Thursday, June 10, 2010

Little-known San Jose educator lands atop heap in race for California schools chief - San Jose Mercury News

Little-known San Jose educator lands atop heap in race for California schools chief

By Sharon Noguchi

snoguchi@mercurynews.com

Posted: 06/09/2010 04:23:48 PM PDT

Updated: 06/10/2010 11:16:00 AM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

Larry Aceves, left, then superintendent of Franklin-McKinley... (Thu Hoang Ly, Mercury News)

Elections 2010

More Elections 2010

Some neophyte politicians spent megabucks gained from their famous companies to persuade California voters Tuesday to grant them a spot on the November ballot.

Then there was Larry Aceves. The retired superintendent of San Jose's Franklin-McKinley, a school district obscure even in its own county, stumbled onto the ballot for California's superintendent of public instruction after a low-budget campaign tour of the Rotary and PTA circuit. Topping 11 other candidates, Aceves won 18.8 percent of the statewide vote, the secretary of state's office reported Wednesday, shocking two better financed and more experienced candidates.

"I pinched myself several times to make sure this wasn't a dream," the until now, little-known educator said Wednesday morning.

Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Martinez, won 18 percent and the chance to face Aceves in a November runoff. Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, earned 17.2 percent of the vote, and nine others each got less than 10 percent in their quest to replace outgoing schools chief Jack O'Connell.

Torlakson, fortified with generous contributions from school employee unions, won 15 counties in the Bay Area and north coast. Romero, who drew on nearly $500,000 from the reform group EdVoice and more than $1 million from Netflix mogul Reed Hastings, won only Los Angeles, Imperial, Santa Clara, San Benito, Sacramento and Yolo counties.

Aceves surprised nearly everyone, including himself. He stayed

up till early Wednesday then got up energized at 6 a.m. "I just wanted to get into the runoff," he said. "It actually made me feel people were paying attention."

Which, whether you're a politician or an educator, is what you want.

Aceves, 66, who retired four years ago as Franklin-McKinley's superintendent, said he worked hard to get that attention, speaking at Rotary clubs, chambers of commerce, PTA conferences and "anywhere that people would invite me."

The strategy was to get maximum exposure to groups, Aceves's campaign consultant, Andrew Acosta of

News > Education


	Delaware man accused of duping Harvard got into Stanford University ends up revoking its offer to 23-year-old Fee increase to be proposed by CSU Autism linked to genetic glitches Little-known San Jose educator lands atop heap in race for California schools chief Delaware man accused of duping Harvard got into Stanford

Union change is possible. CTU teachers vote tomorrow. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Union change is possible. CTU teachers vote tomorrow.

by preaprez

The slate of CORE insurgents.

June 11. A good day.
I’m finishing a great year of teaching. How many people get to say that after 25 years that they’ve had a great year? I can. But more on that on my annual “finishing the project” post.
Tomorrow a mile down the Kennedy Expressway (where I live, but not where I work) CPS teachers are voting in a run-off election that pits a bunch of do-nothing incumbents who presently run the CTU against a slate of rank-and-file insurgents.
This is not the first time the old bunch has been tossed out by a new group in the CTU. Only a decade ago

Nonprofit adding more teachers in Colorado schools - The Denver Post

Nonprofit adding more teachers in Colorado schools

By Jeremy P. Meyer
The Denver Post

POSTED: 06/10/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT

Teach for America will nearly double the number of its teachers in Colorado next school year to 270, sending its educator corps into five districts with an eye on adding even more.

The nonprofit organization, which places high-achieving college graduates in high-needs schools without traditional certification, is expecting to add 400 teachers a year by 2013 if the state wins a $175 million competitive federal education grant. A portion of the grant application is dedicated to hiring those teachers.

"Here in Denver and Colorado, you have an assessment system, student-centered focus and a state that has a lot of political will," said Sean Van Berschot, executive director of Teach for America Colorado. "That is a huge window of opportunity for us."

This week, TFA's 155 new teachers — recently graduated from 50 universities, including Harvard, Princeton and Yale — are meeting for the first time before entering a five-week boot camp in Phoenix to prepare for the 2010-11 school year.

The teachers sign up for two years and get as much as 400 hours of professional development their first year.

