AP: States struggle to keep top teachers - USATODAY.com

AP: States struggle to keep top teachers - USATODAY.com:

"ATLANTA — Most states are holding tight to policies that protect incompetent teachers and poor training programs, shortchanging educators and their students before new teachers even step into the classroom, according to a new national report card.

The study from the National Council on Teacher Quality— being released Friday — paints a grim picture of how states handle everything from pay to discipline for public school teachers. States are using 'broken, outdated and inflexible' policies that ultimately hurt how children learn, according to the report."

Obama’s State of the University >>

Obama’s State of the University :

"President Obama’s plan to cap student loans could substantially lower payments for thousands of UC Irvine graduates and provide a powerful incentive to students considering a job in public service.

If Congress responds to Obama’s push in last night’s State of the Union address, the new rules could dramatically reduce monthly loan payments as early as next year for millions of former students across the country.

A graduate owing $30,000 and earning $25,000 a year, who might otherwise owe $345 a month, would see their monthly payment capped at $73. And if they worked in government or for a non-profit organization, whatever portion of the loan that remained unpaid after ten years would be forgiven."

The WIP Contributors: India Sets Its Sights on Higher Education

The WIP Contributors: India Sets Its Sights on Higher Education
India Sets Its Sights on Higher Education

by Priyanka Bhardwaj
- India -

• India's new education reforms could keep more bright minds from leaving home to pursue higher education. Photograph by flickr user Universidad de Navarra used under Creative Commons licenses. •

Education remains an emotional subject in a poor and developing country like India, where it is seen as the primary means for social and economic mobility. Indian families are known to sell land and spend their life’s savings to educate their children, especially males. Such desperation means that any change in the sector is a highly debated subject.

Meena, a resident of Gurgaon, has been making the rounds at banks, in the hopes of getting an educational loan for her son Rahul.

“We have decided to send our son abroad for higher education, preferably an MBA,” she explains, “as this will make him more globally competitive and it will stay with him for a lifetime. After all, he is our only son among three children and as responsible parents we feel obliged to think of the best for his welfare.”

The Daily Aztec - FLAMING LIBERAL: Transparency needed for CSU system now

The Daily Aztec - FLAMING LIBERAL: Transparency needed for CSU system now

As the winter draws to an end, it’s not just time for sunshine in the sky, but also sunshine for the way that our state university system is run. Senator Leland Yee is calling on the California State University system and all branches of higher education, to open up their books when it comes to the auxiliary organizations on their campuses.

Yee’s reintroduced legislation is similar to SB 218, which would have updated the California Public Records Act to include those auxiliaries that perform government functions. This shows his commitment to making sure our higher education system is working for students, and not executive donors or special interests within the university system.

Yee’s new bill, SB 330 passed through the senate floor last Thursday and will be seen in the state assembly shortly.

This level of transparency is necessary for students, faculty and community members to have the knowledge and power to serve as a check on how their university operates. For the CSU system alone, Chancellor Charles B. Reed has admitted that 20 percent of the system’s operating budget is funded by budgets which are kept secret from the public, within the myriad campus and system auxiliaries.

Organic garden blooms at Billy Mitchell Elementary - The Daily Breeze

Organic garden blooms at Billy Mitchell Elementary - The Daily Breeze

Second-grade students at Billy Mitchell Elementary School spent a recent afternoon getting their hands dirty - all in the name of education.
This is the first year the Lawndale school has implemented a gardening program in which students learn about healthful diets, nature and sustainability by getting hands-on experience working in a small organic garden during their lunch recess.
On Wednesday, with the help of parent volunteers and teachers, students harvested vegetables they planted months ago, learning the joys of spending time outside.
"This may be the only place they can have access to nature," said volunteer gardener Kris Lauritson, who is overseeing the garden project through the University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program. "It's an outdoor classroom."
The school serves primarily Latino students from urban neighborhoods. About 80 percent of Billy Mitchell students qualify for free and reduced lunches.

San Diego summit for March 4 | SocialistWorker.org

San Diego summit for March 4 | SocialistWorker.org

San Diego summit for March 4

By Marcos Perez | February 1, 2010

SAN DIEGO--More than 80 people representing various student, parent and faculty organizations and unions from all public education sectors met at the United Labor Center building January 23 to plan a collective action for March 4 in San Diego.

