voiceofsandiego.org | Bright and Early: The Education Newsblitz

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Bright and Early: The Education Newsblitz

I'm exploring the brave new world of adult education this morning, something I haven't done before. Got questions? Send them my way! Now for your newsblitz:

• We report that the city of San Diego has signed off on a lease for the schoobrary with San Diego Unified, a step that brings the downtown library one step closer to reality.
• State schools chief Jack O'Connell was wowed by the free breakfast program in San Diego Unified when he came for a visit, the Union-Tribune reports.
• Also in the UT: Poway parents pleaded with their school board to save busing, invoking the death of Escondido teen Amber Dubois as one reason. KPBS focuses on the pleas of the bus drivers.
• Our guest blogger Ashley Hermsmeier says her teen students need a reason to care about standardized tests.
• SDNN reports on new grants available for local schools.
• California Capitol Network looks at one push to up the entrance age for kindergarten. Via KPBS.

AB 2521 (Torrico) Is Not The Complete Answer, But Its A Good Beginning | California Progress Report

AB 2521 (Torrico) Is Not The Complete Answer, But Its A Good Beginning | California Progress Report

AB 2521 (Torrico) Is Not The Complete Answer, But Its A Good Beginning

by kaldveer

By Judge J. Stephen Czuleger
As a former Presiding Judge of the LA Superior Court and former member of the California Judicial Council, I have been able to closely follow the growth and development of the judicial branch in California over my past 22 years on the bench. Most of the expansion and transformation has been a positive thing. The people of California have been well served by the hard working bench officers of this state who strive every day to make sure that justice is available to everyone who uses our courts. It also goes without saying that the thousands of employees who labor in our courts professionally strive to assist our judges in the court’s important efforts. Our work as judges would be impossible without them.
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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Eason-Watkins on her way out... just as I predicted

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Eason-Watkins on her way out... just as I predicted

Eason-Watkins on her way out... just as I predicted

from Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog by Mike Klonsky

In September, I wrote about Ron Huberman's "house cleaning" of Arne Ducan's CPS staffers. It was right about the time that Huberman dumped his new-schools chief, Josh Edelman when I wrote:

Word is that he's consolidating budget people from the various departments and is cleaning house of Arne Duncan's people. New schools/charters manager Josh Edelman went last week. Chief Ed Officer Barbara Eason-Watkins, will be next. He will replace most withMayor Daley's people and his old team from over at CTA. But don't worry about Edelman and Watkins. Both will most likely land on their feet with Duncan in D.C.

This morning, Sun-Times columnist Sheila Foster tells us that indeed, Dr. Eason-Watkins, one of the few

Doo-Doo Heads | Intercepts

Doo-Doo Heads | Intercepts

Doo-Doo Heads

First there was the death prayer memo.

Then there was the drug mule response.

Now we’ve reached the culmination of Godwin’s Law – or at least the Pol Pot corollary.

On a Facebook page titled, “New Jersey Teachers United Against Governor Chris Christie’s Pay Freeze,” one commenter wrote: “Remember Pol Pot, dictator of Cambodia? He reigned in terror, his target was teachers and intellectuals. They were either killed or put into forced labor… King Kris Kristy is headed in this direction.”

The Associated Press interviewed Marlene Brubaker, a Camden County Technical School science teacher who wrote the post.

“I’m not saying this guy is killing us physically,” she said. “I would say he’s trying to kill us spiritually,” by disrespecting teachers and spreading the myth that they’re overpaid.

How about disrespecting the memory of all the people who were killed – physically – by Pol

Education Sector: The Education Sector

Education Sector: The Education Sector

THE EDUCATION SECTOR

In this edition of the Biweekly Digest, we have an exclusive commentary from Education Sector Intern Sharon Miller on college transfers. Also, Policy Director Kevin Carey takes issue with the recent student loan reforms (Hint: They don't go far enough.), while Policy Analyst Ben Miller explains what the reforms mean for students. And, join us this Thursday for our event on Improving Student Success and Minority-Serving Institutions.

In This Issue

• This Week
  Transfer Policies Must Change, One Student's Story
• Also From Education Sector
  Taking an Incomplete | Ben's Take(s) on 'The Nation' | Texas School Board Wars
• Upcoming Events
  Event This Thursday! Improving Student Success and Minority-Serving Institutions | Discussing Turnarounds | more...
• In the EduBlog
  Racing to What?

