Monday, March 15, 2010

Sacramento Press / Sacramento Hosts 2010 California Academic Decathlon

Sacramento Hosts 2010 California Academic Decathlon

Sunday marked the third and final day of competition for this year's state academic decathlon. The "Super Quiz" was held at the Memorial Auditorium on J Street.

Sixty-two teams from school districts all over California competed for the honor of state champion, as well as a spot in the National Academic Decathlon held in Omaha, Nebraska next month. in April.

California remains a powerhouse in the national competition, winning seven of the last nine events, and Sacramento in particular, between rivals Bella Vista High School and Folsom High School winning the majority of events for the last 20 years at the state level.

Teams of nine, composed of three groups of three students, each with A , B and C grade point averages, spent the weekend taking tests in 10 academic disciplines, culminating in the "Super Quiz" with "The French Revolution" as its theme.

The teams were asked sets of questions covering obscure facts of the French Revolution. The cumulative score is added to the scores of the other tests and bronze, silver and gold medals will be awarded at the recognition ceremony Monday.

George Warren and Sharon Ito of News10 hosted the event and provided the required questions.

"In one of the toughest economic times we have faced, the academic decathlon is a prime example of why we must protect state educational funding," said California State Assembly Speaker, John Perez.

While the decathlon is nothing short of grueling, a little fun comes along with all the decathletes' hard work. Days were spent testing, but nights were spent on the town as teams visited the Esquire IMAX Theater, Old Sacramento and

More than 23,000 layoff notices issued to teachers statewide - San Jose Mercury News

More than 23,000 layoff notices issued to teachers statewide

By Theresa Harrington
Contra Costa Times

Posted: 03/15/2010 04:55:45 PM PDT

Updated: 03/15/2010 06:10:33 PM PDT

Education budget cuts have prompted school districts across the state to send out more than 23,000 pink slips, notifying teachers and other certificated employees they may not have jobs next year.

In a morning news conference, state Superintendent for Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said 21,905 pink slips had gone out from districts, which had to meet a state-mandated Monday deadline to notify staff they may not have jobs next year.

"While I understand the governor and the Legislature have tough decisions to make, these budget cuts are devastating our schools and impacting our ability to do the most important job in our society, that is, to teach our children," O'Connell said in a statement.

By Monday afternoon, the number of notices had swelled to 23,225, according to figures from the California Teachers Association, which represents 325,000 teachers. Pink slips were sent by 464 school districts statewide, including more than 4,100 in the greater Bay Area, the union said. These do not include notices given to probationary teachers who will not be permanently hired, said spokesman Mike Myslinski.

Of those who received the notices, however, it's unknown how many will ultimately lose their jobs. Final layoff notices will be mailed in May, after districts have a better idea about the state budget for the 2010-11 school year.

Last year, more than 16,000 teachers lost their jobs. In the past two years, about 10,000 classified school

employees such as secretaries and custodians have been let go as public education funding for K-14 schools in California has been cut by about $18 billion, according to the state Department of Education.

The Concord-based Mt. Diablo school district sent out about 350 preliminary layoff notices to tea

Pink slips leave school employees reeling | News10.net | Sacramento, California | News

SACRAMENTO, CA - Teachers were not the only ones who received layoff notices Monday.

March 15 is the deadline for California school districts to issue preliminary layoff notices to employees.

"I received a layoff notice over the weekend and that was hard," sighed Michael Beckner, a counselor at Florin High School.

For almost 30 years he's worked in the Elk Grove Unified School District. Now he's among 1,100 people in the district getting layoff notices.

"I'm not so worried about myself. I'm concerned about the kids," said Beckner.

He see students with a variety of issues. "We have kids that are dealing with gang issues in their communities and are afraid. We have kids that are dealing with drug and alcohol issues, pregnancy, and suicide," Beckner said. "We have a lot of kids whose parents are losing their jobs. It stresses the kids out and affects their school work."

Beckner wondered why counselors are being laid off. He pointed out counselors also make sure students are taking the right classes and get college scholarships.

"It's frustrating," said district spokeswoman Liz Graswich. "Over the last two years our district has dealt with $40 million in budget cuts. Now we're looking at cutting $60.5 million."

According to Graswich, things will be significantly different come next fall. "Class sizes in K-3 will increase," she said. "We're going to 28 students to one teacher. We're also cutting counselors, librarians, and library technicians. The list is terrible."

