voiceofsandiego.org: Bright and Early

Bright and Early

I've got a busy day ahead of me, what with parents pushing for California to go for more stimulus dollars and San Diego Unified fielding your suggestions at a budget town hall. If you want all the gory details, follow me on Twitter! If not, just hunker down with the newsblitz:

We blog that bond overseers are trying to safeguard the schoo' from the 'brary if the schoobrary comes to pass, by hammering out guidelines for the deal between San Diego Unified and the city for the library school lease.

Record numbers of students applied to the local California State universities, the Union-Tribune reports. KPBS provides the numbers too. Yet Capitol Weekly reports that California might still face a brain drain of college students.

Do You Want to Better The World? | SocialEarth

Do You Want to Better The World? SocialEarth:

"Similar to Everywun, points are earned by viewing ads and thus socially responsible companies advertise on the site.
Better The World currently has signed up nonprofits such as World Wildlife Fund, Trickle Up, Children’s Miracle Network, United Way and Habitat for Humanity. And they are looking for more.

Monthly contests are also held as a way to keep you earning points. This month’s contest is a drawing for an Apple Macbook and only the top 20 point-earners for the month get a chance to be in the drawing (they also will be drawing from all members for an Ipod Touch).
Convinced? Start Better(ing) The World today! Join now."

The Educated Guess » California’s Trot to the Top

The Educated Guess » California’s Trot to the Top:

"Forty-six days and counting, holidays included, before the state’s Race to the Top application is due in Arne Duncan’s hands. But if the state’s plan is any closer to completion than last week or last month, the state officials leading the effort aren’t saying.

At the last hearing on Race to the Top before the Assembly’s Education Committee on Wednesday, Deputy Superintendent Rick Miller and Kathryn Radtkey-Gaither, the governor’s undersecretary in his Office of Education, were mum on details. One got the distinct sense that they weren’t being cagey because they’re worried that Texas will steal their ideas. Its’ because the plan is still largely unformed."

Bill would expand who could grant a teaching credential

Jumping ahead of the expected release today of the Assembly’s version of Race to the Top legislation, Republican Assemblyman Brian Nestande of Palm Desert has introduced three bills of his own.

Two deal with alternative ways to bring teachers into the profession. The third would make it slightly easier to get rid of those who end up performing badly.
At Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s urging, legislators are considering ways that might improve the state’s shot at a piece of the U.S. Department of Education’s $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition. Nestande’s bills would tangentially address what Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has targeted as the biggest priority of Race to the Top funding: ways to improve teacher performance.

ABX5-5 would create the biggest change. It would enable non-traditional organizations – business groups or charter schools, perhaps – to begin awarding teacher credentials, just as California Start University campuses do.

University education departments have been broadly criticized for mediocre credentialing programs. So one can make a case for alternative programs for attracting candidates to teaching – especially those entering the profession mid-career. In additon, charter school organizations may want to train their own teachers with different values and skills. (High Tech High, a charter management organization in San Diego, already does run its own credentialing program.)

Sacramento Press / Another group of California's finest honored at the Hall of Fame

Sacramento Press / Another group of California's finest honored at the Hall of Fame:

"It must have been a surreal experience for those on the RT at 10th and O streets to spot the likes of John Madden, Carol Burnett and George Lucas walking down the red carpet in their awards-show best at the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

Anyone who actually got off at the stop may have caught Burnett's signature Tarzan call or had a chance for Lucas to sign any surface capable to be written on. Dozens of others, however, thought ahead and brought glossy “Star Wars,” “Terminator” and sports stills for Lucas, Gov. Schwarzenegger and Madden to sign, respectively."

The occasion for this "who’s who" of California’s best, 13 in all, was their induction into the state’s Hall of Fame (Schwarzenegger and first lady Maria Shriver were hosting, not being inducted). Before the evening’s ceremony, the honorees received a justified red carpet treatment for their accomplishments.

Bestselling author Danielle Steel’s gold jewelry glowed in contrast to her simple, black outfit. Burnett was just as warm and funny off camera as she has been since the mid-1960s, even taking time to joke with a group of young girls carrying signs reading “I love Carol."

General Chuck Yeager, being one of the bravest American men in history, was remarkably down-to-Earth considering he’s spent so much of his life thousands of feet above it. Though Andy Grove looks like any other conservatively dressed businessman downtown, he is responsible for every major advancement in computing and technology in the past half century with his invention of the silicon-based chip.