The California Black Chamber of Commerce

The California Black Chamber of Commerce

African American Leadership Weekend

This is a series of workshops targeting the issues facing underserved minority communities to develop positive solutions and remove barriers to growth in the areas of education, health, crime, home ownership, building wealth and the church's role in the community. Our Renaissance 21st Century Project is helping to revitalize the "can do" spirit in communities around the state. California Black Chamber of Commerce Foundation A Renaissance 21st Century Project Presents the African American Leadership & Education Congress Moving the Urban Agenda April 22-24, 2010 Sheraton Grand Hotel 1230 J Street, Sacramento, California Click here to download - Moving the Urban Agenda Click here for registration

Big Week for the NEA :: Frederick M. Hess

Big Week for the NEA :: Frederick M. Hess

Big Week for the NEA

by Frederick M. Hess
National Review Online
April 20, 2010

The result: two substantial setbacks for those who believe we need to rethink teacher tenure, evaluation, and pay, and who believe K–12 schooling needs to stop mortgaging the future of the kids it's supposed to serve.

The big news from Florida was Crist's decision to veto Senate Bill 6, which would have abolished teacher tenure and shifted teacher pay from a seniority-driven industrial model to one centered on student performance. While there were reasonable concerns about the test-based rigidity of the ambitious legislation, it represented a crucial opportunity to reimagine teacher tenure and pay. The right move would have been for Crist to sign it, and then work with legislators to fix it.

Unfortunately, faced with fierce pressure from the Florida Education Association, Crist folded like a cheap suit.

Racist, homophobic messages left for Senator over Palin fees | California Watch

Racist, homophobic messages left for Senator over Palin fees | California Watch

Racist, homophobic messages left for Senator over Palin fees

by Robert Salladay

Robert Salladay

State Sen. Leland Yee says he's received some nasty, racist and homophobic messages since beginning his campaign to reveal former Gov. Sarah Palin's speaking fees at a California public university.
Yee, a Democrat from San Francisco, has been demanding documents from CSU Stanislaus and the Stanislaus Foundation over Palin's scheduled speech at the university in June. Documents may have been shredded last week in an effort to hide fees paid to her, which Yee thinks could exceed $100,000.
According to Yee's office, one fax to his office read:

To: JoBama Rectum Sniffer Fish Head Leland Yee” and then in all capital letters, “WERE YOU TO EXTRACT YOUR HEAD FROM TREASONOUS MARXIST NIG**R HUSSEIN OBAMA’S RECTUM, YOUR BRAIN WOULD STILL FUNCTION AT ITS PRESENT MUCH DIMINISHED LEVEL BUT AT LEAST THE NIG**R SH*T SMELL WOULD EVENTUALLY DISSIPATE.

OK then. According to Yee, the fax included a graphic of an American flag adorned pickup truck dragging a noose, and also states: “FIGHTING The Marxist Nig**r Thug Hussein Obama” and “Safeguard the Constitution, Death of all Domestic Marxists!” Another fax reads:

NEW WEBSITE COMING SOON: lyeesucksobamasnig**ras*.com,” as well as “JoBama. HE IS BRAVE ENOUGH TO KILL OUR UNBORN, JUST NOT BRAVE ENOUGH TO CALL OUR ENEMIES WHAT THEY ARE: Muslim Terrorists!”

The fax also includes a rifle scope targeting a shirt with the communist hammer and sickle symbol, Yee's office

Dorothy Height, key figure in the civil rights movement, dies at 98 - latimes.com

Dorothy Height, key figure in the civil rights movement, dies at 98 - latimes.com

Dorothy Height, key figure in the civil rights movement, dies at 98

Though not as well known as her male peers, Height was a strong presence in the movement. She was president of the National Council of Negro Women and played an important role in integrating the YWCA.

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Dorothy Height, a leading female voice of the 1960s civil rights movement, shown in 1974. (Associated Press)

By Jocelyn Y. Stewart

April 20, 2010 | 9:26 a.m.

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Dorothy Height, who was called the queen mother of the civil rights movement through seven decades of advocacy for racial equality -- including 41 years as president of the National Council of Negro Women -- has died. She was 98.

Height, who also played a key role in integrating the YWCA, died Tuesday of natural causes at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., the council announced.

Though not nearly as well known as her male contemporaries, Height was a steadfast presence in the civil rights movement. Often the only woman at strategy meetings with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders, she was a determined voice pressing the importance of issues affecting women and children, such as child care and education.

Beginning in the 1930s, she helped shape the national agenda for the YWCA. Traveling throughout the nation, she prodded local chapters to implement interracial charters at a time when racial segregation was still the order of the day and resistance to integration was often fierce.

