is a state that's been a bold, creative national trendsetter on everything from land-use planning to juvenile justice to protection of public beaches. And yet here we are, chugging along on schools, continually bickering over money and control, fighting most changes, and imagining all the while that we're actually in a race to the top.

Danny Weil: The Charter School Hype and How It's Managed

Danny Weil: The Charter School Hype and How It's Managed:

"As I worked on an investigation of charter schools my journey led me through a myriad of think tanks, front groups, advocacy organizations, and reform clubs and associations active in the controversy over charter schools. What I found particularly noticeable were literally hundreds of think tanks, many of which have been active in proposing charter school legislation for decades under the auspices of privatization. I was struck by how large these think tanks were and had become, how well-funded they seemed to be and how they have the ability to create multi-issue networks that can respond on a wide range of issues in a relatively short period of time, a plus in the 24/7 news cycle world within which we live. Many of the think tanks I visited in my research, though not all are also often the same think tanks that promote private vouchers, engage in anti-teacher rhetoric and encourage the privatization of education in general. It is important that as consumers of a great deal of think tank commentary and information about charter schools we take the time to analyze just what a think tank is, why they exist and whose interests they serve."

Judging teachers by test scores is wrong : Opinion : Ventura County Star

Judging teachers by test scores is wrong : Opinion : Ventura County Star:

"Children are the sum of their experiences and teachers are only a small part of the equation. Children arrive at school with various life experiences that hamper and hinder, or enhance their ability to learn. Teachers do not control these factors and, therefore, should not be penalized or rewarded because of them."