Rafer Johnson could have easily beaten his fellow inductees down the carpet in a footrace, but instead chose to saunter along with the confidence

2theadvocate.com | Education | Pastorek: Data will let public see how schools are doing — Baton Rouge, LA

2theadvocate.com Education Pastorek: Data will let public see how schools are doing — Baton Rouge, LA:

"LAFAYETTE — Within the next 30 days, the Louisiana Department of Education will post “succinct” district-level data to better educate the public about the state of their schools, said state schools Superintendent Paul Pastorek on Tuesday.

While data is available on the state Web site, it’s not exactly user-friendly for the average parent or layperson.

The intention is to “create a guide for Joe Six-Pack to go to a school board and ask questions,” Pastorek said. “… You have to step up armed with information and change the dialogue.”"

Pastorek spoke Tuesday in Lafayette as part of The Independent Weekly’s lecture series. The majority in the audience of about 100 were either educators or members of the business community.

“What do you want for Lafayette? I promise you what you’re getting is what you want,” Pastorek said.

Communities across the state need to ask the tough questions of their board members if they want to see dramatic changes, Pastorek said.

He used N.P. Moss Middle School as an example. For the second year in a row, the school’s performance scores fell below 60 and earned it an academically unacceptable label.

WNYC - News - Brooklyn Principal Wonders What She'll Cut Next

WNYC - News - Brooklyn Principal Wonders What She'll Cut Next:

"NEW YORK, NY December 02, 2009 —City principals are gearing up for another round of budget cuts. The Education Department is preparing a 1.5 percent reduction to help the city close its mid-year deficit. That might not sound like a lot. But it follows a previous round of cuts that principals say has left the schools with no place left to trim. WNYC’s Beth Fertig visited an elementary school in East New York to see the impact.

AVERY: Ms Huger? Want to come next?"

It’s 9 a.m. and Principal Melessa Avery of P.S. 273 in Brooklyn is looking at a packed schedule. She has to observe a few classes, meet with her cabinet, and hold a fire safety meeting.

Administrative manager Janet Huger helps Avery plan her day. The safety meeting has to include a teacher who’s also the union rep. But Huger and Avery say there’s no one to cover for him if he leaves the classroom.

HUGER: Normally we would have people to do coverages for that. We don’t have that anymore. That was a luxury last year. That’s gone. AVERY: Because of budget cuts we don’t have like the extra staff.

Principal Avery had to let go of five of her 27 teachers, because the school’s budget was reduced by half a million dollars. To avoid a big increase in class sizes she made science and social studies teachers into classroom teachers. Kindergarten enrollment grew, however, and she was forced to hire another teacher recently.

If the 1.5 percent budget cut is applied equally to all schools, P.S. 273 will lose $63,000. Principal Avery is stumped when asked what she’ll cut next.

Fenty names school official as D.C. parks chief - washingtonpost.com

Fenty names school official as D.C. parks chief - washingtonpost.com:

"Mayor Adrian M. Fenty tapped a District public school administrator Wednesday to head the Department of Parks and Recreation after the rocky six-month tenure of an acting director who was ultimately rejected by the D.C. Council."

As interim director, Jesús Aguirre will be in place for six months without having to go before the council for confirmation. Fenty (D) said he would decide after that period whether he would nominate Aguirre to be Ximena Hartsock's permanent replacement.

Hartsock, who conducted exit interviews with council members Tuesday, will stay in the Fenty administration as an analyst in the office of City Administrator Neil O. Albert. The council voted 7 to 5 in October not to confirm her as parks chief.

Aguirre's appointment ends one of several feuds between the council and Fenty over what council members see as the mayor's ongoing lack of respect for their authority. After the council rejected Hartsock's nomination, Fenty named her interim director, a move council members considered a backhanded way to override the vote.

Education Notes Online: New Action Supported UFT Charter Schools

Education Notes Online: New Action Supported UFT Charter Schools:

"This comment

Thank God for New Action. The UFT needs change. The UFT needs to start to fight for its members who are fighting with all their might, all on their own against charter schools. It is terrible the UFT, the teachers unions, is sitting back and doing NOTHING! That is what teachers pay for and the UFT does absolutely NOTHING!

at the Gotham Schools posting that made it seem New Action was an opposition caucus led to my response below:

New Action at one time used to be for change, but as partners with the UFT leadership for the past 7 years that is all over. They used to actually have a decent platform calling the UFT leadership undemocratic and calling for democratization of the union. Now that they got theirs, all that has disappeared."