L.A. Unified panel recommends changes in teacher evaluations - latimes.com

L.A. Unified panel recommends changes in teacher evaluations

The task force of about 50 parents, teachers and administrators suggests paying high-performing teachers more, using student test scores in evaluations and overhauling the tenure

High-performing teachers should earn more pay, tenure should be more difficult to achieve and teacher reviews should be tied to student test scores, a Los Angeles school district panel is expected to recommend Tuesday.

The proposals, aimed squarely at increasing the effectiveness of teachers, would be the most far-reaching change in years in how the Los Angeles Unified School District decides which teachers to promote and retain.

If approved by the city's Board of Education, the recommendations would be among the most aggressive in the state, if not the nation. Employee unions are expected to oppose some of the proposals, some of which would have to be collectively bargained.

The task force was created by the board, by a narrow margin, shortly before The Times published aseries of articles last May examining the difficulties in firing and evaluating teachers.

A group of about 50 members, including teachers, administrators, union leaders and parents, has been meeting for months to discuss teacher effectiveness.

Among their recommendations:

* Revamp teacher evaluations to include several new categories, including the addition of several years worth of student test score data analyzed to show whether a teacher is effective. Parent and student feedback should also be considered.

* Give higher pay to high-performing teachers willing to work in tough-to-staff schools. The task force discussed starting a small pilot program in which a group of teachers would be eligible for extra pay if their students met certain goals.

* Stop basing some layoffs and staffing decisions on seniority.

* Wait up to four years before granting tenure to teachers rather than the current two years and require evaluators to endorse instructors for tenure.

* Push the state Legislature to eliminate the Commission on Professional Competence, a statewide group that has final say over disputed teacher firings.

The task force, chaired by state Board of Education President Ted Mitchell, has heard from dozens of people inside and outside L.A. Unified, and is expected to present its recommendations to the school

Paul E. Peterson: Charter Schools and Student Performance - WSJ.com

Charter Schools and Student Performance

One study of 29 countries found that the level of competition among schools was directly tied to higher test scores in reading and math.

By PAUL E. PETERSON

On Saturday, President Obama delivered a radio address on education and he didn't shrink from saying that American high school students are trailing international averages. He sketched out details of a bill his administration is now pushing to revise the No Child Left Behind Act. He proposes to preserve testing requirements but create a better measuring stick, require teachers be evaluated by performance (not credentials), and use carrots instead of sticks to encourage progress.
But nothing in the speech or his proposed legislation hints at the need for school choice and competition. Charter schools went unmentioned. One worries that his view of markets in education differs little from the one offered by Diane Ravitch on these pages on March 9 and in her new book "The Death and Life of the Great American School System." In that book, she offers a naïve and static view of markets. "It is in the nature of markets that some succeed, some are middling, and others fail," she wrote.

Twentieth century economist Joseph Schumpeter saw it another way. In his view, it is in the nature of markets that middling firms are "creatively" destroyed by good firms, which are themselves eventually eliminated by still better competitors. Ignoring this basic economic principle, critics of charter schools and other forms of school choice see no hope for competition in education. These critics ask us to leave public schools alone apart from creating voluntary national standards—speed zones without

Remainders: Obama’s ed plan is “strong medicine,” Klein says | GothamSchools

Remainders: Obama’s ed plan is “strong medicine,” Klein says

from GothamSchools by Maura Walz

Education Secretary Arne Duncan explained his proposed NCLB revisions on Morning Joe.
The two national teachers unions both say that the proposals “scapegoat” teachers…
…While Chancellor Joel Klein called Obama’s plan “strong medicine” on NBC.
Politics K-12 observes that, compared to 2007, most people seem pretty happy with Obama’s blueprint.
The Times’ Room for Debate blog hones in on the causes behind the charter school backlash.
Some Chicago charter schools are warning that budget cuts might force them to close.
Education Sector examines how the DOE helps teachers use ARIS data in the classroom.
Mass Insight’s Justin Cohen thinks we should all be paying more attention to Detroit’s schools.
InsideSchools invites parents and teachers to share their thoughts on classroom discipline.
A panel of researchers proposed an “America’s Teacher Corps” to attract great teachers to needy schools.
And satirist Bill Maher has a modest proposal for fixing schools: don’t fire teachers, fire parents.

