Thursday, January 28, 2010

Revised AP courses will emphasize concepts, not memorization - washingtonpost.com

Revised AP courses will emphasize concepts, not memorization - washingtonpost.com:

"If someone told you the College Board was about to rip apart the SAT and rebuild it, would that excite/surprise/aggravate/frighten you? Me too. It's about to happen, not to the SAT, but to our nation's second-most influential test, Advanced Placement, with large consequences for our high schools and colleges.

The AP program has such a tight grip on the school curricula of suburban areas such as ours that it has come close to inspiring the same fear and consternation as the SAT and ACT. I think that's good. AP is better than the SAT or ACT. It is a challenging series of courses in three dozen subjects ending in three-hour exams, independently written and graded with many essay questions, that can earn college credit and encourage thought and analysis."

Influx of Immigrants Prompts School District Battles - WSJ.com

PLANO, Texas—This Dallas suburb, a wealthy enclave known for its top-notch schools, is struggling to integrate a flood of poor, minority students.

In a battle mirrored in other districts across the U.S., parents here have been fighting for months over which public high school their kids will attend: one under construction in an affluent corner of the Plano Independent School District, or an older school several miles away in the city's more diverse downtown.

Last month, the district's school board angered many parents when it created a Pac-Man-shaped zone that placed their children in the downtown school for grades nine and 10 instead of in the newer, closer campus.

The downtown school has the highest proportion of poor students of all high schools in the district; many are Hispanic and African-American.

"We want to go to our neighborhood school," said Kelly McBrayer, a white, 48-year-old stay-at-home mother of three who lives near the site of the new high school.

Mrs. McBrayer and other parents from her neighborhood held a silent protest at a recent school-board meeting. They wore black T-shirts with the shape of the new attendance zone in bright pink and the message "Pac-Man in your neighborhood soon?"

A study in sabotage: Teachers union torpedoed state's shot at $700M

The teachers union played a more destructive role than previously understood in all but certainly scuttling New York's shot at as much as $700 million in federal education funding. Surprise. Surprise.

Well known is how the United Federation of Teacherspressured lawmakers to support anti-charter school poison pills, undermining the state's application for Race to the Top aid. But there was more to the union's sabotage.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan established grant criteria that included using student performance data to boost achievement and assess teacher effectiveness. Duncan also required states to show the support of local districts and unions.

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News � Oregon Voters Deliver Game-Changing Victory

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News Oregon Voters Deliver Game-Changing Victory

Pundits like to claim California voters are anti-tax. Of course, we've raised various all kinds of taxes at the state level -- including the Prop 10 cigarette taxes in 1998, and the Prop 63 millionaire's tax for mental health programs passed in 2004. Still, even though our reputation remains, we've got nothing on Oregon, where no tax has been approved by statewide voters since1930.

Until now. On Tuesday, Oregon voters delivered a huge victory for progressives by approving Measures 66 and 67 -- raising taxes on incomes over $250,000 and large corporations to generate $733 million to close the state's budget deficit. The Oregon legislature had approved the taxes last summer, but a corporate / teabagger alliance organized to put it to voters in a referendum.

One wonders if the national media will cover this victory at all - much less at the levels of the Massachusetts Senate race. Although they'll almost certainly ignore it, the lessons for California are enormous and extremely important.

Mineral King Publishing - The Exeter Sun & The Lindsay Gazette

Mineral King Publishing - The Exeter Sun & The Lindsay Gazette:

"The race began even before fundingwas available. Local school districts are divided about the federal Race to the Top (RTTT) program, but throughout the nation and certainly California, those looking for any funding they can get in a cash strapped economy are weighing in.

Under the Obama Administration guidelines, Race to the Top Fund provides competitive grants to encourage and reward States that are creating the conditions for education innovation and reform; implementing ambitious plans in the four education reform areas described in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA); and achieving significant improvement in student outcomes, including making substantial gains in student achievement, closing achievement gaps, improving high school graduation rates, and ensuring that students are prepared for success in college and careers."