How can the UFT fight charter schools when they have two of their own? And occupying space in public schools. And New Action supported them all the way, with some New Action members volunteering in the charters. ICE and TJC were opposed to the establishment of the charters because it was clear what was coming down the line and having their own charters would make a fight impossible. The UFT strategy was to "show them we can do it with a union contract," which New Action has supported. Then they sign a contract with Green Dot charter, also not opposed by New Action. Now their strategy is not to oppose charters but to try to organize them. Sort of like going back to the 1950's. The charters will remove public schools and the UFT will try to sell charter school teachers on the concept of "look how incompetent we have been in defending NYC teachers, now give us a chance to screw you too."

Class Struggle - Teacher incentive watch: why Prince George's County matters

Class Struggle - Teacher incentive watch: why Prince George's County matters:

"I'm not used to seeing good ideas coming out of Prince George's County, Md., the most troublesome of the Washington area's suburban school districts. When superintendent John Deasy, a very creative educator, left Prince George's last year for the big bucks and power of the Gates Foundation, the district's reputation took another blow. But my colleague Nelson Hernandez reveals that Deasy left behind him a remarkably clever plan for teacher and principal bonuses, something those of us uncertain about this latest hot fad should be watching carefully for the next few years.

Deasy's chosen successor, Bill Hite, has preserved the FIRST (Financial Incentive Rewards for Supervisors and Teachers) plan and announced the initial round of $1.1 million in bonuses. The money went to 279 employees in 12 schools, the teacher bonuses averaging around $5,000 each."


Would suburban parents send their kids to D.C. schools?

[This is my Local Living section column for Dec. 3, 2009]

A leader in the national effort to raise the achievement of low-income children once told me how she became, to her amused surprise, one of those rare suburban Washington parents who pay tuition to send their children to D.C. public schools.

She grew up in a white, blue-collar family far from Washington. Her children attended economically diverse schools, but when she got a big job in D.C. the people at her new office, despite their shared commitment to improving urban education, told her she would be nuts to put her kids in the D.C. system. Uncertain what to do in a strange new city, she bowed to this unanimous view and bought a house in Montgomery County, never anticipating what happened next.

One of her children didn’t like the Maryland schools. She dreamed of life on the stage and wanted to attend the Duke Ellington School of the Arts on R Street NW. This parent had raised her children to care about the nation’s ethnic and social divisions. She couldn’t say no to her daughter attending a well-regarded public school that happened to have a large number of disadvantaged students, even if it was going to cost her $10,000 a year.

Insideschools.org » Principal’s Perspective: Ted Sizer’s legacy

Insideschools.org » Principal’s Perspective: Ted Sizer’s legacy:

"“Inspiration, hunger: these are the qualities that drive good schools. The best we [educators] can do is to create the most likely conditions for them to flourish, and then get out of their way.” — Ted Sizer, Founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools

Several weeks ago, I attended the Fall Forum of the Coalition of Essential Schools,an organization started 25 years ago by Ted Sizer, a great man who passed away in October. I was both inspired and saddened.

Saddened because I see the ways in which movements to create and sustain innovative places of learning can be marginalized due to the intense testing pressure that school leaders face. It takes much longer, and is much harder, to create a nurturing community of learners, and to change the beliefs and values of adults to create that culture, than it is to look at and analyze test scores."

New York Legislature Passes Bills on Budget and Pensions - NYTimes.com

New York Legislature Passes Bills on Budget and Pensions - NYTimes.com:

"ALBANY — Lawmakers took baby steps toward bringing spending restraint and more-rigorous government oversight to the capital on Wednesday by closing most of a $3.2 billion state budget deficit, scaling back pension benefits for new government employees and overhauling the public authority system."

But the measures were greeted coolly by financial watchdogs, who said that lawmakers had made so many concessions that they had done little to change the fundamental problems that state government has faced.

Still, the developments were largely good news for Gov. David A. Paterson on a day when legalizing same-sex marriage, arguably his signature issue, was handily defeated in the Senate. And they were also a rare sign of functionality from the narrowly divided Senate, which has often struggled to vote on any subject.

