Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, Feb. 17

Submitted by Erika Owens on Wed, 02/17/2010 - 09:32 Posted in Notes from the news | Permalink

Poll: Early-childhood education has wide support in Pa. Daily News
81 percent of Pennsylvanian's support early childhood education and 71 percent would pay for it with state funds.

A Quick Fix for America's Worst Schools TIME
A look at Mastery Schools turnaround efforts in Philly.

News flash: Students have brains The Notebook blog
A guest blog from Shania Morris, an 8th grader and PSU member.

Not another snow day The Notebook blog
Tacking missed days onto the end of the school year doesn't help with PSSA preparation now.

See also: Students and parents make snowy trek back to schoolThe Inquirer

The Educated Guess � Unions plans protests March 4

The Educated Guess  Unions plans protests March 4:

"A protest or demonstration will be coming to a school or college campus near you on Thursday, March 4th.

That’s what the state’s two teachers unions, the California Teachers Assn. and the California Federation of Teachers, are designating their “Day of Action,” in which teachers hope to rouse people’s attention to the impact of current and likely budget cuts. CTA announced it will be running a 1-minute radio ad promoting the day on 84 stations between now and then.


The statewide protest will occur at the same time that school boards are voting on preliminary layoff notices, so there will be plenty of angry teachers and parents. Districts must notify teachers by March 15 if jobs may be eliminated, and, indications are tens of thousands of teachers will be notified. Last year, many got back their jobs when Washington filled in cuts with stimulus dollars. But that won’t likely happen this year. And if their jobs are spared, it may be because unions have agreed to slice five days off the school year; Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Ray Cortines is the latest to propose this. .

It’s been hard for school board and teachers to convey to the public the impact of raising kindergarten classes from 20 to 30 students, or eliminating art and music or"

This Week In Education: Photo: Remembering The Little Rock Nine

This Week In Education: Photo: Remembering The Little Rock Nine

City ed officials recommend renewal for Opportunity Charter School | GothamSchools

City ed officials recommend renewal for Opportunity Charter School | GothamSchools

Most charter schools pass through the renewal process with ease, but for Opportunity Charter School, news that the city wants to give it a new lease on life is not something it took for granted.

Department of Education officials are recommending that the state renew Opportunity’s charter for three years, a time period it says will allow the school to produce several years of graduation data before its success comes in for more questioning. OCS had a rocky start and has since had a difficult time proving to the city and state that its students, especially its highest achieving ones, are making enough progress to earn renewal.

The school’s student body is roughly half general education students and half students with learning disabilities and it serves students with some of the lowest test scores in the city. Last year, I profiled theschool’s struggle to get off of probation.

Private school test prep company is marketing $500 workbook for public school gifted and talented program entry - NYPOST.com

Private school test prep company is marketing $500 workbook for public school gifted and talented program entry - NYPOST.com

Test prep for the nanny set is heading to public schools.

A Manhattan firm that made waves with its pricey private-school entry-test prepping is moving its model to the city's public-school gifted and talented programs, The Post has learned.

Aristotle Circle is poised to usher in the first $500 workbook for parents bent on seeing their kids score above the 90th percentile on the city's two accelerated-program entrance exams, known as OLSAT and BRSA.

Founders of the program -- which is five to 10 times costlier than its competitors -- say it's not only worth the outlay, but that there's a market for it.

"A matter of points can make or break whether or not their [kids] are admitted," said Aristotle Circle CEO Suzanne Rheault, 40. "If [parents] can get a good to great public school for free then tutoring and test prep is well worth the money."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/private_school_test_prep_firm_now_Zz2DTTjYicQms7CMhVF2yI#ixzz0fnvxUG2G

LAUSD's Dance of the Lemons - Page 1 - News - Los Angeles - LA Weekly

LAUSD's Dance of the Lemons - Page 1 - News - Los Angeles - LA Weekly

Editor's note: After this article went to press, LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines announced that the district plans to substantially cut back on granting lifelong tenure to inexperienced teachers.

Several years ago, a 74-year-old Dominguez Elementary School fourth-grade teacher was having trouble controlling her students as her abilities deteriorated amid signs of "burnout." Shirley Loftis was told by Los Angeles Unified School District administrators to retire or be fired, and she did retire, but hardly under the school district's terms.