Interned Japanese eligible for degrees Daily Pilot - Serving Newport Beach & Costa Mesa, California

Daily Pilot - Serving Newport Beach Costa Mesa, California

Interned Japanese eligible for degrees

If you’re a Japanese American who was sent off to an internment camp while World War II played out, you could now qualify for an honorary degree from a state university or University of California campus, and any of the community colleges in California, including Orange Coast College and UC Irvine.

The special program is part of a state Assembly bill signed into law last fall by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The monumental task of finding some of these former prisoners, many of whom are in their 80s and 90s, is beginning to take shape statewide.

The program intends to rectify the educational gaps that Japanese internees suffered through their wartime relocation and imprisonment at internment camps scattered in remote locations around California and other Western states.

The WIP Contributors: California’s Prison Spending Grows While the State Budget Shrinks

As I sit and write this, a young man sits in County Jail awaiting his sentence. Three years ago he was involved in a fight while in juvenile hall for drug related charges. This fight made him eligible for Division of Juvenile Justice, formerly known as California Youth Authority (I prefer to call it Gladiator School). However, it‘s not the fight that will likely send him to DJJ - it’s the two drug tests he failed in a row.

My client is a drug addict; he has not committed another violent offense. Since his time with me, he has enrolled in adult school, has set his sights on college, and has survived circumstances that would make most of us lie down in the fetal position and give up. And yet this young man can still be sent to prison or spend extended time in County Jail for smoking marijuana. Since the beginning of my employment in the California Juvenile Justice System as a Social Worker, I’ve come to accept that most of the

Byron Williams: Court decision creates radical new political environment - San Jose Mercury News

Parcel tax for schools will appear on June ballot - San Jose Mercury News

Following a lengthy report detailing how Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest budget proposal could widen Milpitas Unified School District's deficit even further from $1.5 million to nearly $7 million over the next two years, if passed trustees swiftly and unanimously adopted a resolution to levy a parcel tax for the June 8 election on Tuesday evening.

"It's sad to hear our report tonight on the governor's proposed budget and what it's really going to do to us but I think everybody in the state is in that boat too," said Board of Education Vice President Michael Mendizabal. "And this time the community has a chance to decide now if we're going to stay on the boat or get on one that's a little bit better."

Now that the resolution has been approved, approximately $84,000 from the building fund will be paid to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters for school district participation in California's June primary election (with a March 10 filing fee). If passed by the necessary two-thirds of voters at that time, an $84 yearly tax for five years will be levied on all parcels of taxable real property in the district in order to collect revenues by the end of 2010. The resolution states that an exemption from payment of the special tax may be granted on any parcel owned by one or more persons 65 years of age or older who occupies the parcel as a principal residence, upon application for exemption. At this time, district officials have not decided how such a process would

Pasadena Unified puts parcel tax on May ballot | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Pasadena Unified puts parcel tax on May ballot | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times:

"Pasadena residents will vote on a parcel tax for schools in May. The Pasadena school board unanimously voted to put the tax on the ballot at Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

The levy would be $120 per residential and commercial parcel each year for five years, with exemptions for low-income seniors, officials said. It would raise an estimated $7.1 million annually beginning next fall.

Like other California school districts, Pasadena Unified has suffered funding reductions because of the state’s ongoing budget crisis."

City Brights: Erica Sandberg : Excellent education: a right or a privilege?