Present were representatives from San Diego Sate University, University of California (UC)-San Diego, California State University (CSU) San Marcos, San Diego City College and Grossmont College.

The summit was called by the Education For All Coalition after 800 students, workers and teachers from across the state converged at the October 24 Conference to Save Public Education at UC-Berkeley.

The attendees voted overwhelmingly for a statewide strike and day of action on March 4, with each campus, local union and organization to decide on what type of action to organize. Since then, the call has been taken up at a national level.

Calif. community colleges aim to honor Japanese-American internees - Local - Fresnobee.com

Calif. community colleges aim to honor Japanese-American internees Local- Fresnobee.com:

"California's community colleges have joined the movement to award honorary degrees to Japanese-American students forced into internment camps during World War II.

Locally, officials are searching for students who attended Fresno City College or Reedley College in 1941 or 1942. About 30 students of Japanese ancestry were enrolled at Reedley College at the time; the number at City College is unknown.

Deborah Ikeda, vice president of instruction and student services at the State Center Community College District, said officials haven't been able to find City College records before 1948. But they have a list of names from Reedley College."

UC Budget Update >>

UC Budget Update

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently introduced a very optimistic budget proposal along with a legislative initiative that would prioritize higher education. Upon closer examination, however, there are still many flaws and it is needless to say that an optimistic budget is not always realistic.
The proposed budget for 2010-11 falls short of the $913 million requested by the Board of Regents of the University of California by nearly $631.5 million.  The proposal includes $305 million in restoration of the temporary cuts from 2009-10, $51.3 million to fund 5,100 of the 14,000 under-funded seats contingent on the Regents not increasing fees further for 2010-11, and $14.1 million to fund required contributions to retiree health benefits.
The Governor also promised to increase need-based Cal Grant (also known as competitive Cal Grant) to cover the already approved fee increases for 2010-11. But this increase, as well as enrollment growth, is contingent on the federal government granting the State of California $6.9 billion in bailout funds.
In spite of the positive news, the governor did cut funding for competitive Cal Grants and academic preparation, which hurts middle-income students and access to higher education. Access and affordability are part of the University of California mission statement, but in a deep economic crisis these two have been repeatedly impaired. He also failed to provide $95.7 million for the State’s contribution to the UC Retirement Plan, and any funding for capital projects, amounting to $631.5 million. Many of the proposed capital projects include safety and seismic improvements.
The Governor has also proposed a state constitutional amendment to increase funding for the UC andCSU systems to ten percent of the state’s budget and limiting state funding for prisons to seven percent by 2014-15. While this at first appears to be a win for higher education, it raises a number of human rights concerns, as the plan to reduce state funding for prisons would require the privatization of some prisons. In many cases, privatizing the prison system has led to quality concerns.  The increase in higher education funding also assumes further cuts to other social welfare departments. In addition, this amendment has been highly criticized by the independent Legislative Analyst’s Office, which suggests that many legislators are unlikely to support it.

Rising Aid Follows Fees - Daily Nexus

Rising Aid Follows Fees - Daily Nexus:

"As University of California annual student fees exceed the $10,000 mark, the UC Office of the President is attempting to offer aid to more low-income families than ever before.

The UC Board of Regents voted unanimously last year to modify the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan — a system-wide financial aid plan that fully covers the tuition fees of California residents whose families earn less than $60,000 — to include households that earn up to $70,000, accounting for almost half of families in the state. Under the improved plan, undergraduates who are enrolled at the University during their first four years, or transfer students who are registered for two years, will have their fees covered by scholarships and/or grants."

Debating SD Unified’s decrease in Class Size Reduction funding

Debating SD Unified’s decrease in Class Size Reduction funding:

"School board president Richard Barrera called it a tax at the Jan. 26 San Diego Unified School District’s Board of Education meeting. SDUSD chief district relations officer Bernie Rhinerson called it a penalty. And Channel 10 News in a report on Jan. 28 called it a “hefty fine.”

But is the district’s $13.5 million loss for increasing class sizes over the 20-student cap in the lower grades really any of those things?

Before San Diegans become too outraged, the school district should make sure everyone understands that this “tax” or “hefty fine” is really a funding reduction in a statewide incentive program, not a payment the district must make to the state. The distinction is important."