The principal at Dominguez, Irene Hinojosa, recalls how she spent three years documenting Loftis' poor teaching skills and inability to control 10-year-olds. "From the minute I observed her, she basically didn't seem to have the knowledge of the standards and how to deliver them," Hinojosa tells L.A. Weekly. "I had her do lessons on the same standard over and over again, and children did not get it. On simple math concepts [such as determining perimeters and area] — over and over, she didn't know how to deliver."

Each September, a new crop of children quickly caught on to the fact that Loftis had lost control. Full-on classroom fights flared up. One child beat another with a backpack, and others threw objects — even a chair, Hinojosa says. Teachers at Dominguez Elementary began reporting incidents to Hinojosa, who moved Loftis' class from a bungalow to a room across from her office. That way, the principal reasoned, she could intervene in the chaos a bit faster.

When parents in the Carson neighborhoods around Dominguez Park got wind of the 

Fourteen city schools land on state review list | GothamSchools

Fourteen city schools land on state review list | GothamSchools

Fourteen New York City schools landed on the state’s list of “schools under registration review,” the state education department announced today.

That’s down four from last year, after three city schools were added to the list this year but seven schools were removed. Schools are placed on the SURR list if their English and math scores on state exams are farthest from a state-set standard, prompting the threat of closure if the schools do not improve.

The three schools added to the list this year are all high schools, Washington Irving High School, the School for Global Studies and the Grace H. Dodge Career and Technology High School. All seven of the city schools removed from the list are elementary and middle schools.

“The SURR process has served New York well, particularly in terms of improving English and math results in the lowest performing elementary and middle schools,” State Education Commissioner David Steiner said in a statement. “Now we must align SURR with the process we’ve created for identifying and helping the Persistently Lowest Achieving schools. Doing so will focus greater attention on those schools that have had unacceptably low graduation rates for many years.”

The state’s list of “persistently lowest achieving” schools, which it announced in January, singled out the bottom 5 percent of schools to target for replacement or closure. Nearly 60 schools statewide — primarily high schools with low graduation rates — landed on that list, including 34 New York City schools.

City Limits - City Limits Magazine: March 2010 | Hope or Hype In Harlem?

City Limits - City Limits Magazine: March 2010 | Hope or Hype In Harlem?:

"March 2010

Founded by a committed advocate for low-income children, nurtured by the politically powerful and Wall Street titans, and lauded by media around the world, the Harlem Children's Zone has raised a nation's hopes. The Obama administration wants to use it as the model for a nationwide antipoverty plan. But what is really known about the success of the Zone? Is there enough evidence to base a larger initiative around it? Are other cities capable of developing their own versions of the Harlem Miracle? In the new City Limits, read an in-depth evaluation of the program that's inspiring the federal government's most innovative poverty-fighting initiative in decades."

Study sheds light on 'teenage night owl syndrome' - latimes.com

Study sheds light on 'teenage night owl syndrome' - latimes.com:

"Students are going to sleep later and may be underperforming in class because they're not getting enough bright light in the morning, researchers say. Better school lighting may help."

Riding in school buses in the early morning, then sitting in poorly lighted classrooms are the main reasons students have trouble getting to sleep at night, according to new research.

Teenagers, like everyone else, need bright lights in the morning, particularly in the blue wavelengths, to synchronize their inner, circadian rhythms with nature's cycles of day and night.

If they are deprived of blue light during the morning, they go to sleep an average of six minutes later each night, until their bodies are completely out of sync with the school day, researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute reported Tuesday in the journal Neuroendocrinology Letters.

The finding was made by fitting a group of students with goggles that blocked blue light and discovering that their circadian rhythms were significantly affected.

"These morning-light-deprived teenagers are going to bed later, getting less sleep and possibly underperforming on standardized tests," said lead author Mariana G. Figueiro, a sleep researcher at the institute's Lighting Research Center. "We are starting to call this the 'teenage night owl syndrome.' "

"This is a nice little preliminary study" that definitely needs to be replicated, said sleep researcher Mary A. Carskadon of Brown University, who was not involved in the research. "I think the big take-

Straight A's -- but still not ready for college - Inside Bay Area

Straight A's -- but still not ready for college - Inside Bay Area

A perfect grade-point average in high school is a coup, no doubt about it. It tells students they're at the top of the heap — at their respective schools.

But a straight-A transcript does not guarantee a student is ready for college-level work. About 20 percent of the freshmen who enter Cal State East Bay with a 4.0 GPA need at least some remediation in math, English or both, according to Greg Smith, associate vice president of enrollment for the university.