Being deeply entrenched in all things money, I see first-hand the link between quality education and real, lasting economic success. The better schools you attend, the greater the chance you'll find and prepare for work that will provide satisfaction and financial stability. This is not to say that other factors (such as parent involvement) don't count or that some people don't overcome the odds and attain wealth and happiness without attending or graduating from college, but I'm talking the basics here: kindergarten though high school.
The sad fact is that California public schools are in jeopardy. Many are wonderful now, but as the Chron's Jill Tucker reports, 113 million in funding cuts over two years will change all that. Teachers are facing lay-offs, class size will swell to unmanageable numbers, and programs that make schools appealing to students will be slashed. Want to make kids dislike and devalue formal learning? This will do it. And as a society, we can't afford to have children reject education. Those who do are more likely to make poor financial and lifestyle choices when they reach adulthood, draining the resources of the population at large.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/esandberg/detail??blogid=132&entry_id=56108#ixzz0dubzyjWF

State Universities Want More Students to Graduate - ABC News

State Universities Want More Students to Graduate - ABC News:

"For years, American colleges and universities have focused on getting more students to seek higher education. Now they want to make sure more of their students leave campus with a diploma.

Despite deep cuts in state funding, public university systems around the country are launching campaigns to boost graduation rates, especially among low-income and minority students who trail their classmates in earning degrees.

California State University, the nation's largest four-year system with 23 campuses and more than 400,000 students, on Wednesday announced an ambitious initiative to increase the percentage of students who graduate in six years, from 46 percent to 54 percent by 2016."

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News � School Beat: Reduce the Achievement Gap through Income Diversity

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News School Beat: Reduce the Achievement Gap through Income Diversity:

"After a decade-long debate regarding student assignment and the reality that San Francisco’s public schools remain segregated by race and income, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) is just a few months away from implementing a new student assignment system. By all indications it will not look extremely different from what currently exists, with some level of a lottery system for placement of students and a condensed number of variables for how students are placed in requested schools, such as academic achievement, language ability and socio economic status. This conservative approach will not achieve the Board of Education’s request for the new student assignment system to be a catalyst to close the achievement gap between ethnic groups attending public schools."

Q&A: Student Regent Jesse Bernal and Student Regent Designate Jesse Cheng | City on a Hill Press

City on a Hill Press joined student regent and UCSB graduate Jesse Bernal and student regent designate Jesse Cheng, a fourth-year at UC Irvine, at the regents’ meeting Jan. 20 to discuss the future of the state and university, as well as the appointment process for the next student regent. The Jesses are a team and they complement each other well. Many of their responses may seem fragmented because of one interrupting the other, to add to or modify the other’s response.
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CHP: Are you feeling optimistic about the budget in light of the governor’s new proposal?

Howard Zinn, US historian and activist, dies aged 87 | Books | guardian.co.uk

Howard Zinn, US historian and activist, dies aged 87 |Books |guardian.co.uk:

"American historian, playwright and social activist Howard Zinn died yesterday, aged 87.

The author of the million-plus bestseller A People's History of the United States, which gave a leftist view of American history, died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California, his daughter Myla Kabat-Zinn told the Associated Press today.

Zinn wrote more than 20 books and his plays have been produced around the world, but it is for A People's History, first published in 1980 with a print run of just 5,000 copies, which the historian is best known. Told from the perspective of America's women, Native Americans and workers, the book provides a revisionist view of American history from the arrival of Christopher Columbus – who Zinn charges with genocide – to president Bill Clinton's first term."

Tuition for residents at CSU to jump by 9 percent | coloradoan.com | The Coloradoan

CSU plans to raise undergraduate resident tuition by about 9 percent, or $434, for the coming year, while nonresidents would likely pay about 3 percent, or $622, more.

That's about the same amount Colorado State University raised tuition by last year and comes as state legislators continue to cut back on the amount of tax money given to CSU.

CSU administrators discussed the figures on Wednesday during their annual budget-deliberation process.

In-state graduate students would pay an extra 15 percent, or $970.20, annually, while out-of-state graduate students would pay an extra 5 percent, or $905.45, annually.

"We're skeptical that we'd want to go above that and skeptical that the Legislature and the governor would let us go above that," interim Provost Rick Miranda said of the proposal.

The current average annual tuition and fees paid by a resident undergraduate student is $6,318, according to the university.

