Education, other leaders call for state budget reform� Ventura County Star

Education, other leaders call for state budget reform� Ventura County Star:

"Pummeled by the state budget crisis and saying change is needed, local government and school officials listened to two plans for reforming California’s legislative and budget system at a forum this week.

“It has become no secret that our legislative process needs review and reformation, as evidenced by California’s recent budget struggles and with the political gridlock in Sacramento,” said John Walker, a Ventura Unified School District trustee who sits on the board of directors for the California School Boards Association.

“For some time, there has been keen interest in addressing our legislative and budgeting process. New directions are needed to get our state moving again,” he said."

State tries to attract math and science teachers | Politics | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

State tries to attract math and science teachers | Politics | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California:

"SACRAMENTO - Some would-be teachers will have a new and potentially faster way to receive credentials under this month's state legislation meant to improve California's chances of getting federal school-improvement money.

Inland Assemblyman Brian Nestande said the change should help ease the state's shortage of math, science and vocational instructors by attracting mid-career people who want to teach but are unwilling to spend months in a traditional credentialing program.

It's for someone who says, 'I don't need to spend a year of my life getting a credential when I probably know the issue better than anyone in the room teaching me,' said Nestande, R-Palm Desert, who is vice chairman of the Assembly Education Committee. 'Let's try something different and try to get those people into the classroom.'"

Measures 66 and 67: considering the educational losses | The Stump - OregonLive.com

Measures 66 and 67: considering the educational losses | The Stump - OregonLive.com:

"Economists understand that taxes have consequences. But the effect of Measures 66 and 67 on most businesses and individuals in Oregon will be minimal, and the state will remain one of the lowest business tax states in the country.

How low? According to the conservative Tax Foundation, even with the new taxes, Oregon will rank 14th in lowest tax states. Thus Oregon businesses are neither excessively burdened by taxes, nor likely to find greener pastures elsewhere. The effect of the new taxes on employment is therefore likely to be very small, and may be more than offset in the short run by jobs preserved in social services, public safety and education."

States' report card ignores family data - UPI.com

States' report card ignores family data - UPI.com:

"PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 12 (UPI) -- A California education researcher said a category in an education magazine's annual states' report card doesn't accurately assess student potential for success.

Margaret Raymond, director of the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University in Palo Alto, said the 'chance for success' area, one of six on the magazine Education Week's 'Quality Counts 2010' report cards, is not reliable in measuring a state's ability to help young people succeed, a release by Stanford University reported."

KCBS - State Lawmakers Approve Oil & Gas Tax for Education

KCBS - State Lawmakers Approve Oil & Gas Tax for Education:

"SACRAMENTO (KCBS) -- A state Assembly committee has passed legislation that would tax oil and gas companies who do business in California.

The Revenue and Taxation Committee approved the bill, authored by Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico of Fremont.

The bill would pass the extra tax revenue from oil and gas firms to the state's cash-strapped public higher education institutions.

The legislation now heads to the Assembly Appropriations Committee and will be heard on Thursday, January 21st.

Similar legislation has been vetoed by the governor in the past."

Charter leaders must disclose financial details and follow policy on disabled students | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Charter leaders must disclose financial details and follow policy on disabled students | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times:

"Charter school operators will have to disclose details about their personal financial holdings under a new policy unanimously adopted today by the Los Angeles Unified School District's Board of Education.

Officials also affirmed that charter schools will have to abide by a sweeping court settlement over services to disabled students.

Both requirements were opposed by the California Charter Schools Assn."

'If you've got a trade, you've got it made' - latimes.com

'If you've got a trade, you've got it made' - latimes.com:

"One repeated theme in President Obama's education agenda is that he wants the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. As he put it in an address to a joint session of Congress, 'We expect all our children not only to graduate from high school but to graduate from college and get a good-paying job.'

Although I applaud the president's strong commitment to higher education, he is seriously neglecting the importance of vocational training in school. Not every student needs to go to college. There are plenty of high school kids who find college-prep classes boring and irrelevant. Many drop out because they feel school is not preparing them for anything practical. Most of these kids are not lazy or defiant; they just want to work with their hands, learn a skill and pursue a solid, honorable, blue-collar trade after high school."

Glendale News Press > Education

Glendale News Press > Education:

"GLENDALE — Despite some misgivings, the Glendale Unified School District Board of Education has unanimously affirmed its intent to compete for a share of up to $700 million in federal grants.