For several months, the governor has pushed lawmakers to pass the pension legislation. The agreement offers new employees less-generous pension benefits, raising the retirement age of many new government workers to 62 from 55 and increasing their required contributions into the pension system, the first such scaling back of benefits in more than 25 years.

Education Week: U.S. Solicits Input for New Ed-Tech Plan

Education Week: U.S. Solicits Input for New Ed-Tech Plan:

"Federal education officials are soliciting input for a new plan for educational technology that would put student learning at the center of the nation’s strategy for transforming schooling in the digital age.

But even though today’s Web 2.0 tools can spread information broadly and quickly and foster collaboration on such projects, the effort has apparently been slow in attracting recommendations from educators and ed-tech experts that could help guide its development, some people in the field say."

“The new plan is a critical component to moving education forward in the digital age,” said Donald G. Knezek, the executive director of the International Society for Technology in Education, or ISTE, based in Washington. “The draft is shaping up to have all the right placeholders focused on learning and effective and competent teaching.
“But the important thing now is to put the meat on those placeholders,” he said, “so they have got to have educators and sophisticated education leadership to get their ideas in there.”
So far, those voices are scarce among the comments highlighted on the Web site set up to collect input on the plan.

Education Week: Broader Role Outlined for District Ed-Tech Leaders

Education Week: Broader Role Outlined for District Ed-Tech Leaders:

"Reflecting the expanding responsibilities of technology directors and heightened demand for schools to build students’ 21st-century skills, the Consortium for School Networking has updated its framework detailing how chief technology officers can become educational leaders in their districts.

The revised “Framework of Essential Skills of the K-12 Chief Technology Officer,” to be released today, comes as education leaders are increasingly looking to digital tools to improve teaching and learning. The new document by the Washington-based consortium, known as CoSN, outlines recommendations for professional development for chief technology officers and could eventually provide the basis for certification for those in the field, consortium officials write in the introduction to the framework."

Teacher Magazine: Women Underrepresented in School Leadership Roles?

Teacher Magazine: Women Underrepresented in School Leadership Roles?:

"While women hold nearly eight out of 10 teaching positions in North Carolina, far fewer are found as principals or administrators.

The Asheville Citizen Times reports that slightly more than half of all principals and top district administrators in North Carolina last year were women. That's despite the fact that women hold almost 80 percent of all teaching jobs.

Of all school district superintendents, 84 percent are men. However, the state's top job belongs to a woman. June Atkinson was elected North Carolina's first female state superintendent of public instruction in 2004, although she recently went to court after Gov. Beverly Perdue appointed Bill Harrison to the State Board of Education and made him her choice to run the schools"

Bookshare - Accessible Books for Individuals with Print Disabilities

Bookshare - Accessible Books for Individuals with Print Disabilities

Accessible Books and Periodicals for Readers with Print Disabilities

Bookshare™ is free for all U.S. students with qualifying disabilities. Student memberships are currently funded by an award from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).

Bookshare dramatically increases the accessibility of books. Bookshare believes that people with disabilities deserve the same ease of access to books and periodicals that people without disabilities enjoy.

A searchable online library. Bookshare offers more than 60,000 digital books, textbooks, teacher-recommended reading, periodicals and assistive technology tools.
Readers of all ages. Bookshare offers affordable membership, unlimited library privileges and a community of Members, Volunteers, parents, publishers and authors.
Latest Bookshare News and Events:

U.S. Dept of Education Grants Funding to Bookshare to Convert Open Content Textbooks to Accessible Formats

Encyclopaedia Britannica Grants Digital Rights to Bookshare

K-12 Publications, Parent Magazines and Educational Organizations Talk About the Benefits of Bookshare

This project is supported by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (Cooperative Agreement #H325U040001). Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the U.S. Department of Education.

Betraying students - SignOnSanDiego Newsletter - SignOnSanDiego.com

Betraying students - SignOnSanDiego Newsletter - SignOnSanDiego.com:

"California is in an enormous financial bind. The deep recession has sent state revenue plunging.

Our leaders have addressed this fiscal migraine in two ways. In February, the Legislature adopted the largest single tax hike of any state in U.S. history, raising income and sales taxes and the annual vehicle registration fee and reducing the tax credit for dependents. It also forced cuts in virtually every area of government – including for public schools, which depend on state funding.