In August, they'll be placed in Denver, Aurora, Sheridan, Mapleton and Harrison school districts.

"I believe that it is a program that sets me up to make the largest impact, post-graduation," said Roland Shaw of Placitas, N.M., who just graduated with a political science and history degree from George Washington University.

Shaw, 22, will be a special education teacher at

CSU trustees scheduled to vote on fee hike June 18 - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

CSU trustees scheduled to vote on fee hike June 18

by lrosenhall@sacbee.com (Laurel Rosenhall)

California State University trustees are scheduled to vote next week on a proposal to raise student fees in the fall.
The university is recommending that trustees raise fees by 5 percent, or $204, for a full-time undergraduate student. But officials in the chancellor's office suggest that trustees consider raising fees again in November depending on the outcome of state budget negotiations.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal for the 2010-11 budget increases CSU funding, but assumes that student fees will go up 10 percent. An alternative proposal by the Assembly suggests CSU fees should go up 5 percent.
If trustees approve the 5 percent increase, the cost for an undergraduate education at most CSU campuses this

Schools Matter: Let's read. Let's move. Let's support libraries.

Let's read. Let's move. Let's support libraries.

by skrashen

Let's Read. Let's Move. Let's Support Public Libraries
Sent to the Christian Science Monitor, June 10, 2010
As part of a program called "Let's read. Let's Move," First Lady Michelle Obama is calling for children to read five books over the summer to prevent summer reading loss: Some children lose about two months of reading progress over the summer ("Michelle Obama's next childhood obesity target: summer break," June 8). But it makes no sense to require or encourage reading when there is little access to books.
The children who show reading loss over the summer are children of poverty. Research shows that children of poverty have little access to books at home, at school and in their communities. Public libraries in high-poverty areas are not well-funded, and have fewer materials and are open fewer hours than those in low-poverty areas. Studies also show that when children have access to interesting and comprehensible reading material, the

English Language Learners and the Power of Personal Stories - The Learning Network Blog - NYTimes.com

English Language Learners and the Power of Personal Stories

By KATHERINE SCHULTEN

Josh Haner/The New York TimesStudents in an English for Speakers of Other Languages classroom at Hylton High School in Dale City, Va. Go to a related 2009 blog post on “The Best Ways to Teach Young Newcomers »

We’ve asked Larry Ferlazzo, a prolific blogger and Twitter user who has written a recent book called “English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work,” to do a guest post for us today.

More than five million children in the United States enter school each year speaking a language other than English. That amount is expected to grow to 25% by the year 2025. It’s not surprising, then, that we hear from readers regularly that the more we can offer for this group, the better.

Larry has an interesting background: he spent the first twenty years of his career as a community organizer in California, often working with foreign-born populations. When he became a high school teacher six years ago, he realized that many of the strategies he used as an organizer translated easily to the classroom.

We’ve asked him to detail the ways he’s adapted what he calls the Organizing Cycle to his current students, and he’s provided some very easy and quick lesson ideas (off Times resources, of course) to show how anyone can do it.

Please let us know how you address E.L.L. issues in your classroom by joining the conversation below. You might also browse our related special, “Ten Ways to Support English Language Learning With The New York Times.”

Go to Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day

Budget Cuts Survey Results - Year 2010 (CA Dept of Education)

State Schools Chief Jack O'Connell Releases
School District Budget Cuts Survey Results

Schools Make Deep Cuts to Programs Due to Budget Crisis

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today released the results of a survey of local educational agencies (LEAs) to find out how state budget cuts to public education are affecting them. O'Connell held a news conference in the Natomas Unified School District in Sacramento County where all eight elementary school libraries were shut down to close a budget gap. The survey results are attached.

"The survey results make clear that school administrators are making heartrending decisions to balance their dwindling budgets while trying valiantly to keep students' best interests in mind," said O'Connell. "Sixty-five percent of districts that responded to this survey made cuts to building and school grounds maintenance, 58 percent cut funding for instructional materials, and 58 percent reduced funding for district administration. Forty percent of respondents have reduced the number of teachers; reduced or eliminated summer school; increased class sizes; and cut art and music classes, closed libraries, eliminated school nurse positions, and canceled sports programs.