But its application could be soiled by the Glendale Teachers Assn., which refused to sign on to the memorandum of understanding last week because of uncertainty in Sacramento. State education officials said the more signatures from each district, the stronger the application for funding.

“It’s the details; things had changed from the last draft, and they’re continuing to be changed,” said Tami Carlson, president of the teachers union.

The deadline for memos to the California Department of Education was Dec. 8 , which meant it was unlikely Glendale Unified’s application would carry the full complement of signatures as other districts."

Challenges abound for schools-over-prisons proposal

Challenges abound for schools-over-prisons proposal:

"Stanford professors say an amendment to the California constitution proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger that would require the state to invest more money in its public universities than its prisons will face many challenges before becoming actual legislation.

The proposal, which has been both lauded and criticized since the governor’s State of the State address last Wednesday, would require California to spend no less than 10 percent of its annual budget on higher education and no more than seven percent on prisons. It would nearly reverse the current situation: 7.5 percent and 11 percent of the budget are allotted to universities and prisons, respectively."

Beverly Hills Blocks Outside Students - NYTimes.com

Beverly Hills Blocks Outside Students - NYTimes.com:

"BEVERLY HILLS — During a contentious meeting ringed by police officers, the Beverly Hills school board voted Tuesday night to dismiss roughly 470 students enrolled in its schools on out-of-district permits.

The school system here has long opened its doors to students who live outside the district — currently about one in seven of its roughly 4,800 students — in large part because they brought a financial windfall for the system. But now, because cash-poor California has reduced local support to schools, including the reimbursements for out-of-district students, the so-called “permit students” are more of a burden to the schools than a boon."

One Hashtag Helps Educators Change Their Schools

One Hashtag Helps Educators Change Their Schools

Every day on Twitter, educators discuss issues they’re facing, share advice and pass on resources. But as Tom Whitbyfound out when he started debates on thesocial network, conversations can be hard to follow, especially when they’re mixed in with a bunch of tweets from other people.

That’s where the hashtag edchat comes in. Whitby worked with Shelly Terrell and Steven W. Anderson to provide a time, a place and a tag for educators to talk about major issues.

“We’re fostering a conversation that needs to be had,” said Anderson, an instructional technologist for 19 schools in North Carolina.
 

Edchat empowers educators to ask questions

When Anderson goes to educational conferences, he hears about all the wonderful things that schools have, such as smartboards and 1-1 laptop programs. But he

The Educated Guess � Race to Top czar: Competition works

The Educated Guess � Race to Top czar: Competition works:

"The woman overseeing Race to the Top for the Obama administration said Monday that federal Department of Education officials have been “stunned” by the impact of the program.

Before even a dollar has been handed out, states competing to win a share of the $4.3 billion program have enacted reforms on a level not seen before, Joanne Weiss, director of Race to the Top, told a conference at Stanford on turning failing schools around.

To boost the chances of winning money, states have eliminated limits on charter schools, changed methods for evaluating teachers and principals and enacted aggressive rules on intervening in failing schools. By removing the ban on using standardized test data for teacher evaluations, California took care of a prerequisite to applying for the money. Only Nevada, of 40 states that indicated an intent to apply, has eligibility problems, Weiss said."

From PhilanthropyRoundtable.org

Joanne S. Weiss
Chief Operating Officer
NewSchools Venture Fund

Joanne S. Weiss is partner and chief operating officer atNewSchools Venture Fund. She also sits on the boards of Leadership Public Schools, New Leaders for New Schools, and Teachscape. Ms. Weiss has spent twenty years in the design, development, and marketing of technology-based products and services for education. She was co-founder, interim CEO, and vice president of products and technologies at Academic Systems, a company that helps hundreds of thousands of college students prepare for college-level work in mathematics and English. In the early 1990s, Ms. Weiss was executive vice president of business operations at Wasatch Education Systems, where she led the product development, customer service, and operations organizations for this K-12 educational technology company. She began her career as vice president of education R&D at Wicat Systems, where she was responsible for the development of nearly 100 multimedia curriculum products for K-12 schools.

Education Research Report: 'Essential Supports' for School Reform

Education Research Report:

'Essential Supports' for School Reform

"Leaders looking for ways to improve learning in urban schools can depend on five key factors which, when working together, have proven to boost student achievement, according to a landmark study that led to a new book, Organizing Schools for Improvement, Lessons from Chicago.