But in a May special election, state voters signaled loudly and clearly that they were against further tax hikes. Among the measures they decisively rejected was one guaranteeing billions of dollars would be sent to public schools in the future when state revenue rebounded.

The election results led to renewed wrangling over the budget – and an acceptance by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican lawmakers and a surprising number of their Democratic colleagues that spending cuts were how the public wanted to deal with red ink. In July, this understanding – along with a few of the usual gimmicks – led to a revised budget with a new round of cuts for schools."

Time Magazine Declares Yudof a Top University President | City on a Hill Press

Time Magazine Declares Yudof a Top University President City on a Hill Press:

"A week before the UC Regents voted to increase fees by 32.5 percent, the Nov. 23 issue of Time Magazine named UC President Mark Yudof as one of the 10 best college presidents in the United States. Yudof was acknowledged for repairing the nearly bankrupt UC system and was chosen because he “tools around dilapidated campuses and fixes them.”

The University Office of the President (UCOP) said it is very proud of the recognition.
“He is being recognized for his lifetime achievement of dedication to higher education,” said UC Spokesman Pete Kanes. “He has a way of making universities better places when he leaves than when he got there, like he did at Texas and Minnesota … he makes decisions based on what he thinks is right for the university, even if it makes him unpopular.”"

Black Voice News Online

Black Voice News Online:

"The Obama Administration has allocated $4.35 billion dollars in education grants for states to support innovative programs that will lift those districts with students at the bottom on par with our successful students.

States will have to alter the way they have tried to solve this problem by changing policies, allocating resources, measuring results, and involving staff, parents, community and private industry. They will also have to remove the cap on charter schools as well as challenge the well established traditional professional system of educating kids in urban schools as we seek “Race to the Top” funds. Here is the problem in California for African American students:

There are 454,780 or 7.3% Black students in California public schools. We only have 13,115 or 4.3% Black teachers in our classrooms. We have the highest drop-out rate of any group at 32.9%, which is 10% higher than the next group. Out of the 26,026 Black students that graduated in 2007/08 only 6,060 had the required courses to enter our UC/CSU campuses of higher learning. This is 23.3% of those that graduated. Our Academic Performance Index rating is at 659 which is far below the target score of 800 we would like for it to be. The sad thing about our failing or low performing schools is the longer Black students stay in school the worse things get for them. For example in our 2nd through 6th grades Black students scored at 705; in 7th through 8th grade they scored 649 and 612 in 9th through 12th grades."

Alameda Sun - Ed Board Mulls Over New Curriculum

Alameda Sun - Ed Board Mulls Over New Curriculum:

"Alameda Unified School District board of education members were presented with a recommendation for an anti-bullying and harassment curriculum to be taught in Alameda's schools at its Nov. 24 meeting. The new curriculum, if passed, would replace the controversial Lesson 9, the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender (LGBT) anti-bullying and harassment curriculum that the school board approved earlier this year.

Though board discussion on the possible new curriculum lasted for nearly two and a half hours, board members still seemed unsure of how exactly the curriculum, if approved, would be implemented. Last August, AUSD Superintendant Kristin Vital asked Interim Assistant Superintendant Ruben Zepeda to investigate a new curriculum. The new program would help teachers educate students on why they should not bully or harass people in the six protected classes mentioned in California's Education Code 200: disability, gender, nationality, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. The new curriculum would have to explicitly address how not to bully or harass these six groups."

UC Education Programs Should Serve as a National Model | City on a Hill Press

UC Education Programs Should Serve as a National Model City on a Hill Press:

"While it’s common for the nation to engage in lengthy debates about the state of our nation’s schools, teacher preparation is rarely mentioned inside that discussion. Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, recently put a laser focus on teacher education in a speech in which he detailed a long history of attacks on the low quality of teacher education. Based on his assessment, teacher education must make comprehensive reforms so that student achievement is at the core of its work. There is no counter-argument to this proposal. The job of a teacher is to create opportunities for students to grow academically and teacher education must prepare teachers to be successful in achieving that goal.

We are pleased to report that the teacher education programs within the University of California have already put student achievement at the forefront and are now counted as among the best in the nation, providing research-based, proven practices combined with extensive experience in schools. In fact, we would recommend to Mr. Duncan that our model could serve to improve teacher education nationwide. Here are some of the reasons why:"