The case for putting curriculum on a reform pedestal | GothamSchools

The case for putting curriculum on a reform pedestal

by Philissa Cramer

While city education officials have made reforming teacher quality their first priority, others argue that by improving curriculum they could do more with less.

In the GothamSchools community section, former president of the Community Education Council for District 2Matthew Levey writes that creating a citywide curriculum would not only help new and struggling teachers, it would be more efficient than having schools write their own.

Levey writes:

Curriculum reform must play an equal role in our efforts. A recent Brookings Institution report noted curriculum’s strong impact on student outcomes. Importantly, in a system as large as ours,
State adds another testing day to schools’ schedules

from GothamSchools by Anna Phillips

Teachers and principals are not taking kindly to a recent State Education Department decision to have students take a test in between their already-scheduled high stakes state exams.
State officials scheduled the field test, an experimental exam that doesn’t count toward schools’ and students’ progress, on May 4, between the English and math exams that all students in grades three through eight take. The new schedule means that over the course of a dozen days, students across New York will take three tests, leading administrators and teachers to worry that “test fatigue” will set in and affect students’ scores.

Scores of Oakland teachers receive pink slips The Education Report

The Education Report

Scores of Oakland teachers receive pink slips

By Katy Murphy
Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 4:21 pm in budget, teachers
No Comments

The Oakland school district administration has sent notices of possible layoff to 77 of its 2,300 teachers and counselors – in addition to 44 who they say have failed to receive mandated state certification to teach English learners.

Tenured elementary and middle school teachers and counselors, as well as adult school teachers, received these slips. Note: It doesn’t necessarily mean they will be out of a job next fall.

This is the first time since I’ve covered Oakland schools that the district has sent out these “Reduction in Force” slips, a sign of just how tough the going is. OUSD

Why bully state's teachers? Legislature pushing bad merit pay proposal

A bill to change the way Florida hires, retains and pays teachers sprawls all over the education map. It offers a few improvements — such as giving school officials access to records they need to prevent child abuse — but the overwhelming aim in its 60-plus pages is to punish and discourage teachers.

And when it's not doing that, Senate Bill 6, sponsored by Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville, seeks to punish local taxpayers of any school district that doesn't bully teachers.

The heart of the legislation is this: School districts may not base teacher or administrator pay "in whole or in part … on the number of years worked or degrees held." We agree that an English Ph.D who has done little more in 30 years than hold down a desk is not worth keeping, particularly at an inflated salary. But if Florida's schools are riddled with such specimens, how has the state made the spectacular gains cited by everyone from Jeb Bush to Charlie Crist?

Florida's application for federal Race to the Top stimulus money brags that state teachers rank fourth in the nation. No aspect of the state's educational system — including its damaging FCAT-based accountability — ranked higher nationally than teachers in the latest Quality Counts survey by Education Week.

If longevity and degrees don't count, what does? SB 6 says that at least half of any teacher's assessment must be on "student learning gains." Other factors would include agreeing to teach at an underperforming school and teaching a subject, such as math, which is short of qualified teachers. None of those would be a problem except that "student learning gains," for the present, primarily means results on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

The FCAT, given in writing, reading, math and science, has its uses. But the Legislature already relies too much on the FCAT for school grades and teacher bonuses. How can that be valid when, for

Obama Education Overhaul To Up Ante For Students With Disabilities - Disability Scoop

Obama Education Overhaul To Up Ante For Students With Disabilities

By Michelle Diament

MARCH 15, 2010

As part of a proposal to overhaul America’s education system, the Obama administration is calling for students with disabilities to “graduate from high school ready for college and a career” just like their typically developing peers.

Under a blueprint sent to Congress Monday, there would be less emphasis on test scores and more of a focus on students attaining a broad base of knowledge, increasing high school graduation rates and ensuring that such graduates are prepared for college and work.

The plan places special emphasis on inclusion of students with disabilities. Further, administration officials want teachers to be better prepared to address the needs of special education students and tests that more accurately assess student abilities.

A group representing special educators expressed cautious optimism about the plan Monday. Bruce A. Ramirez, executive director of the Council for Exceptional Children, said he is encouraged that the blueprint “enhances inclusion of students with disabilities,” but he said details on implementation are lacking.

Under the Obama administration initiative, standards would largely be developed at the state level, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told reporters Monday.

The plan complements an ambitious effort unveiled last week by state leaders from across the country toestablish national academic standards. Both plans put a premium on high expectations.

