Fact-checking Poizner and Whitman
Tags: Poizner, WhitmanPosted in 2010 elections, Charters
At least that’s the bumper sticker argument they make.
But their answers to the one question on K-12 schools got me scratching my head. So I did some fact-checking and here’s what I found.
Poizner: The state’s insurance commissioner has abandoned most of the positions he took when he ran for Assembly in 2004 and earned the enthusiastic support of the Mercury News’ editorial page – and mine as well as a member of the board. With his credibility shot, I find myself doubting most everything he says, including his claim, during the debate, that he was a pioneer of the state’s charter movement who helped found “a bunch of” charter schools.
But communications consultant Gary Larson e-mailed me to say that indeed
6 districts to steer Race to the Top
Posted in Common Core standards, Race to the TopA half-dozen school districts , including Los Angeles Unified, will direct California’s second-round application to the federal Race to the Top competition. They must not only fight a tight deadline – June 1 for submission – but also the low odds of moving from 27th among states in the first round to the top 12 or 15 to get a piece of the remaining $3.4 billion.
On Friday, Gov. Schwarzenegger gave the go-ahead for Race to the Top, after weeks of vacillation and a personal pitch from Education Secretary Arne Duncan not to drop out. In moving ahead, administration officials also signaled a different approach. They recognized that writing a plan to appeal to as many risk-averse districts and local unions as possible is a losing strategy. Instead, they’ll hand the reins to a urban few districts that are comfortable with the reforms that Duncan is requiring. (Read more and comment on this post)
On Friday, Gov. Schwarzenegger gave the go-ahead for Race to the Top, after weeks of vacillation and a personal pitch from Education Secretary Arne Duncan not to drop out. In moving ahead, administration officials also signaled a different approach. They recognized that writing a plan to appeal to as many risk-averse districts and local unions as possible is a losing strategy. Instead, they’ll hand the reins to a urban few districts that are comfortable with the reforms that Duncan is requiring. (Read more and comment on this post)
Court slaps state board’s wrist in algebra case
Posted in Common Core standards, STEM, State Board of EducationThe state school boards’ and administrators’ associations have won a two-year old suit against the State School Board over a controversy involving eighth-grade algebra. The impact of the decision will be minor, though the decision does serve as a warning to the State Board to follow the state’s open-meeting law.
At issue was the State School Board’s decision to require school districts to start testing students in Algebra I as the state’s sole eighth-grade assessment.
The California School Boards Association and the Association of California School Administrators opposed making algebra universal for eighth graders, as did the California Teachers Association and Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, who also joined the suit. They sued not over the decision but over the process, arguing that the State Board failed to give the public adequate notice of its impending action to decide the issue, as required by the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. The associations wanted an opportunity to explore the full implications of the decision on students and school districts.
(Read more and comment on this post)
At issue was the State School Board’s decision to require school districts to start testing students in Algebra I as the state’s sole eighth-grade assessment.
The California School Boards Association and the Association of California School Administrators opposed making algebra universal for eighth graders, as did the California Teachers Association and Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, who also joined the suit. They sued not over the decision but over the process, arguing that the State Board failed to give the public adequate notice of its impending action to decide the issue, as required by the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. The associations wanted an opportunity to explore the full implications of the decision on students and school districts.
(Read more and comment on this post)