The results emerged from a study of 390 Chicago public elementary schools over a seven-year period following the implementation of a 1988 law that increased decision-making at the local school level.

The authors of the study, current and former researchers with the Consortium on Chicago School Research, part of the Urban Education Institute at the University of Chicago, said those five essential supports are school leadership, parent and community ties, professional capacity of the faculty, a student-centered learning climate and a coherent instructional plan. They were effective in a wide variety of schools, including especially troubled ones. By looking closely at the social context in which schools are embedded, the book provides new insight into why schools in communities with high rates of crime and poverty struggle with improving student outcomes."

California Teacher of the Year Among National Finalists - Year 2010 (CA Dept of Education)

California TOY Among National Finalists - Year 2010 (CA Dept of Education)

Schools Chief Jack O'Connell Congratulates California
Teacher of the Year Selected as a National Finalist

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today congratulated Kelly Kovacic, a 2010 California Teacher of the Year, for her selection as one of four 2010 National Teacher of the Year finalists.

"Ms. Kovacic's passion for teaching makes her a natural educator," O'Connell said. "During her relatively eight short years in the classroom, she has made a tremendous impact on the lives of her students. Kelly has an innate ability to transcend the boundaries of her students' world and provide them with the education, encouragement, and resolve to overcome hurdles and realize their own potential."

In addition to California, teachers from Florida, Iowa, and Michigan were also named National Teacher of the Year finalists today. The announcement came from the Council of Chief State School Officers, which oversees the program. For more information, please go to: National Teacher of the Year Program (Outside Source).

Ms. Kovacic teaches twelfth grade Advance Placement U.S. Government and Politics and eleventh grade Advanced Placement U.S. History at The Preuss School, a charter school established in 1999 on the University of California, San Diego campus in La Jolla. The school provides a rigorous college-preparatory education for motivated low-income students who all live below the poverty level.

Ms. Kovacic, who is one of four 2010 California Teachers of the Year and also a 2010 Teacher of the Year for the San Diego Unified School District, graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. She earned a Master of Arts degree in Education from Stanford University, where she also received a California Professional Clear Credential.

"I am extremely honored to be chosen as a finalist," Ms. Kovacic said. "It is an exciting opportunity to be an advocate for teachers, students, and public education.More than anything else, this honor is recognition of the dedicated and hard working students, staff, and teaching colleagues I have the privilege to work with each day at The Preuss School."

Since the National Teacher of the Year Program began in 1952, six National Teachers of the Year have been named from California, including the program's first National Teacher, Geraldine Jones, who taught in Santa Barbara. Chauncey Veatch, a history and social studies teacher at Coachella Valley High School in Thermal, was the most recent California winner who received the honor in 2002.

Ms. Kovacic's selection marks the third consecutive year that a California teacher has reached the national finals. During the two preceding years, Alex Kajitani, a mathematics teacher also known as the Rappin' Mathematician at Mission Middle School in the Escondido Union (Elementary) School District in San Diego County, and Lewis Chappelear, an engineering design teacher at James Monroe High School in North Hills in the Los Angeles Unified School District, were both named National Teacher of the Year finalists.

The 2010 winner is expected to be announced in April.

Schools Matter: Weingarten to Hire Fed Pay Czar to Develop Plan to Fire Teachers

Schools Matter: Weingarten to Hire Fed Pay Czar to Develop Plan to Fire Teachers:

"Everyone who has followed Weingarten's ascendancy to her position as AFT President knew that she had been the pick of the Oligarchs. Her earlier sweet talk about gutting the teaching profession with pay per score plans had earned her the Business Roundtable's seal of approval, and now she is returning the favor by shifting her tepid endorsement of weakening ethical teaching into a full-blown advocacy for busting her own union. Randi Weingarten should be recalled by the AFT membership, and she should be put out to pasture with the other nags."