The rate is about 60 percent when you include all first-time freshmen in the California State University system. Most of the 25,000 Cal State students placed in remedial classes each year held at least a B average in high school and completed a long list of university-approved college preparatory courses, as the admissions system requires.

Mike Kirst, professor emeritus of education and business administration at Stanford University, says that statistic is evidence that grades, course titles and even "honors" labels are suspect. It's what's taught in the courses that counts, he said — and too often, that content is weak.

"In America, high school course content and homework demands and pacing is detached from college," Kirst said. "If you're not in AP (advanced placement) classes, it's really quite dangerous."

"It's not just Oakland at all," he added about college preparation in high school. "It's more common than uncommon."

Frank Worrell, an educational

psychology professor at UC Berkeley, said students with strong grades are more likely to succeed in college — but that

We need to plant a flag in the sand to protect public education | Clovis Independent

We need to plant a flag in the sand to protect public education | Clovis Independent

We need to plant a flag in the sand to protect public education

It’s time that someone plants a flag in the sand, and I guess it has to be us. 

Public schools in California have been brutalized by a series of funding cuts since 2008 that are worse than anything since the Great Depression.  In part, these cuts are completely understandable. The economy has been in a free fall, and it is only natural, then, that schools share in solving the budget problem.  However, since 2008, public education has been disproportionally on the receiving end of the State’s budget problems, absorbing 59 percent of the reductions, though we account for about 43 percent of the budget.

This slash and burn approach to public education funding has resulted in schools across California gutting their programs for students.  In many cases, students are being denied access to performing arts and athletics, having their instructional year shortened, losing out on the opportunity to attend school in buildings that are modern and well-maintained, and even losing high quality teachers due to lay-offs.

Well I say enough is enough.  Our kids deserve better, and if it means we must plant a flag in the sand and fight to preserve their education, so be it.  In Clovis Unified we aren’t going to make those kinds of sacrifices. We aren’t going to gut our programs and services to students, or give up on maintaining the world class facilities for which we are known, nor are we going to sacrifice the very people who have made our school district a wonderful place of learning.

Yes, our Governor’s proposed budget leaves us with a $28 million hole to fill before we can claim a balanced budget.  And yes, this comes on top of th

Robert Reich, ex-labor secretary, sees better economic times ahead | mydesert.com | The Desert Sun

Robert Reich, ex-labor secretary, sees better economic times ahead | mydesert.com | The Desert Sun

American families have endured nearly two years of stress and punishment under almost unprecedented financial turmoil, but the economy is beginning to turn around. Sort of.

“Things are getting worse more slowly,” former Clinton Administration Secretary of Labor Robert Reich told a packed audience Tuesday at Eisenhower Medical Center's Annenberg Center for Health Sciences, part of the 2010 Rancho Mirage Speakers Series.

The economy “will turn up. I promise you, it will turn up. … You can bank on that.”

Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, served in three presidential administrations — including late president and Rancho Mirage resident Gerald Ford's. Reich also helped lead President Obama's economic transition amid a downturn that eventually became the nation's worst since the Great Depression.

In an interview prior to his speech, Reich said he supported the Obama Administration's nearly $800 billion economic stimulus package, which he said helped save an estimated 1 million American jobs — but it didn't go far enough.

Billions more in federal funding should have been pumped to the state and local levels to help keep school districts, police and fire departments, and homeowners across the country afloat, Reich said.

Banks that took even more billions in taxpayer money to avoid collapse, since they were dubbed “too big to 

The State Hornet - Faculty concerned at town hall, Gonzalez still optimistic

The State Hornet - Faculty concerned at town hall, Gonzalez still optimistic

Faculty concerned at town hall, Gonzalez still optimistic

By Kalie Barnes-Young

|

Published: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Updated: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Robert Linggi - State Hornet

Juanita Barrena, biological studies professor, expresses her concerns to President Alexander Gonzalez at the town hall meeting Feb. 9 in Capistrano Hall.

Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez expressed hope and optimism despite growing concerns from faculty members regarding the budget cuts during the town hall meeting on Feb. 9.

The meeting highlighted California’s ongoing budget crisis and how it would affect Sac State.

“Obviously, California is in a crisis. I don’t have to repeat it,” Gonzalez said.