Schools that excel would be rewarded under the blueprint from the Obama administration, while struggling schools would be pressured to try new strategies, though much control over a particular school’s approach would be left to local officials.

“We have to raise the bar for all students,” Duncan said. “The one thing that isn’t going to work is doing

JFActivist: Students With Disabilities are a Priority for Secretary of Education

Students With Disabilities are a Priority for Secretary of Education

The following are remarks given by U.S Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on March 8,2010, on the 45th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama. This speech is about comparing the past and present on terms of advancements in civil rights. For example, If Martin Luther king Jr. and other great people who fought for civil rights in our country were to see today's improvements in equality, how will they react? Looking at how things are today with some schools still very much segregated, Arne Duncan, feels like there is a bigger step to take in terms of helping to create a more equal society for the disable community and all of America. Bloody Sunday is symbolic, because it represents the great struggle for many people to ensure an equal opportunity tomorrow. However, reflecting on great inequalities still happening that need to be adressed, Arne Duncan feels there is still much work to be done.

..."Dr. King would have been angered to see that disadvantaged students still have less effective teachers; that they still have fewer opportunities to take rigorous college-prep courses in high school; that black, and brown, and low-income children are still languishing in aging facilities and high schools that are little more than dropout factories. He would have been downhearted that students with disabilities still do not get the educational support they need--and he would have been dismayed to learn of schools that seem to suspend and discipline only young African-American boys."
...The Office for Civil Rights at the department also plays a critical role in ensuring equity. It enforces laws that protect students from discrimination on

FCC Broadband Plan May Call for Expanded Higher-Ed Leadership Role - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education

FCC Broadband Plan May Call for Expanded Higher-Ed Leadership Role

By Marc Parry

The Federal Communications Commission will release the country's first national broadband plan Tuesday—a landmark blueprint for universal high-speed Internet access that will be eagerly pored over in some parts of academe.

"If we’re right, the FCC report will call for a new role of leadership for higher education in this whole area of broadband," said Gary Bachula, vice president for external relations at Internet2, the high-speed networking consortium for colleges and universities.

In a news release previewing the 360-page document, the FCC said on Monday that one of its goals was affordable access to ultra-high-speed broadband at "anchor institutions" like schools and hospitals. Mr. Bachula, who has joined other higher-education networking leaders in trying to shape the plan, expects that the full FCC document will declare that "there is evidence that the commercial marketplace has been unable to meet that need."

The question for higher education is what course the FCC sets for how the country will achieve its anchor-institution connectivity goals. Mr. Bachula said there is a "high expectation" that the FCC will call for a national high-speed network that connects all anchor institutions to each other and to the Internet, one that could be built on the

Obama's ESEA Blueprint Continues Emphasis on Assessment -- THE Journal

Obama's ESEA Blueprint Continues Emphasis on Assessment

By David Nagel
03/15/10

Once again invoking the mantra of school reform, President Obama this weekend released his new "Blueprint" for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), calling for the transformation of American K-12 education into a "world-class" system that will "ensure that every student graduates from high school well prepared for college and a career." But even before its presentation to Congress Monday, the Blueprint received scathing criticism from one major education group--the National Education Association (NEA), which has 3.2 million-members.

Called "A Blueprint for Reform: The Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act," the document outlines several means for achieving college and career readiness, the narrowing of the achievement gap, and the fostering of new programs to improve student outcomes, though it falls far short of the previously released draft of the National Education Technology Plan (NETP), which advocated far more sweeping changes to American education, such as the elimination of age-based grades.

The Blueprint, by contrast, focuses largely on principles found in the previous reauthorization of ESEA, known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), but with some shift in emphasis. For example, like NCLB, the Obama Blueprint focuses heavily on "accountability" for students, teachers, and institutions through testing, but its stated purpose is for "rewarding success" rather than punishing failure. It calls for supports to help foster and develop "highly effective" teachers. It looks to make use of formative assessments to "inform classroom instruction." And it demands a shift in the focus of high-stakes testing to include standards for college and career readiness.