SCUSD Observer: Dream Money

SCUSD Observer: Dream Money:

"Dream Money

As many school boards in the U.S. hesitate, Race to the Top dollars come under a deadline. Our school board will discuss it tonight.
In Educational Utopia, here is how our board would appropriate this urgent money from the sky, and also how our teachers and parents could shake hands:


E-21 holds up its end-of-the-bargain without private charter monies.
Our teachers and their union work to create a pipeline with state and federal agencies to give their collective more bargaining power.
The test-proofworthy-poorest-ESLL schools remain shielded from"

Mariner and Microsoft Offer Second Interactive Web Series for K-12 Educators

Mariner and Microsoft Offer Second Interactive Web Series for K-12 Educators

Monthly Four-part Series Provides Insight into Data-Driven Initiatives

January 06, 2010 08:00 AM Eastern Time 

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Mariner and Microsoft invite school district and Department of Education leaders to a series of Web sessions, beginning January 19, 2010 and continuing through April 20, 2010. The series, entitled “Managing for Performance: From the School to the State House,” highlights education analytics that improve student achievement and are the backbone of data-driven initiatives in K-12 organizations across the country.

“The effective use of data is essential to the success of managing for performance”

The speakers, including innovative K-12 leaders from several school districts and a state DOE, will share the experiences and knowledge that they have gained in their data-driven and performance management initiatives with Mariner Education Division’s guidance. Scheduled for the third Tuesday of each month from 11:00-11:30a.m. (EST), the sessions will provide participants with an opportunity to interact with school district and Department of Education leaders to learn about strategies to improve student achievement, transparency and accountability. Registration for one or more of the Web Series sessions is available at: www.mariner-usa.com/webseries.htm.

“The effective use of data is essential to the success of managing for performance,” said David “Fitz” Fitzgerald, Mariner’s Education Practice Manager and one of the Web Series’ featured speakers. “We’ve learned from our experiences with districts and DOEs that teachers and principals need easy access to data views and education analytics to drive improvements in instruction and student outcomes.”

From Strategy to Students: Realizing the Visions

Jonathan Raymond, Superintendent, Sacramento Unified School District

Mr. Raymond, advocate and practitioner of data-driven decision making, draws from a powerful combination of wide-ranging and relevant professional experience and a strong commitment to diversity, students, parents, and community engagement in his district leadership role.

Education Research Report: Quality Counts Grades Unfair to Poor States

Education Research Report:

Quality Counts Grades Unfair to Poor States

"As Education Week magazine prepares to release its annual report card for states, Quality Counts 2010, education researcher Margaret Raymond and a team of researchers from CREDO at Stanford University warn that one set of grades on the report card is not reliable.

Quality Counts assigns grades to states in six areas, including “chance-for-success,” which attempts to measure a state’s capacity for helping young people succeed. But according to Raymond and her colleagues, the Chance-for-Success Index does not accurately measure the school system’s contributions to outcomes for students.

“Nowhere do the Quality Counts editors show how or why the Chance-for-Success Index is a good predictor of success,” Raymond and her colleagues write in “Quality Counts and the Chance-for-Success Index.”"

Sacramento Press / Stonewall Democrats Kickoff Election Season with Strong Mayor Forum

Sacramento Press / Stonewall Democrats Kickoff Election Season with Strong Mayor Forum:

"The Stonewall Democratic Club of Greater Sacramento’s voter forum on the Strong Mayor Initiative served as the unofficial kickoff to the 2010 June Election season. Monday, over one hundred Sacramentans listened as the pros and cons of the Strong Mayor Initiative were debated and the majority and minority perspectives on the Charter Review Commission’s report were discussed.

“I’m ecstatic about the turnout. It once again shows Sacramentans are committed to civic engagement,' Stonewall President Chris Moore said. 'Far too often very substantial changes to public policy are made via the ballot box without appropriate vetting. Tonight we’re trying to give more opportunity for folks to consider the merits of the initiative that we will be voting on.”

The evening was moderated by Sacramento State Professor of Communications, Jacqueline Irwin who welcomed the group with thoughts of Aristotle and the importance of civic engagement in our city."

Angst Still Felt at South Philly High

Angst Still Felt at South Philly High:

"It has been over a month since the racial attacks erupted at South Philadelphia High School, but students and community leaders said school district officials are refusing to take accountability for the incidents.

Asian Pacific American community organizers said the tension between students began about a year ago when five to six Asian Pacific American students were chased into a subway station and allegedly assaulted. Students reached out for help, according to its organizers. They described routine harassment at school: milk being thrown at them in the cafeteria, kids assaulting them in the cafeteria and bathrooms, money being stolen from them in the bathrooms, and more.

Requests to install security cameras and hire a bilingual security officer were made after that incident, said APA community leaders. It was not until after the highly publicized Dec. 3 attacks, they said, that those requests were addressed."