As president of the National Council of Negro Women from 1957 to 1998, she led the group to expand its mission. Her initiatives included training thousands of women --housewives, teachers, office workers, students -- to work as community advocates. Back in their own communities, they pushed for better housing, schools and stores. It was a way to help women escape what Height called the "triple bind of racism, sexism and poverty."

One of Height's most visible accomplishments was the Black Family Reunion Celebration, a three-day cultural event in Washington, D.C., with related events around the country. Founded to counter negative images of the African American family, it has been held annually since 1986.

"Her fingerprints are quietly embedded in many of the transforming events of the last six decades as blacks, women, and children pushed open and walked through previously closed doors of opportunity," Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund, wrote in 2006 in the

John Thrasher wields much power for freshman Florida state senator | jacksonville.com

John Thrasher wields much power for freshman Florida state senator | jacksonville.com

John Thrasher wields much power for freshman Florida state senator

His hard-headed and ham-handed qualities when taking stands on divisive issues are those of a good leader, supporters say.

TALLAHASSEE - He is technically the lowest-ranking senator in the state. He said so himself a few weeks ago, when reporters crowded around him to ask about the state of the Legislature at its midpoint.

"I'm the 40th senator," said Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine. "That's a question to go ask the president, not me."

But the reality: Thrasher has emerged as a key figure in the Senate less than a year after his election to succeed the late Sen. Jim King of Jacksonville.

The most controversial bill of the session, a measure that would have eliminated some employment protections for new teachers and tied future raises for educators more closely to student achievement, bore his name. As did the top legislative priority for Attorney General Bill McCollum, Republican gubernatorial frontrunner, who teamed with Thrasher to successfully push through a measure limiting the size of contingency fees the Attorney General's Office could award outside lawyers.

Gov. Charlie Crist last week signed the attorney bill,

NY teachers union strikes back against Newsweek cover story | GothamSchools

NY teachers union strikes back against Newsweek cover story | GothamSchools

NY teachers union strikes back against Newsweek cover story

by Anna Phillips

Does that April 15 edition of New York Teacher look familiar?

Apparently, the state teachers union didn’t take to Newsweek’s take-down of teachers unions all that kindly. The inside story is a two-page spread written by New York State United Teachers president Dick Iannuzzi on why states looking to reform their school systems need to involve teachers unions.

Bowdon's Documentary "The Cartel": A Busman's Holiday For Teachers - Perdaily.com

Bowdon's Documentary "The Cartel": A Busman's Holiday For Teachers - Perdaily.com

Bowdon's Documentary "The Cartel": A Busman's Holiday For Teachers

by Leonard

Any of you curious as to what a guy who writes at least 5 posts a week for www.perdaily.com does during his weekend? Saturday night, I went to the Laemmle Sunset 5 to see The Cartel, a film about the corruption of public education in New Jersey, a state that has the distinction of spending more money per pupil than any forty-seven other states in the union, while having little or nothing to show for it. There is a definite East coast flavor -- cue The Godfather theme music -- to this story of premeditated public education failure that the producer, writer, director Bob Bowdon masterfully brings to his telling of the pervasive and astronomically expensive corruption that hold public school children and their parents hostage, while ultimately releasing them into society as illiterate and unable to do simple math. Anyone familiar with LAUSD will recognize all the cast of platitude quoting educriminal characters who continue to run public education and the future of this country into the ground.

At times, The Cartel takes on the tone of a black comedy when it talks about people like John Cockran who taught English for 17 years although he ultimately admitted that he was a functional illiterate. Or the interview with the head of New Jersey's teachers' union who doesn't blink while mouthing nonsensical justifications in support of teachers no matter how damning the facts. Even though stories like these clearly go a long way in explaining an overall 37%

Remarks by the President at dinner for Senator Boxer and the DNC, 4/19/10 | The White House

Remarks by the President at dinner for Senator Boxer and the DNC, 4/19/10 | The White House

Remarks by the President at dinner for Senator Boxer and the DNC, 4/19/10

Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles, California

8:01 P.M. PDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! Hello, hello, hello! (Applause.) Thank you, everybody. Please have a seat. Have a seat. I’ve got so many good friends in this magnificent setting that I don’t want to single anybody out, but there are a couple of people that I do have to acknowledge. First of all, our two DNC Southern California co-chairs -- John Emerson and Ken Solomon. Thank you for everything that you’ve done to make this evening possible. (Applause.)

I feel bad for the Emersons, though. Apparently they were on their way to Paris and the ash got in the way. So this is a consolation -- (laughter) -- spending time with me. But I’m thrilled to be here. They’ve been longtime supporters ever since I first ran for the United States Senate. And Ken has been just a terrific supporter of Democratic causes and my campaigns as well. So thank you, to all of you.