School Matters: Students' 'Core Needs' Not Being Met - NAM

School Matters: Students' 'Core Needs' Not Being Met - NAM:

"Editor's Note: This week, school districts throughout California began laying out the severe budget cuts they will have to make next school year, the cumulative affect of state education cuts made over the past few years combined with additional reductions proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his proposed budget for 2010-2011.

John Rogers, associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and director of UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA), spoke to NAM editor Carolyn Goossen about the impact of the recession and continuing budget cuts on low-income students.

According to your recent report titled, “Educational Opportunities in Hard Times: The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Public Schools and Working Families,” the recession and budget cuts have disproportionately affected educational opportunities for the poorest kids in the state. Why are they hit the hardest?"

Administration Proposals Seek Broad Changes to ‘No Child Left Behind’ - NYTimes.com

Administration Proposals Seek Broad Changes to ‘No Child Left Behind’ - NYTimes.com:

"The Obama administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of President Bush’s signature education law, No Child Left Behind, and will call for broad changes in how schools are judged to be succeeding or failing, as well as for the elimination of the law’s 2014 deadline for bringing every American child to academic proficiency."


Educators who have been briefed by administration officials said the proposals for changes in the main law governing the federal role in public schools would eliminate or rework many of the provisions that teachers’ unions, associations of principals, school boards and other groups have found most objectionable.
Yet the administration is not planning to abandon the law’s commitments to closing the achievement gap between minority and white students and to encouraging teacher quality.
Significantly, said those who have been briefed, the White House wants to change federal financing formulas so that a portion of the money is awarded based on academic progress, rather than by formulas that apportion money to districts according to their numbers of students, especially poor students. The well-worn formulas for distributing tens of billions of dollars in federal aid have, for decades, been a mainstay of the annual budgeting process in the nation’s 14,000 school districts.

“Listen to the people”: the polls the pols | California Progress Report

“Listen to the people”: the polls the pols | California Progress Report:

"When Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor in the 2003 recall election, he talked endlessly about California’s need for “leadership.” Last Monday, in what will probably be his last appearance before the Sacramento Press Club, the refrain was “listen to the people.”

The tension between them, of course, is as old as representative democracy. In 1774, the great Anglo-Irish statesman Edmund Burke, probably the greatest of all conservatives, told his constituents, “Your representative owes you, not his industry only but his judgment, and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.'"

Schwarzenegger's bitter budget | SocialistWorker.org

Schwarzenegger's bitter budget | SocialistWorker.org

Schwarzenegger's bitter budget

John Green, a teacher in California, looks at the facts about Arnold Schwarzenegger's new budget proposal--and explains how easy it would be to protect our schools.

February 1, 2010

"As bitter as the words are in my mouth, we face additional cuts...But I am drawing this line. Because our future economic well-being is so dependent upon education, I will protect education funding in this budget. And we can no longer afford to cut higher education either."
-- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, State of the State address, January 6, 2010

APPARENTLY, GOV. Arnold Schwarzenegger and I interpret the word "protect" differently, because two days later, he released his proposed 2010-11 budget that includes at least $1.8 billion in direct cuts to K-12 schools.

Did he raise our expectations just so that his actual announcement would hurt that much more? No wonder a new poll puts his popularity at 27 percent.

LAUSD reform is a bitter battle - LA Daily News

LAUSD reform is a bitter battle - LA Daily News:

"EDUCATION: As key vote nears, some complain competition to run schools is rife with favoritism.

Los Angeles Unified parents, teachers and community members will get to vote on their favorite school proposals this week as the district inches closer to launching a landmark reform plan handing over control of some schools to the best bidders.

But what was supposed to be a healthy competition has turned into a heated battle between district employee unions, charter school operators and other nonprofits that are vying for control of 36 district schools.

Applicants accuse each other of foul play and the only thing all can agree on is that the voting process leaves too much room for voter violations."

L.A. could learn a lot about charter schools from the Big Apple - latimes.com

L.A. could learn a lot about charter schools from the Big Apple - latimes.com:

"New York City's schools show that even in challenging urban environments, excellent education can be delivered with careful policy choices"

Many charter school supporters believe their hour has come. Locally, charters play an increasingly integral part in the school reform agenda of the Los Angeles Unified School District. At the state level, California charters recently received a boost from legislation that permits them access to new bond funding for school construction. And nationally, the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top program includes high-quality charter schools among its priorities.