"These deep cuts to our schools were made even though the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided critical funds to save education jobs last year. These funds are now running out, and our state budget picture continues to look bleak. In the Governor's May Revise, he proposes another $1.5 billion in general-purpose funding cuts that will exacerbate the current annihilation of services to students.

"Our public education system is in crisis. These cuts hurt students and hurt California's future economic viability. I call on the Governor and the Legislature to show the courage and leadership needed to find a budget solution that puts students first and protects our schools from further cuts."

The California Department of Education launched the survey in April to ask administrators in county offices of education, school districts, and charter schools how they have balanced their budgets in light of state budget cuts to public education. At the close of the survey in May, 387 LEAs responded. They represent 1.7 million students, or 26 percent of the statewide enrollment. The cuts at Natomas Unified School District are similar to cuts made by LEAs throughout the state.

"We made the decision to close our eight elementary school libraries with a heavy heart, but our budget situation is so dire that we had no choice," said Natomas Unified School District Superintendent General Davie, Jr. "We've also cut all of our health aides, eliminated busing, shortened our school year by five days, increased K-3 class sizes to 30-1, and issued layoff notices to about 30 percent of our teachers, classified staff, and administration."

Administrators were asked questions on what type of educational organization they are; which programs were cut or eliminated in the last two school years, 2008-09 and 2009-10; enrollment data as of October 2009; and what other actions were taken in the last two school years such as staff reductions, school closures, or reduced school year as result of funding cuts. These are the results of K-12 budget cuts survey by category and the percentage of respondents that made cuts in those categories.

Results of K-12 Budget Cuts Survey by Category	Percentage of Respondents
Building, Grounds/Maintenance	65%
District Administration	58%
Instructional Materials	58%
Counselors, Nurses, Psychologists	48%
Art, Music, & Drama	48%
Classified Staff Compensation Reductions	47%
Certificated Staff Compensation Reductions	45%
K-3 Class Size Reduction	35%
Electives	34%
Library	34%
Facilities	33%
Teachers	32%
Professional Development Programs	30%
Paraeducators, Instructional Assistants	29%
Gifted and Talented Education	28%
Athletics	27%
Supplemental Instruction, Summer School	26%
Adult Education	20%
High School Class Size Reduction	18%
Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment	18%
Reduced School Year	16%
Food, Nutrition Services	14%
Technology Services	12%
Transportation	12%
Physical Education	12%
Career Technical Education	11%
School Closure	10%
Child Development, Early Childhood Programs	8%
Compensatory Education	5%
Special Education	5%
Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate Programs	4%
Driver Education	4%
Safe Schools, Security, School Police	4%
Multilingual Services, Services for English Learners	3%
Regional Occupational Centers and Programs	1%
Homeless Education	0%

For more information on the state budget crisis impact on education, please visit the California Department of Education's Budget Crisis Report Card Web page at Budget Crisis Report Card - Hot Topics.

Schools Chief Jack O'Connell Comments on Election
Outcome of Local School Bond Measures, Parcel Taxes

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell issued the following statement today regarding the approval by California voters of numerous local school bonds in Tuesday's elections:

"I am gratified that even during these difficult economic times voters continue to put California students first by approving 75 percent of the local school bonds and 70 percent of parcel taxes on the ballot in this election," said O'Connell. "I want to thank everyone who voted in favor of this important investment in our future."

Of the 20 general obligation bond measures on ballots across California, 15 measures passed which combined will provide more than $1.3 billion dollars for school construction and modernization. Eleven of the 15 successful measures received approval between the margins of 55 percent and 66.6 percent, with the remaining four exceeding that margin.

O'Connell is the author of Proposition 39, a measure approved by voters in 2000 that lowered the local school bond-approval threshold to 55 percent, down from a minimum of two thirds (66.6 percent). Without this, the 11 measures that fell within the 55 and 66.6 percent margin would have failed. Since the approval of Proposition 39, dozens of school facility bond measures have been approved within the 55 percent and 66.6 percent margin, allowing many more communities to raise funds for local school construction projects. Approval of these local bonds gives districts the ability to seek matching funds from the state of California for the construction of essential, new classrooms and improvement of existing school facilities.