The overall increase would net CSU approximately an additional $13 million, Miranda said. He said a "substantial" amount of that money would be set aside as need-based financial aid for students hit hardest by the tuition increase.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Eduflack: Reading Between the SOTU Lines

Eduflack: Reading Between the SOTU Lines:

"Earlier today, Eduflack was hopeful that P-12 education would garner three or four paragraphs in the State of the Union, just enough space to lay out a bold call to action and a focus on real, lasting change. As the final speech was delivered this evening, P-12 got little more than a paragraph (while higher education and student loans got far greater attention).

Following is the full text of the SOTU P-12 focus:

'This year, we have broken through the stalemate between left and right by launching a national competition to improve our schools. The idea here is simple: instead of rewarding failure, we only reward success. Instead of funding the status quo, we only invest in reform – reform that raises student achievement, inspires students to excel in math and science, and turns around failing schools that steal the future of too many young Americans, from rural communities to inner-cities. In the 21st century, one of the best anti-poverty programs is a world-class education. In this country, the success of our children cannot depend more on where they live than their potential."

The Perimeter Primate: Steve Miller: "Democracy Privatized!"

Guest post by Steve Miller

Democracy Privatized!

Forget about those lucrative investments in foreign oil! It’s Time for the Next Big Thing! Purchase influence in the newest, Made-in-USA Bubble: the Election Market! Yes, friends! Become a shot-caller and make millions! We guarantee the vote will go your way – every time! Log onto Dollars for Democracy.Com, “We bring good things to Life!”

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Oakland teachers have had to face the hard lessons of Privatization earlier than most. The state took over the public schools in 2003 and then turned the school system into a virtual laboratory for the corporate concept of schools: opening charters left and right, closing schools, laying off librarians and custodians, trashing the quality of public education, and testing, testing, testing.

Our experience is that privatization proceeds in pieces, the first step includes turning over public functions to “the market” through corporatizing every policy and procedure. The United States – the first country to establish free, universal public education – is on now track to being the

LAO Slams Arnold's Prison-School Spending Swap | California Progress Report

One of Arnold Schwarzenegger's centerpiece proposals back in his State of the State address earlier this month was a constitutional amendment to ensure the state spends more on higher ed than prisons. It sounds like a pretty good idea in the abstract. Since the early 1980s, California has built dozens of prisons, but only 3 new UC and CSU campuses - even though the construction cost is about the same, and even though students bring money into the system and create value when they leave it, whereas prisoners suck up resources and generate no value.

So something that would take money from prisons and give it to higher ed sounds like a great idea, right? Not according to the Legislative Analyst's Office, which slammed the proposal as "an unnecessary, ill-conceived measure that would do serious harm to the budget process" and concludes "we recommend rejection of this proposal."

KQED's John Myers offers a good overview of the issues:

The budget odd couple left almost everyone scratching their heads, though on its face it's pretty simple: in four years time, there would be a cap on prison spending at 7% of the state's general fund and a corresponding floor for the UC and CSU systems, combined, of at least

Do California Leaders Need To Stay After School? | California Progress Report

California’s performance ranking in five key areas, including health care, dropped a grade on the annual report card issued by Children Now, leaving the Golden State with its most tarnished marks in the 20-year history of the advocacy group’s rating system.

Due mainly to brutal cuts in the state’s FY09-10 budget by the Legislature and the governor in children’s programs, California “earned the worst grades ever” for 2009, said Ted Lempert, president of Children Now. Lempert, a former state legislator, summed up the state’s dire performance during a legislative briefing held in the Capitol on Monday afternoon for staff members of the Legislature.

Still, Lempert, joined by vice president Wilma Chan and Kelly Hardy, associate director of health policy for Children Now, tried to emphasize the possibilities for improvement in coming budget discussions. “There are lots of opportunities to move forward this year on children’s health,” Hardy told the group. The silver lining in getting California’s children through the tough budget cuts last year came in the form of an unprecedented financial boost from the federal government.

The increase in federal matching funds did not pull California out of its economic doldrums, however; it merely helped keep pace somewhat with the increased need

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