But an improved outlook for charter schools is not a guaranteed cure-all for bad schools.

A number of studies over the last year have shown that charter schools in California and elsewhere have had mixed results. In 2009, Stanford's Center for Research on Education Outcomes, which I direct, released the results of a study examining charter school effectiveness in 15 states and the District of Columbia.

We found that, on average, students attending charters did not learn as much as their traditional public school peers. Charter schools, we found, were twice as likely to perform less well than public schools with similar demographics as they were to outperform those public schools. 

Schools Matter: Texas-Sized Charter School Corruption

Schools Matter: Texas-Sized Charter School Corruption:

"Charter schools, which Texas began allowing in 1995, were supposed to set educators free — and they did.
. . . .
Unfortunately, the worst charter schools were free to fail — sometimes spectacularly, in ways that involved large amounts of money and criminal charges. In the Houston area, for instance, The Prepared Table saw its charter revoked in 2002; four of its administrators — a pastor and three relatives — were alleged to have stolen $3 million from federal and state programs. The Jesse Jackson Academy (with campuses in both Houston and Fort Worth) closed in 2008 amid charges it had misappropriated $3.2 million in federal grants. And last year, Gulf Shores Academy had to be reformulated after school administrators allegedly swindled more than $10 million from the state."

Schools Matter: Corporate Charter School Industry Resists Oversight at All Costs

Schools Matter:

"Corporate Charter School Industry Resists Oversight at All Costs

From Suzy Oppenheimer, the Chair of NY Senate Education Committee:

. . . .State government's inability to successfully compromise and come to resolution on policy issues is unacceptable to me.

Some additional background is needed to give a fuller picture to your readers. As chair of the Senate Education Committee, I worked hard to forge a compromise that would have doubled the existing cap on charter schools, while at the same time adopting reasonable safeguards to ensure that state education dollars are used appropriately by charter school administrators."

The Educated Guess Tough graduation goals for CSU campuses

The Educated Guess
Tough graduation goals for CSU campuses
Posted in UC and CSU

The California State University System has set an ambitious  goal of raising student graduation rate 8 percentage points, including 10 percentage points for low-income and minority students, over the next six years. Currently, only 46 percent of students overall and 40 percent of  minorities – Hispanics and African Americans primarily — attain a degree after six years. By 2016, CSU wants grad rates to rise to 54 percent overall and 50 percent for underserved minorities.

That average combines separate goals for each of the 23 CSU campuses.  Schools like Cal State-Monterey Bay (overall 14 percentage point increase), San Jose State (12 percentage points for minority students) and Cal State-Chico (14 percentage points for minorities) face an even more daunting goal. (See  CSU graduation initiative for each campus’s target graduation rate.)

(Read more and comment on this post)

Failure is an option: The best charter schools are excellent. And the worst should be ashamed. | Editorial | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Failure is an option: The best charter schools are excellent. And the worst should be ashamed. | Editorial | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Charter schools, which Texas began allowing in 1995, were supposed to set educators free — and they did.

Paid for with state funds, and released from local school districts' rules, the best were free to excel: Houston-born charter systems KIPP and YES compiled terrific records of propelling minority and low-income kids into college.

Unfortunately, the worst charter schools were free to fail — sometimes spectacularly, in ways that involved large amounts of money and criminal charges. In the Houston area, for instance, The Prepared Table saw its charter revoked in 2002; four of its administrators — a pastor and three relatives — were alleged to have stolen $3 million from federal and state programs. The Jesse Jackson Academy (with campuses in both Houston and Fort Worth) closed in 2008 amid charges it had misappropriated $3.2 million in federal grants. And last year, Gulf Shores Academy had to be reformulated after school administrators allegedly swindled more than $10 million from the state.

Given that dismal history, it's almost a relief that the latest bad news about Texas charter schools doesn't involve anything illegal. The Texans Can charter-school chain may be infuriating. But it appears to operate entirely within the law.

As the Chronicle's Jennifer Radcliffe recently reported, nine of the school's 10 schools are rated “academically unacceptable” by the state, and three are on the verge of being closed for repeated failure to meet federal standards. At Houston's Main Street campus, state data show that none of the 15 freshmen enrolled in 2001-02