He started off not only as one of the finest governors in the country, he was also the first person to endorse me outside of the state of Illinois. Now, I have to admit that he was term-limited, so -- (laughter) -- maybe there wasn’t that much of a downside to it. But at a time when nobody could pronounce my name and nobody gave me a chance, this person stood beside me in the seat of the old Confederacy, in Richmond, Virginia. And I am so grateful to him for not only the leadership he showed on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia, but the leadership he’s shown as our DNC chair. Please give Tim Kaine a big round of applause. (Applause.)

Now, I don’t know if he’s still here, but you’ve got an outstanding mayor in Mayor Villaraigosa, so please give him a big round of applause. (Applause.)

And obviously I want everybody to give a bunch of whoops and hollers on behalf of

Presidential Proclamation -- National Equal Pay Day

by The White House

A PROCLAMATION
Throughout our Nation's history, extraordinary women have broken barriers to achieve their dreams and blazed trails so their daughters would not face similar obstacles. Despite decades of progress, pay inequity still hinders women and their families across our country. National Equal Pay Day symbolizes the day when an average American woman's earnings finally match what an average American man earned in the past year. Today, we renew our commitment to end wage discrimination and celebrate the strength and vibrancy women add to our economy.
Our Nation's workforce includes more women than ever before. In households across the country, many women are the sole breadwinner, or share this role equally with their partner. However, wage discrimination still exists. Nearly half of all working Americans are women, yet they earn only about 80 cents for every dollar men earn. This gap increases among minority women and those with disabilities.
Pay inequity is not just an issue for women; American families, communities, and our entire economy suffer as a result of this disparity. We are still recovering from our economic crisis, and many hardworking Americans are still feeling its effects. Too many families are struggling to pay their bills or put food on the table, and this challenge should not be exacerbated by discrimination. I was proud that the first bill I signed into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, helps women achieve wage fairness. This law brings us closer to ending pay disparities based on gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, or disability by allowing more individuals to challenge inequality.
To further highlight the challenges women face and to provide a coordinated Federal response, I established the White House Council on Women and Girls. My Administration also created a National Equal Pay Enforcement

Statement by the President on the Passing of Dr. Dorothy Height

by The White House

Michelle and I were deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Dorothy Height - the godmother of the Civil Rights Movement and a hero to so many Americans. Ever since she was denied entrance to college because the incoming class had already met its quota of two African American women, Dr. Height devoted her life to those struggling for equality. She led the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years, and served as the only woman at the highest level of the Civil Rights Movement - witnessing every march and milestone along the way. And even in the final weeks of her life – a time when anyone else would have enjoyed their well-earned rest – Dr. Height continued her fight to make our nation a more open and inclusive place for people of every race, gender, background and faith. Michelle and I offer our condolences to all those who knew and loved Dr. Height – and all those whose lives she touched.

New L.A. study affirms benefits of preschool - latimes.com

New L.A. study affirms benefits of preschool - latimes.com

L.A. study affirms benefits of preschool

Gains at the L.A. Universal Preschool programs were especially significant for learners of English.

Children enrolled in Los Angeles Universal Preschool programs made significant improvements in the social and emotional skills needed to do well in kindergarten, according to a study released Monday. The gains were especially pronounced for English language learners, the study showed.

The findings confirmed observations of preschool teachers that children attending high-quality programs are better prepared for kindergarten. For the first time, the study provided data to back up those observations, officials with the nonprofit preschool organization said.

"This is unique because there's very little research in terms of cognitive progression in the preschool years," said Celia C. Ayala, chief operating officer for Los Angeles Universal Preschool. "We know there are differences, we see the differences, but this gives us a way to assess improvements."

The Los Angeles Universal Preschool is an independent organization funded primarily by a voter-approved tobacco tax and launched in 2005 to provide preschool to 4-year-olds in Los Angeles County. It serves about 10,000 children in 325 preschools.

The study, commissioned by the organization and conducted by the San-Jose-based Applied Survey Research, measured the readiness skills of 437 children at 24 preschools in the fall of 2008 and reassessed 364 of those children in sping 2009.

Skills that were assessed included proficiency in using crayons, washing hands, controlling impulses, expressing needs, counting to 10 and recognizing letters of the alphabet as well as shapes and colors.

The study found that the percentage of children scoring near proficient on all behaviors increased from 22% in the fall to 72% in the spring. English learners who scored significantly lower than their non-English learner peers in fall 2008 had closed the gap in most measures by the spring. In general