Ten parcel tax measures were on the ballot that required a two-thirds vote for approval. Seven of the 10 passed.

"In this time of extreme budget cuts, it's important that local communities have the ability to raise the needed funds for their schools to support the staff, libraries, sports, arts — all the important programs that are being decimated year after year by the deep budget cuts being absorbed by our public education system," O'Connell said.

"Since its passage almost a decade ago, the 55 percent approval threshold for general obligation bonds has added billions of dollars to improving our schools. I believe it's critical that the same approval threshold also be applied to parcel tax measures."

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall | Intercepts

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

While House Democrats investigate clever new ways to come up with $23 billion for the edujobs bill, we see the 300,000 teacher layoffs (according to Arne Duncan) are being whittled down in school districts across the country – sometimes with the help of concessions from local teachers’ unions, sometimes without. Here are headlines and stories I’ve come across in my normal news gathering in the last few days, without even trying:

* ”Statewide, about 20,000 teachers were on layoff lists last month, said Mike Myslinski, a spokesman for the California Teachers Association. More than 26,000 teachers in California received preliminary pink slips in March, but about 6,000 of those were later rescinded, he

Mayoral Control Bill Launched in N.Y. Education Week American Education News Site of Record

Education Week American Education News Site of Record

mas Count 2010. Download our free digital edition!

Mayoral Control Bill Launched in N.Y.

Under legislation introduced yesterday by Gov. Paterson, Rochester's mayor would get his wish to take over that city’s schools – but he might not be mayor for long. (June 10, 2010)

New Teacher Distribution Methods Hold Promise

Districts, non-profits and the federal government are looking at more sophisticated strategies to fix one of K-12 education’s most intractable problems. (June 10, 2010)

POLITICS K-12 BLOG

White House's Go-To Senator Introduces Turnaround Bill

(June 09, 2010)

N.J. Advocates Want Court to Restore School Money

(June 10, 2010)

Michigan Lawmakers Eye K-12 Funds to Help Colleges

(June 9, 2010)

The Lesson of June 2010: Corporate Power Can Be Beaten | California Progress Report

The Lesson of June 2010: Corporate Power Can Be Beaten

by christine

By Robert Cruickshank
In looking at the disparate results of the June 2010 election, there are two themes that stand out to me:
1. Republicans will do what they are told by their corporate masters. Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina won their primaries because they spent an enormous amount of money to tell Republicans that they should vote for CEOs because they're smarter than everyone else and more likely to beat the Democrat this fall. That's it.
Joe Mathews has a good take on Whitman's victory, but it really does come down to her money. Same for Fiorina. Both dominated the messaging and TV airwaves with their ads, and did so early and often.
read more

Secretary Duncan Announces Change at Chief of Staff – ED.gov Blog

Secretary Duncan Announces Change at Chief of Staff

Secretary Duncan announced Tuesday that Margot Rogers is leaving her post as chief of staff, effective June 30. In remarks this week at meeting of Department employees, he called Rogers an “amazing partner for me, someone whose judgment I trust implicitly.” He praised her “tremendous work ethic,” saying that she “really represented the culture we are trying to build here, where it’s never about Margot, but always about the team trying to get better.” He noted that Rogers was leaving to spend more time with her two school-age sons.
Rogers has served as chief of staff throughout the first year and one half of the secretary’s tenure, helping to assemble his leadership team and to manage a variety of initiatives, from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act programs to internal reform at the Department.
Prior to joining the administration, she worked for more than 15 years for foundations and nonprofit organizations on issues of education policy and practice. Most recently, she served as the special assistant to the director of education at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Secretary named Joanne Weiss, currently the director of the Race to the Top initiative, as the new chief of staff. He praised Weiss for “her intelligence, her commitment, her thoughtfulness and her sense of teamwork,” and noted her “great relationships across the Department, and tremendous respect in states across the country.”
Before coming to the Department, Weiss served in the leadership of New Schools Venture Fund, a national nonprofit venture philanthropy firm, for eight years, where she led the organization’s research agenda and oversaw operations. Prior to that, she held senior positions in a number of companies involved in education reform and technology.

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Thursday, June 10, 2010