Overall, the Blueprint focuses on five stated objectives or priorities:

Producing college- and career-ready students through higher standards for all students, improved assessments, and a more broad academic program;
Developing and fostering more effective students and principals by "recognizing, encouraging, and rewarding excellence"; making access to effective teachers for equitable; and improving preparation, recruitment, and support for teachers and principals;
Fostering equality and opportunity for all students through "rigorous and fair accountability"; providing rewards for improving student outcomes; and supporting programs to help better meet

Teachers union and city in talks to shrink rubber rooms | GothamSchools

Teachers union and city in talks to shrink rubber rooms

by Anna Phillips

Department of Education and teachers union officials could have a deal within weeks that would shrink the number of teachers sitting in rubber rooms.

Sources within the United Federation of Teachers said that the two sides have been negotiating for several weeks outside of contract talks, which have stalled, but would not give any specifics about how the population of teachers in the rooms might be reduced.

The rubber rooms, technically called “reassignment centers,” are student-less classrooms where about 650 teachers and administrators accused of misconduct or incompetence report for duty every day as they wait to be officially charged or have their cases heard. The wait can sometimes stretch over years, during which teachers receive their full salaries. According to Chancellor Joel Klein, last year the city spent some $30 million covering these teachers’ salaries.

Following a New Yorker piece that slammed the UFT for making it extremely difficult to fire rubber room teachers, the rubber rooms and their unhappy inhabitants have become a political problem for the union. But they’ve also become a cost and an irritant to Klein, whose administration has only been able to fire three teachers for incompetence in the last two years.

City and union sources did not disclose how they are planning to drain the rubber rooms. But one relatively easy target could be the rubber room teachers who have been waiting for more than six months for the DOE to wrap up its investigations and charge them with something. Given the expense the city incurs each day these people wait to be charged and the fact that the contract spells out a six month limit for investigations, they could be returned to their classrooms or the investigations could be sped up.

Education Research Report: Obama Administration's Education Reform Plan

Obama Administration's Education Reform Plan

A Blueprint for Reform,
The Obama administration's blueprint to overhaul the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) will support state and local efforts to help ensure that all students graduate prepared for college and a career.

Following the lead of the nation's governors and state education leaders, the plan will ask states to ensure that their academic standards prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace, and to create accountability systems that recognize student growth and school progress toward meeting that goal. This will be a key priority in the reform of NCLB, which was signed into law in 2002 and is the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).

"We will work with Congress on a bipartisan basis to reauthorize ESEA this year," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said about the blueprint, which the Obama administration released on Saturday. "We owe it to our children and our country to act now."

NCLB highlighted the achievement gap and created a national conversation about student achievement. But it also created incentives for states to lower their standards; emphasized punishing failure over rewarding success; focused on absolute scores, rather than recognizing growth and progress; and prescribed a pass-fail, one-size-fits-all series of interventions for schools that miss their goals. The administration's proposal addresses these challenges, while continuing to shine a bright light on closing the achievement gap.

"To make ESEA work, we have to fix accountability and get it right," Duncan said. "A rigorous and fair accountability system measures student growth, rewards schools that accelerate student achievement, and identifies and rewards outstanding teachers and leaders. NCLB says that fifth-grade teacher who helps a student reading at a second-grade level reach a fourth-grade level, within one year, has this missed their goal. In fact, that teacher is an excellent teacher and should be applauded."

Separating the Sheep from the Goats Education Intelligence Agency

Education Intelligence Agency

Separating the Sheep from the Goats

Click here to read:

1) Separating the Sheep from the Goats

2) Just Say No

3) Scheduling Note

4) Last Week’s Intercepts

5) Quote of the Week

Teachers, Unions, and the NCLB 'Blueprint' - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Teachers, Unions, and the NCLB 'Blueprint'

By Stephen Sawchuk on March 15, 2010 4:14 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

As you no doubt already know, the Obama administration finally revealed its blueprint for ESEA reauthorization.

Much of what's in the blueprint EdWeek has already reported based on a close reading of the FY 2011 budget documents and stimulus bill. For instance, over a month ago I noted the proposal in the budget for all states to create a definition of an "effective teacher," based partially on student scores. Second, you can read all about the new teacher-quality programs in this story, including the plans to put revamped teacher evaluations at the center of the Title II state grants program. And finally, the changes to the "comparability" test were signaled clearly in the stimulus legislation.

So, what's new here? Well, the proposals would also tackle leadership, by requiring states to define what an effective principal looks like. Also, the requirement for states and districts to distribute teachers equitably among high-and low-poverty schools would be strengthened by making "effective" rather than "highly qualified" teachers the measuring unit.

Finally, will there be less teaching to the test? The proposal would maintain