But repeat it he did, emphasizing many times the “tough” state of the economy and the “difficult” times facing students, faculty and staff.

Although students were at the forefront of the discussion, there were only about a dozen of them present in Capistrano Hall’s Music Recital Hall, compared with the larger number of staff and faculty members.

Budget Planning and Administration Associate Vice President Stacey Hayano said that even with the restoration of $305 million in one-time cuts to the California State University, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes, funding will 

Study: Charter Schools Increasing Racial Segregation in Classrooms

Study: Charter Schools Increasing Racial Segregation in Classrooms

Study: Charter Schools Increasing Racial Segregation in Classrooms

Encouraged by the Obama administration, efforts to expand the number of charter schools are being organized around the country. But concerns are being raised about the system. We speak to UCLA’s Civil Rights Project co-director Gary Orfield about a new study that suggests charter school growth is increasing classroom segregation. [includes rush transcript]

Guest:

Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. He is author of many books, including School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back? and Dismantling Desegregation: The Quiet Reversal of Brown v. Board of Education.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Efforts to expand the number of charter schools are being organized around the country. In Virginia, Republican Governor Robert McDonnell outlined a plan on Wednesday to increase the state’s cap on the publicly funded, privately run schools. In Mississippi, the state Senate passed a bill Tuesday to clear the way for charter schools. Here in New York City, the city’s Panel for Educational Policy recently approved closing nineteen public schools at a time when Mayor Mike Bloomberg was pushing state legislators to lift the cap on charter schools. 

Part of the push for the new charter schools has come from the Obama administration. Under a new program called “Race to the Top,” states are competing for $4.3 billion in federal grants for reforming schools. States submitted applications for the money in January. The money will be doled out by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, a strong supporter of charter schools. 

AMY GOODMAN: While the charter school movement is growing, some concerns are being raised about the system.
A new study by UCLA’s Civil Rights Project suggests charter school growth is increasing classroom segregation. Seven out of ten black charter school students attend schools with extremely low numbers of white students. Black students account for 32 percent of charter 

San Diego Gets $4.95M to Boost Life Sciences Employment | Xconomy

San Diego Gets $4.95M to Boost Life Sciences Employment | Xconomy

San Diego Gets $4.95M to Boost Life Sciences Employment

Bruce V. Bigelow 2/16/10

A $4.95 million grant from the federal stimulus package will be used to boost education, training, and placement services for people who are seeking jobs in San Diego’s life sciences and health care professions, according to local biotech and education leaders.


The grant is part of more than $225 million in stimulus funds awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor to create jobs in health care and related high growth industries. About $100 million is intended to help train health care workers throughout California, according to a statement issued by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In addition to providing training and certification, the governor says the funding is intended to help health care providers adopt and expand the use of health information technology.


In a statement, Schwarzenegger says, “The health IT grants will help California build a world class system to promote and expand the way information is shared, protecting medical privacy, promoting efficiency, and will ultimately help reduce health care costs.”


The three-year grant allotted for the San Diego region will be used to boost a collaborative education and training program for more than 1,000 incumbent and unemployed workers in the life sciences, according to anannouncement issued by San Diego State University, Biocom, the San

The Associated Press: Calif race-based admissions law challenged anew

The Associated Press: Calif race-based admissions law challenged anew

SAN FRANCISCO — The law that bars the University of California from considering race in student admissions violates the civil rights of black, Latino and Native American students who are underrepresented at the state's most prestigious campuses and blocked from seeking redress through the school's governing board, a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges.

The federal court suit was brought by the Michigan-based, pro-affirmative action group By Any Means Necessary. It challenges the constitutionality of Proposition 209, a ballot measure approved by California voters in 1996 that prohibited racial or gender preferences in public contracting, education and employment.

A federal appeals court and the California Supreme Court have rebuffed earlier efforts to overturn the 13-year-old law. But Shanta Driver, the group's lead counsel, said a renewed federal challenge is timely because the U.S. Supreme Court has since issued a pair of rulings upholding some school desegregation programs. The gap between Latino and black high school graduation rates and UC enrollment has grown since Proposition 209 was enacted.

"Thirteen years of a ban on affirmative action in the state of California has left, in particular UCLA and Berkeley, with just pitiably low numbers of black and Latino students," Driver said.

At the heart of the complaint is the claim that minority students and their parents are being uniquely disadvantaged in violation of their due process rights because Proposition 209 prevented the university's governing Board of Regents from setting admissions policies that include race, gender and ethnicity, but not other characteristics, as factors.

The Diamondback - Staff editorial: University de-Moted

The Diamondback - Staff editorial: University de-Moted

Yesterday marked the beginning of the canonization of St. Clayton Daniel Mote Jr. He “set Maryland on a course charted to place it among the world’s greatest universities,” a university press release gushed. He “led [the university] on a 12-year journey into the top tier of public universities,” according to The Washington Post. The state’s flagship university is now in “the same class as the nation’s crown jewel state schools,” The Baltimore Sun editorial board declared.

When Mote announced he will step down as president, effective at the end of August, it triggered flurries of remembrances from faculty, students and alumni — most of them positive.

Since Mote assumed office in 1998, the university has reached new heights. What was once considered a safety school by many now measures itself against top tier institutions like the University of Virginia, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan. Fundraising has increased dramatically. Construction has boomed. Comcast Center and the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center — to name two buildings — were completed under his watch. Graduation rates have increased dramatically, along with the credentials of incoming freshmen. And the list goes on. There is no doubt Mote will depart as highly successful and well regarded.

Mote excelled at one of the key tasks of being a university president: scratching the backs of state officials, big donors, students and faculty. He delegated many responsibilities to capable vice presidents and aides. While his speaking skills have never sent a tingle up anyone’s leg, what he lacks in charisma he makes up for in pragmatism, vision and competence.

Officials are working to secure this legacy. The university has created a website outlining his achievements. A photo of him talking with Nelson Mandela is splashed across the top. A 10-page PDF listing Mote’s accomplishments, from “Fund-raising and Friend-raising” to “Academic excellence,” is available.

L.A. Unified to seek $100 parcel tax hike - latimes.com

L.A. Unified to seek $100 parcel tax hike - latimes.com:

"The four-year increase would alleviate the school district's projected budget deficit but probably not prevent class size increases, teacher layoffs or a shorter school year."


Los Angeles voters will be asked in June to approve a temporary $100-per-parcel annual tax to help fund city schools, but Supt. Ramon C. Cortines warned Tuesday that the increase still would not be enough to head off bigger class sizes, teacher layoffs and, possibly, a shorter school year.

Facing a projected $640-million budget shortfall, officials said the parcel tax would yield $95.2 million annually for the four years it would be in effect. The school board needed to act quickly, Cortines said, so the money could offset some cutbacks for the upcoming school year. For the same reason, the measure had to go before voters in June. Pollsters had favored November as likely to deliver a more liberal, tax-friendlier electorate.

Parcel taxes require a two-thirds majority vote within

University of California Student Association to Hold Rally Over Fee Hikes | California College News

University of California Student Association to Hold Rally Over Fee Hikes | California College News
University of California Student Association to Hold Rally Over Fee Hikes

by the California College News Team

Advocates for the University of California are extremely upset and want to see lawmakers make education a bigger priority when it comes to the budget of the state. This unrest has led to a rally by the UC student association. A big part of the demonstration will focus on the fee hikes that continue, yet classes are being cut making it tougher to graduate on time. Over 300,000 people are on the UCforCA.org list which organizes the movement for legislators to fight for more money for education. Governor Schwarzenegger has a good plan for 2010-2011 where he is pushing to allocate more funds towards education, which is a shift in the right direction. However UC schools are still going to feel budget pains, as that plan will not be enough to get things back to where they should be.

On March 1 when the UC President, campus regents, and chancellors meet with legislators in Sacramento, the rally organized by the University of California Student Association will take place. People across the state are rallying to protest this injustice to education, which 

Viewpoints: Student voters can influence outcome of education crisis - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Viewpoints: Student voters can influence outcome of education crisis - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee:

"Last fall, students across California mobilized against cuts to higher education to a degree not seen since the student movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

It started on Sept. 24, when thousands of University of California students and faculty skipped or canceled classes and held huge rallies decrying the $812 million that the state Legislature had cut from the UC budget. The activism escalated in advance of the UC Board of Regents' vote to increase student fees by 32 percent, and from Nov. 18 to 20, a three-day strike swept the UC system.

A diverse range of students joined together in a wide variety of actions – everything from writing letters to legislators to occupying buildings – and in the end the message made it through to Sacramento: We cannot balance the budget on the backs of students."